「 Drafts 」

「 Seeing Spirits 」

「If you're reading this, please let me know if you liked this..」

It's been a long time since he figured out that he saw things that others couldn't even begin to comprehend.

It started with trying to convince his parents that, 'Look! Right there!! It's looking straight at us!'.
'Is he still in the imaginary friend phase?' 'Should we try a therapist..?'

But no matter what they tried, it failed. He took his medicine, but they would still be there, in the corners, looking to talk to him.

Eventually, his parents gave up, he was given to his aunt and uncle. But, surely, rinse and repeat.. He was sent away again.

He had gotten multiple nicknames over the years. 'Liar', 'attention-seeker' and 'outcast'.

At last, he decided that what he saw was not normal, but not fake. He simply saw beyond. Therefore his future had been foreseen, as a loner.

Finally, a foster home had picked him up. He was well beyond his childhood years, so to say he was surprised was an understatement. He knew he needed to keep his 'secret' hidden, or he'd be sent away again, right?

Of course, this young lady who decided to host him knew there was something off, as she had worked with children most of her life. She would accept him no matter what, so she would wait until he was ready.

But ready he was not.
Not yet.

_______________________

"Hey! 「」,  over here!" His friend, James, had yelled. Practically falling off his bike as he did. "Did you see that we had homework!? That damned teacher put it-" James would blabber on through their walk to school in disbelief.

The same routine. As he liked. Same route, same time, same conversation, different spirits.

Everytime, at exactly 7:15, James would ask him if he heard what he just said. Every time,「」had been lost looking at another spirit. He would look back at his friend's red bike, seldom dripping with the morning dew. "yeah, yeah. I heard ya." He'd reply. The same way, everytime.

Until it wasn't that way.