Tissue Paper

She listened to her friends chattering away, and she tried to force a smile onto her face. Lately it had been getter increasingly difficult for her to pretend she was normal. The emotions that ripped through her made her want to just stop feeling anything at all.

It wasn't hard for them to eventually forget she was there.

Bending down to pick up piece of paper she had dropped, she looked up and realised that they had already moved a meter away from here.

Hayley stood up slowly. The hand that had reached for the paper turning limp.

Again.

No matter how obvious she tried to make herself, for some reason her existence was so pathetically denied each time.

If anyone had asked her what super power she would long to have, she would have said Invisibility immediately.

She used to think that being invisible was a gift. No one would see her which meant that she do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

And yet, if you'd ask her that now, she'd probably stare at you and wonder just what world you live in.

Why would anyone long for a 'power' that they already have?

Perhaps invisible isn't the right word, It was more of the super ability that enabled her to blend in effortlessly.

It was then she realised that just because you wished for something, doesn't mean that you would enjoy it once you got it.

Maybe...maybe sometimes when you get what you want, you realize that it's not really what you wanted after all.

Snapping out of the thoughts that burned through her mind, she noticed that they were a good four meters away.

Okay.

That's okay.

Hayley slowly reached into her bag and fished out her iPod. Same old same old.

That's fine.

Plugging in, she cued a list of music and collecting her thoughts and things, proceeded to make her way home behind the people who had forgotten her existence.

That's okay.

It wasn't the first time anyway.

Rearranging her features into the blank, calm mask that she wore at such times, she suppressed her emotions and let herself drown in the beat of the music.

Everything that kills me, makes me feel alive.