Pg. 2

Have you ever wanted to disappear so badly you could envision what the world would be like without you? Have you ever been more than convinced that you were invisible and it didn't matter?

Have you ever thought how nice it would be to be needed?

Elenore. She's the beginning of hte story. And she needed me. At first, she really needed me. And no one else did.

My best friend, Mary, she didn't need me. She'd developed her own life, she'd been sent to a special school, one that she didn't like to talk about. One that I eventually stopped asking about. She was jealous of Elenore and Elenore was jealous of her, but they were never really rivals. First Mary was clearly more important, then suddenly it was Elenore.

Elenore noticed me only because she noticed Aaron. He was able to do that to people, make them notice him. I think that's why he was so easy to follow and why no one noticed I was doing it. Everyone followed Aaron. And I wasn't too noticeable.

Elenore would grill me, questions about Aaron. What he liked, what he did, what he thought. She was trying to prise information from me about him, and I would give the barest possible, just to get her to leave me alone. I thought if she felt she knew something she'd go away.

She didn't. Not then, anyhow.

Aaron couldn't stand Elenore. "How can you look her in the eye and not laugh?" he'd ask me. And he was right. She was too tall, too thin, too blonde, too ridiculous. She was like a long stalk of corn, looking for the most interesting breeze to bend to. She was gullible and dull, and everything we mocked when we were alone.

Aaron liked to sit in the dark with me and ask me things about Elenore. "What does she talk about?"

"You." I could feel him smile. Aaron liked to be talked about.

"What about me?"

"She'd like me to explain to her how to make you kidnap her and haev your way with her." He'd laugh, then reach over and make me do things that didn't involve kissing.

"Does he talk about me?" She'd ask.

"Yes." More than I liked, but not in the way that she wanted.

"Can I have him?" She knew. Somehow, she knew what we did. She'd look at me and I could tell that she knew what we were doing in the dark, when no one else, not even me, knew what we were doing.

"If he'll have you, you're welcome to him."

This always made him laugh.

"You promised me to her...?"

And of course, one day she got him. And he kissed her. But that was all she'd let him do. Once she caught you, she learned to run. Once he'd kissed her, he forgot about not kissing me. And so I was stuck with Elenore.

After a while, her name degenerated. She went from Elenore to Lenore to Nor with such grace it soon seemed that she'd never had a full name, only the abbreviations I made up for her. I made them up and other people believed and used them. That was one of my powers. People didn't look at me, but they listened and I could make them believe. In a bag of powers such as I've got, it's a good one to keep to hand.

And so, although this story starts with Aaron, it's only a way to lead us to Nor, to show you what happened when I knew her. And to show you what I let happen when I thought I was safe.