Being Human Again

Today was no different from any other day for Mike, that halls he wandered were long since abandoned, not that it made much of a difference to him really. It had become a preference of his to spend time by his lonesome, it made him depressed to be around people and know he could never have the chance to speak or interact with them.

That was the thing about being a ghost, people didn't see you, didn't acknowledge your existence, and if they did, it wasn't the kind of reaction Mike wanted from them. Before he well-died Mike was always described as being 'the life of the party', he didn't handle isolation well. It was needless to say that he found the last few years spent as a ghost to be rather dreadful and dreary.

Having time to think about it, Mike realized he had missed out on so much in his life, he just wasted it away drinking and partying. There was so much more he should have done or devoted his time to, now he just couldn't fight the overwhelming feeling that he was a waste. Needless to say that he had become somewhat of a downer, not that anyone could really blame him.

Sighing, Mike shook his head, he didn't like feeling this way, so empty. If those who had cared for him before could see him now, they'd shake their heads in disappointment at what he had become. Turning to shift through the wall, he entered the room he found himself spending the most time in. It must have been something of a sun room back in its time. Windows surrounded him and took up a majority of the room. It allowed for sunlight to stream in and engulf the room. He liked to stand in the center of it all, almost like his own personal spotlight, but it had been some time since he could feel its warmth.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Mike called as he pulled himself into a sitting position in the middle of the room. If this was how he was supposed to spend the rest of eternity, he was in for a long afterlife. If he wasn't already dead, he'd be wishing he was right now. "Fuck it all."

He wasn't sure how long it was that he had been sitting there, but it was long enough for night to pass by and the sun to start to resurface again. It'd been several hours spent moping over the time he was losing, his family and friends were still out there, living their lives and getting to do all the things he couldn't. He'd spent some time around them after he died, but that quickly grew more painful than staying away from them.

Rising to his feet, he turned to leave the room, the windows no longer providing use to him now that the sun had gone down. However, instead of just passing through like he normally would have, he collided face first with the hard wood.

"What the shit?" He murmured under his breath, harshly rubbing at the spot on his forehead that had taken the most damage. Once the realization of what had happened sunk in, he hesitantly reached his hand out, recoiling it quickly as he felt them press against the coolness of the door. "This can't be."

Believing that perhaps he had just been imagining it from all his wishful thinking, he went to move through once again, slower this time, but his body still met with the door. Now he was really confused, reaching his hand out, he grabbed the door know and turned it. It opened with ease and revealed the hallway to him.

Mike didn't understand what was happening, he hadn't been able to open a door since he died those years ago. Could it be possible? No, he was just being ridiculous and over hopeful. People didn't just come back to life, at least not after being dead for as long as he had, it just wasn't how things worked. People died and they stayed dead, that's it. Yet, Mike was experiencing something really unusual right now. There was only one way to determine if this was really happening to him.

Puling open the front door, he took a deep breath before steeping through the threshold that separated the inside of the house and the outside world. It almost brought him to tears to feel the tingling and warming sensation of the sunlight touching his skin. There were a few moments that he passed just standing there letting it reach the very core of his being.

"This can't be real." If this was just some kind of elaborate vision that he was conjuring up in his mind, he hoped that it would keep on for just a bit more.

Deciding he had been standing around for long enough, he set off into the busy early morning rush. At first, he was just walking among them, not really given any reason for his presence there to be noticed, he decided that he needed to see if he was right. Shifting slightly to the right, he moved in the way of a woman who appeared to be in a rush. Normally, she'd move right through him with no problem, but her smaller form collided with his taller one.

"Watch it, moron." She barked, shuffling past him without another word. Despite her harsh tone and rude words, Mike's face broke out into a large smile. People could see him, feel him, interact with him. He had managed to start over, by whatever miracle it had happened, he was grateful for it.

His stomach gave an obnoxious growl, reminding Mike of something that being alive again meant he had to do, eat. Not having eaten in quite some time, Mike wasn't sure what he even liked anymore. Though, he was more than willing to find out again, so he decided to stop in the first place he found.

"Ah fuck." He cursed, this time walking straight into the wall of the restaurant. It was going to take some time for him to get reacquainted with having a solid body.

"Are you alright, man?" A soft voice asked from beside him, "You kind of just walked into that wall." Mike turned to see who the new voice belonged to. It was a guy, a rather attractive one at that, and he was staring at him with a serious facial expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been doing that a lot today." He explained, as if that was going to make his situation seem any less strange to the new face. The guy seemed to only eye him closer after this statement, like he was debating just leaving him there and never looking back.

"Hangover?" It was a simply question, one that before Mike would nod without a single thought. That wasn't the case this time around, but it wasn't like he could explain what had happened to him this morning.

"No, I just haven't been outside in a while." Giving a soft chuckle after, he hoped it would appear as if he was only joking with the other. This was the first conversation he had with someone in quite some time, and it seemed like it was going well.

That impression was only confirmed when the other male smiled at him, it was a faint smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I get the same feeling sometimes, though, I've never really walked into a wall because of it." His tone was still serious, but his face was indicating otherwise. "Were you trying to go inside by any chance?"

"Yeah, I was actually." Mike nodded, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "As you can see it didn't go so well for me. What about you, were you heading inside too?"

"I work here, I was showing up for my shift when I saw you. Figured you might be on drugs, or just really weird, but seems you were just a little misguided." The other let out a quiet chuckle, "So want me to show you how to get in?"