The wind hit him the very same moment he cleared the last flight of stairs. If there was anything about high school that gave him joy, then it was the fact the teachers barely paid attention to what they did outside of class.

  The roof of the building was a basic affair with nothing more than a short railing to keep you from falling off the side. He stepped up to it and looked out across the city. It may have been an absolute concrete jungle, but from that one angle it almost looked like its soul hadn't fled long ago.

  "So about that cigarette?" Jane whispered into his ear.

  He turned his head and caught her eyes only to immediately recoil. He took a few hurried steps back just to make a bit of distance, before taking the cigarette pack out of his breast pocket and lighting his second cigarette of the day. Taking great care to avoid her eyes.

  "Knock yourself out," he said bluntly as he threw the packet and lighter over to her.

  She lit a cigarette and inhaled ever so slowly, then blew out a small plume of smoke before throwing the packet and the lighter back to him. On her face was that creepy smile that seemed reluctant to ever fade. Almost like she had practiced it for so long that it had burned itself into her features.

  He wondered why she had attached herself to him. Was he really that interesting? Had she only wanted a cigarette? Or did she get some perverse pleasure out of unnerving him?

  Her smile widened for a just moment before she turned to look over the city before them. In that one instant the smile had seemed almost genuine, but was no less unnerving to him.

  It had only been ten minutes, but it was the longest amount of time he had spent in the presence of someone else for a long very time. The fact his isolation had been broken by her presence disgusted him. All he had wanted out of this year was to be left alone, and so far she seemed dead set on making sure he couldn't escape her attention.

  He knew there was some irrationality to his thoughts. After all this could end up being one isolated incident. One singular break from his solitude. She would probably lose interest once she realized he had no actual interest in social pursuits. People like her were naturally popular and would abandon people like him once she got bored of upending his status quo.

  The silence broke the moment she opened her mouth. "It might unnerve you, but I actually find your visage quite appealing."

  Visage was certainly a word one could use, but it hardly seemed appropriate when complimenting someone's appearance. The word stood out to him like an elephant in the room. He could think of countless other words more appropriate within the context of a compliment, and yet she chose visage of all words.

  "You really aren't much of a talker are you?"

  He wasn't, and that was very much by design. He understood people or at the very least thought he did, and knew most people wouldn't bother to try once they realized he wouldn't reciprocate. Maybe she just didn't catch the memo that he had no interest in talking to her?

  His thoughts broke as she stepped forward and blew a billowing cloud of smoke in his face. His eyes began to sting and a coughing fit overtook him.

  "Fuck was that for?!" he screamed out in frustration.

  As his vision cleared he saw her blue eyes only inches away from his own. That close to her he should've been able to see his own features reflected in her eyes, but instead all that stared back was that eyeless dark silhouette. A hue so dark it made the color black look bright. A crawling sensation creeped through his spine and a sinister cold seeped into his core. Seeing it up close cemented how unnatural it was.

  "Look at that! You're finally talking," she exclaimed with what could only be feigned excitement in her voice.

  He moved his head to the side to avoid her gaze once more. The image of that shadow in her eyes refused to leave his mind's eye no matter how much he tried to suppress it. It was as if it had been permanently burned into his brain like the cigarette burn on his arm.

  "Will you just leave me the fuck alone!"

  The rage had won with that outburst. She had pushed him to the edge and he could feel himself slipping. She was becoming a stain on the tapestry of his empty life that refused to be washed out. All he desired was for his life to go back to the fast forward towards the next dreamless bout of unconsciousness, but she kept hitting rewind on the tape that was his life.

  He had avoided connections like the plague during the last few years and now his world was crumbling. A single wrench thrown into the gears that was his engineered isolation. All the cogs of the machine were stalling and soon there would be nothing left.

  "If you get to know me you might come to find I can understand you like no one else can," she said coyly.

  Was that supposed to put him at ease and make him open to up her? That was the creepiest shit he'd ever heard someone say. That was like hearing a line from a romance movie be repeated by a fucking slasher villain.

  "You're fucking crazy," he whispered to himself.

  "I'm going the pretend I didn't hear you say that," she said with snicker.

  "Oh I damn well meant it, you are batshit fucking insane!"

  She burst into laughter as he finished his outburst. To anyone else she was just another cute girl laughing innocently at what must have been the funniest joke she'd ever heard, but to him it just cemented how utterly creepy she was. She had to be a nutjob, there was simply no way someone could actually act this deranged without breaking character.

  It disturbed him how she could rattle him so easily despite his comparatively domineering presence. He stood more than a head taller and had shoulders twice has wide as hers, yet she seemed so imposing. Her limbs were oh so thin compared to his, but did he have the wherewithal to knock her down a peg? He clenched his fists as discomfort and fear slowly bled into a crimson fury barely contained.

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  "Go ahead, throw that punch and alienate the only person that will ever see the real you," she said in an uncharacteristically cold tone.

  He seized up like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water in his face. See the real him? All there was to him was the emptiness he had long since internalized. It had become the core of his being. Not sad and certainly not happy. He was deprived of most things that made you human, but it was only torture in his waking life. In his sleep there was nothing and that suited him just fine.

  "I thought it would be more awkward to hold conversation with a pitch black silhouette, but the fact you've got nothing to hide is so refreshing," she said with a much less manufactured smile painted on her face.

  Was that how she saw him? Were the things he saw in her eyes real? Was he not going crazy? Was all she could see of him a void in place of the person?

  The bell tolled as the next period began. She turned her head to look upon the city before them one last time.

