Nobody Walks Novels & Stories

No one moves. "Now."

Wendy's tears would not stop as her face turned a deep shade of purple from crying so hard. "I didn't do anything. Liam, what's happening to you? "Please don't freak me out. I can't bear to lose you." Liam's hands fell to his sides, his eyes empty. His lips quivered as he whispered over and over. "She's not here. She's really not... "They can't find Sabrina at the records office... "No one remembers her. It's just me! I'm the only one!" Wendy slumped to the floor, clinging to his legs. "Liam, please, take a deep breath!"

Sharee gritted her teeth. “Who are you?” She demanded again. Her voice was less irritable this time but it was still cold. The darkness did not move. Instead, a soft chuckle drifted from it. “I am Nobody. But one who may be your last, depending on how much you are willing to offer.” Sharee trembled, but she did not say a word. Just then, the torches flickered as a faint breeze passed through the courtyard, but the person standing beyond their reach did not step forward.

Because sometimes the strongest thing you’ll ever do… Is nothing. No reply. No return. No relapsing into old patterns. Just walking away. Quietly. Softly. Completely.

Or at least, I've trusted the universe for the past month, but this is scaring me. Still, I let Cassie have her moment and only start walking outside while she says goodbye to the guy. "I want one of the big ice creams, the ones that have whipped cream on top," Ashton murmurs with his mouth pressed against my shoulder as I walk back to the car with Beta Francis, who's talking on the phone right now. Remington was still inside with Cassie, though. And when they walk out together, they're laughing like they're friends. This is so weird. All of it.

Raven whispers beside me, voice trembling: “This- This is raw power.” “I’ve never felt anything like this,” someone says from behind me, but I don’t bother turning. Sadie walks forward. Not runs. Not dodges. Walks like a queen surveying insects.

"Someone's coming." Evelyn frowned, straining her ears. "I don't hear anything in the hallway." "Exactly," Nobody whispered, rising smoothly from his chair and stepping toward the panels of the door. He raised a single finger to his lips, holding his position just beside the frame. A heartbeat later, three distinct, muffled footsteps echoed softly against the outer runner carpet. Evelyn stared at him, her breath catching in her throat. Nobody shook his head slightly. "Don't answer it."

"She can die out there for all I care." The call ended. *** My body still lay at the intersection. The crowd was gone. Only the driver stayed beside me. My lips had turned purple. So had my fingers, curled stiff against the frozen ground. Dirt and ice were packed under my nails.

I looked at the return portal on my system screen and clicked to activate it without a moment's hesitation. A white light that only I could see rose up. A massive force pulled me into the vortex. In an instant, the white light disappeared. And this body died for good.

Crushing because I am standing in the middle of so much human life and feeling completely invisible, like a ghost that the living walk straight through. I start walking, letting the city carry me forward. The streets unspool around me — storefronts and crosswalks, a woman walking a small wiry dog, two men arguing outside a parked van about something I don't catch. Life, in all its ordinary texture. I watch it like a film I can't quite follow, something playing on a screen behind glass.