Unnoticed (Completed)

Chapter 3

“June, wake up.” Someone was nudging me. “June, wake up!” The voice sounded urgent. I opened my eyes to find Mom hovering over me. She looked worried.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“There’s a man.”

“What? Where?”

“He’s at the front door and he wants to see you. You have to hide. I think it was our guests yesterday. They must have told him about you. You have to hide now.”

“Why can’t I hide in my room?”

“He knows about your room. Hide now!” Mom hissed. I’ve never seen her so exasperated. I got up, not caring if I was still in my pajamas, and ran out of my room. In fact, I ran to the only place I could think of – the bathroom. Um, what? Nice going, June. I locked the door and sat on the toilet seat.

A man? How did he manage to find me? Timmy’s parents… it must have been them. What did this man want? Was he here to take me away?

A few voices interrupted my thoughts. I recognized two of the voices as Mom and Dad, but the other one was low, gruff, and unfamiliar. It must be the man that Mom was talking about.

“Where is she?” the man demanded.

“Sir, for the millionth time I don’t know what you’re –“

“Stop lying! I know there is a girl. And you will take me to her at once!” Silence. “Fine! I’ll find her myself!” This was followed by a series of footsteps leading to my room. I heard the sound of a bookshelf being moved aside, and my bedroom door being opened.

“Where is she?” the man growled again. My parents said nothing. “There is obviously a girl!” the man became more agitated. “Here’s a room, so where’s the girl?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I heard Dad reply evenly. I heard more stomping around.

“I will search your house,” the man threatened.

“You won’t find anything.” To my horror, I heard footsteps coming closer and closer to me. I heard the sound of the bathroom door trying to open.

“Why is this door locked?” the man asked inquisitively. I could imagine a smirk spreading on his face. Silence.

“I said, why is this door locked?” More silence. “Could she be in here?” Crap. I heard the doorknob jiggle. “I know you’re in there,” the man said in a creepy voice. I resisted the urge to shout back at him. Instead, I sneezed. I sneezed. What an idiot!

“I heard that sneeze.”

“June, just open the door,” I heard Mom say in a strained voice.

…………………………………………………….

“Salutations, Miss Prescott. I’m Mr. Collins.” In front of me sat a rather short and stout man that was nearly bald except for a few strands of long hair that he had combed to the other side of his head. He wore thick square glasses and an ugly puke green business suit with a mustard yellow tie. He looked like the kind of person who can’t be trusted, so I decided not to trust him. Who says “Salutations,” anyway? And why was he all of a sudden being polite?

“Hello…” I said cautiously, narrowing my eyes.

The man only chuckled. “Ah, so it’s true.” At first I was confused at what he meant, until I looked down at myself and realized I had turned invisible again. I felt my face turn red. At least he couldn’t see me blushing.

“What do you want?”

“May I speak with her alone?” Mr. Collins asked my parents. Mom and Dad looked at each other. Sensing their discomfort, Mr. Collins chuckled again. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to cause her any harm.” Yes, I definitely dislike this Mr. Collins guy.

“I said, what do you want?” I demanded.

“I can help you.” I stiffened. This man helping me?

“Why would you help me?” I asked. I felt myself turning curious. I had to remind myself to stay hostile. There was something suspicious about this man, and I didn’t like it.

“Save your questions for later,” he chuckled. I hated his laugh. It was a stupid low and throaty sound. It sounded like an animal dying. “May I speak with June alone?” he asked my parents again. They shared a look before nodding.

“You can go in the living room,” Dad said. I sensed the doubt in his voice. Mr. Collins and I went into the living room, with me in the lead. When we reached the room, he plopped down on the couch like it was his own home.

“Sit,” he commanded. Who did he think he was? This isn’t his home! I stayed standing, which only make him chuckle. Again. How many times can this man chuckle? “Suit yourself,” he said.

“What do you want?” I asked for the third time.

“Miss Prescott, it is not the matter of what I want, it is the matter of what you want. Do you know what you want?” Um, excuse me?

“Yes.”

“What do you want, then?” Isn’t it obvious? I want to be normal; I want to go see the world. I want to be free. But I couldn’t tell this man that. I barely even knew him, and I made a promise to myself not to trust him.

I decided to stay silent, but that only made him chuckle.

“It’s okay, you can tell me,” he smirked. No, no I couldn’t. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Why should I trust you?”

“I can help you.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Oh, but you do.” I had to admit, I was getting curious.

“How would you help me?” I blurted.

The man smirked. He knew he had gotten my attention. Well, curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it? “With this.” Mr. Collins took a necklace out of his pocket. It had a delicate silver chain with a charm on it. From where I was standing, it looked like a flower.

“How is a silly necklace supposed to help me control my powers?” I quickly covered my mouth, realizing that I had just revealed what my one wish was.

Mr. Collins chuckled. “It just does. Try it on.” I hesitated. What if it harmed me? Curiosity took over and I snatched the necklace out of his hand and fastened it around my neck. Up close, I realized the charm was actually a butterfly.

“It doesn’t do anything.”

“Oh, but it does! Try willing yourself to turn invisible.” I glared at Mr. Collins before focusing all of my energy on turning invisible. I looked down at my hands and gasped.

“It actually works!”

“Try turning back.” I focused all of my energy on being visible. I looked down at my reappeared hands. I couldn’t mask my amazement.

“This is incredible,” I remarked. I realized I had just shown my interest in the necklace, so I quickly unfastened the necklace and returned to my hostile expression.

“Do you want it?” Mr. Collins asked. I said nothing and he chuckled.

“Now it’s my turn,” I said. “What do you want?”

“I’ll let you know when the time comes.” And with that, he got up and handed me his business card. “Think about it.” I glanced down at the business card. All it had was his name and his phone number. When I glanced back up, he was already out the door.