Washington Isn’t Real

Washington woke up late. He rushed into the bathroom to get ready, and he looked into the mirror, but he saw nothing. He had no reflection, but Washington didn't react. It was as if he didn't notice he had no reflection. He brushed his teeth and got dressed, collected his homework and laptop, and grabbed his bike.

As he rode down the road, he came to an empty intersection. Washington took a left, and suddenly someone on their bike rode up to Washington, followed by another, and another. Before he knew it, there were 5 other kids on their bikes next to him. They were all his friends, Alex, Bret, Carlos, Daniel, and Emmett.

"What's up Frank!" One of his friends cheerfully greeted him. Frank obviously isn't Washington's name, but it was his last name. All his friends called him by his last name. Washington wasn't quite sure how this started, but once it did, it stuck.

Washington gave a fake smile. "Nothing much! How about you?"

"I'm doing good."

Washington relaxed his face back into a neutral expression as soon as the exchange was over. When they arrived to school, they all locked their bikes right next to each other, and made their way into the campus. It was quite a cold day, so naturally everyone was wearing a hooded jacket, or sweatshirt. Washington saw Alex run up to Emmett and hoodie him, pulling his hoodie over his eyes and running away. Emmett chased after Alex. Washington who watched this all unfold, ran up to Carlos as Alex had done, and hoodied him as well, and took off. Washington arrived to class, and Carlos finally caught up to him as he sat down. Alex and Emmett were also already seated. Carlos ran up to Washington and hoodied him back, only to be yelled at by the teacher. All Washington's friends laughed, so he laughed as well, but it wasn't real. He didn't actually find it funny, but he laughed anyway. He needed to fit in after all.

Washington sat up straight in his chair. He was prepared for the class to start, but his friends were all giving each other funny stares. Washington wanted to join in on the funny stares, so with a blank expression, he just stared down Brett, eye contact and all. This succeeded in making Brett Laugh, but it was more of a nervous laugh instead of laughing at something that was funny, even Washington could understand this.

The teacher started the roll call, calling everyone in alphabetical order. Eventually, she arrived to Washington's name. "Washington" she called out. He raised his hand up high for all to see. He was Washington.

After class ended, Washington's friends ran outside, and Washington followed. They sat down at a bench in the hall and took out their phones. Washington stared at his blank screen, not knowing exactly what to do. He peeked at Brett's phone, seeing that he was just scrolling through Twitter. Washington opened twitter to see all his friends posting random stuff. Washington posted a picture of his cat just to contribute to the posting. Washington opened one of his friends posts. It was a meme. Alex had responded to it with a simple laughing emoji, so Washington posted a random emoji, just clicking on the emoji that caught his eye first.

"Hey Frank, why did you-" one of his friends said, but Washington filtered out the words past "Hey Frank."

Washington put away his phone and watched all the other kids walking along the hall past them. He began to feel tired, exhausted, although nothing had happened. He felt stress beyond what he had ever felt before.

"Sorry." Washington said. "I'll be right back."

Washington went to the nurses office. His head hurt, he felt sick, and he just wanted to go home. He allowed to go home, so he unlocked his bike, and rode it all the way home.

He entered the house and went straight to the bathroom. We ran in and closed the door, but he was afraid to turn around, but he did anyway. He slowly turned his body towards the mirror. He saw no one in the mirror. He wasn't there. Washington ran his hands down his body making sure he was there. He looked at his hands, and he could see them, but he had no reflection.

Washington let himself slide down the door and sit on the door, all curled up. He started to break down as he realized something. He had known it for a while now, but he had never acknowledged it before.

Washington isn't real.

Written by: HorrorsUnknown