The Benefit Of Being A Nobody
The most impactful thing about me is that I leave almost no impact. I’m not using the word nobody as a pejorative, such as how some people will synonymize it with being called a loser. I’m just stating the fact that I don’t matter. There’s nothing remarkable, good or bad, about me. Aside from family members or people I happen to associate with often, everyone always seems to forget about me.
Ask anyone from my old high school or even some ex-co-workers of mine and they’ll mostly respond with “Who?” when my name is brought up. Everything about me is average from my height to my looks to even my actions. My grades always sat at passing but were never excelling. Outside of marking me present, teachers hardly ever acknowledged me. Sure, I’d be picked sometimes if I happened to be raising my hand for a question.
However, I’d never be called on. For the first seventeen years of my life, I viewed my unnoticeably as a curse. I tried all I could think of to get noticed, asking people if they wanted to hang out, starting a club, and even running for class president. None of that worked. Now, I don’t want to give the wrong impression.
This didn’t depress so much as frustrate me. I wondered why no matter what I attempted could I not get noticed. Then it happened during my last year of high school. I should mention at this point that there were two students who were the antithesis of me. Their names were Jacob and Kevin and I happened to share some classes with them.
It wasn’t a secret that they weren’t very fond of each other. As a matter of fact, they had a grudge going back since middle school, at least from what I heard. For what reason, I don’t know. What I did is that when it came to gaining the upper hand over each other, they’d try anything, from rumors to even vandalism.
More often than not, fights would break out between the two. Despite all this, they remained popular among their peers. As it turned out, though, their rivalry would cost them greatly. What does this have to do with me? Well, I was an observer of sorts to the cost that they paid.
It was one I thought I would be a part of. Now they happened to live relatively close to me. As a matter of fact, they were within walking distance of me. I happened to have a part-time job and would walk home when my shifts were over. Usually, this would be at night and I’d cut through the woods in order to get home faster.
One night, I was on my way home when I overheard two familiar voices. Jacob and Kevin were also in the woods that night. Naturally, I was curious as to why these supposed rivals were alone together. I didn’t want them to see me so I made sure to stay far enough away.
“I can’t believe I actually let you talk me into coming out here,” Jacob said.
“I don’t like this any more than you do but can you think of any other way to settle things?”
“No. How do you know this is going to work, though?”
“Because of this.”
Kevin held up a medallion. Although it was hard to tell only having moon and starlight for visibility. It seemed to be made of gold. Both of them were also carrying their backpacks.
“What’s this supposed to do?” Jacob asked, turning it over while inspecting it.
“It’s for the game,” Kevin replied.
“Game?”
“Yep. Did you bring it?”
Both unslung their backpacks. From his, Jacob pulled out the trophy he won being on the basketball team. Kevin pulled out his football trophy. These were the main things they used as taunting points.
“Now place it on the ground across from mine,” Kevin instructed, placing his trophy down.
Jacob did as told. Then Kevin, using a stick, began drawing something in the dirt.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“This won’t take long. When it starts, none of us can leave.”
“When what starts?”
“You’ll see in just a moment.”
Having finished drawing, Kevin then placed his medallion between their trophies and began chanting something.
Jacob observed this with some amusement. I guess he figured that if whatever Kevin was doing didn’t work, he could at least enjoy him making a fool of himself. I didn’t share this sentiment. Instead, I got a bad feeling. I wanted to tell Jacob to stop but by then it was too late. I knew this when the temperature changed.
“Hey, why did it get so cold all of the sudden?”
That was a severe understatement. Only moments ago the weather had been warm. Now it was chilling.
“That means it’s working,” Kevin explained. “Now like I said you can’t leave or else we’ll both be in danger.”
“What? You never mentioned that.”
Jacob grabbed Kevin by his shirt. The latter seemed afraid, not of him, however. Something was coming toward them.
“Do not speak to them unless they speak to you.”
Before Jacob could ask for clarification, someone came out of the woods. This person, who could hardly be classified as such, was incredibly tall. I’d say they were over eight feet. They towered over Jacob and Kevin who were already at sizeable heights themselves. A dark and worn robe covered them.
“What the fuck is this thing?” I wondered.
I found it to be so disturbing because of how old it appeared. Only their hands and feet were visible and they looked ancient. Mummified would be the right word to describe them. They had the appearance of always aging yet never rotting away. As it approached Jacob and Kevin, I hoped to Christ it wouldn’t notice me.
