She can't see me, but I can. I can see who she really is, what she really wants out of life. It hurts but I know that she doesn't feel the same about me. I doubt that she gives my wants much thought. Then again, it is a lost cause, me wanting things.

Maybe that's the problem with our relationship. We both see me as a lost cause. Outwardly we act like I'm the same as everyone else but we know that's not true.

Still, we pretend like I am.

The visions she gets, they come fast and furious, so quickly that I can't protect her from them. I wish that I could though. I wish I could protect her from everything that's horrible and nasty in this world.

That's not something she'd agree to though. She wants to see the pain... the suffering, so she can help the people who are going through it. That's her mission, her calling in life, it gives her existence meaning.

My existence has no meaning.

Not without her in it. As long as I have her with me, have her to listen to, to give meager comfort to, I feel like my life was of some worth.

I think that the hardest part of it all is the dating. It's painful to see how people float in and out of her life. Most of them just drawn to her for superficial reasons like her looks. Even that egocentric acting coach of hers. The woman seemed nice at first, sure, but how much can one person really talk about themselves?

Okay, I know Cordelia talks about herself but when she does it, at least it's charming. But that acting coach... well, she was very irritating.

Then, one day, someone good did show up. Someone worthy of her, someone even I approved of, and believe me, it's hard to approve of the person who's dating the woman you're in love with. Somehow, I couldn't help but approve of Bethany.

There was just something about the girl with her bright smile and those eyes filled with knowing. They told me and anyone else who saw her that she'd seen a lot in her short lifetime. Just like Cordelia.

They fit together perfectly and they were just so beautiful to watch. So beautiful that I almost didn't feel envious of what they had together.

Of what Bethany had by being with her.

She can't see me, but I can. She can't see what we could be, but I can. And nothing hurts worse than that.

Nothing.

Not even hearing them together. Not even seeing them together. Not even knowing they're together.

The only time I truly feel alive is whenever she calls out my name. Even it's just for something simple like handing her a book or a glass of soda.

Phantom Dennis.

That's who I am because that's what she calls me. And it's only because of her, because of Cordelia, that I'm here now. If I didn't love her, if I didn't need to see her so badly every day, I would've passed on by now.

Instead of staying here as the invisible man.