As I jogged beside her, I had to admit it felt nice. But...there was something off, as if something was telling me to turn back. I ignored the feeling. "So...how long have you been running?" I asked her. The girl shrugged. "Since forever, I've been down this road every day for a long time." I thought on that. "But...then how come I only just now noticed you a few days ago?" I asked her. "You just weren't looking hard enough," she told me. I frowned. "I think you're lying," I told her. "There's no way I could have missed you. I've been watching the neighborhood for years, I've never seen you!" I protested, my breathing beginning to grow heavy. We were passing Samantha's house when she spoke. "Is that so? You place so much faith in your eyes, it makes me jealous," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her. "Sometimes your eyes lie, you know. Like with mirages in the desert. You think you see a puddle of water, and then you get there and it's not there." I pondered this for a bit as we jogged, my legs beginning to burn. It wasn't as if I was out of shape, but I was not used to exercise of this caliber. "But when you use your other senses, and your mind, to cross check what you see, to smell it, taste it if need be, only then can you be certain something is real," she said. I laughed at the esoteric sounding statement. "You're quite the oddball, aren't you? Does this tie in to the fact no one seems to notice you?" I asked. The girl nodded. "Precisely. Of course, it could also be because I have no presence. Apparently I'm just hard to notice..." it was true, now that I thought about it. Usually you could tell when someone was behind you, or notice someone enter a room, because you could feel their presence. But this girl had no such thing.

It was as if she were a ghost. A ghost... my mind thought back to the old man, and i subconsciously reached into my pocket, fingering the bag that he had given me. I dismissed the thought, however. No point in worrying about it. I noticed the nice gentleman outside his house, getting into his car. "Yo! How's it going?" I called out to him. To my shock, he didn't answer. No, he didn't even look my way, despite the fact I had said it quite loudly. I wrote it off as he was being busy, however. I rotated my head towards the girl, frowning in thought. She seemed unperturbed though, her movements swift and methodical as we ran down the road. I noticed something colorful out of the corner of my eye. It was Violet and Mike, the two kids belonging to the nice mother. I called out to them cheerfully, knowing they would answer. They never turned down the chance to talk to me.

Only they did. It was like I didn't exist. I opened my mouth to say something, only to be cut off by her. "Don't waste your time. They will never notice you." The girl said softly. I hesitated, closing my mouth. "But why? They don't notice you, but why would they not notice me?" I asked her. The girl slowed her movements to a slow jog. "Still asking the right questions. I guess we're just on another level, compared to them now. When you're with me, their perception changes. Kind of like how you act around other people, you could be nice to a person to their face, and then talk bad about them behind their back..." I still did not understand, but I think I got the gist of it. "So...as long as I'm with you, they won't even see me?"

"Not so much see you as they just won't acknowledge you," she replied. I closed my eyes, deciding that it was better to drop it. I doubted she would answer any further questions with direct answers.

We rounded the corner that I had seen her pass around so frequently, and I was surprised to find that this area of the neighborhood was not very familiar to me. Yes, I recognized some houses and there were some people out there, but on a whole, the area did not have that familiar feel of safety. "Huh...don't think I've ever been this way before," I told her. "Yeah, you usually go up the road your friend's house, dont'cha?" she said. "How do you know that?" I asked her suspiciously.

"I told you before, you're not the only one who likes to watch people," she said teasingly. At this point the unfamiliar sensation seemed to escalate a bit, a rising sense of danger in my mind. My lungs were also burning, so at this point I began to slow down, struggling to catch my breath. The sun had barely moved below the horizon. "How...much...longer is....it?" I wheezed. "Oh my, out of breath already? I'd say we're only five percent of the way towards the end," she said, looking off to the distance. "But you did good," she beamed at me with a brilliant smile. I could only laugh weakly in response. "Sure, we only ran for like, what, ten minutes?" The girl smiled sweetly. "Better than most, trust me on that. Go home, Smith." I held up a hand. "W-wait, can I run with you again tomorrow?" The girl gave me a smile that seemed to light up the world. "Of course, you can run with me anytime!" I waved and watched her leave. Now that I was no longe rmoving forward, the oppressive feeling in my head was diminishing. But even that paled to the fact that I couldn't help but wonder why my heart was still beating so fast even after I had caught my breath.