A short story in several parts, this being the fourth. If you didn’t read Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 this won’t make any sense, so start there: Terms and Conditions – Part 1
They were walking up Third Street on a gray autumn afternoon. Mark and Kyle were heading to the DMV to get an official Washington state ID card. Kyle’s parents had told him he was not allowed to get his driver’s license until he was 18, and that was two years away, so until then he would have to deal with a state ID and public transportation. He was disappointed, Mark could see it on his face as they walked along together. I know it feels like all your friends got their licenses, but it will be OK, Mark thought, your parents are just trying to do the right thing. I didn’t get mine until I was 18 either, it’s not so bad.
They walked along in silence.
Kyle stopped at the corner, waiting for the light to change. Mark turned and looked at the store window behind them, noting Kyle’s reflection. He was growing up, and reminded him of his dad, but with his mom’s curly hair.
There was no reflection for Mark. He didn’t have a body, so there was nothing to reflect. At first it was jarring, looking in a window, or worse a mirror, and just seeing nothing, but he got used to it. He had gotten used to quite a lot of things like that.
Initially he had put all his energy into trying to get someone to notice he was gone, but that turned out to be much more difficult that he had anticipated.
He started at his apartment building, figuring the landlords would be one of the first ones impacted by the breakdown of his system. They were, but it didn’t go how Mark had expected. After the owners stopped getting checks, their management company tried to track him down but came up empty. Mark had left no emergency contact information, so after exhausting the few possibilities they had, he was evicted. When the super went to clean the place out he realized Mark had not been there for some time and guessed he had left in the middle of the night or something for unknown reasons. Case closed, someone else’s problem as far as he was concerned.
His family was no help either. They were never close, and they assumed he had gone no contact for several reasons they could think of. They never heard from him again and never looked.
After that he drifted for a bit, randomly trying to think of different people and places he could try. He even went back to the state park, but it was pointless. He was lost, confused, defeated, and he wanted to go home.
In the end that’s what he did, out of frustration and lack of ideas. He went back to “his” apartment and haunted it. There was a young couple living there now, Brian and Lisa. They didn’t notice his efforts at all, and in fact Mark felt they were a little self-absorbed. The lights dimming in a repetitive pattern, cabinets suddenly opened, TV turning on – nada, they just flicked the light switch off and on, closed the cabinet door, unplugged and re-plugged the TV and went on with their day like no big deal.
After a couple weeks of this Mark gave up even trying and started to just hang out with them. He found out that they weren’t self-absorbed like he had thought but were incredibly busy.
Brian was an engineer. He worked for a company that was contracted by the city of Seattle to remove, redirect and redesign the viaducts and overpasses on Alaskan Way. Lisa worked for the Greater Seattle food pantry and was involved with local lobbying groups that were trying to provide free breakfast and lunch for students, as well as coordinating with local grocers, hotels and restaurants to use food that would otherwise be thrown out to stock the food pantries and provide meals for homeless.
It was interesting. They were interesting. He began to observe them, almost scientifically, to try and understand why they were how they were. He followed them to work, sat with them at the dinner table, listened to their phone conversations, hung out when they watched movies. He liked them. They were good people doing good things, it was hard for anyone to not like them.
About two years after Mark first showed up, they got married. It was a big happy celebration, and Lisa’s parents were quite well off so no expense was spared. They went to Bali for their honeymoon – Mark stayed at the apartment for that one. A year after the wedding, they announced Lisa’s pregnancy.
That was 54 years ago. Kyle was Brian and Lisa’s grandson, born to their only daughter Maggie.
Mark had been with them the whole time – first with Brian and Lisa, then Maggie and now Kyle. He was pretty sure they had no idea he was there. The only time he felt he was seen was when Brian died. He looked right at him, opened his mouth as if to speak and then there was a light so bright Mark had to close his eyes and then it was over.
He stayed with Lisa when she moved in with Maggie and her husband, and then Lisa had passed away. Now he followed Kyle. He reminded him of himself a bit at that age. So much potential, so many possibilities.
He didn’t think there were any possibilities left for himself at this point. His family had never looked for him, and most were dead by now. The government never did either, which was surprising. He figured at least the IRS would, but it never happened. He was stuck. The funny thing was, he didn’t mind. He liked watching people. It was fascinating.
He hoped Kyle wouldn’t make the same mistakes he had, but Kyle had a lot of love and support and a good social group, all things Mark did not enjoy or even understand the importance of until after he was dead. It was a strange way to learn a lesson.
He was in no hurry anymore. Nothing hurt, no one bothered him. He tried not to think about what would happen when Kyle died. He would have to find someone else to follow. And then someone else. Just bouncing from being to being, observing. He tried not to think about what would happen when the last person on Earth died.
Kyle walked into the DMV, pausing as a cool breeze blew past his face, then took a number and sat down in a blue plastic chair in the waiting room.
“Now serving number 34. Now serving number 34,” came from over the speakers.
Kyle looked down at his ticket. He had 61.
He was going to be there for a while.
The End