“How many players are there?” They asked.
Their voice was so hoarse it was impossible that determining their sex was impossible.
“Two,” Kevin replied to them in a shaky voice.
Jacob seemed ready to pass out on the spot and I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way.
“Then we can begin. Who will go first?”
What occurred next was this person asking them a series of deeply personal questions. For the sake of respecting their privacy, I am choosing not to list them or their answers here. The only one I will mention is the last one.
“So far you two seem to be of equal value given the guidelines you’ve set for yourselves. However, you two have made a grave error.”
“What?” Kevin asked in a panicked voice. “No, we did everything right.”
“Then answer this. How many players are there?”
“Two.”
“I detect no deception in your answer. Unfortunately, though, it is incorrect.”
At that, my heart dropped.
“There are three,” they said, holding up three bony fingers.
Kevin’s eyes grew wide.
“What does that mean?” Jacob asked him.
“That can’t be,” Kevin said, ignoring his question. “We’re the only ones here.”
At that point, I considered running. However, since I was technically a player that meant the rules of the game would apply to me.
“No,” they said to him. “There is an observer nearby.”
They turned in my direction, looking directly at me.
“Reveal yourself.”
Not wanting to but knowing that disobeying wouldn’t be wise, I stepped into view. They were, even more, disturbing up close.
“You,” Kevin said to me.
“Do you two know him?”
“He goes to the same school as us.”
“Were you listening the whole time?” They asked me.
“I was curious,” I replied in a shaky voice. “I know I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
“This is a problem. Although unintentionally, one of the rules of the game has been broken.”
Jacob and Kevin glared at me.
“But fear not. I can be lenient. How well do you know him?”
“We share some classes with him.”
“Then what I ask you next will determine if you two or he will leave these woods alive. Is that understood?”
We just nodded. Then they pointed at me.
“What is his name?”
“This is it. I’m done for.” I thought,
To my surprise, though, Jacob and Kevin were struggling with the answer.
“Give us another question,” Kevin said.
“You said you know him. Therefore, this question should be easy for you.”
“We never said we knew him that well.”
“Then you should have specified that. Now answer. You only have ten seconds left.”
They each blurted out a name.
“Are either of them correct?”
I shook my head. They tried running but found they were unable to.
“Why can’t I move?” Jacob asked, trying desperately to.
It was as if he and Kevin were both glued in place. With a snap of the robed one’s fingers, they both lost their ability to speak.
“You leave almost no impression. Correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you see this as a detriment?”
I thought about it for a moment.
“I used to.”
They just gave me a nod. Then turned to Jacob and Kevin, pulling down the hood of their robe as they did.
I was viewing the back of their head at this point. It was only a mass of writhing shapes underneath leathery skin that I could hear moving. I knew then that this person was far older than I could comprehend.
“The punishment must be delivered.”
What happened next was so disturbing that I suspect if I had been viewing it from Jacob and Kevin’s perspective, it would have left me forever incoherent. Their head split apart. It sounded so dry. If my eyes had been closed I would have been unable to distinguish it from a piece of paper being ripped in half. I wish I thought to close them.
If I had it would’ve saved me a lot of mental anguish. Since I didn’t think to, I’m writing this down as a form of catharsis. What burst from their head were long shadowy tentacles. Seeing them hurt my eyes because they appeared to be shadows yet they somehow had a solid presence. They stretched towards my former classmates, enveloping them along with their backpacks and trophies.
If they could have screamed, I think everyone in our neighborhoods who were outside at the time would’ve been able to hear them. They were pulled into the tall person’s head by these tentacles.
“What are you?”
They didn’t answer at first. When they did, their reply disturbed me almost as much as what I had just seen.
“I can’t remember.”
They walked deeper into the woods, vanishing from my sight. When they were gone, I leaned against a tree breathing heavily. As I was catching my breath, I caught the glint of something. Kevin’s medallion had been left behind. Search parties tried finding him and Jacob for months.
I felt bad that their efforts would be in vain and that I was partially responsible for their fates. I took the medallion home with me. I found that there was one carving on each side of it. One contained the face of presumably the tall one. The other had an eye carved into it.
Seeing this made me relieved I never saw their true face. I still have the medallion. Sometimes, I’ll stare at and reflect on that night and what saved my life. I don’t see it as a curse anymore. In fact, I’m glad to have it.
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