No Trace of Jessy

In a world addicted to selfies, he is a ghost.

So there is this guy in school, Jessy, who was a friend of a friend and later became my friend.

I have known him since level 100, 2nd semester. Now we are in level 300 and he is still the same person: shy, introverted, quiet, and calm—and a kind boy. Some people might think he is rude when they see how quiet and isolated he is. But that's just if you don't know him. When I got close to him, I got to see a different side of him. He is a really funny person and a troublemaker.

One day I noticed something a little off about him—not that it's that off—but I guess the fact I never for once noticed it made it feel off.

So it was on a random day in class, and the lecturer went for a meeting, so it was free time for us.
I don't know, I just felt like taking selfies in class with my cousin. We took some shots and then I turned to Jessy and asked him for pictures with him.

He was like, “I don't like pictures.”

I begged him, "It's just an ordinary picture, na. I am not using it for anything.”

He still refused, “If you like, beg me or even offer me money, I won't be in any picture."

"Matchewww, oya na,” since he didn't want to stay for the picture, I decided not to give him a choice.

I started taking a video with my phone. I backed him and made sure he was in the frame. “Jessy, Jessy, Jessy!! …Jessy look, just once,” I tried to make him face the camera, but he acted like he wasn't even hearing me.

I went on to take pictures like that, most of them only showing one side of his face as he copied his note unbothered.

After taking them, I scrolled through and found one of him and me that was clear and liked the most. “See this fine one," I showed him the picture.

“Let me see them,” he said calmly.

I gave him the phone, and he started scrolling from the beginning of the ones my cousin and I snapped.

“This one is nice," he said, showing me the ones he liked.

The pictures came to an end, but he didn't return my phone. Instead, he remained calm and started deleting all the pictures of himself, including the ones of my cousin and me he mistakenly showed in.

"Jesus, this boy, what are you doing?!” I tried to grab my phone, but he held me back with one hand as he deleted the pictures.

When he was done, he peacefully returned the phone, smiling annoyingly.
I stared at him. This boy was nutty as a fruit cake. Who deletes people’s pictures like that?

"Why did you delete them?” I was not happy.

"I told you I don't like taking pictures,” he said, still smiling.

"Okay, if you didn't want your picture in my phone, I would have sent it to you so you could save it in your own,” I said.

"No, even I don't have pictures of myself.”

“So if I open your gallery, I will not see any pictures of you?” I asked with doubt.

He didn't bother to answer but instead opened his gallery and handed me his phone.

I scrolled through, and there were so many pictures of his siblings, his niece, his parents, other people, and even some of my pictures he posted on my birthday the previous year. But not a single picture of him.

"Wow, why don't you like pictures?” I asked him, and at that point, I was intrigued.

He said with a serious face, “I am an immortal vampire, so I have to be careful not to leave traces in history and be discovered."

"Be serious, my friend,” I gave him a light slap on the back of his head.

“Okay, now I am serious," he said, then took in a deep breath like he was going to say something important next…

“I am an assassin from the dark web and…,” he couldn't even complete it before he broke character and started laughing.

"Stop it, tell me the truth,” I chuckled.

The next story was that he was a ghost, and he disappears from pictures over time and doesn't want anyone to find out.

I kept on asking, and he kept on making up obvious fictional stories about himself.
I gave up and accepted he wasn't going to tell me anything serious.

The only real thing I would have suspected was maybe he had insecurities about his looks, and maybe he wasn't photogenic… but with his looks, it couldn't be the case either. Because Jessy is good-looking. With a little makeup, you would mistake him for a girl. So why didn't he like taking pictures?

After a while, I just told myself that maybe he is just that way.

---

_{Image generated using OpenAI}