In the Eyes of the Beholder

Every day, I walked through the bustle of my city's streets-a sea of invisible people streaming around me. I alone saw and heard the world, as it was. Sounds of conversation, rustling of footsteps, hum of life-it was all there, yet no one could see me, and I nothing of them. It was like living in a ghost town peopled by invisible spectres.

I was accustomed to this strange existence for years, and with my job as a graphic designer, I could work from home. My friends and family were voices on the other side of the telephone line. I had accepted that I was solitary in a world that could not see me, and I could not see it.

That all changed one fateful day. I sat in my favourite coffee shop, the one place where I could pretend to be surrounded by people, when I felt a presence. In walked a woman, a lovely dream creature. She was beautiful, with flowy hair and eyes that seemed to see right through me. For a moment, I thought she might be another figment of my imagination, another invisible person. But then, she looked at me directly.

My heart ran. Could she see me? I had done nothing else but stand up. She did come closer, the hint of a smile on her mouth, and suddenly, the connection overwhelmed me in a way I had never felt.

"Hi," she said, the sound of a song. "You can see me, can't you?"

"Yes," I whispered, that was all I could do. "And you can see me?"

She nodded, her face lit with relief. "I'm Isabella. In my world nobody sees me except you."

It was as if the universe had brought us together, two anomalies in a world of invisibility. We sat down, talked for hours as we shared storeys, loneliness, and that strange phenomenon that had isolated us from the rest of humanity. Isabella had lived all her life being invisible to others, just like me.

As weeks mounted, she and I became inseparable. Together, we'd tour the city and experience the world in a way neither of us had ever been able to before. We were each other's anchor; this one person who made them feel visible, tangible, alive.

Day by day, our bond grew every day. In him, comfort found; love as deep and surprising, found. Two souls that had found each other against all odds, bringing light into each other's lives.

One evening, as we sat on the park bench watching the setting of the sun, I turned to her and told her, "Isabella, I do not want to imagine a world without you. You gave me the reason to be seen, to feel alive."

Tears welled in her eyes as she took my hand. "James, you have done the very same for me. We are no longer invisible. We are here together.

In that instant, I knew whatever was ahead, we would face it together. Our love was a light in darkness, evidence of the strength of connection and the magic of being seen.

From that day on, hand in hand, we found our way into our special world, knowing we had something really unique. We were no longer alone since we had each other, a love written in the stars, so evident to the only two eyes in this world that would ever matter.