Chapter Text
Wifies looks inside the water-filled bucket, staring at the reflection of everything but him. He can’t remember the last time he’s seen what his face looks like. It’s…a little saddening, but it’s no matter. He doesn’t need to know.
Who cares what a ghost looks like anyway?
Sitting in the corner of the janitor’s closet, he rolls his sleeves up and combs through his hair with his hands. There’s a wavy texture to it and he can feel a bandana wrapping around it, covering his forehead, but other than that he’s not entirely sure what it looks like.
His hair barely reaches his shoulders and isn’t quite long enough for him to pull to his eyes. He can’t pull a strand off because, unfortunately and a little fortunately, he can’t alter his appearance at all. It’s something he isn’t sure whether to be grateful for or not. He’s leaning towards not more and more each day though.
Thankfully, he can look down and see the outfit he’s wearing. Grey sweater with a yin-yang symbol on it, black pants, different colored leg warmers—dirty white and black, and basic shoes. It’s comforting to at least know what clothes he’s wearing.
(Although, if Wifies had an option, he would trade that ability to be able see his face, any day.)
He stares at his hands next. Just doing his routine of making sure everything he could do yesterday he can still do today. Ghost things, he supposes. They’re pale and devoid of life, but strangely aren’t transparent like how he thought they would be when he first realized he was a ghost.
That was a while ago. It seems like decades. It could very well actually be decades. He forgot all about keeping track of time after the first couple of years.
His hands are starting to feel colder by the second. Or, they seem cold. Wifies can’t exactly feel. He can feel, actually, as stated earlier he can feel the texture of his hair. He can feel the roughness of the walls, the wetness of liquids. But he can’t feel. It’s…hard to explain when you’re the only one who is like this.
Just forget about it.
Wifies sighs and uses the wall as support to stand up. Might as well get out of the closet so he’s not like a loner- not, that he isn’t a loner, but he doesn’t like to mentally admit it. The closet is small anyway, with a square shape, only being able to fit about two people.
The brightness of the school’s lights hurt his eyes as he opens the door, so he smiles. Then it fades when the pain starts to disappear so quickly. He can feel emotions that people would feel. But he can’t remember the last time he’s felt what he would feel.
The bell rings and students started herding out of all the classroom doors. Wifies quickly gets out of the way, towards one of the windows. Everybody just passes right through him, yes, but it makes him nauseous every time they do. And, he has a feeling they feel something similar at the same time, so he’d rather not.
He looks out the window, longing to escape the confines of this high school. For some odd reason, he can’t leave. Every time he tries to exit the doors, he blinks and suddenly he’s back in the janitor’s closet. It probably has something to do with how he died, but, how would he know?
Wifies can’t even remember how he died. He never did.
His hand brushes against the glass, the smooth texture summoning something in him. Also contrary to what he first thought, he can hold and mess around with everything in this school. However, he can still phase through them at the same time.
…It’s slightly complicated, but in the simplest terms, he can choose whether he holds/touches something or phases through it. It depends on what he truly wants, not just what he’s thinking. Wifies doesn’t know exactly. He doesn’t know anything. Nobody explained anything to him. How is he supposed to function? He doesn’t know, he doesn’t know.
But.
It’s fine.
It’s- It’s fine.
He doesn’t mess around with the school and its objects anymore though, only when he’s alone. Last time he did…it…he- it wasn’t—
…
He doesn’t want to think about it.
Instead, he continues to stare out of the window, wondering if he did something to deserve this. He doesn’t remember most of his life when he was alive, but sometimes something happens, and it sparks a small memory in his mind. It’s never much, but Wifies likes it when it happens anyway.
The warning bell rings. He glances his head back and watches the number of students disappear as they all scurry faster to their class. It’s all normal until-
Until, Wifies spots a guy across the hall. He looks like a regular student, uniform of a red polo shirt and khaki pants. He’s wearing a jacket that’s mainly cyan with lime and orange stripes. His hair is a sort of a creamy brown, if that makes sense: milk chocolate. It’s fluffy. That’s not what’s important though. The important thing is, the guy is staring at Wifies.
