The Living Ghost
Benjaman physically recovered, but socially, he was a dead man walking.
In the United States, if you don’t have a Social Security Number, you don’t exist.
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He couldn’t get a job. He couldn’t open a bank account. He couldn’t rent an apartment. He couldn’t even legally stay in a homeless shelter.
He was forced to live in the woods, sleeping in a tent and eating scraps. He was a ghost in the machine.
The police and the FBI ran his fingerprints through every database imaginable.
The result? Zero.
He wasn’t a criminal. He wasn’t in the military. He wasn’t reported missing.
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Years passed. Benjaman grew old in the forest, losing hope. Did he have a wife? Children? Was anyone looking for him? Or was he truly alone in the universe?