Vision of Secrets (2 page)

Mary scrunched her nose. “Ew, ok. I get the
point. So it was just you.”

“
Well,” I said. “Jerry was around.
Singing that same song, over and over again.”

“
He must have been fun company,”
Mary said with a wry smile. “Did you at least get something
nice?”

I just shrugged.

“
Bristol,” Mary said. “I can’t help
you unless you talk to me. Did something happen?”

“
It’s stupid,” I said.

“
Please,” Mary said. “Tell
me.”

I sighed and gave in. “I bought a dress,” I
said. “A very nice, conservative, black dress.”

“
Ok,” Mary said. “I take it we’re
not talking about a party dress.”

“
No,” I said.

Mary waited for me to say more, but I
didn’t.

“
So you’re talking about the kind
of dress you would wear to a funeral?”

I nodded.

“
Are you going to a funeral
soon?”

“
Not that I know of,” I said. “It’s
kind of funny, but I’ve never been to a funeral. I see dead people
left and right, but I’ve never been to a funeral.”

“
Does the idea of seeing a dead
body…,” Mary said. “I mean a real one, not the ghost of one that’s
walking and talking. Does that bother you?”

I thought about it for a moment but shook my
head. “No, I don’t think so. I just don’t have anyone close to me
who’s died.”

“
Well, that’s fortunate,” Mary
said. “So you still have your grandparents?”

“
Not really,” I said. Mary stared
at me, clearly wanting me to expand on that. “I never really met
any of my relatives. To be honest, I’m not sure if my grandparents
are alive or not. I know I’ve got a big family on my dad’s side.
They live upstate, in some town called Spirit. Kind of funny,
huh?”

“
Do you have contact with
them?”

“
Not really,” I said. “I think they
used to call when I was little, but not so much these days. I still
get Christmas and birthday cards from my uncle Mark. I had a dream
about him the other day.”

“
Oh?” Mary said. “So you know your
uncle?”

“
Never met him,” I said. “Well, I
did, but I was really young the last time I saw him. That’s what
the dream was about.”

“
About meeting your
uncle?”

“
It wasn’t just a dream you see,” I
said. “It was a vision.”

Mary looked a little shocked, but she
recovered quickly. “Tell me about it.”

I sighed and decided to go with it.

* * * *

It started on the day I was born.
Uncle Mark must work for the police in Spirit, because he was
driving my parents to the hospital in a patrol car. My parents were
in the back seat, kind of like perps. My mom was in labor. She
looked happy, like she was excited for me to come into the
world.

My uncle was talking to them about
names for me. They hadn’t settled on one, so they recited a list
like John, Sam, Bryan, Peter, and William. It was interesting that
not only was my name not even being considered, but neither were
any other girl names.

After that, my dream shifted to the
actual moment I was born. My parents seemed completely shocked when
they were told I was a girl. Both my parents started to cry, but it
looked like they were happy about it. Thrilled, I’d say. Like I was
the best surprise ever.

* * * *

“Wait,” Mary said, stopping my story. “You
sound surprised. You are your parents’ only child. Of course they
were thrilled. Do you get the impression that they would have
preferred a son?”

“No,” I said. “They’ve never said anything that
made me think that, but they were clearly expecting a boy. I know
sometimes they get that wrong in the sonogram, but in the dream,
they were really thrilled about the fact that I was a
girl.”

“Was there more?”

* * * *

My dream shifted again. Mom was
strapping me in to a car seat in the back while Dad finished
loading the car. I looked about two weeks old. My uncle was there,
asking them if they were sure if they wanted to do this. My parents
insisted that they were.

“We leaving Spirit,” Dad said. “And
we’re not coming back. If we’re wrong, we trust you to look out for
Bristol, but we don’t think we are. I’m sorry we’ll miss your
wedding, but this is it.”

My uncle looked like he wanted
argue, but he didn’t. He stuck his head into the car and gave
little baby me a kiss. “Take care of my niece.”

Minutes later, my parents drove
off.

* * * *

“So have you thought about calling your uncle?”
Mary asked.

“And say what?” I replied. “Hey Uncle Mark, I
had this dream about you and just wanted to reach out and say
hi?”

“Have you asked your parents about him?” Mary
asked. “Or about the rest of your family?”

“I tried once,” I said. “When I was younger.
Mom gets angry, Dad gets upset. So I avoid it.”

“Okay,” Mary said. “Let’s get back to the other
day. You bought a dress, but you didn’t know why.”

“I just had this feeling,” I said. “I should
mention that happens too. I get these feelings, like don’t sit in
the seat next to Lucy Wolfowitz back in second grade. I’ve learned
to listen when I get those sudden feeling to do or not do
something. Wish I had listened back then with Lucy.”

“Why? What happened?”

“With Lucy?” I asked. “She threw up all over
me. She ruined my favorite dress back then. It had butterflies on
it. I like butterflies.”

Mary smiled. “So back to the dress. The black
one without the butterflies.”

I shrugged. “I just had this feeling to go into
the store; I looked around, and saw it there on the rack. So I got
it. I just felt like I should. I didn’t even bother to try it on. I
know it’ll fit. It’s hanging in my closet. Waiting.”

“Any idea what it’s waiting for?”

I shrugged. I had a few ideas, but I didn’t
want to say.

“So the next day was your birthday?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Big whoop.”

“Bristol,” Mary said. “It’s not every day that
you turn seventeen. Certainly you had a celebration.”

“You want to hear about my birthday?” I
said.

Mary nodded. “Yes, I would.”

* * * *

I got up and looked around for my mom and dad,
but I was alone in the apartment we shared. Jerry popped in while I
was in the shower.

