Author's Note: Hello! This story is (so far) a three part one by me. It starts out very un-Beatles related, sadly, but I think you'll enjoy it nonetheless. Clearly, the main character here is either a bit slow or has no idea about the Beatles.

Okay, I'll shut up now! Thanks to all the readers! And to a guest for thier review! Ta much!

Ghost of a Chance Part I:

I Saw Him Standing There

It was a dark and stormy night, and I was curled up next to the window watching it rain, feeling the thunder rumble through my bones and watching flashes of lightning light up the sky every so often. I loved storms. Absolutely loved them.

I was on my way to college, travelling over a few states to get there, when the rain became too heavy for me to drive. It was fine; I was ready to stop for the night, anyways. So, I found a small motel en route and settled in for the night, feeling a bit lonely, but otherwise nice.

I adjusted the blanket around my shoulders and sighed, partly with contentment, not thinking about the past nor the future. Just wondering about the "what ifs" and enjoying God's fireworks.

The lights flickered slightly. Not that I really expected more from a motel. Especially in a storm. I still automatically looked back in that small moment of panic before instantly chiding myself for being silly. Or was I being silly?

For an instant, I thought I saw someone in the room, standing there. But when I did a double take, nothing was there.

"Must be my imagination," I said to myself, but I decided it was probably time for bed if I was seeing things.

I slid off of the chair by the window and knelt next to my suitcase, digging until I found my pajamas. Well, my sweatpants and an old Cross Country t-shirt that served as pajamas. I slipped into them and shut the suitcase, grabbing my toothbrush first.

As I walked out of the bathroom with my toothbrush, spreading toothpaste around my teeth, I stopped, frozen. Blinking, I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, my mind deciding it would be a good time to scream and freak out.

"AHHH! GET OUT! What are you- GET OUT!" I screeched at the man standing in front of me.

He had long-ish brown hair and wore dark jeans and a t-shirt. His caramel brown eyes looked about as surprised as my own blue ones. He was a bit more amused, though.

"OUT!" I reiterated, toothpaste foam framing my mouth. I backed into the bathroom, not letting my eyes wander from him lest he make some sort of villainous move towards me.

He looked around, then back at me, his mouth opening as if to speak. Before a word could be spoken, he disappeared.

It happened within a blink, leaving me to shake my head in wonder and confusion. I shakily turned around to face myself in the mirror. I pushed my blonde hair behind me ear with trembling hands, taking shaky breaths.

"Okay," I said aloud, "You're tired and stressed after being on the road for so long. It's causing you to see things. You just need to go to sleep and this will be a funny memory in the morning."

I washed my face and cautiously peered around the corner. Seeing the room as it should be, I nervously laughed and crawled into bed, flicking off the light as I fell asleep to the sound of raindrops on the window pane.

iI was back home with my young brother and my old dog, who had died a year ago. She was following me as I walked around the house, looking for something, searching.

My brother started wrestling with my dog, the two playing happily as I paced around the living room, looking high and low. What I was looking for, I don't know.

I tripped over the mass of wrestlers, dog and boy, and fell on my face. As I began to get up, my brother poked my arm. I asked what he wanted, but he just poked me again.

"What are you doing?" I asked, now annoyed.

He lay by my side, pressing against me.\i

I awoke with a start, for a moment believing the pressure at my side was actually my little brother. As reality set in, and I remembered where I was. And that I was supposed to be alone.

I slowly lifted my face off the pillow and blinked my eyes into focus.

"AHHH!" I hollered, jumping up and falling off the bed with my usual lack of grace. I untangled myself from the sheets and peered over the top of the bed, just to make sure he was really there, that strange man on my hotel bed.

He was.

He was the same man I had seen before, the one who had suddenly vanished. His shaggy hair was pressed against the pillow as he gazed at me, a questioning look on his face.

"WHO ARE YOU?" I shouted, anger fuelled by embarrassment coursing through me.

