The Watcher

Every day, hundreds of students pass him, and none of them ever see him. They are too busy taking care of their own lives. They are either trying to make it to their next class, having to go see a friend, or simply in a hurry to get home for the day. But they never notice him. They never see the young man in the gray hood.  Dressed in a gray hoodie and blue jeans, he sits at the bench across from the college cafeteria everyday for two hours, watching and listening to all the students that pass him. 

Anyone can see that he is a student, the black book bag leaning at the edge of the bench gives it away, but that is as far as they will ever see. He is far different than most. Unlike them, he takes the time to actually take in his surroundings and not be in a rush to go somewhere. He listens, he observes, and he knows more than the students themselves know because of this. 

He knows about the young redheaded girl who is constantly trying to improve her grades, but is causing problems with her best friend since she is always too busy studying. 

He knows about the student who likes to hunt, and that the student finds it harder to make time for class than he does for hunting. He knows about the English teacher and how she feels about her new students in her English 102 class and he knows that she already has her doubts on the success of one or two of her students. But no one knows him, the listener, the observer, the watcher. 

To them, he's just a kid who sits on the bench everyday waiting for his next class to start. Nothing more, nothing less. But to himself, he's a ghost. He could haunt anyone and everyone there if he wished. But he chooses not to do so. Instead he continues doing what he loves, watching