‘Audrey’s thoughts’
’Ryan’s thoughts’
__________________________________________
She was in the grocery store, shopping.
As usual, random Spanish songs played from the speakers on the ceiling. Rows and rows of many different items were displayed. And as usual, Audrey first went to the cheese section.
“You never found anything else more interesting, have you?” Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow. “Nope.” She answered. She put sliced cheddar and a packet of mozzarella in the trolley. “Hey, the cheddar you took costs 3 dollars and 48 cents.” He stated.
“So?” She asked, confused.
“It has only 11 slices, look at this one.” He put his index in a packet of sliced cheddar that was from a different brand. “2.46 and has 12 slices.” Audrey sighed, “get lost, Ryan.” And she walked on. “You can save a dollar and six cents on this one! And have an extra slice!” He shouted behind her.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. She then went to the canned food section, where she stood and observed different brands of tomato pastes. “Why, look at that!” Ryan exclaimed, looking smilingly at a can of pickles. “They pickle carrots these days.” There was an old woman beside him, who shivered, “how cold it is here!” Audrey looked at Ryan and giggled, “of course, there’s pickled olives, pickled onions, pickled cucumbers, pickled mangoes, pickled peppers, pickled radishes, pickled gingers and even pickled jalapeños.”
“Pardon, ma’am?” The old woman asked, confused at why the young girl was talking about pickled vegetables. Nobody seemed to notice her. “Wow, that’s quite a variety. I wonder if they sell pickled pumpkins here.” Ryan laughed. Audrey shook her head, “idiot.” “Excuse me? Did you just call me an idiot?” The old lady stared at her in disbelief. Audrey still didn’t notice her. “Isn’t tomato paste just mashed tomatoes?” Ryan asked another doubt, “can’t you just boil them and then mash them, just like how you do to potatoes? Why even bother to sell them? Do they sell mashed potatoes here?”
“Shut your mouth, idiot. I do not want to listen to your stupidity at this moment.” Audrey pinched the bridge of her nose. The old woman’s mouth fell open, “how dare you?!” She yelled. Ryan moved away from in front of the lady, showing Audrey an old woman glaring at her.
At first, she didn’t understand why the woman would be angry at her, not until Ryan howled, “oooo, it seems like you’re in trouble.” It was then that Audrey realized that Ryan was invisible in the woman’s eyes and that the woman thought she was talking to her.
Her eyes widened in realization, “oh! Oh my gosh! Oh no! I wasn’t talking to you, ma’am! I’m so sorry! I- I- it's a big mistake! I- I- was talking to my imaginary friend!” She closed her eyes tightly, just becoming aware of what she had said a second ago.
“You mustn’t be rude to anyone, even if it is your imaginary friend.” The woman scolded. “Yes ma’am.” Audrey stared at the floor. “It is not good. You must not get carried away with your imagination. You might hurt others too. Live in the present, my dear. Don’t let your head fly in the air.”
Audrey nodded, “I’m sorry ma’am.”
The old woman nodded and walked away.
“Ugh…” Audrey facepalmed. “I’m sorry.” Ryan smiled. “it’s not your fault.” Audrey sighed. “You can’t be blamed for being ‘the invisible man’ who’s only visible to me.” Ryan nodded, knowing it was partially his fault for choosing to come back to this world.
Audrey went back to her apartment. The boy had already played a trick on her earlier, that is, jump scaring her and spraying whipped cream all over her face. Hence, most probably, there might not be any more pranks played.
Just as she entered, Irene and Stephanie welcomed her by checking out what she had bought. “Ooo, cheese.” Irene took out the packet from the bag. Ryan grinned, “you bought the one I said.” “Anything to save a dollar.” Audrey smiled back at him.
“Umm, ghosty, please?” Irene began, raising her head and looking around, “could you stop talking to your human? We need her to make lasagna for us.”
“I’m not his human.” Audrey protested, “he’s my ghost!” At once, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at Audrey, surprised. “I’m sorry, who’s possessing who, now?” Tasneem said, looking up from her phone. Audrey’s hand reached her lips, “oopsy daisy.” She mumbled. Ryan put his hands in his pockets and grinned from ear to ear. Then he turned around “ah, what a beautiful day!” He exclaimed and went out through the wall.
Irene marched towards her and held her shoulders tight, “Audrey, what happened to you?” “I have no idea.” She said in a low voice, still startled. “What about Walter?” Irene shook her shoulders. “What Walter?” Audrey’s heart raced, ‘did she figure it out?’ “You don’t have to pretend anymore, Audrey. I know. I know you have reserved a big place in your heart for him.” She said, narrowing her eyes at her. “Who told you?” Audrey whispered. “The kid did.” Irene whispered back. Audrey was taken aback. ‘What? How did he know?’ “And you believed him?” She whispered. “I’ve seen it in your eyes, Audrey. Every time you look at him, it’s different, the way you look at him is different from the way you look at other guys.” Irene smirked. Audrey pursed her lips, ‘it’s not Ryan, that kid is the one who’s haunting me.’
“Ok!” Irene patted her shoulders, “time to cook dinner!”
As the three girls cooked in their tiny kitchen, Ryan wandered and danced about the streets under the moonlight, where he illuminated, perfectly enough for a normal person to see. He laughed and smiled thinking about how lovely words could slip out of her mouth at unexpected times.
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