Kai was awakened by the shrill beeping of his digital alarm clock. The clock read 6:30. It did not inform him of the cloudy weather. Kai slammed a hand over it to shut it off and rolled over in his bed, groaning. Like millions of others, he dreaded facing another monotonous day at work. Also like those millions, he promised himself-  Just five more minutes, he mumbled to nothing or no one in particular. He drifted off, allowing himself 5 minutes more of indulgence in his warm sheets, protecting him from the inevitable madness he would have to face that day.

Just 5 minutes is a very commonly spoken lie. Like millions of others, the 5 minutes had turned into 30 without realisation. Kai found himself springing right out of bed and straight into the bathroom, cursing himself for having overslept and shuddering at the thought of the lecture he’d probably receive for punctuality. No time for breakfast he internally groaned at himself. He’d have to make do with a cheap pasty from a small shop near the Underground Station. Luckily, the pasties around Stockwell were always fresh and had some kind of flavour to them (really, the only flavour was of the strong cheddar in the cheese pasties). Stockwell Underground Station also didn’t have many people frequenting it, since it wasn’t one of the more tourist-attractive places but the trains were always choked during the morning and peak hours, filled with people who were mostly bleary-eyed and had music leaking out of their earphones in an attempt to keep them awake and alleviate the boredom.

The Victoria Line only had 5 stops northbound till Kai reached Oxford Street, where he had to change lines to get the Eastbound Central Line to Tottenham Court Road, which gave him 20 minutes to wolf down his “breakfast” and make himself look atleast mildly presentable after. He had been rather rude to the person at the till by just grabbing a pasty and slamming a pound coin down on the counter before bustling out without a word. By the time he reached Tottenham Court Road, it was 8:50, 10 minutes after the time Kai usually arrived, but still early enough to not be considered outright late. Maybe I won’t be in trouble after all he thought with a slight smile to himself. The street was mercifully not crowded like it would be later in the day and Kai sighed, the morning air hitting his skin and making him feel refreshed. He wasn’t looking forward to his 7 hour shift at the small Korean restaurant he worked at. But then, Kai thought, who actually enjoyed their job? He sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t started the day and he already felt worn.

He pushed the door open with his slightly rough hands and stepped in. The walls were covered in polaroids of happy customers which added life to restaurant which would have otherwise looked really plain. The small tables were organised pretty neatly for a fairly cramped space. Another employee was starting up the cash machine.

“’Morning”, he muttered through his ground teeth. The employee just ignored him, not even sparing him a glance as she continued setting up the counter. Kai gave a her a look which said fine, if you want to be like this and proceeded to the back room to collect a notepad and a pen. He flipped the notepad to a fresh page and stationed himself near the counter. Just then, another employee walked out of the kitchen with a clearly frustrated expression.

“Have you seen Kai around? He should have been here by now” she asked the lady at the counter.

“I’m here” he waved lamely at the girls.

“Haven’t seen him come in at all. It’s odd, it’s not like him to be late” she replied, clearly not looking at Kai, who looked utterly dumbfounded.

“Are you joking, I’m literally right here” he said loudly. If this was a joke, it really wasn’t funny.

“Maybe he just got caught in a crowd at a bad timing, hopefully he will turn up soon” the second woman sighed then went back into the kitchen.

Kai, at that point, was almost rendered completely speechless. He was starting to get a little annoyed now. These girls could really act well and he was anything but amused.

“Haha very funny but I’m not in the mood right now, seriously” he snapped. The girl showed no sign of hearing his chiding.

Kai was now starting to get a little wary. He did nothing to warrant this kind of treatment and they definitely wouldn’t ignore him for no reason. And if it was a joke, they definitely would have snapped out of it by now. He slowly approached the girl, who was now bringing out the card machine.

“Sooyeon? Can you please say something now, you’re creeping me out” he addressed the girl.

The girl, Sooyeon, didn’t even turn her head or show a change in facial expression. Kai reached out his hand to tap her shoulder. Then he jumped back with a horrified expression on his face.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

His hand had gone straight through her shoulder.

Kai clapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Then he unlatched his own hand from his face and let out a loud scream of horror. Sooyeon didn’t even flinch, and looked up as a couple of people walked in, armed with an umbrella. Kai slowly made his way towards the pair of friends. Maybe he was finally going mad. Or maybe it was just a bad nightmare. He pinched himself hard. The skin stung and turned an angry shade of red. Definitely not a nightmare he thought, now starting to panic slightly. He stretched out a hand to touch the customers. He gasped as his hand didn’t rest on their shoulder and instead just went through. The customers were unfazed as they went through their order. Like they couldn’t see or feel him. Like he wasn’t there.

Kai let out a small scream again and dashed out the restaurant. He ran out to the now-bustling square. He shouted and shouted, but no one heard him. People continued to walk around their own daily business. He stepped in front of a man, hoping he would stop and listen to him. The man didn’t look up from his phone as he walked straight through Kai. Like he was thin air. Then it hit him.

No one could see him, or hear him or feel him. He was well and truly invisible to everyone. And it scared him.

Then, Kai turned around and ran.