Page 52 of Every Hidden Truth

We rang off, and I dressed in the Catholic School Boy outfit, clicking the rainbow suspenders into place for the final touch. I returned to the bathroom to check the final look.

“Not bad,” I told Reflection Silas. “Not bad at all.”

To complete the outfit, I searched for the dress shoes I’d worn to Sadie’s wedding last spring. Delving into my closet, I shoved aside old clothes, empty shoe boxes, and a plastic container full of Legos that I pretended I didn’t still play with. Somehow, my dress shoes had made themselves at home in the farthest corner of the closet underneath some misplaced clothing.

I reached out to move the shirt and jeans aside, but I froze an inch away. I recognized the clothes, and my ears buzzed. A faucet leaked. Eric squeezed the back of my neck as he loosened his belt.

Scrambling out of the closet, I crab-walked backward until my back met the bed. I breathed in through my nose, exhaling through pursed lips. I rubbed at the worn carpet, trying to ground myself to this place and time.

The bathroom receded, and I heaved a shaky sigh of relief.

They’re just clothes,my brain said, but it sounded like a lie.

Slatted doors hung open mockingly, inviting me into the gaping maw of the closet. I shook my head like I was answering a question that hadn’t been asked.

I knee-walked to the threshold but couldn’t bring myself to go further. With a grunt of frustration, I dug my phone out of mypocket and clicked on Ben’s contact. The line rang twice before it clicked.

“If you’re calling to weasel yourself out of going to the dance with me,” Ben said the moment he answered, “I will come and drag you out of your house, pajamas be damned.”

“Ben,” I said softly, and his annoyed mumbles stopped.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, tone instantly serious.

“No,” I rushed out. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just... need to do something, but I don’t want to, so I thought—I don’t know what I thought. I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Okay?”

The line fell silent for several long seconds.

“Si, what’s going on?”

Clearing my throat, I scooted closer to the closet. “I found some clothes.Theclothes. From that day, uh, in the bathroom.” I could practically feel his tension through the phone. “I’m okay. I just feel like I should do something with them, but I don’t know what to do.”

Ben swallowed, throat clicking. “What do you want to do with them?”

“Throw them into a lake of eternal fire,” I answered immediately, and he snorted.

“Damn, I left my lake of eternal fire in California.”

“You’re a terrible boyfriend.”

He chuckled again, and I managed to smile. “Since we don’t have a lake of eternal fire at our disposal, what else do you want to do with them?”

“Throw them away, I think. Seems wasteful, but…”

“Then throw them away. Or donate them, if you want to be socially conscious.”

I thought of the Goodwill donation pile Dad and I kept in the basement next to the laundry. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Okay. Do you want me to come over? We can do it together.”

I shook my head, but since he couldn’t see me, I answered aloud. “No, I can do it. I can do it. But maybe... maybe you could stay on the phone with me?”

I heard his smile through the phone. “Of course I’ll stay on the phone with you.”

“Okay.” I took a fortifying breath. “Fuck these clothes. I can do this.”

“Yes, you can.”

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