by Jamie White
“You’re welcome. Goodnight, Courtney.”
Someone backstage called for her, and Miss Hernandez gave Courtney a quick wave before rushing off to whatever drama might be happening offstage.
Courtney turned and made her way through the wings and into the dressing area, dodging her fellow cast members, who were chatting excitedly as they made their way to the after-show party. She couldn’t help but feel bad about skipping out on it, especially since it was the last one. Courtney figured she must look like the biggest diva in school. She couldn’t worry about that now, though. There was something far more pressing demanding her attention.
Once she’d changed, she waited outside the theatre for Sam and Matthew. The warm air helped to take away the chill she always got from being inside the auditorium. She swore they must keep the place glacial on purpose. She assumed it was because of the lights — they couldn’t have any students passing out in the middle of a production. Still, Courtney would’ve preferred being hot. The change back and forth was never pleasant.
She sat down at a bench and leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. The sounds of people milling about the parking lot and cars pulling out mixed with crickets chirping.
“Court!”
Courtney snapped to attention at the sound of her name. She searched the bustling crowd, spotting Sam and Matthew by a vending machine a few feet away.
“Hey,” she called out as she stood to join them. “You guys ready?”
“You bet,” replied Matthew. “Let’s go.”
Courtney nearly burst out laughing at the look on his face. He reminded her of a mischievous child getting ready to play a joke on someone. That was one of the things she liked best about him; he wasn’t afraid to get in a little trouble. She supposed it balanced out her overly-cautious nature.
“Ready when you are,” Sam said as he gave her a quick kiss. “By the way, you were awesome tonight. What happened up there? I mean, you’re usually incredible, but tonight was something else.”
“Thanks. Miss Hernandez said the same thing. I don’t know; it was like I just got lost for a while there. Maybe my subconscious decided I needed a break or something,” she joked.
Sam walked Courtney to his car with his arm around her shoulder, flirting with her the whole way while Matthew followed at a respectful distance. She blushed and played along with his flirting, knowing he must be trying to keep things light. She had to admit, she’d been a ball of stress the entire day and had even started getting on her own nerves. She couldn’t blame him for trying to lighten her up, if that was what was behind the extra attention.
Once they got on the road to her house, the three of them fell into an awkward silence. Courtney considered all the things she could possibly discover that night. What if they were telling the truth and her parents really had supernatural powers? The possibility made her nauseous.
“Guys,” Courtney said as Sam pulled into her driveway, “let me out here and then go park somewhere else okay? I’ll leave the back door unlocked so you can sneak in.” She stole a glance at the house of the neighbor who usually kept an eye on their place when her parents were gone.
“Sure thing. We’ll see you in a little bit,” Sam agreed.
“Thanks.” Courtney got out and waved goodbye as she ran to the door. Courtney unlocked it and walked inside as Sam pulled out and drove away. She just hoped they were discreet enough and this wouldn’t get back to her parents. They’d have a fit if they knew she had a couple of guys in the house while they were gone, especially when one was her boyfriend. Courtney almost laughed at the absurdity of worrying about that, but she supposed old habits die hard — especially when one was scared her parents were really criminals.
Okay, where should I start?
Courtney unlocked the backdoor as promised while mentally reviewing the house for potential hiding places. Their closet came to mind, but Courtney dismissed that idea along with the attic. If they were trying to keep more details from her, they would’ve gotten rid of anything in either place once she confronted them with the picture and note.
A part of her wished she had waited to do that until she went through everything in the attic more thoroughly. Who knew what other skeletons might have been hiding in there? She supposed it was too late to worry about that now and decided to try the study first. She’d only been searching for about fifteen minutes when she heard Sam’s voice calling to her.
“I’m in the study,” she called out. “I’ll be out as soon as I can.” Courtney crept to the desk and carefully rifled through each drawer, disappointed to see they mostly contained old bills and other assorted junk. She was surprised. She figured they would be a lot neater than that. Her mother was always after her about keeping her room clean.
“Okay,” Sam answered.
The desk turned out to be a waste of time, and the closet wasn’t much better. Her cheeks flushed with annoyance as she made sure everything was just as she’d found it. The cabinet in the corner of the room also came up empty, making her suppress an annoyed scream. There had to be something!
“Okay,” she muttered, “where else would they hide stuff?”
Courtney studied the room, taking in the faded carpet, the dark oak furnishings, and the antique lamp that illuminated the space. An image of her as a child played through her mind. She had only been about three at the time, so she couldn't be sure of the reliability of the memory. Still, she could swear there was another spot in this room she was missing. She closed her eyes in concentration as she focused on the hazy recollection. She’d come running into the room, chasing her old cat, Maxwell.
“Courtney Lynn, haven’t I told you not to come running in here like that? This is Mommy and Daddy’s office and isn’t for playing!”
Her mother had nearly jumped before saying the words, her hand brushing the wall as she stood.
“Sorry, Mommy,” Courtney said with a pout. “Maxwell and me are playing tag and he wouldn’t listen.”
