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As my sister and I get ready for school, I can’t help but think about how much my dad has changed when it comes to Mason.
He was the last one to admit Mason was real. I had been out in the backyard when I was about eight years old tossing a Frisbee back and forth with Mason. I’m not sure how long Dad stood there watching, trying to figure out how the Frisbee was stopping in midair and flinging itself back to me. It must have been long enough for him to see the implications. The good and the bad.
The good included Dad getting to have a son. Not that he didn’t love his two daughters, but I think all dads want a son no matter what they say. There is something strangely fulfilling in playing catch—which is something Dad and Mason do on a regular basis now.
The bad had to do with Dad realizing that when I asked three years earlier if Mason could sleep in my room with me, and he had said yes, he hadn’t just been playing pretend with me. Not that anyone worried about what Mason and I were doing at night at eight years old, but well…we wouldn’t be eight forever. The spare bedroom got cleaned out the next day.
Now, eight years later, we’re all sitting down at the breakfast table. Mom dishes out five rather than four plates of fried eggs and sliced cantaloupe like normal. Nobody bats an eye when it looks like a fork is spearing fruit pieces all by itself. This is totally normal for us, but we don’t have people over for dinner very often.
“Evie, did you finish your algebra homework?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, Mason helped me with the last few problems.”
Mom smiles at Mason—well in his general direction, anyway. “What about you two?” she asks Mason and I. “Did you finish your reports on The Federalist Papers?”
“Mason’s is on your desk, and mine is in my backpack,” I answer for the both of us.
You would think being invisible would get you out of homework. Not so. Once Mom quit freaking out about seeing Mason toss Evie in the air, she decided that if he was real he was going to be treated just like her other children. He is required to sit through all my classes and turn in assignments. The only difference is, Mom grades his homework instead of my teachers.
Dad looks up from his phone, where he was reading the morning’s most urgent emails, and says, “I have a couple of clients coming over this evening for dinner.”
Mason’s body tenses in response to this news. I’m the only one who notices. I reach over to pat Mason’s knee reassuringly, but he pulls away. Frowning at his response, I turn back to Dad.
“Mason, you’re excused from dinner tonight.”
That only causes him to become even more glum.
“Olivia, you’re excused as well.” Dad says, surprising both me and Mason. Dad hands over two crisp twenty dollar bills. “Have fun tonight, but please stay out of trouble.”
Evie chuckles along with us at the memory of the incident Dad is referring to. We really didn’t think anyone else would be at the driving range that late. Mason just wanted to hit a few balls. None of us realized the attendant could see what we were doing. Poor guy.
Olivia’s best friend is not imaginary. He’s not a ghost, either. And she’s pretty sure he’s not a hallucination. He’s just Mason.
He is, however, invisible.
When Olivia spotted the crying little boy on her front porch at five years old, she had no idea she was the only one who could see him. Twelve years later when new-girl Robin bumps into the both of them and introduces herself to Mason, they are both stunned.
Mason couldn’t be more pleased that someone else can see him. Olivia, on the other hand, isn’t jumping at the chance to welcome Robin into their circle. Jealousy may have something to do with
that, but honest fear that Robin’s presence will put Mason in danger is soon validated when a strange black car shows up outside Olivia’s house.
that, but honest fear that Robin’s presence will put Mason in danger is soon validated when a strange black car shows up outside Olivia’s house.
The race to find out what Robin knows in time to protect Mason from whatever threats are coming becomes Olivia’s only focus.
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Genre - Young Adult
Rating – PG-13
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Thank you so much for sharing Invisible with your readers!
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