He grinned faintly, more than amused by my rage. He moved his lips to answer, but there was no sound. Frowning, he tried again. Nothing.

During this, I looked around me for some sort of weapon. I was severely uncomfortable with having this stranger in my room, mute or not. The best I could find was my phone charger, plugged into the wall outlet.

"Okay, look," I said firmly, standing to my full height in attempt to look authorative and as menacing as possible while wearing fuzzy gray sweatpants and a soft blue t-shirt, "I don't know who you are. I don't know or care what you want. But you need to go."

The strange man sat up on the bed and shrugged. He didn't move, though.

"Get. Out," I repeated, now very annoyed. I took the charger in my hand and raised it to throw at him.

He still didn't move, just raised an eyebrow at the small, plastic object. I had to admit, it probably wasn't the most threatening weapon, but I was going to make it work.

Mustering up the strength in my arm, which wasn't anything extraordinary, but I did do light weight-lifting after Cross Country practice, I whipped the charger at him.

He flinched as it hit him and rubbed the spot on his forehead that it had hit him, looking pitiful and probably feeling sorry for himself.

Tough luck, I wasn't going to accept his presence without a fight. Obviously the tiny weapon didn't motivate him to move, so I moved on to plan B. I lunged and pushed him off the bed and onto the floor, pinning him beneath me. I wasn't known for my strength, but I had caught him by surprise. Besides, he didn't look too strong, either. He was thin, but not painfully so. Actually, he was kind of cute.

I shook away the thought, not needing to fall in love with a thief, or a murderer, or a rapist, or... whatever he was. No, I knew enough not to fall for a criminal. I couldn't see how that would end well.

I felt his body shaking beneath me, his mouth open and tears falling from his eyes. To my surprise, he was laughing. Laughing! At a time like this!

"Psychopath," I muttered, wondering what to do next. I couldn't keep him on the floor forever, but I didn't want to let him go lest he make his move, whatever move that was, at his first chance.

So instead, I continued to sit on his knees while pinning his wrists with hands. I wasn't known for my strength, but he wasn't exactly a bodybuilder, either.

Actually, he was kind of cute...

I scolded myself for that thought, knowing I didn't need to fall in love with a criminal. I couldn't see any way that could possibly end well.

He raised his head to say something, no longer looking at all amused, but once again, no sound came from his mouth. He settled with thrashing about, rocking from side to side and wiggling his arms violently.

After a short time, he rolled over, throwing me off. He quickly pinned me, then sat there, unsure of what to do next, as I had been.

"Now what?" I growled.

The man shrugged. He was stronger than he looked; I couldn't get free.

"Fine," I said, then began to howl for help. Within a moment, the door to my room was kicked down by a man in his workout clothes. He must have been on his way back to his room when I began to scream, by chance being near enough to hear me. Sweat dripped off his muscles.

The man sitting on me froze, looking around in a panic.

"Help!" I repeated, "I can't move!"

The other man, the muscular one who had come to my rescue, whipped out a cell phone, dialling the cops as he rushed to my side.

"Ma'am, don't panic, an ambulance is on the way," he assured me.

"An ambulance?" I asked, wondering why that and not police. There was a man sitting on top of me, pinning me down. Was that really as job for paramedics? "Don't you think-"

The shaggy-haired man on top of me quickly removed a hand from my wrist and covered my mouth, staring fearfully at the new man as he held his breath.

"No, ma'am, stay still," the new guy said, placing a calm hand on my free arm. "Hello?" He said into the phone, "Yes, I'm here with a girl who seems to be mostly paralyzed."

I glared at the original strange man, wondering many things. The most prominent wonder was the fact that two strange men were in my hotel room, something I never expected to happen. Ever. I supposed I should have counted myself lucky that neither of them seemed to be there for sexual reasons. Actually, I had no idea the first guy's reasons. And the second guy must have been dumber than a box of rocks. Or blind.

Or I was going crazy... And what an oh so comforting thought that was.

