Then I feel that emptiness again, like she’s tuned me out.
I go over to the boy. “Are you Darius?”
“The one and only.”
He talks in a low monotone that I have to strain to hear over the machines. I would have expected something like that to be said with some sort of humor or arrogance, but he said it blandly, as if he were just stating a dull fact that’s common sense.
“I’ve already started the sheets and towels,” Darius says. “The clothes here are separated by cabin. We wash each separately. You just gotta go through the box and look for stains. If you see any, put some detergent on the stain and rub it in a bit. Then stick them in the washer. Then a little break as they wash. Then the drier. Another break. Then we put them back in the box. Later, someone from each cabin will come get their box. I’m doing Cabin 1 now so you get started on Cabin 2. There are numbers on the sides of the boxes.”
“Oh, sure,” I say.
I look through the boxes until I find the one with twos on it. I push the other boxes aside to make some room and bring one of the hampers on the ground closer to me. I start going through the clothes.
“Hey, do you mind if I turn this off?” Darius says.
“Turn which off?” I say, glancing at the washers and dries on both sides.
“My visibility. It’s exhausting to keep on and I didn’t get much sleep last night.” And more so to himself, he adds, “Damn level took so long to beat.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I say.
“Well, I was playing the new—oh wait. Not that.” He shakes his head quickly, like he’s trying to clear his mind. “I’m invisible naturally. I can make myself visible but I have to focus a lot on it. It takes a lot of energy. That’s what you were asking about right?”
“Oh… Yeah. You can turn it off or whatever.”
“Thanks.”
I look over and there’s an empty spot where he is, only the clothes moving visible. I remember now that that’s what I wanted to think about before Elise invaded my thoughts.
“So the things you touch don’t become invisible?” I say.
“I can make things invisible through touch but it takes even more focus and energy. Only the things I’m wearing that touch my skin directly become invisible without any effort, but it can’t be too loose or bulky.”
“So you were born like that? Invisible?”
“Yep.”
His hamper is dragged to the washing machine and the clothes go into the bottom washer.
I continue sorting through the clothes, imagining what it’d be like to give birth to and take care of an invisible baby. How did they do it? Maybe they kept him wrapped up in tons of blankets all the time so they knew where he was.
Then, I imagine what it’d be like to go to school, having to focus on remaining visible the whole time. Everyone probably knew. It must have been impossible to keep his gift a secret.
Back in the foster home and in school, no one except Ron even knew I was gifted. I could pretend to be normal. I liked that.
No more clothes in the box. There were no stains either. I wait for Darius to get out of the way, then I bring the clothes over and put them in the top machine.
“I’m gonna go get something to eat real quick,” I say, hoping it isn’t past two yet.
“Sure,” Darius says, sorting through Cabin 3’s box now.
I go to the kitchen. Hunter is in there washing dishes. Some other people who are not familiar are cleaning the counters and floor.
“Hey, Hunter,” I say.
He looks back at me from the sink. “Hey, Chrys. Who won?”
“Remington’s fire team or whatever it’s called.”
“Sweet,” he says. “Are you coming for something to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Best hurry. We’ll be cleaning it up in like ten minutes.”
I go over to the buffet table. There are a few bagels and croissants left. There are containers of various spreads like butter, cream cheese and jam. I stand over the table and eat a couple croissants and a bagel with cream cheese and then go back to the laundry room.
Darius and I sort through the rest of the boxes. Now we just have to wait for the clothes to finish washing and drying before we can put in the other boxes. Darius sits down on the floor against the wall. I only know because I can see a handheld game.
He hasn’t spoken to me much.
I go through the red box of clothes and set aside some things that look like they’ll fit me. Then I go to the storage room and rummage through it. I find a tote bag in there. I put in some toiletries, a wristwatch with a black leather band, and a notebook and pens. There are all kinds of other things like board games, batteries, toys, paper, books, writing supplies, but no phone chargers. I browse through the books. They’re mostly coloring books, but there are also some fiction and non-fiction books. I find a book on meditation and stick that in my bag too.
I go back to the laundry room and put the clothes I set aside into the bag too. There’s still half an hour left until some of the machines finish. I sit down on the ground and start reading the book.
When a machine’s timer goes off, it gets a little quieter in here, but then we take out the stuff in the machine and replace it with more stuff. The noise starts up again.
We continue doing that until all the laundry is done, me reading and Darius playing his game while we wait.
By the time we’re done, the smell of food surrounds us in the laundry room. It’s half past six.