“What are you doing?” I yelled.

“Sorry,” he said, his hand over his eyes. “I
saw you looking for your parents. They left a note. It’s tacked on
the fridge.”

“I’ll look when I’m dressed,” I said. “Could
you get out?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s just that I always sang
in the shower and…”

I threw a bar of soap that went right through
his head.

“Okay,” he said. “Alright. I’m
going.”

I watched as he disappeared but not before
peeking through his fingers.

Jerry was gone by the time I was dressed. I
prayed that meant he had finally moved on, but somehow I knew
better.

When I was dressed, I went out to the kitchen.
There was a pile of mail on the counter and a small package address
to me. I opened it up and found a birthday card with a cute little
dog on it. It made me smile. It was from Uncle Mark. There was a
gift there too. It was a pair of earrings. Nothing fancy but
pretty. They had butterflies on them.

Next, I went to the fridge and found the note
my parents had left.

Bristol,

Your father is going out of town
tonight. I’ve got a late meeting and then I’m seeing some friends.
We’ll probably won’t see you until after the weekend. Order pizza,
I left money.

Mom.

I looked around to see if there was another
note, or a card, or something else that would show either of them
had even remembered today was my birthday, but there was no other
sign.

I wanted to grab the note and rip it to little
pieces, but I didn’t know if I’d have time. If I did, I’d probably
yell and maybe cry. I would be a mess and would have to go freshen
up.

Instead I pushed it to the back of my mind,
grabbed my bag, and left for school. On the bus, I pulled off the
earrings I had originally put on and replaced them with the
butterfly ones my uncle had sent. At least someone on this planet
knew it was my birthday today.

Anyone who saw me on the bus would have seen
your typical teenage girl. But inside, there was a little girl,
crying.

* * * *

I didn’t see Jerry as I made my way to school,
which was good since I was in no mood to deal with him. I looked
for Brady, but I didn’t see him around. I made my way to class but
was distracted by a girl named Holly. She was passing in and out of
rooms, letting students pass right through her and waving at
me.

Holly was a ghost that has been here since I
first arrived. She had been killed about two years before I started
here, while I was still in middle school. She was a senior who had
been texting and driving when she wrapped her car around a
guardrail on the Belt Parkway. That hadn’t stopped Holly from
gossiping. Especially once I was around and able to actually hear
her.

She came up to me as I was shoving things into
my locker.

“Ooh,” She said. “I’ve got so much to tell you.
That girl Angela I was telling you about? Well, she didn’t break up
with her boyfriend like I thought she would. Instead, she just
screwed his best friend. She figured if he could do it with hers,
why not? I mean, like LOL, how stupid is that? Oh and I heard that
girl Jen, the girl with the reddish hair? She’s talking to some guy
online named Jason. She was showing his picture before. OMG, he’s
so adorable. I don’t know what he sees in her. And did you see
Melissa Harkin today? What was she wearing? She’s such a
slut.”

I rolled my eyes as I listened to her prattle
on and on. God help me, she was making me miss Jerry. I wanted to
tell her to get lost, but this was all she had and it wasn’t like
it was doing any harm. Nobody could hear the gossip she was
spreading except me. She was like my personal TMZ.

That’s when I got an idea. I went in to a
nearby bathroom, hoping Holly would follow me. She did. She kept
talking about what she saw in the boys’ locker room—who was big,
bigger, biggest and who had a small one—while I fidgeted with my
bag, waiting for the bathroom to empty. When the last girl ran to
get to class, I turned to Holly and shushed her.

“That’s all fascinating,” I said, keeping my
tone friendly. “But let me ask you a question. There’s this kid in
my history class. His name is Brady. He wears a hoodie. Any idea
who he is?”

Holly thought about it a moment. “Dark hair,
looks like his own personal dark cloud hovering above his head?
Yeah, I’ve seen him. Really, Bristol, you could do so much better
than him.”

“I’m not interested in him like that,” I said.
“And I doubt he’s interested in me like that. I just want to know
what his story is. Any chance you could find out?”

Holly practically beamed. “I can’t make any
promises. It’s hard to get info when nobody is talking about him,
but I’ll see what I can do. Nice earrings, by the way.”

She was gone before I had a chance to say
thanks. I left and headed for class. Throughout the day, nobody
wished me a happy birthday, which I suppose is my own fault. I
can’t ever remember telling anyone when my birthday was.

I thought about telling someone that not only
was it my birthday, but that my parents would be out of town for
the next few days. I could throw a party, and as long as it didn’t
get to out of control, nobody would even know.

But it wouldn’t be worth it just so I didn’t
have to spend the weekend alone. I didn’t feel like spending the
day with anyone from school.

Besides, I didn’t want to have to listen to
Mrs. Reid from down the hall lecture me about what was wrong with
teenagers these days. Not again. She could go on and on. Not that
she would tell my parents. She couldn’t, since she had died seven
years ago, but that hadn’t stopped her from popping in on me
whenever she thought I was up to no good.

After lunch, I went to the ladies room, where
once again, I heard the vocal styling’s of Jerry. I considered
flushing myself down the toilet. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone in
there.

Michelle Molloy came in to fluff, or whatever
it is you call what she does. Michelle was a junior like me. She
was dating the high school football quarterback and had him wrapped
around her finger.

I had heard stories, mostly from Holly, that
Michelle liked to play pranks on anyone that she didn’t deem cool
enough. And if anyone stood up to her, she’d sic he big boyfriend
on them. I didn’t know if it was true or not. While we knew each
other, she and I never spent any real time together.