“It’s okay. Why don’t you take Maxwell into your room to play?”
“Okay,” Courtney said, a big smile spreading over her face over being forgiven for breaking the rules.
The more Courtney thought about it, the more she realized just how protective they were of this space. The image of her mother standing at the wall like that made her wonder. Could there be some hidden space in here she didn’t know about?
Courtney marched to the wall with her gaze fixed on the family portrait over her father’s bookcase. She’d always liked that photo. Her parents had such a look of joy and pride in their faces, and Courtney was holding one of her favorite childhood dolls. She smiled, thinking of how she’d been convinced it could really talk to her. Funny how she never noticed that the doll always said the same things without fail—sometimes multiple times in a row.
Her interest in the picture was far different today. She stepped closer, reaching out for the frame with both hands, hesitating a moment before gripping both sides and taking it off the wall. Her eyes widened at the opening the picture hid. No wonder they’d never wanted her in this room.
The space was only about a foot wide and just as tall. She opened the little door with her stomach doing flip-flops. Who knew what she would find inside? Courtney reached her trembling fingers inside and pulled out the first thing she found. It was a picture of her birth parents standing outside of a large building. She studied the image, tracing it with her finger before turning her attention to the back. A date and place were scrawled across the surface, along with the names Shawn and Ann.
At least they told me the truth about her name…
She pulled a piece of paper out and unfolded the sheet. It was an old newspaper article about a family who’d gone missing. Her breathing accelerated as she read the account of how their car had been found on the side of the road with signs of forced entry. A hat and some other items had been found damaged and strewn about, leaving authorities to conclude the family must have met with foul play. She s
wallowed hard as she put the article back, wondering whether or not they’d faked the whole thing as part of their scheme to hide her. What if they’d really been hurt? She banished the thought from her mind, realizing that was too much to consider.
As Courtney scanned the article further, she noticed that the names mentioned were different and the picture accompanying it was of someone else. Maybe this was one of those things they got involved in. If it was, she was disappointed to see there was no follow-up article included to tell her how it had turned out.
Courtney kept searching until she came up with a graduation program from a college in the Northeast. Her heart pounded at the discovery, and she quickly began scanning names to find anyone named Shawn or Ann. Unfortunately, she found several of each listed so she pulled the small notepad she had brought with her from her pocket and jotted them down. She’d look up the names later.
Most of the other stuff was old notes that didn’t mean much at all to her. At least, they didn’t reveal anything important. They were mixed with some old campus newspapers and other mementos that Courtney didn’t feel the need to go through. Instinct told her that there was little else these things could tell her.
Ten minutes later, she put the last item back and placed the picture over the secret opening. Courtney left the room, shutting the door carefully before joining her boyfriend and friend in the living room.
“How’d it go?” Matthew asked as soon as she stepped through the doorway.
“I found some stuff, but we should probably talk about it tomorrow. It’s late and I don’t want you guys to get in any trouble. Besides, I want to think over what I found for a little bit before we talk about it. Okay?” She felt bad for rushing them out, but she felt the need to keep her discovery to herself for the night.
“I guess so, as long as you’re all right. You look a little upset,” Sam said, watching her closely.
“I’m fine… I just don’t want to hold you guys up any more than I have. Plus, it’s best not to push our luck. You’ve already been here for a while and I don’t want the neighbor to notice.”
“Okay,” Sam agreed, “but I want you to call me first thing tomorrow.”
“Will do,” she promised. “Thanks for coming tonight. I really appreciate it.”
“What else were we going to do?” teased Matthew with his trademark good-natured grin. That grin had been known to get him out of a lot of trouble in school over the years, not to mention with the girls that fawned over him. “We’ll see ya.”
“Night.”
Matthew headed for the kitchen, while Sam drew Courtney closer to him. “Night.” He kissed her and then hurried through the kitchen door to catch up with Matthew.
Courtney watched them walk across the backyard through the kitchen window until they passed the trees on the edge of the property and disappeared from view. Once they were gone, she found herself getting restless and began doing random tasks around the house to try and settle down. She felt like she could jump out of her own skin, but she couldn’t understand why.
Seeing the chores weren’t helping, she tossed aside the dishrag she’d been using to dry a dish and put the last plate back in the cabinet. The term her parents had used before stuck in her head, and she decided what she really wanted was to look into it more.
Once Courtney got back to her room, she settled in front of her computer and began searching for the term ‘Lightworkers’ online. She thought she’d heard it before, but mostly in New Age circles, so she had no idea what it really was. What her parents had told her so far seemed to fit with what she’d heard, but that didn’t mean much. Courtney wanted to find what she could from unbiased sources.
The more she searched, the more she saw that there were, in fact, people who referred to themselves that way, although none of the ones she found online claimed any odd abilities other than good intuition and maybe talking to dead people. Courtney wasn’t sure whether she considered the latter ability to be a good thing or not. It unnerved her.
