Being a ghost obviously does not involve hovering above the ground, much less flying. I know, it's silly that the first thing I did after I sort of came to terms with being a ghost was try to fly. However, the ability to hover would very practically solve one of my problems. I am not at all sure what will happen if I bump into something. And I'd rather not even think about what would happen if I bumped into someone.

Ghosts in cheap movies (no, we certainly don't have a box full of them at home and we don't watch them every weekend with our younger siblings) can usually move objects around or talk to non-ghosts. Thinking of them as "alive" still feels... unusual. It's as if I'm clearly admitting that I'm no longer among the living. At least not one hundred percent.

One hundred percent alive people are not faded.

A rather silly thought suddenly pops into my head. Yes, maybe no one sees me like this, but maybe... The gears start turning in my head, and I look around the classroom. The walls are painted an appalling light green, the benches are inscribed with messages from those who sat there before us, and apart from a blackboard, a sink and posters on the walls, there is nothing spectacular. An ordinary physics classroom, but nothing normal will happen today. I step out - can it be called walking if I am immaterial? - towards the yellowed sink, above which a small mirror is hung. That's fine. Those who don't try don't know.

I lean forward and am surprised to see myself. I am there! Defy the laws of physics because I can see my reflection. I make a face at mirror Kim.

I feel too satisfied. You know that feeling when you climb into a tub full of warm water after a hard day, or like when you enter a jacuzzi? This was similar. A hypnotic, intoxicating happiness that came from no one knows where. Why even think about it? Maybe I can forget all this. So what if I'm a ghost? Now everything is OK... I lean even closer to the mirror, and the feeling of happiness only gets stronger. What if I touch it? I lean my head forward, and the tip of my nose approaches the reflecting surface...

Someone's hand lands on my shoulder and pushes me backwards. I don't have time to react from the surprise, and I fall to the ground. The artificial happiness is gone, and instead I see a really pissed off Sofia West face. She puts her hands on her hips, throws her red braid over her shoulders and narrows her eyes angrily. "What did you think?" he glares at me and I have no idea what to say.

How come he sees me? And how come she literally pushed me away from the mirror when I'm literally out of thin air? And what does he do here after school? Questions are piling up in my head, but I don't have time to ask any of them because Sofia continues.

"How did you think of looking in the mirror? You can't even imagine the danger mirrors pose to ghosts!"

"For ghosts," I repeat after her, mentally slapping myself. Why do I have to act like an idiot at the very moment when something is happening? Another question I'm adding to my fictional list of unanswered questions.

,,Exactly. For ghosts," she repeats. "That's what you are, if it didn't click for you."

"Of course it clicked for me! I'm not absolutely stupid," I retort, and stand up.

"I'm beginning to doubt that," Sofia remarks. I manage to keep my mouth shut by force of will. I don't understand why she, but she obviously doesn't have as much chaos in things as I do. And she thinks I'm completely stupid. And in this verbal exchange she said more than in the entire school year combined. These little observations are really useless to me now, so instead I ask, ``What's this supposed to mean?'' It's definitely not an ideal question, and it sounded even dumber than I thought it would. I don't even know why, but I'm starting to feel really awkward in front of Sofia.

Sofia takes a deep breath and starts in an official tone. "You, Kim Wales, died today. Umh, my condolences. Anyway, as you've probably noticed, you're not dead. You're a ghost, which means now we need to get to a... place as soon as possible where they'll explain it all to you and, well, um..." She gets more nervous with each sentence, until finally she just stops and turns red. I've never seen Sofia showing any kind of emotion, so to speak, and seeing her at least as red as her hair is... well, embarrassing.

As embarrassing as the silence that falls between us. For a few seconds that seem like an eternity, we just stand there, drowning in our own embarrassment. I'm grateful in my heart that when you're a ghost you obviously can't deny yourself, and Sofia starts to rock on her tiptoes. But suddenly she stops, and the old familiar impenetrable mask falls on her face. "Let's go. We don't have time. Brace yourself - the next few minutes are probably going to be very weird, and right now you probably have a lot of questions... but I don't have the answers to them. Let's go."

With this not-so-motivating encouragement, she turns on her heel and marches out of the classroom. I hesitate for a moment, but then I go after her. I've long since lost track of what's absolutely crazy, so I could use some explanation.