Was he a ghost?
day 2! I posted the first one today too because I wrote it yesterday and forgot to post it here yesterday.
Gabriel didn't know, but he certainly felt like it sometimes.
The first few months after his- death? Transformation? Whatever it was- were the hardest, adjusting to being invisible and intangible. He kept forgetting that he couldn't communicate with anyone, and being reminded of it stung every time. He often wondered if he'd ever get used to this. (Would he have to? Was there a way to fix this at all?)
It was so easy and so hard at the same time to forget his new circumstances. His instinct was always as normal- to reach to open a door, to move out of the way of a person walking, to try to speak to someone else. But he was constantly aware of the fact that he couldn't because he couldn't physically walk, having to move differently than before, and because he couldn't even see himself out of the corners of his eyes. Well, he could, but what he saw of himself was different than ever before.
He didn't think he would ever be able to get used to this.
And then, in the blink of an eye, years stacked upon years, and Gabriel remained stuck between a ghost and a boy, and he was okay.
Sometimes he thought it had somehow gotten worse than the beginning, at times when he felt most alone and wondered if this would last forever. (It was a storm like any other, and no storm can last forever.)
But the missions, to watch over and protect the other dragon children, dissolved the ache, at least for a little while. They gave him a purpose, something to do, a way to know he could still make some impact on the world. He was still real, he was still here, and he could still help someone.
Sometimes Gabriel wondered if this was the point, the reason for his suffering. If he could help one person because of it, it wasn't for nothing.
He would be content to stay stuck somewhere in between like this for as long as it took if that was how God would use him to help even one precious life.