And for a second, Wifies can feel something pulse in his insides, in his chest. For a split second, he feels something rush through every inch of his body, to his head, to his arms, his legs.
Just for a moment, everything else doesn’t exist. It’s just the two of them in the world, and the background fades to the void. Wifies feels a need that booms throughout all of his mind, repeats of only one goal. It’s too ineligible for him to comprehend.
(‘Protect,’ it whispers in his mind. ‘Safeness, safety, protect, protect protect protect him-’)
Then it disappears. And Wifies feels the feeling—whatever it was—fade. The guy blinks a few times then shakes his head, presumably heading to his class. Wifies sighs once more. It was probably just his imagination. Maybe he’s going crazy after all this time. The moment is already eradicating itself from his mind.
(A lie.)
It had nothing to do with the guy.
Yet, Wifies somehow finds himself following after the teenager with curiosity, a glint in his eyes that he’ll never know is there.
//
Wifies decides to follow this stranger the whole day.
Even though he knows the guy can’t see him, he still keeps his distance. If he’s in class, Wifies goes to a corner and observes from afar. Wifies follows closely behind him through passing time. He sometimes caught the boy glancing back before ultimately making no note of Wifies. It confirmed his suspicions that the guy couldn’t see Wifies, because, there’s just no way.
There’s no way, right?
The problem happens during lunch.
Wifies is still following the guy even as people pass through him like he’s nothing, making him nauseous. They don’t react, like they always do. He guesses that it’s a mild effect on their side.
(He’s nothing, just a mild inconvenience. He’s nothing at all, he’s nothing, nothing nothing nothing-)
(Only a protector.)
Wifies abruptly stops when the brown-haired teenager halts in front of two others, careful not to phrase through him. He doesn’t know exactly what others feel when he goes through them, and he doesn’t want this guy to find out. So instead, he goes back and to the side of the guy wearing the cyan jacket.
…Maybe Wifies should start learning his name. It’s going to get confusing.
The guy clears his throat and flinches his head towards Wifies in a subtle way, this causing the latter to raise his eyebrows. The others turn their focus to Wifies, but they’re not looking at him. Wifies can tell. They’re only looking through him. Because he’s nothing. Nothing.
One of them speaks up, still looking pass Wifies, “Nice to see you too, Parrot…?” He’s wearing a blue and gold jacket atop the plain uniform. His straight hair goes slightly pass his shoulders and is a dark brown that nicely contrasts with the guy-…Parrot.
‘Parrot,’ Wifies reiterates in his mind. It’s a unique name, and he likes it. Or maybe it’s just a nickname? Either way, it’s nice to have some sort of name to the face.
Parrot sighs, sounding exasperated. He puts his hands into his jacket’s pockets and stares intently to the one with dark brown hair. The other one just looks like they’re stifling a laugh while still being confused. This one has pitch black hair that’s definitely dyed, and they has a rainbow bandana that matches their zipped-up jacket: a gray-almost-black one with rainbow stripes down the sleeves.
“Rek, can you not be so obvious?- I’m not—” Parrot whisper-shouts, then lowers his tone too softly for Wifies to hear. Wifies tilts his head in confusion. There’s nobody in the general vicinity of the group, so why does Parrot need to whisper?
Rek, Wifies assumes, glances back and forth between Parrot and him- his direction. The black-haired one is half-eavesdropping on Rek and Parrot’s conversation, half-“looking” at Wifies. They finally settle firmly on looking at Parrot before they open their mouth.
“Dude, there’s no one there. Pretty sure the guy following you left already.”
