The Pretenders (ON HOLD)

Chapter 35

The wooden floor creaked beneath Wendy’s feet as she shifted her stance anxiously. How long had she been standing there, waiting for Peter to return? Reasoning with herself, she assumed that time was just passing slowly because she was stressed out. Wendy was, by nature, a very reasonable girl and so it made sense to try and distract herself from her smothering worries. So she glanced around.

The hidden closet was dark. So dark, in fact, that it was as though Wendy had her eyes shut tight. Feeling around, her fingers latched onto a chord hanging from the ceiling. She tugged down on it and the closet exploded with luminosity. After her eyes adjusted, she got a good look at her surroundings. The closet was empty but at the back of it was something that resembled a door handle. Normally, Wendy, being as reasonable as she was, wouldn’t have dared turn the handle. But seeing as how the situation could hardly be described as normal, reason went out the window. Hesitantly, she turned it, with the same delicacy as one would tend to a wound. The wall attached to the handle, became a door, turning on some hidden hinge. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she eased the door slightly more open. Wendy gasped at what she saw.

“Wendy?” Peter called from another room, “It’s safe now. They’re gone.”

But Wendy didn’t answer. What lay before her was beyond comprehension. After a few seconds, Peter barged in, looking worried, his hair a craze of gold and brown.

“Wendy?” he called again. Wendy heard but couldn’t respond. He must have looked up because she heard him suck in a breath and then whisper, “Oh my God.”

* * * * *

“I’m so hungry!” whined Rick for the billionth time. He turned to scowl at Lily who was sitting in the back seat of Jake’s car with him. Poor Simon was stuck between the two of them, with a look on his face that said, ‘kill me now’.

“It’s polite to bring snacks,” Lily interjected, nonchalantly flicking her hair to the side, “There’s this new thing; it’s called consideration. You should try it, moron.” Jake noticed the lack of feeling she put into that insult. She must have been preoccupied, because usually her comebacks had enough acid in them to kill an elephant.

“I don’t think you understand,” Rick protested, “I am a growing man.” Lily scoffed at his use of the word ‘man’. “I need sustenance and so does Peter and so does Simon and even Jake. I’m sure they would all understand if we skipped out on the niceties. I mean, seriously? Gummy bears? We waited in line at the shops to buy a pack of stupid gummy bears that nobody even likes when we could have been eating real food!”

“Everybody loves gummy bears!”

“They’re home brand!” Rick exclaimed. Jake held back a chuckle, knowing Lily would kill him if he didn’t. “For Pete’s sake, Lily, stop acting like a little girl!”

Lily’s head popped up and Jake noticed a hint of surprise in her voice when she asked, “What did you just call me?”

Rick looked scared, “A…little girl?”

“No I mean what did you say my name was?”

Rick laughed, seemingly impressed with himself, “Yeah, that’s right. Really? Cher? You could have picked a name I would have at least recognized. I’ve known since the day I met you what your name was. I looked at the school photos. Who’s the moron now, Lillian?”

“Ugh, don’t call me that,” Lily said brushing him off, sounding slightly disappointed. Jake glanced in the rearview mirror. Lily look tired and much less herself than she did a month ago, her eyes an anxious hazel-grey. He’d noticed a change in her that only someone who knew her as well as he did could detect. It had been gradual, but it was definitely change.