My name is Bolin. I have what most people would call a strange existence. Then again, I'm not like most people. The short explanation? I'm a spirit; what most people would typically classify as a ghost.

That's right. The whole appearing out of thin air, walking through walls, the whole shebang. However, that kind of terminology would dictate that I was once human, and have passed on into the great beyond… or something like that. The fact of the matter is, that isn't true at all. I was never human, nor was I ever 'alive', at least as far as the whole having a tangible body thing goes.

To really explain what I am would take some time, and even then I don't exactly have all the pieces to the puzzle. Most guys like me, they don't know any more than I do about where we come from, or why we're here.

It's a little creepy when you stop and think about it.

And I've had a lot of time to think.

I'm not exactly immortal, though to my knowledge there isn't really anything that can kill me.

Except for starvation.

And this is where things get even creepier.

Just because I don't have a physical body doesn't mean I don't need to eat. Every living organism has that primal instinct to seek out sustenance to keep itself alive, and I'm no different.

In order to keep myself going, there's only one thing I can consume: the essence of a living human, what most people would call the soul.

Humans are most susceptible in their sleep, so it's best to infiltrate their dreams, keep them occupied while you go about your business. They never figure out what's going on before it's already too late.

It's a tricky business.

Take too little and I risk dying. Take too much and the person dies. Even if I somehow manage not to kill them, they won't last long anyway. It's worse to leave someone to linger on as an empty vessel than to simply end their life.

It's not a pretty thing, and I'm not proud of it, but I don't have much choice in the matter.

When you've been doing this for several hundred years, you eventually learn to cope with it. So many nameless faces; it's easy not to get attached to people. Once or twice, maybe, you meet someone who stands out, someone you regret choosing because it means ending the life of someone you consider a friend. Or worse still, it could even be someone you've fallen in love with.

I don't know what happens to them when they die.

I've had thousands of conversations with people over the years.

Some of them believe that when they die they'll go to heaven.

Others think they'll simply fade away.

It's impossible to know what really happens to them.