Anthony watched the other carefully, bowing his head slightly to the others comment, unsure if it was a compliment or not but taking it graciously all the same. He listened before smiling briefly in thanks, eyeing the chair that has been offered to him. “You yourself are a rather polite host...I am fine, but maybe some water would serve me well.” He gingerly took a seat, feeling slightly awkward now to be taking this mans hospitality. He waited for a moment, wondering if he should start his telling.
“Hm..well I was very young when I had come to realize I saw what others didn’t. I was attending school and I was very quiet. I naturally have a hard time talking to others and making friends, so I was a fairly lonely child. During breaks I would go to find places where my lonesomeness wouldn’t stand out, such as an odd nook in the hallways or a tree off across the courtyard. One day, in one of the quiet places, I stumbled upon a girl who looked my age. I hadn’t seen her before though so I assumed she was just in a different class than me. She was crying, but quickly tried to cover it up when she saw I was there looking at her.” Anthony paused for a moment, a small thoughtful hum escaping his lips. “I was incredibly uncomfortable, but I would have felt terrible if I left her, so I sat and talked with her. I didn’t ask her why she was crying, we just started rambling about whatever was on our minds. She became my first friend and every break we would meet up and talk. We liked to find shapes in the clouds or look for ladybugs. I was so fond of this friend that I talked with my parents about her...they seemed happy at first, but after awhile I noticed others being slightly odd. A rumor started spreading amongst the kids that I talked to myself. I didn’t get it at all. One day my parents sat me down, concerned and the like telling me they had a call from a teacher saying she saw me walking down the hall alone, talking as if I was having a conversation. I remember I had quickly said to my parents ‘But I was having a conversation!! And I wasn’t alone, it was my friend!’ to which my parents frowned at each other. I was very hurt by their looks, knowing they didn’t believe me.”
“All of this was enough to make me confront my friend about it. To which she surprisingly willingly stated ‘I’m a ghost, and you are the first person whose talked to me since I went to sleep’. I admit, it was a bit much for me to take in at the time, in fact I never even asked how she had died. I really just dropped the topic completely. I didn’t stop visiting her, but I did stop talking about her, and I got careful when I would see others nearby. I don’t know if she ever passed on, we simply drifted apart at some point I suppose. I got older, went on to different schools and never got the chance to visit her. Since that experience spirits of all sorts had started showing up around me. I got better at telling them apart from the rest of the world, and the forms they came in started to vary. Sometimes I would try to help them, other times I ignored them. Sometimes I would get tired and yell at them to leave. They got overwhelming for me, I stopped going to school. Then I stopped going outside. All of these individuals began to blur and became nothing more than an annoying mass of sadness when once I had viewed them as other people.”
Anthony stopped then, realizing he may have gotten too caught up in his ramblings. He looked up at Brom apologetically.
