The Hidden

by Jessica Verday

But when I opened the door, I saw him on the bed. Asleep.

  I grabbed my phone and dialed Kame and Sophie’s office number. Uri picked up.

  “Hey, it’s Abbey.”

  “Hi. Everything okay?”

  “Caspian is asleep again.” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.

  Silence met me on the other end of the line. Then he said, “Why don’t you just give it some time?”

  “Like, how much time?” I asked. “An hour? A day?”

  “However much time it takes.”

  I told myself to count to ten, trying not to scream in frustration at his answer. “Why does this keep happening, Uri?” I said. “Does it mean he’s slipping away from me?”

  Silence again.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. One of you is around here somewhere, right?” I asked quietly.

  “Kame. He’s in the neighborhood. Do you want him to stop by?”

  “Can he do anything?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll just wait. As long as Vincent’s not around, I’m fine.”

  He said good-bye, and I hung up the phone, feeling angry and frustrated. All my feelings of happiness were completely gone. Settling myself in next to Caspian, I propped my chin in my hand, wondering how long it would take for him to wake up this time.

  I had a hard time sleeping that night, feeling like Caspian was so far away from me, and I kept waking up. Around two a.m., I decided to grab something from the fridge. A snack might keep me distracted, at least for a little while.

  A light was still on in the living room when I passed by, and I peeked in. The TV was turned down low, an old Western movie playing, and Dad was snoring away in the recliner. I shook my head and crept back out to the kitchen.

  I found a turkey and cheese hoagie in the fridge and pulled it out, checking the expiration date. It was still fresh. I cut it in half and then wrapped up the remainder to put back. After stacking a couple of pickles onto the plate next to it, I carried my prize into the living room.

  I found the remote by Dad’s hand and flipped though the channels, pausing every now and then to take a bite of my sandwich. Halloween III was on, so I left it and settled in. Dad’s snoring grew louder and louder, until finally I reached over and shook him.

  “Dad. Dad, wake up.”

  He rolled over. “I’m awake.” And then he sat up. “I’m awake. What time is it?”

  “Almost two thirty.”

  “What are you still doing up?”

  “Couldn’t sleep. Got a snack.” I held up the plate.

  He glanced over. “Is that a pickle?”

  I held one out to him, and he took it. We both sat there for a couple of minutes, crunching loudly on the cold vegetables. When I was done, I placed my plate on the coffee table and stretched out on the couch. The room was bathed in the blue glow of the flickering television screen.

  “I heard that you and Mom went downtown,” Dad said. “To see the shop?”

  I hit the remote and turned down the volume a bit more. “Yeah, she took me right after school. It was great.”

  “So, what do you think about it?” he asked.

  “What do I think? I love it. The chance to have my own shop? It’s my dream.”

  Dad looked pleased. “I knew you’d like it.”

  “Are you still planning to help me out with the business plan?” I cast him a sideways glance. I’d taken much longer than intended to actually finish the damn thing.

  “Are you done with the first draft yet?”

  “Yup.”

  “Show it to me, then, and I’ll take a look at it. We can probably work something out.”

  I grinned at him. “Talk about a great graduation gift.”

  He reached over and put a hand on my arm. “Your mother and I are very proud of you, Abbey. It takes a lot of effort to have your future mapped out at such a young age, and we want to do everything we can to support that. We believe in you, and we know you’ll do great things.”

  His words hit something inside of me that triggered a bittersweet ache. I wanted them to be proud of me. “I can’t promise that everything will work out,” I said. “But I can promise that I’ll do my best. And I’ll work my hardest. It means a lot to me that you guys are so supportive of this. Especially since I know you wanted me to do something different.”

  Now Dad looked a little teary. “I can’t tell you the thoughts that ran through my mind when we found out that someone had broken into the house and …” He trailed off and cleared his throat gruffly. “Well, I just never want to see that again. It really brought home a lot of things and made me start thinking about the future. Your future.”

  Now his words triggered something different inside of me. Regret.

  All this talk of the future and the excitement of seeing the shop today as such a real, tangible thing had made me totally forget about my actual future.

  The one I didn’t have.

  Chapter Fifteen

  MORE THAN FEAR

  The common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition …

  —“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

  Caspian still hadn’t woken up by the time I had to go to school the next morning, and I hated leaving him behind. I made a quick call to Sophie, and she assured me that she’d stop over to chat with Mom and keep an eye on things. I felt a little bit of relief knowing that at least she’d be there if he woke up.

  I spent most of the day thinking about Abbey’s Hollow, and the fact that I’d been handed my dreams on a silver platter, yet I wasn’t going to live long enough to see them come true. It wasn’t until Mrs. Marks called on me in English class to read part of a poem that I was jerked out of my contemplative mood.

  I stood up, clearing my throat. As my eyes filtered over the page in front of me, bits and pieces started to assemble themselves into images inside my brain, and I noticed the beautiful flow and rhythm the poem had. Then I really began to notice the words.

  We are the hidden people

  lost and in between.

  So much of none

  yet still, begun.

  Shadows draped upon our walls.

