All of my 5sos work

Land Of Isolation: II

It took me awhile to get him to come to since I could not kick him or shake him back to consciousness. Instead I stood over him whilst no one seemed to notice a stranger lying in an alleyway, being naïve they remained fixated on their phone screens, absorbed into their own little world.

Once he regained some senses I wanted to run, go back to wandering but for some reason I couldn't. A part of me couldn't bring myself to abandoning this stranger whom would be deemed as mad by claiming he saw a ghost. Whilst he lay still I crouched down, wanting to move the fringe that hung in his eyes but as I went to nothing happened, I passed through it like it were nothing. Sighing I stood back up, not wanting to risk forming attachment to the living, there's no point trying. 

It took him a while to sit up and observe his surroundings, remaining out of sight until he was able to fully get his wits about him I watched each movement he made. How he placed his hands near the broken glass that the pub threw out but avoided it, stumbling to his feet he brushed his hands against those dirty black jeans. That was when he turned around slowly, and there I was, perched on top of a bin with my legs crossed shyly smiling. 

I had no idea what to do. 

His face went paler than it already was as all the warmth in his body fueled the fear I could see in his eyes, we both remained perfectly still, not taking our eyes off of eachother. "Maybe that wasn't the best of starts." I joked utterly confused by the whole interaction or how to even go about talking to people, actual people. 

"You, you were a-" Words were not his strong suit as he brought his hand to his head, rubbing his hair around causing more of a mess than there was to begin with. Motioning for him to continue he took a few steps closer as I remained perfectly still, not wanting to risk alarming the stranger again. "dead." 

"I'm a dead?" I questioned, not quite believing his first remark of me. "Well I prefer the term ghost since that is what I'm classed as but sure, dead works too." Smiling I could tell it eased him a bit, but his fear was still being fueled. 

Holding his arm out towards me the shaking was evident, his whole hand trembled and he turned his head away. Moving closer to my spot I saw his hand hold onto mine, I felt nothing besides a chill and he pulled away no sooner than he had placed his hand down. "You really are a ghost." He sounded flabbergasted and all I could do was shrug my shoulders. Never did I think I would be interacting with a human who knew of me, who could see me let alone question my existence.  

"You're the first human to see me." I tilted my head to the side as I looked past him and to the open street, seeing everyone swallowed into their own world, in their own problems and distractions that come with living, yet with this stranger before me there seems to be little distraction, I see defeat. 

He moved closer and sat next to me on the bin, for anyone to see him sat here they'd deem him mad, but perhaps he is for talking to a ghost. "No one can see you?" He asked and I shook my head, pulling on his bands that covered his wrists. "What's it like? Being so alone?" Letting out a deep breath I closed my eyes as I reminisced on the loneliest moment I endured. 

"It's as if those who love you have forgotten you exist, as if all those photos of you vanish and their lives carry on eventually except it's not with you. That they don't see you when you come in and ask how your day was, or check that you're warm enough when it's cold outside. You're nothing, you're a memory that wanders with no company, no communication." My head hangs low as I finish, if I could I think tears would fall and I would sniff whilst I wiped the stray tears away out of embarrassment. 

"I'd hug you but obviously I can't." He joked and a soft chuckle escaped me, distracting me from the image in my head of my family sat around the television the day it happened. "But hey," I lifted my head back up to see him wearing a small smile that seemed alien on his face. "we can be friends. I mean, you haven't got anyone else to talk to have you?" Shaking my head he shuffled off of the bin, waiting for me to join him. 

"Why would you want to hang around with a ghost?" I asked as we began to walk towards the open space, now less hectic as rush hour had passed. Leaving those jobless or homeless to wander these streets unoccupied with everyday issues. 

Once we got to the end of the alleyway he stopped and turned to face me. "I guess I could learn how to appreciate the living more." He shrugged and lead me out of the alley and away from my usual spot, heading off into the unknown with the unknown stranger whose name still sends a chill down my spine to this day; 

Michael.