The one on top of me gently removed his hand from my face, putting a finger to his lips in a universal shush signal, his eyes sending signals of panic.

Well, duh, I wasn't gonna just lay there silently.

I opened my mouth to say something, perhaps to tell the other man what he was missing, but was quickly stopped. In a sort of frightened fluster, the man put an arm on my throat, closing off my air supply.

"I- hold on," the rescuer said into the phone, "I have to do CPR!" he put down the phone as i choked and spluttered.

My eyes rolled back, panic and lack of oxygen causing me to pass out before I could even feel the man's breaths of rescue.

iI was rolling in waves of blue-green, swimming without needing any heavy air tanks. Schools of strange and colorful fish swam by in every direction as I floated along. They flashed and shimmered in rainbow hues, happily waving their fins.

I swam against them, not needing to struggle to make my way. I felt something around my neck and looked down. A few bright blue tentacles were wrapped snugly around my neck. Looking to my right, I could see more bright blue mass. It peered at me as I tried to look at it. I soon pieced it together and realized it was a squid wrapped around me. A bright, aqua blue squid.

With squid scarf set, I swam on. The fish murmured around me. They sped up and veered away in all directions, leaving me alone in the sea./i

I awoke alone as well, settled into a plain hospital bed in a white hospital room. As I blinked groggily, I noticed the door was open and voices drifted in. Soft, business-like voices.

There was one of those cheesy whiteboards on the wall to my left, saying, "Hi, my name is... and I'm here for...". The blanks weren't filled in.

I sat up, trying not to remember the odd events from earlier. Or was it yesterday? How long had I been out?

A nurse walked by my room, balancing a tray of hospital food on one hand and a smaller tray of medication on the other. She glanced in at me and nodded, not really able to do much else. I relaxed, figuring now that she saw I was awake, she'd do her best to visit and tell me what in the world was going on.

"Some service they've got here," a voice, heavily accented, said from behind me, causing me to jump.

I whipped my head around and groaned, closing my eyes in hopes the figure would go away. I opened them once more. He was still there.

Leaning casually against the wall was the man that had first appeared in my motel room. His dark jeans contrasted greatly with the pristine white wall and his hair was messy. He looked like he could use a cigarette. The look on his face was the same one I had seen on various people moments before they excused themselves and lit up.

"Who are you?" I whispered, wondering why he wasn't in jail. Or why he was here of all places! "What do you want?"

"John, at your service," he replied with a mock bow. His voice was British, but not a dialect I recognized. Not that I was an expert by any means!

I was about to growl a witty reply when a nurse walked in, cheerily asking, "How are you feeling?"

The man, John, let out a wolf whistle aimed towards the pretty blonde in a too-tight nurse uniform. He stared at her chest.

"Fine," I said, ignoring him. She hadn't seemed to notice his outburst. He seemed to have that effect on people.

Then again, I reminded myself of the possibility that I was just crazy. Imagining a perverted guy, sure, why not? Nobody else seemed to notice his presence. Perhaps I was headed for a loony bin.

Perhaps I was already there.

I quickly pushed that thought away, not wanting to think about that. If my whole life were a lie, I would rather live without knowing it.

She nodded. "Good. We were quite concerned when you came in. Your airway had collapsed and you were unconscious because of it. I'll get the doctor. If all's well, you could be released."

"That'd be nice," I replied. As she was about to leave, I asked, "Wait, have you seen a man with brown hair, kinda long, kinda messy, come in here?"

She shook her head and my hopes fell. "No, I haven't. Boyfriend?"

I glanced at the corner John stood in to see him smirking. I wanted so badly to slap that smirk off of his face, shake him down and demand what it was he wanted with me, then make him leave and stay left.

"No," I replied, "Just someone I know."

The nurse left. I looked at John, glaring with my lips pursed.

"Why can't she see you?" I asked, crossing my arms. May as well take a direct approach to my problems, I supposed. Talk to the invisible man that only I could see.

He shrugged. "Why can you?"