Following Parrot?- Suddenly, there’s that need again, that need to…something. Something with Parrot. Without thinking, Wifies turns all around and tries to find any familiar faces. Somebody’s following Parrot to- to hurt him. There’s no other reason. No other explanation. Wifies can’t have that. He spots somebody, a girl leaning against the wall, and there’s a instinct that tells him to go to her. And so Wifies does.
He doesn’t pay attention to how Parrot looks behind himself to Wifies’ previous spot and sighs in relief.
Wifies goes to her, careful not to phase through her as well. He has a strong suspicion that she’s the one following Parrot—why else would he have a feeling he needs to go to her?—but he doesn’t have any solid evidence yet. He was too busy observing Parrot to take note of anyone stalking the two.
Stupid, stupid Wifies.
She’s on her phone. Out of curiously, he takes a peek. It’s a news article, and the cover image-
The…
The cover image.
It looks like him. It looks like Wifies. His face is blurred out but he knows that’s him.
Something stabs the empty hole that was once filled with his heart and it infects and corrupts all his veins and blood—all the things he doesn’t even have. He can’t breath. He can’t think, can’t feel the clothes on his back: the clothes that are on that person in the image. Because, it’s him. It’s him, alive, a highlight in his eyes. His breath hitches and for a moment, everything is a blur besides that picture, that picture that’s him—
The screen goes black; the phone must’ve turned off. The girl walks away. She- She’s walking away.
Wifies tries to yell to her, but the words die in his throat. His eyes squint as he watches her get smaller and smaller. He takes a singular step forward then stops. His hand raises and grips the air, clenching it, not wanting to let go. His foot goes back to its original position. She made him feel something he hasn’t felt in a while.
Genuine pain.
(And hope.)
He doesn’t try to run after her, he knows it would be pointless. Because, he’s nothing. She didn’t notice him and she never will.
Wifies bites his tongue and, of course, there’s no pain to go along with it. He can’t dwell on it any longer, the torture will kill him. Again. It’s a skill he’s learned over the years. But, the curiousity doesn’t die down. Not like it has the other times. It stays in his mind. The seed is already planted, and it will grow in due time. Not now, though.
For now, all he can do is watch as the girl disappears from his vision, joining the rest of the crowd. For now, he’ll focus on something more important. Someone he has to know more about and will know more about.
Parrot.
He turns back to him and realizes. They’re all gone. He blinks.
They’re all-
What?
Wifies looks around and finds them nowhere in sight. There’s something else he notices too. All the students and staff are leaving the cafeteria. He glances at one of the clocks, realizing that lunch ended a few minutes ago. Something like panic rushes through him, and he finds himself walking with a purpose, but not direction.
He needs to find Parrot. He can’t lose him. Not again.
…Again?
Wifies shakes his head. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Maybe that photo really is getting to him.
At the very last moment, Wifies spots somebody exiting the cafeteria with a cyan clothing. The tardy bell rings as he runs after him—after Parrot. His feet stomp against the ground as he barely catches up to him, Rek, and the other one ahead of Parrot. They’re speaking, but Wifies doesn’t care. He steadies his breath as he walks behind Parrot, observing his body language.
Parrot’s hands are in his pockets still and his head is down slightly. Something is wrong. Wifies can feel it, and he can’t help but blame himself. Logically, it’s not Wifies’ fault; Parrot doesn’t even know of his existence. However, Wifies is still blaming himself.
He was so busy focusing on that girl—on himself, that he didn’t even notice if something happened. If something happened to Parrot. He’s…he’s so selfish. What is wrong with him?
Backing away from Parrot slightly, Wifies takes a deep breath. For some reason, he’s so upset with himself. It’s- it’s weird. He furrows his eyebrows together, deciding to focus in on the friends’ conversation. He will make Parrot feel better, somehow, but for now, he has to distract himself with something else.
Maybe it’ll make the guilt less intense.
“Spoke, you cannot hack into the school’s servers, or whatever,” Rek is saying. His head is turned towards the other and his eyes are glaring into their soul. Spoke—Wifies is guessing—also has their head turned to Rek, frowning.
