Rob rounded the corner with pumping nerves, but came to a stamping stop. There was not to be a chase after all. The girl was only a block away, and she was sitting on top of a lamp post, calmly sipping a cup of tea. Perhaps she didn't think she was being chased. Perhaps the only reason she'd been provoked to scale skyscrapers and dive over streets of traffic was because she'd been in a hurry. Now she was the perfect picture of relaxation--besides the fact that she was sitting on a lamp post. She gave no consideration to the throngs of people who passed by on the sidewalk below, and they, in return, seemed not to see her.

And this was why it took Rob a moment to get her attention.

"Whatcha doin' down there?" asked the girl.

Rob nearly burst with laughter. "What a question for someone to ask while sitting on a lamp post," he said. "I'd like to ask you, what you are doing up there? And actually, as a matter of fact, why you're explaining that, you might as well let me know why you scaled those buildings back there."

The girl gave him a concerned glare. "You've got a lot of nerve standing on the sidewalk like that," she said.

"Why?" Rob exclaimed. "What nerve does it take to stand down here?"

"You might get hit," the girl said plainly.

Rob's head vibrated back and forth out of pure amazement. "Are you nuts?" he asked. "You're joking right?"

From this exclamation, a few people finally turned their attention to Rob. The girl seemed not to notice. It was probably because she was so used to weird stares, thought Rob. Except these people, were giving very weird stares only to Rob.

"You're paranoid of getting hit by a car while on a sidewalk, and yet you scale large buildings without a pause of fear?"

The girl gave him an evil glare. "I wasn't talking about cars, you idiot."

"What would possibly hit me?" he asked.

And then he was hit. The man who'd bumped him went stumbling a few paces before regaining his balance. The girl on the lamp post cringed.

"Sorry," the man said in a confused voice. "I completely didn't see you."

Rob said it was quite alright, but then hastily threw his gaze back to the girl who had begun to yelp as soon as the passerby had spoken.

Her eyes were goggling, and a single finger was pointing at Rob in horror. "Are you one of them?" she squealed.

"Who?" demanded Rob.

"That man!--He apologized to you!"

"Yes...What? Do people not apologize much to you?" Rob laughed, feeling not for this crazed woman's feelings. "I could imagine that, come to think of it."

"You are one of them," she breathed. "Bloody hell..."

Rob, who was not so comfortable with being goggled at, tried to defend his dignity by getting his mind straight. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he cried.

But from this sudden outcry, came a certain amount of embarrassment too. Rob glanced from side to side. What would people think of him conversing with this strange lady on the lamp post?

Rob let his jaw drop. Not a soul was noticing him. He turned back to the girl. "What's happening?" he asked.

"Look out!" was all she said.

Rob quickly sidestepped onto the curb as a large woman with a stroller moved on past. "Hello!" he cried. The woman seemed not to hear him. He turned back to the woman.

"This cannot be happening," she said.

"Tell me about it," Rob replied.

"If you're one of them, then how come you can see me?"

"Ha, well, you're kind of obvious, seeing as how you're sitting on a lamp post."

"If you're one of them, then how come you almost got hit by that stroller?"

"I beg your pardon?" asked Rob. "That woman was clearly not paying attention."

"Are you one of them or not?" she demanded in a fright.

"One of them? What? Normal?"

The girl scowled. "Where do you live?" she asked.

"I'm not telling you that," scoffed Rob. The last thing he wanted was to bring this strange girl home with him.

"Well what do you 'do' then?"

"I work in that office building just there," he said. "I'm a sales associate."

The girl gave him a heavy stare. "You're not even bloody lying are you?"

"Why would I lie about something like that?" asked Rob. "If I was going to lie, I'd say I was a wealthy traveler who lives on a yacht."

The girl hopped down from the lamp post, landing on the curb without a sound. "This is all wrong," she said. "There's something wrong with you!"

"With me?" cried Rob. "I think I am least likely to be the cause of all this...this...weirdness!"

"Mmm, weirdness. Good word."

Rob was not impressed. "I have no answers for you. Why don't you explain your side of the coin."

The girl sighed. "Listen," she said. "You're not supposed to see me because I'm invisible."

Rob paused. "Um," he said.

"Yes," the girl repeated, and then she sighed. "We can't be having this conversation," she said. "You're just going to have to ditch your curiosity and run back to your own world. Otherwise, I'm going to pull you out of it for good."

"And into..? Into your world? For heaven's sake, that's cause for me to run like heck if whatever you've caught is contagious!"

The girl nodded. "Good. So be it. Run on back and surround yourself with friends and family. If you see anyone...odd...ignore them."

But after this, Rob paused. Was this girl linked to all the other peculiar events he'd been experiencing lately? Suddenly his curiosity was unbearable. "No," he said. "I have to know."

And then he paused. But what if he got pulled into all this and was entangled somehow? He paused again. No. This was too ridiculous to try using logic. He'd have to trust his instincts. Currently, ninety-five percent of his instincts were consumed by curiosity.

"Tell me everything," he said.

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Tales like this are just plain foolish, I'm looking round a little bordish, Yet I swear I saw that moose head talking, And that bird there, I swear was squawking.

excerpt from Well wasn't this a waste of time?   by jellytots