Have You Ever Seen the Sun Rise at Midnight?

Sunrise

"Do you like watching the sunrise?" Their voice was clear, like a bell, cutting through the thick, early morning calm.

"Excuse me?" You turned about to see a person who you had never seen before, their hair pulled back from their face. They wore loose exercise clothing, a backpack sling over their shoulder, and earbuds, the cords of which dangled down their front to the pocket by their side, but neither of the earbuds were in at the moment.

"It's just, you're always here when I pass by on my way to work, just sitting here, I sort of have to be an early riser for work and never really seen anyone else out and about so soon. Figured you must really like the sunrise otherwise you wouldn't bother, sorry if I'm being a bother, I'm not running late for once and... well I'll admit I've been curious for awhile now...." They trailed off, suddenly seeming to feel very awkward about the whole thing despite their earlier confidence. You stared blankly back, trying to comprehend that they were in fact talking to you, before you remembered. Right. Words.

"Oh, uh... not really. I just..." you paused searching for the right words, your hands gesturing uselessly as if that would help describe why you sat here, before you gave it up as a lost cause, "I really don't know how to explain it."

"That's cool," they shrugged, "you don't really need any explanation for everything anyway, and it not really any of my business either way. Well, I've got to go or else I'll be late, but see you around though, Sunrise."

"Yeah," you hid your amused expression as they seemed to just then realize that they had said that aloud, "see you around Early Riser."

They grinned and raised their hand again in farewell before turning to jog off. You might not have recognized their face, but the harsh sound in the otherwise quiet of the slap of feet on pavement at this pace was familiar. They jogged past behind you just about everyday, you finally knew who it was. Pensively, you turned yourself back around to watch the sunrise above the horizon slowly lightening the sky to a powdery blue color, the clouds becoming more visible against the backdrop and the stars fading out of existence.

Day four hundred and seventy two.

You closed you eyes with a sigh, unsure of how to feel, but your heart beating a rapid melody inside your chest, something between panic and anticipation.

Two more days to go.

Just two more days to go.

The sunlight glinted off the metal bench and you closed your eyes as if you could feel the heavenly rays, warm against your skin. Instead, you only felt phantom tingles run up and down as the sunlight shined through you. You shivered, feeling cold inside, like a heavy weight rested in your chest constricting with every unnecessary breath, despite not being capable of feeling any temperature at all. Nor even having a chest for the stone to rest on top of.

Four hundred and seventy two, you reminded yourself, but the stray thought you always fought so hard against lingered; what was the point?

You knew why you had been given this opportunity, it wasn't out of the goodness of their hearts, it was to see the pain it caused you. To watch you fight your way back to life only to then question; what was the point of it all?

Life would be hard once you got back, but that was okay. You had to wonder though; why did that person have to see you? And also, how? It shouldn't have been possible and would only make your life upon returning that much harder. Maybe that was why, you realized, as you faded away. To make it that much harder. You scowled. It didn't matter though. You already knew what you were going to say.

Two more days.

You sat on the bench once more, watching as the sun began to crest the horizon and the world filled with light, slowly it rose up, higher and higher in the sky. Just as you were beginning to wonder, the familiar sound of steps thudding across the ground sounded somewhere to your right, steadily getting louder. You wondered if he would speak to you again today, since he seemed to be running late again. You wondered if it would be better or worse for you if he did.

The  footsteps stopped abruptly with a shout only seconds before the two fighting birds crashed through you.  They started up again double time, but it seemed you wouldn't be able to speak with him after all as you faded away to nothing again.

It felt less victorious this time, as you realized there was only one last day to go.  A part of you dreaded it. You wondered if you would get to see the early riser again.

The next day the early riser was waiting for you, on the bench.

You stared in shock, unsure of how this was going to go.

"So..." they began, "You're a ghost."