  "It was nice talking to you even though you act so defensively all the time, but we'll have to pick this conversation back up tomorrow," she said with all the overbearing cutesy she could muster.

  She walked down the stairs leaving him all alone with his thoughts and her words. He could feel his heart beat slowing down as the anxiety slowly left him. He sat down with his back against the railing and pulled his knees close to his body.

  The strength to stand up had completely left him. He was so utterly powerless in that moment curled up by the railing. Her words had cut him when he thought himself impervious. He had cracked and now he was paying the price.

  There was no way he could bring himself to face anyone in that state, so he simply remained curled up against the railing as the hours flew by. Thirty minutes after the last bell rang he found the power to stand up and began making his way down the stairs. The mind ached as he left the building and stepped out into the world.

  There were few if any students in the yard as he left the school gates behind him. People walked the streets around him in chaotic droves. Hundreds of disordered conversations invaded his ears like the buzzing of flies. It was complete and utter mayhem.

  He pushed past the crowds of people as he rushed to find an escape path. After a few painful moments that felt like an eternity he managed to stumble his way into an alley where the sound was bearable. He breathed heavily and rubbed his temples to soothe the steadily growing headache.

  This wasn't normal. The sheer overwhelming disorder of the streets was unprecedented. It had felt like he was trapped in a swarm of carnivorous insects eating away at his mind. He turned his head and slammed his fist into the wall next to him. It stung, but the pain centered him somewhat.

  The headache was receding as the pain in his knuckles grew. He put a cigarette to his lip and slowly lit it. The nicotine emptied his mind in an instant only for all the ceaseless thoughts to crawl their way back to the forefront as the moments passed.

  Something was horribly wrong with him. A crowd had never before invoked what he could only describe as a creeping terror. He wasn't afraid of social situations, he just vehemently disliked them. He felt the cold sweat running down his back and shivered. Had Jane actually managed to push him all the way past the breaking point?

  Once he had finished the cigarette he began slowly making his way out of the alley. As he was about to pass a storefront window he turned his head to peer at his reflection for a moment to center himself.

  His blood ran cold as the featureless pitch black silhouette stared back. Its empty face threatening to devour his mind should his gaze linger.

  "You're not real, you can't be!"

  He ran with all the speed he could muster. Confused faces and annoyed comments flew past him as he ran. Every time he turned his head and caught his reflection in a window or polished surface he saw only that shadow staring back at him. His heart was pounding like a drum as he bolted down street after street.

  Maybe he could outrun it? Or find somewhere without reflections? He had to get away from that insidious thing no matter what. It was like it was whispering to him without a sound. It had some overpowering and indescribable menace about it that made his mind fray.

  As he passed another street corner he caught something in his periphery. A park with a playground. An island of safety within the inescapable nightmare he had found himself in. He forced himself to reach the playground with the last remnants of his fading strength.

  He dragged himself inside one of the small playhouses in the park before collapsing to the ground panting with exhaustion. His heart was threatening to explode and the ringing in his ears seemed like it would never end as he lay there.

  Shielded by the darkness of the playhouse, he counted every passing moment. He close his eyes and sought that sweet oblivion only found in slumber. He felt like he was falling, but shortly after the dreamless sleep claimed him.

  When he awoke once more night had already fallen. The city was silent like the grave. He slowly left the darkness of the playhouse and stepped out into the night.

  He avoided gazing into any reflection as he walked the empty streets on his way towards the central station. The silence of night eased his nerves somewhat, but the terror still lingered. Once he reached the track finally managed to the let out the breath he had been holding.

  "Train approaching the station, beware of closing doors."

  The sound of the PA system sent a wave of relief surging through him. Soon he'd be home and could leave this awful day behind him. As the doors opened, he boarded the train and slumped down in the nearest seat. He held his eyes shut until the PA system called out his destination for fear of accidentally looking into another reflection.

  He rushed out of the train the moment the doors opened and marched out of the station house. He moved at a brisk pace as he made his way down the darkened streets of the suburb.

  The sounds of dogs barking and television broadcasts echoing from the living rooms of the many houses he passed brought his headache back in full force. His nerves badly needed that all encompassing quiet he so rarely found.

  The walk felt like an eternity trapped within his own head. His thoughts ran rampant within his mind, but he found no way to silence them. He didn't desire nothing for what he truly desired was nothingness. An eternal empty to never be interrupted by a world of delusion.

  As he reached the yard in front of his house he finally managed to fully center himself. It was definitely late so his mother and father would most likely be sleeping. It wasn't exactly rare for him to come home late in the night so they wouldn't have stayed up to wait for him. There would be a container of leftovers waiting for him in the fridge as always to sate his hunger before he headed off to sleep.

  He jumped as he heard the annoyed hiss of the neighbors cat coming from behind him. The headache was back and his anger burned within his chest. It had broken the silence and it made his annoyance impossible to contain.

  It kept hissing at him as his rage slowly grew within his chest. He clenched his fists unconsciously and gritted his teeth to try to hold it back for just one more moment. Another hiss from the infuriating feline sent him over the edge.

  "Just fucking disappear already!" he screamed out at the top of his lungs after turning around to face the filthy animal.

  In that instant he was blinded by a bright white light and deafened by a bang like someone had popped a massive balloon. He felt something warm hit his face and felt a slimy chunk squish beneath his shoe as he took a step back.

  As his eyes readjusted to the darkness he saw a large glistening spot on the pavement dotted with small jelly like chunks before him. He tried to wipe away the warm liquid dripping down the side of his face just as the sickly sweet metallic scent hit his nostrils.

  "Aaaaah!"