Taylor immediately took the phone back from him. "Give that here! How can you... even hold stuff?!"

"What does that mean, presumed murdered and buried?!" Colby breathed heavily. "I can't be dead! I-I'm here!"

"But this is you, right?!" She held the enlarged picture up to his face. "Right?!"

It was undoubtedly Colby. In the picture, he had a wide grin and was winking seductively yet playfully through the screen. In his hand, he held a football covered in autographs, and it looked like he was about to throw it through the photo at any moment.

"T-this is the photo we took for the Sports Hall of Fame. It was just this morning. Dylan said he'd take them to the photo lab to have them printed big, b-but that wouldn't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest... I don't get it!"

"Clearly, you really don't get it!" Taylor rocked back and forth on the floor in a panic. "This can't be happening, this can't be. No, I'm dreaming. You're a dream. All of this is a dream. Even that fucking Brad is a dream! How did I come up with the name Brad in my messed-up head?! Brad!"

"What does it say now?! Just read it already, for fuck's sake! I can't be dead, the article is a joke from someone on the team!"

"And how do you explain falling through my wall?!"

"Oh, I don't know!" Colby screamed in desperation.

Taylor skimmed through the first article and couldn't believe what was in front of her.

"The case of Colby Vance still captivates many people around the world to this day. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance fascinated millions. Yet, he is still missing," she read aloud. "What the fuck! On the evening of May 23, 2003, the student went to a small party at his friend Brad J.'s apartment near the campus."

"B-but today is that day?!" Colby interjected, but was ignored by Taylor.

"J. and three other students reported that Vance went into a small storage room, which was being used as a guest room at the time, around 10 p.m. After half an hour, J. went to check on his friend, but there was no sign of Vance in the room. No one saw him leave the room, and since then, he has been missing. Although the room had several windows, none of them had his fingerprints. Anonymous sources are convinced they heard a woman's voice coming from the room. For this reason, it is assumed that Vance did not leave the room alive, but there is no evidence to support this theory. Furthermore, experts believe it would have been impossible to murder a well-built man like Vance in such a short time frame, without attracting attention, hiding the body, leaving no traces, and escaping unnoticed from the scene. Another theory about Vance's disappearance suggests that he never entered that room and it was all a hallucination induced by alcohol consumption. However, this raises the question of how multiple witnesses independently swore that he clearly entered the room. T-this just doesn't make sense. No, no, no."

"S-so... it's true that I went to the party?!"

"A-and then?!"

"I-I don't know?! I don't remember anymore!" Colby stressed, clutching his head. "W-why don't I remember?!"

Taylor took a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry, but... I think you're really dead. But... how can that be? This turns the world upside down, all religions, science, everything!"

"Why do I care about science?! I'm dead! Stone dead!" He reached through the wall again, his eyes frozen with fear. "B-but I had a scholarship, I was damn good, I could have really made something of myself! My life was great!"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"S-so... something did come out of you. You're one of the most mysterious missing persons cases of the last decades." Taylor truly felt sorry for him. She couldn't imagine what he must be feeling right now.

"T-there was something about presumably murdered and buried. What does that mean?!"

Taylor scanned the rest of the article. "It says here that you wouldn't have just disappeared without saying a word."

"T-that's true!"

"A-and that nothing of you has ever been found. Absolutely nothing. Which suggests that someone must have helped? You mentioned not finding your phone. Are all your pockets empty? Have you checked them all?" Taylor simply ignored the fact that there was really a ghost right in front of her. Maybe she'd wake up tomorrow with the worst hangover ever and it would all be a dream. So why stress about it now?

Colby patted all his pockets again. "All empty and everything's gone!"

"M-maybe... you were attacked and robbed, or something. And met a bad end? I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't phrase it so harshly."

The dead student ran his hands through his hair and stared thoughtfully into space. "No. No... it's okay, I guess? I mean, what else can I do but accept it?"

"I'm so incredibly sorry for you. But are we absolutely sure this isn't a dream?"

Colby tapped Taylor on the nose. "Well, you're real."

"Shall we go to the police? I mean, now you're not missing anymore."

"But I'm dead," he said dejectedly. "And the cops from earlier didn't see me, why should others be able to? Why can you see me anyway?"

"You think I know what's going on here?"

"Well, it's your dream. It's not going to be mine anymore." Colby grinned slightly, which made Taylor smile a little too.

"You can crack jokes already?" she asked impressed.

"That's just how I am. Or was?"

Taylor stood up again and aimed his phone at the ghost.

"What's this for?" he asked embarrassedly, covering his body as if he were naked.

"I want to see if you're visible in photos or videos. That would be one way for the police to believe us. They'll probably say it's Deepfakes, but if I make a video right in front of their noses with you, they'll have to believe us. Okay, no, I wouldn't believe us either."

"Deep... fakes?"

"Doesn't matter." Taylor took a few photos and then tapped on the gallery. Unfortunately, as she had feared. "You're not in any of them. I'm sorry."

Colby shrugged casually. "It was worth a try." He seemed to be taking the situation much better now.

"Okay, so you're basically invisible," she said, taking a photo with the flash. "And you don't cast a shadow. You can go through walls, but you could easily pick up my phone. You could also touch me. I don't understand your rules."

"Are you a math student or something?"

"What?"

"You're so theoretical."

"Your mere existence turns our whole understanding upside down. Don't you want any answers?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know how the hell I died. Or ended up with you. Or why I don't remember anything anymore. Those are the things I'd like to find out, not whether I can sit on furniture."

"Let's try it out," she said with a grin. She turned her head to her dining table with a single lonely chair. "Have a seat."

Colby took three steps and sprang onto the table, which startled Taylor.

"I meant on the chair!"

"It doesn't matter." That grin, just like in the photo in the article, was back. Apparently, he hadn't lost it even in death. "I won't scratch it, don't worry. There's your answer."

"Which only confuses me more. How come you don't fall through the table? Or even through the floor?"

He shrugged again. "I'm just sitting here. But now I have a question."

"Do you want to know who the President is? Or how things have changed over the years, you know, in our world?" That's what Taylor would want to know.

"What? No. I mean, if I'm one of the weirdest missing-persons and probably criminal cases ever, how is it that you basically call the crime scene your home, but have never heard of me?" And there he was grinning again.

"You like talking about yourself, huh?"

"Could be."

"I don't know. I've never been that into true crime. It's more surprising to me that there aren't fans flocking to the site of your disappearance every day, given how popular you are. Not a clue about any of it."

"I have fans?" His eyes sparkled.

"With how much media attention your case has gotten? And with your looks? Definitely."

"You say I’m hot?" Another grin. This time, a bit of pride was evident.

"Don't get too full of yourself. White, athletic men always get worshipped. It's got nothing to do with you. And as for me... I'm not into necrophilia."

"I could give it a shot with you. Maybe you're the only one who can see me, Living Girl."

"Living Girl, huh?" Taylor crossed her arms. "Okay, then you are Ghost Boy."