Elin's life had always existed in two versions.
The version everyone saw:
a normal 17-year-old schoolgirl with average marks, two close friends, and a tiny room full of textbooks she pretended to study.
And the version no one saw:
the quiet weight she carried inside — expectations from home, loneliness she never admitted, and a constant feeling that something inside her didn't fit in this world.
She lived with her parents in a small two-bedroom house on a narrow street.
Her mother was strict, quick to scold, and always stressed about money or Elin's marks.
Her father was quieter — tired most days, but gentle in the way he pushed her to eat properly or take breaks.
School wasn't a nightmare, but it wasn't paradise either.
Her friends, Anya and Vihaan, made it bearable.
Anya talked too loudly and too much.
Vihaan acted like he didn't care about anything but definitely cared too much.
And Elin…
Elin was the quiet, thinking type — the one who observed everything but held her feelings like secrets.
She studied in the Science stream.
Sometimes she felt proud about that; most days she wondered if it had been a mistake.
Physics didn't love her.
Chemistry confused her.
Biology made sense sometimes — when she wasn't sleepy.
But she tried.
She really tried.
Even when no one noticed.
---
The First Dizziness
It began in the middle of an ordinary school day.
The classroom fan was spinning lazily above her, her teacher was explaining something about rates of reactions, and Elin was half-heartedly scribbling down notes.
Then—
A sudden tilt.
Like someone pushed the world slightly to the side.
Her vision blurred for one second.
Her stomach tightened.
Her hands felt cold.
She blinked hard.
Then everything went back to normal.
Anya nudged her.
> "Are you dying or what? You look pale."
Elin forced a weak smile.
> "Just tired."
She brushed it off as stress.
But the dizziness came back two days later.
Then again.
Then again.
Small episodes.
Short.
Easy to ignore.
She didn't tell her parents — her mother would panic, and Elin wasn't ready for that drama.
She didn't tell her friends — they'd overreact or tease her.
She didn't tell herself — she didn't want to believe something was wrong.
So she carried the dizziness quietly.
Until the day she saw him.
---
The First Glimpse
It was after school.
Elin walked out of the gate, earphones in, bag weighing down her shoulder. The road was busy as always — autos honking, students laughing loudly, street vendors shouting.
She took a left turn and passed the old bookstore when her head spun again.
Harder this time.
She grabbed a street pole for balance.
Her heartbeat picked up.
And through her blurred vision…
she saw someone standing across the road.
A boy.
Not a student.
Not someone she had ever seen.
He stood unnaturally still — too still for the noisy street.
Tall.
Dark hair that fell slightly over his sharp eyes.
Shoulders tense like he didn't belong there.
Expression irritated… as if reality itself annoyed him.
Before she could blink, he flickered —
like a glitch in a screen.
Just a shiver of light…
And then he vanished.
Completely.
The dizziness faded.
And the world looked painfully normal again.
Elin's throat was dry.
> "What… was that?"
She scanned the street — nothing.
Students laughing.
A dog barking.
A shopkeeper shouting for customers.
No tall boy.
No angry eyes.
No flicker of light.
Just ordinary life.
She walked home faster, trying not to look behind her.
When she reached her room, she sat on her bed and held her chest.
Her heart was still racing.
> "Stress.
Or low sugar.
Or dehydration.
Or… something."
But deep inside, she knew it wasn't any of those.
Something was wrong.
Or something was starting.
---
The Second Appearance
Elin tried to forget the boy.
She pretended he didn't exist.
Pretended her dizziness wasn't getting worse.
But one night, while she was revising biology notes, her head started spinning again.
The lamp beside her flickered.
She looked up — annoyed, exhausted.
And he was standing in the corner of her room.
Not blurred.
Not far.
Not a shadow.
Clear.
Very clear.
He wasn't looking at her.
He was looking around the room with a frown like:
Where the hell am I?
Elin's mouth dropped open.
He glanced at her —
confused, irritated, like he didn't expect to see anyone.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
> "Wh-who—"
Before she said another word, he blinked out of existence.
Gone.
No sound.
No warning.
Just gone.
Elin stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
Her hands were shaking.
> "Okay. No. This is not normal.
This is… something else."
She paced her room, panic rising in her throat.
> "I'm seeing people that don't exist…
or he exists, and only I can see him…
which is WORSE?!"
She would have screamed if her mother hadn't been in the next room.
She sat back down and buried her face in her hands.
Her life wasn't just changing.
It was splitting open.
And she didn't understand why.
---
The Third Time — The First Words
It happened on a windy Sunday evening.
Elin was walking home from the grocery shop. The sky was turning orange, the air felt heavy, and her bag full of vegetables swung at her side.
She felt the dizziness creeping up again.
She stopped walking.
> "No… not now…"
Her vision blurred.
The air around her thickened.
And then —
he appeared right in front of her on the street.
So suddenly she almost bumped into him.
He didn't disappear this time.
He didn't flicker.
He looked real — painfully real.
He stared at her like she was the reason he was having a miserable day.
And said sharply:
> "Again? Seriously?! Why am I HERE?"
Elin froze.
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
> "WHAT— why are you here?!"
He scoffed, annoyed.
> "Don't ask me! I was busy with something and suddenly— BOOM — I'm dragged to this random road because of you."
She blinked. Hard.
> "ME?? Why would I drag you anywhere?!"
He pointed at her angrily.
> "Because every time YOU get dizzy, I end up here. In this stupid place."
She felt heat rise in her face.
> "My dizziness has NOTHING to do with your existence!"
He stepped closer, narrowing his eyes.
> "Then stop doing whatever you're doing."
She glared.
> "I'm literally just living my life!!"
They stood in the middle of the road arguing like two idiots — one visible only to her.
He clicked his tongue, annoyed.
> "I hate this. I hate being pulled here."
> "Then stop coming!"-Elin
> "STOP PULLING ME!"
Before she could scream back, his body glitched violently.
He groaned in frustration—
> "Ugh—not again—"
And disappeared.
Right in front of her eyes.
Elin stood alone on the road, breathing heavily.
People passed by her without noticing anything.
She whispered:
> "This… this is really happening."
Her world wasn't normal anymore.
And neither was she.