“Dude. Can you be a little quieter when discussing the illegal shit I’m about to do in public?” Spoke grits his teeth. Rek just rolls his eyes in return, muttering, “There’s no one even here…”
Wifies glances up at that, and realizes Rek is right. Only a handful of students are here and even then, they’re already entering the classrooms. There’s a bit of confusion that comes along with the realization that the trio is just…casually strolling to their classes with the knowledge that they’re late. But, Wifies won’t judge. Especially not Parrot.
Rek suddenly comes to stop, the floor screeching slightly. “Shit!”
Spoke jumps, staring at Rek in disbelief. Without missing a beat, Parrot simply stops and still keeps his head down. He doesn’t seem fazed. Wifies’ chest hurts, somehow. “Rekrap,” Spoke deadpans, “What the fuck. Is wrong with you?”
Rek- Rekrap, apparently, ignores him and grabs his wrist, starting to drag him faster than the other two are walking. Spoke, still baffled, goes along with it. They start to run. And yet, Parrot is still unbothered as ever, his head only leaning up by a little. Wifies swallows. (The guilt will kill him.)
Rekrap is saying something to Spoke, making the latter’s eyebrows raise and their mouth gap open. The two are too far away for Wifies to hear though.
“BYE PARROT!” one of them yells, although they’re both sprinting down the hall already, making it impossible for Wifies to tell who said it. Their voices are…similar. Or maybe it’s just Wifies’ lack of intelligence, because he’s stupid, stupid stupid stupid-
Finally, Parrot halts, and Wifies barely stops himself to not hit him. It’s just them two. Wifies glances around and realizes this. Parrot turns his head around halfway and just looks. Wifies also turns his head, trying to see what Parrot is looking at, but again, there’s nobody.
Parrot fully turns around and-
Wifies blinks.
Parrot- he’s just…staring at him. But there’s no way he could be staring at him. No, no way. Wifies turns around, but there’s nobody around. It’s just them and them alone. He turns back towards Parrot. He’s still staring. In fact, he’s staring right at Wifies. It’s impossible, it’s not- unless?- no- it’s not possible. It isn’t. It can’t be.
Suddenly, there’s that rushing feeling again. It makes Wifies feel so whole and- and- alive. It’s ironic but true, he really does feel so alive. Parrot clenches his fists, and all Wifies still does is stare. Because, because what else is he supposed to do? Parrot can’t see him, there’s no way, there’s no-
“Why do you keep following me?” Parrot asks, folding his arms, continuing to glare at Wifies. There’s a thought that pops up in Wifies’ mind, and it’s so dumb that he struggles to believe that he even thought of it. Yet, Wifies furrows his eyebrows together, pointing to himself as he mouths the word, ‘me?’
Parrot scuffs.
“Bro- Yes, ‘you.’ It’s not like you’re very secretive.”
Wifies’ eyes widen.
How can Parrot see him? He’s nothing. Yet, the look in Parrot’s eyes tell him otherwise.
Maybe…Maybe Wifies is somebody after all.
No- no, that’s stupid. A dumb, ignorant idea. Even more idiotic than the idea that Parrot can see him. Parrot has to be joking. He has to be bluffing. There’s no other explanation. Because, nobody’s supposed to see Wifies: a nobody, a mistake, a ghost, nothing—
Parrot snaps, throwing himself towards Wifies and attempting to grab onto the latter. Wifies, fully expecting him to phase through, doesn’t flinch. It’s only when Parrot actually grips- Parrot grips Wifies’ by his shirt and pulls Wifies towards him. Parrot is staring, and Wifies is staring right back.
Parrot-
…
Parrot is gripping his shirt.
They’re neck-to-neck.
Parrot is actually- touching Wifies. And Wifies can feel it, the fabric being pulled away from his skin—his skin, he can feel his skin.
All Wifies last sees is Parrot’s eyes widen with concern for a moment before the world fades to black.