  We are the hidden people,

  and when you think the end has come

  you’ll turn and see.

  There are none.

  We are the hidden.

  People.

  All one.

  For hidden you will become.

  Something more than fear,

  it resides here.

  As Mrs. Marks asked the class questions about who the poet might have been talking about, all I could hear were the words “We are the hidden people,” and I thought about what that meant. Thought about it in a whole new way.

  The poem was about me. About what I was going to become.

  Shades were the hidden people. The other half. Living in the shadows. Part of this world and the next. Here, but not here. And I understood that, in a way no one else could.

  As the bell rang, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Something more than fear, it resides here.

  Was I afraid? Yes. And no. But I was special. Unique. My gift was to be one of the hidden people.

  It was who I was meant to be.

  Beth caught up with me after class and pulled me back into the present. “You ready to do this thing?” she called, coming down the hallway from the opposite direction. “I have my mom’s car.”

  “What thing?”

  “Shopping? For the Hollow Ball? Today’s Wednesday.”

  “Um, yeah.” I wasn’t crazy about the idea of not going home to be with Caspian, but Sophie still hadn’t called my cell. Which meant that he hadn’t woken up yet. “Sure. Just let me dump my books off at my locker. I don’t have any homework that can’t wait until tomorrow.”

  She came over and waited beside me.

  “Any ideas where we should go?” I asked.

  “There’s this specialty dress store in Jersey,” she said, giving me an arched look. “I know.
Jersey, right? But I have a friend who swears by it. Says they have the best designer stuff for half the price. They probably get it after it falls off a truck, but, hey. I’m not going to complain.”

  “We’ll probably be gone all afternoon, right?”

  “Uh, yeah. Why? Do you have an afternoon curfew?” Beth laughed.

  I smiled weakly at her. “No, no. Just want to make sure my mom doesn’t call and bug me about it, like, a million times. No big.”

  “Okay. Let’s go, then.” She clapped her hands together.

  I crammed my books into my locker and then followed her outside. A dusty blue Chevy was sitting by the curb, and we got in. Beth turned up the heat as we drove away from the school, and she started talking about Lewis right away.

  We headed away from Sleepy Hollow and across the Tappan Zee Bridge. I stretched my legs out in front of me and shifted in my seat. Already I was wondering if Caspian was okay. What if he was asleep for too long? What if this time he didn’t wake up?

  “… and then he said that I should just go with Grant if that made me happy. Ugh. Boys.”

  Beth glanced over at me, waiting for me to say something.

  But I’d zoned out completely.

  “Are you daydreaming, Abbey?” she said with a little smile. “You know, there’s a cure for that. … A hot boy. I mean, a hot guy. Forget boys. Who needs ’em?”

  I smiled back.

  “Do we need to go cruising for some hotties?” she asked. “We can still crash the beach house for a weekend. Granted, it’s the off-season, but you never know when a cute lifeguard in training might show up or something.”

  I laughed. “No. We don’t need to go pick up a lifeguard hottie. Although, I appreciate your willingness to help me out on that one.”

  “It’s the thought that counts.”

  I remembered those words coming from someone else. Caspian had said them to me once. I glanced away, out the window. A pickup truck passed us on the right, with two guys in the front seat. They were keeping pace with us, and Beth noticed.

  “That driver is kind of cute,” she said. Leaning over, she smiled flirtatiously at them. The driver honked his horn, and his passenger did some sort of hand motion that either meant Call me or Give me more. I couldn’t tell which.

  “Keep us on the road, Beth,” I said with a grin when she kept looking at them.

  “You never know. Those could be our Hollow Ball dates.”

  The truck edged forward, the driver holding up a sheet of paper next to his window with a phone number scribbled on it. Hey, hotie, textt me, it said.

  I burst out laughing as Beth made a face. “At least we know they can spell,” I said to her. She stepped on the gas, blowing past them with a smile, and her laughter filled the car.

  “Oh, well. Guess neither one of them was Prince Charming after all.”

  We came to a ramp and slowed down, pulling off at exit twenty-four. The road went through a little town with a speed limit of thirty-five, which Beth had a hard time staying at, and we bumped along the way. The town was one giant pothole.

  “We’re looking for Denim Street,” Beth said, keeping an eye on street signs. “How fitting.”

  It came up on our left, and she made the turn. A bright orange cement building with a pink and green striped awning sat surrounded by vacant storefronts. The parking lot was filled to capacity. “Guess the secret’s out,” I mused. “Looks like everyone else knows about this place too.”

  “Great,” Beth said. “I hope there’s still some good stuff left.”

  We parked two blocks away and walked down to the store. Two girls were struggling with a giant puffy garment bag that was snagged on the exit door, with another girl pushing behind them, trying to make her way out.

  “I hope we don’t get trampled or anything,” I whispered as we ducked under the garment bag and slipped in.

  “Stampede!” Beth said, mimicking a cowboy.

  We walked into the main showroom, and immediately I saw why it was so busy. Rack upon rack filled the massive place, all sorted by designer, color, or occasion. It was a free-for-all. Girls everywhere were pulling out handfuls of dresses at a time.

