Fade

• Matthew Durbridge, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2014

The rain was so beautiful as it hit the ground, the clouds dark as the shadows themselves. Everyone passing by without even giving a glance towards me, it was like I didn’t even exist. I caught a glimpse of my friends and waved towards them, but they kept walking in my direction without any knowledge that I was here. I tried to talk to them but it was like they couldn’t hear me. I reached out for them but my hand went straight through them. I turned around to see my friends walking off without me. As I was still in shock from what has just happened someone just walked through me as easily as a knife cutting butter. I stumbled backwards in confusion.
“So you are finally starting to realise what you are.” A strange voiced called out.
I snapped my head to the top of the tree right next to me. Still in shock I asked in a confused tone “What do you me by that?”
The strange figure jumped out the tree like it was nothing. “Don’t you understand yet? I guess I have to explain it.”
“Explain what?”
“That you are dead mate!”
As I stumbled backwards in disbelief I yelled “No, no, no. That’s impossible I was just walking home. Right?”
“You saw it for yourself. The living and the recently dead can’t touch each other.” And he started to walk towards me.
As he was right in front of me I asked in scared voice “What are you…”
While I was talking he pushed me straight onto the street. A truck was right in front of me. I closed my eyes bracing myself for the pain, but all I felt was a little tingle through my body. I opened my eyes to find myself unharmed and the truck passing through me like I was not even there to begin with.
“You see now, you are nothing but a ghost. If you don’t want to be touched by anything from the world of the living, you won’t be.”
I walked closer to him and asked him curiously “What if something from the world of the dead were to hit me?”
“Well than it would connect with…”
I punched him straight in the face before he could finish. “So you are right it would connect, and that’s for pushing me straight in front of a truck.”
“You catch on quick and by the way my name is Andeddo, it means the undead. So what’s yours? On second thought forget what I said, you wouldn’t remember your name even if you tried. So I’m going to call you Ribingudeddo, it means the living dead.”
A bunch of strange figures with weapons appeared in front of us and yelled, “DON’T MOVE, you’re coming with us.”
“RUN!” Andeddo said with a serious voice. We turned and ran.
While running, I asked, “Who are they?”
Andeddo responded, “They are the guards of the underworld.”
They gave chase with weapons drawn.