A couple of hours later, she was no closer to finding people who fit exactly what she’d been told than when she’d started, so Courtney decided to give up for the evening. There was no point when the words were beginning to swim in front of her eyes, anyway.
Chapter Thirteen
The wind gently rustled the tree leaves as Courtney walked down the road toward her house. She breathed heavy as she rushed home, anxious to get to her computer. Her mouth was set in a hard line as she thought about all the possibilities stretching before her that day. The plan was to begin using the names she found to see if anything fitting her parents’ story came up, and already the wheels were spinning in her mind as to what she’d do if the search revealed something different than what she’d been told.
Partway home, her cell phone rang. Courtney reached into her pocket, pulling the small phone out. She cringed at the name on the screen. What could she want right now?
Courtney pressed the talk button and adopted a casual tone as she answered, “Hi. What’s going on?”
“Not much,” Lauren answered. “I was hoping we could get together and talk. You’ve been avoiding me ever since we all met at the drive-in.”
“I know. I’ve just been really busy and there’s a lot on my mind right now. Plus, you didn’t seem too supportive about what I told you all, so I figured you didn’t want to hear about it.”
“Courtney, come on. You know that’s not true. You’re my best friend. I just needed to sleep on it. You did throw a major curve ball at me, after all.”
“Think how I feel. At least you know who your parents really are.” Courtney couldn’t stop the venom from seeping into her words and a part of her felt bad about it. She had to admit, her cousin sounded upset, and she was obviously trying to make things right.
“True, but that doesn’t mean you should act like I’m the enemy here. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Courtney’s tone softened as she answered, “Actually, I guess you could. I was planning to do this at home by myself, but maybe I can come by and we can do some searching together. Is your roommate going to be there today?”
“She shouldn’t be. She’s got a ton of classes scheduled today, and then she’s going to spend the night at her boyfriend’s place so they can go out somewhere in the morning. Why don’t you see if you can stay for the night? It’ll give us plenty of time to talk and figure things out.”
“Okay,” Courtney agreed. “Thanks.”
“But of course,” said Lauren. “What else are cousins for?”
“That’s a good question,” Courtney teased. “See you in a little bit.”
Courtney ended the call with a smile on her face. All the tension in Courtney’s body dissipated, knowing that Lauren was open enough to help in the search. She just hoped where it led wouldn’t prove to be more than they could handle.
****
As Courtney once again pulled into the crowded lot of her cousin’s apartment complex, a mix of excitement and terror built within that made her have to sit quietly to get her emotions under control. Courtney reached into the backseat to collect her overnight bag. She climbed out of the car, slinging the bag over one shoulder.
Once she entered the building, Courtney marched down the hallway to her cousin’s apartment. She barely looked at the numbers as she moved, stopping at the door. She knocked, then began playing with the end of her backpack’s strap absentmindedly while she waited.
“Come on in! I was starting to wonder what happened to you,” said Lauren as she stepped aside to let Courtney in.
“Sorry, it took me a bit to get out of the house. They’re even fighting me on coming over here now.”
“Oops. Sorry,” Lauren apologized. “That’s probably my fault. Remember how I said they were acting weird before? Well, I didn’t tell you that I asked them about it. They didn’t look too happy about that, so I guess they might not be big fans of me right now.”
Courtney sighed, setting her bag on the grou
nd against the wall. “Figures. I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people that can’t stand being questioned on something more. It was like pulling teeth to get them to tell me what they already did.”
Lauren laughed. “That’s parents for you. You know how they are. You can be fifty and they’ll still look at you like you’re in diapers. My parents are still like that.”
“Glad to see it gets better,” Courtney said with a laugh. “So, when can we start?”
“Chill a minute and I’ll get you something to drink, then you can tell me what you already know. Sound good?”
“Okay,” Courtney agreed. She pulled her laptop out of the bag while she waited for her cousin to return with their drinks. She set it on the coffee table before settling onto the couch.
“Here you go,” Lauren said, handing Courtney a can of soda.
“Thanks.” Courtney flipped the tab and took a sip, allowing the bubbly liquid to sit in her mouth a moment before swallowing.
“Okay,” Lauren said as she opened her own and took a seat beside Courtney. “What’s the story so far?”
Courtney filled her cousin in on the details she’d learned since the last time they talked while Lauren watched with an intent expression. Courtney couldn’t help feeling a little self-conscious under the scrutiny, as she knew most of what she said sounded odd.
“So, that’s about it,” she concluded. “I still don’t know for sure what to believe, but the names will hopefully help.”
“Did you tell them anything about that?”
“Are you crazy? Of course not. There could be other stuff hidden in there, and I’ll never get at it if they know I was digging around in the office.” Courtney reached over to open her laptop. She booted the machine, adding, “So, what exactly did you say when you saw them, and how’d they act?”
Lauren shrugged. “Not a whole lot. I just asked why they seemed a little off and they didn’t tell me much. I just gave up. They did want to know if you’d been acting weird at all. When I said no, they dropped it and said they had to leave.”