What would you do, if nobody could see you? -Intellectual Shaman

The madness was in Henry’s brain, like a rat trying to gnaw its way out. For most of his life, he had nothing to lose, and now he had lost it all. He couldn’t admire himself in the mirror anymore. He hated himself.

He was see-through, transparent, and ugly. His character was on display.

He wasn’t the placebo group, and when he tried to leave the sleep study, he couldn’t.

When the doctors came to check-up on him, he slit their throats with a scalpel. Before the study, he wasn’t homicidal. He just acted on the thoughts that were in the dark recesses of his brain, like delinquent children that finally came-in from recess, and they weren’t happy with their teacher, and they carried baseball bats.

Henry lived alone, but since he became the invisible man, he was spending more time with people. His favorite hobby was to go to the beach, and grope the women in bikinis. When he got bored with that, he went swimming, and coming out of the water was like being the creature from the blue lagoon. It took 30 seconds to evaporate on a hot day, which was just enough time to scare the suburban moms, until they realized it was only a rape fantasy from their cheap paperbacks. They picked-up their Danielle Steel, and kept reading under their beach umbrellas.

Since the transformation into shadow, Henry had tried shoplifting, but it wasn’t a thrill because there was no chance of getting caught. He had to steal, just to eat.

Nobody would employ someone they couldn’t see.

It could be the perfect job. “No, really boss—I’m there. You can’t see me working, but I’m there.”

It’s impossible to wait on customers, pick-up girls, or negotiate with pedestrians on the sidewalk when nobody can see you. All of the normal social interactions become selfish.

Henry didn’t wait for anybody; if a pedestrian got in his way, he just bowled them over; and as for getting satisfaction with a woman, he still read Playboy—he wasn’t going to take that next step, just yet.

It would be like stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, and crossing over.

His shadow was larger than it had ever been before, like a storm cloud. Henry, the actor, was gone. Henry, who was always smiling like the sun, always courteous, was no more.

Now, the shadow smiled.

To be continued…