Footprints

   It was a blustery wintery morning, and I was walking along the trail behind my house when something made me look behind me and I noticed something strange. I wasn't leaving any footprints.  

   “What the hell?” I asked myself.

   This stumped me, I wasn't a small man, I should have been leaving footprints, but there were none behind me. I took a few more steps and watched, but no footprints appeared. I thought of going back to my house to see if I could figure out what was wrong, but as I lived alone, I didn’t see the point, I could think just as well out where I was as I could at home. Instead, I decided to take the short walk into town and find my friend Danny. He was good at finding information, there was nothing he couldn't find on the internet. I know not everything on there is reliable, but he was skilled at finding information from credible sources.

   As I got into town, I passed the mailman, Paul, out for his daily deliveries, and I waved at him. He just kept walking like he hadn't seen me, but he was probably just watching for ice under the snow and wasn't paying attention to anyone around him. After Paul was passed me, I realized that still didn’t seem right, he always noticed the people around him, even when it looked like he was living in another world. A block later, I saw Barb, the wife of the owner of the restaurant I went to when I chose to eat out.

   “Hi Barb,” I said as I waved at her, but she kept walking like she hadn't seen me.  This was strange, as she was looking right at me, and was always so friendly. My brow furrowed as I pondered why she might ignore me, but nothing came to mind, I was always so polite and friendly when I talked to her.

   I finally got to Danny's house, having passed a few people I knew. All of them acted like they didn't see me, even though I made sure to say hi as I went by. With each person appearing to not see me, I grew more puzzled. I knew I was an odd duck in town, I was the only person who lived in the bush year-round, but no one ever bothered me about it, and everyone was always so friendly to me when they saw me. I knocked on Danny's door to let him know I was there, but it sounded muffled and a bit off. Being best friends, we always just walked into each other's houses, the knock was just so we knew someone was there. The door seemed locked when I went to open it, but it shouldn't have been, I had seen Danny through the window as I walked past, and he never locked his door when he was home. I went to try the back door and had the same problem, the sound of my knocking was muffled, like I had cotton in my ears. Finally, I decided to try banging on his living room window. Again, the sound was muffled, like I was a few rooms away, and Danny, who was sitting maybe three feet from the window, didn't react. This puzzled me, while Danny was laid back, he would have gotten up to see who was banging on the window, anyone would have, but it was like he didn't hear it. I tried again while looking directly at him, and, again, it was muffled, and he didn’t even blink at the sound, he just kept working on his computer like nothing had happened.

   More puzzled now than before, I started walking around town, trying to think about what was wrong. I passed more people I knew, and I got right up in front of them and yelled at them, but they all acted like I wasn't right there making a lot of noise. Finally, I came across Mary, the owner of the small donut shop, and Marge, who worked at the grocery store, talking.

   “...it's really strange,” Mary was saying as I got close enough to hear, and her voice had a bit of an echo to it, like I was listening to her from the end of a long tunnel. I was starting to worry that there was something wrong with my hearing, and I made a mental note to call my doctor when I got home.

   “You're right, it is, he's usually been by for groceries by now, but I haven't seen him in a few days,” Marge said.

   “I know, he always stops in for a coffee and an apple fritter, but I haven't seen him either, and it’s not like him to stay home for this long,” Mary said.

   “Does Danny know what happened to him? Maybe he went on vacation,” Marge said.

   “I asked him when he stopped in earlier, and he hasn't seen Jim in a while either,” Mary said, and my jaw dropped, because I realized that they were talking about me.

   “I'm right here,” I said, but they seemed to not hear me, so I stepped right where they could see me and waved my arms, but they didn’t see me.

   As the women continued talking, I wandered away, perplexed. I normally came into town at least every two or three days, sometimes even daily, but from what I had heard of the conversation, no one had seen me for longer than that, and, even though I was standing right in front of them, they acted as if I wasn't there. I saw a newspaper machine and stopped to look at it like I always did, and was shocked to see that it was January 20. When I looked at my calendar that morning, it had been January 13. I decided to go back home after all, to see if I could find any answers there.

   As  I approached my house, I saw the door open and thought that was strange, I always made sure the door was closed and locked when I went out, even if it was only supposed to be for a short walk, I never knew when the urge to go into town for a coffee would strike. As I walked into my living room, it was a complete disaster, someone had gone through my house and trashed it. I had been robbed, I noticed a few things that were missing, like my tv and stereo, a good portion of my movie collection, even the stuffed raccoon holding a beer can that I had found at a flea market the previous summer. As I walked through the house, I made sure to take note of what was missing so I could make a police report later. As I entered the kitchen, I saw a body on the floor with a knife sticking out of its chest and a red stain around it, which I finally realized was dried blood. I walked closer to see who it was and stopped dead. Literally dead. The world stopped for me, quite literally, as the body on the floor was me, and I finally realized why everyone acted like they couldn't see me. They couldn't see me, for the same reason I hadn't left footprints in the snow. I was dead.