  “How are we supposed to find what we want?” I asked, taking it all in.

  “Start at one end and pull what you want. Pull what you’re unsure of too, in case I want it, and I’ll do the same. But be careful. I heard about this brawl that started over in the Betsey Johnson section, and it took the cops to pull everyone apart. Assault and battery charges were filed.”

  “Jeez, Beth.” I looked at her. “What did you bring us into?”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “Just stick with me. All my years of running track will come in handy when I book it from one end of the room to the other to beat out the girl who is grabbing the perfect gown.”

  “Oh, I’m definitely sticking with you. No doubt about it.”

  We headed into the fray, and divvied up sections. I found myself on one end of a metal rack, thumbing through dresses and shouting back to her when I found something.

  “There’s a pink dress with one shoulder strap and some sequins on the hem here,” I called out. “You want it?”

  “Light pink or hot pink?” she asked.

  “Hot pink.”

  “If it’s in my size, pull it.”

  I yanked the dress off the hanger and draped it over my shoulder, then continued flipping through the plastic dress coverings. I wasn’t sure what I wanted yet. Purple? Blue? Or maybe something pink? To match Beth.

  A little voice in the back of my head started whispering, What color would Caspian like? Something green to match his eyes? Or black? To match the stripe in his hair?

  I tried to push those thoughts away. I tried not to think about the pang that hurt my heart.

  “Yo, Abbey!” Beth suddenly called. “What about this?”

  She held up a deep red sleeveless satin dress that looked like something a flamenco dancer would wear to do the tango in. It had a plunging neckline, a thigh-high slit, and black roses embroidered along the bottom.

  I walked over and gave her the pink dress. Then I took the red one. It was daring. Something I’d never pictured myself wearing, but it fit Ben’s crazy personality to a T. “I kind of like it,” I said. “I’m gonna try it on.”

  Draping it over my arm, I went to go find a fitting room. There was a line a mile long, but eventually a room opened up, and I went in. I had to wiggle my way into the dress, and it fit me like a glove. I stood back and took in my reflection.

  The slit was high, the top low, but it looked damn good. I piled my hair on top of my head and held it up with one hand. A few wispy curls straggled down around my ears, and I turned to check out the back. It was a sexy dress, and for a moment I wondered if it was too sexy to wear for a friend date with Ben. But the longer I looked at it, the more I had to have it.

  It was perfect.

  A knock came on the door, and I opened it a crack, sticking my head out to see who it was. Beth stood there, shifting a huge pile of dresses from one arm to the other. “I thought I saw you grab this dressing room,” she said. “Can I come in? This line is atrocious.”

  “Yeah, sure. But I’m going to go with this dress, so I’m done.”

  She nudged the door open wider, and her eyes grew large. “Yup. That’s the one. Ben is totally going to want to do you.”

  I could feel my face get warm. “That’s not the look I’m going for. Maybe I should get a different—”

  “If you don’t get this one, Browning, I will kill you. Slowly.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!” She shuffled into the small space, and piled the heap of dresses onto the changing bench nearby. “That’s the one. Get it.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said. “I’ll get it.”

  Beth turned away and bent over to pick out a dress. Loosening the plastic, she pulled one out and hung it up on the hook by the mirror. As I changed back into my regular clothes, all I could hear w
as the whooshing of voluminous fabric as she struggled to find the arm and neck holes.

  “Do you need help?” I asked.

  “Nope.” Her head popped through. “I got it.” She glanced at herself in the mirror and made a face. The bottom of the white dress she was trying on stood out from her body in a huge ball of bunched-up fabric.

  “It’s … poofy,” I said.

  “‘Poofy’ isn’t quite the word I’d use. More like ‘fugly.’ Next.”

  She bumped into me as she pulled her arms free, and I tried to move out of her way, but there wasn’t enough room. We did a little dance back and forth, but I was trapped up against the wall. “I think I’m going to just leave,” I said. “That okay with you?”

  “Yeah.”

  I cracked the door again, and then stood waiting outside. “Are you having any luck?” I called after a while.

  There was a muffled curse, and then she said, “Nope. Just tried on the third one. I have about twelve more to go.”

  Twelve? Good Lord. “Since you still have so many, do you mind if I go take a walk? I’m bored out of my skull.”

  “Go ahead.”

  I started to walk away, then came back. “Oh, hey. I left my dress in there. Do you want me to get it?”

  “Nah. It’s fine where it is.”

  “Okay. Call me when you find the one.”

  I quickly left the dressing room behind, and went outside. The cool air was a blast of relief on my skin, and I didn’t even realize how hot it must have been in there.

  Most of the nearby storefronts were empty, but I walked up to each one anyway, peering into dirty windows to see what had been left behind. One store still had a bunch of racks and display shelves with what looked like old pharmacy bottles stacked high against the wall. I could only imagine what the old labels would say.

  Tearing myself away from the window, I walked farther up the street and found the antiques store we had passed on the way in. It was small, and looked like it was crammed with junk, but with the way Beth was going, it looked like I was going to have plenty of time to kill. Why not give it a shot?

  So I went in.

  Chapter Sixteen