Page 72 of The Invisible Roommate

She turned and walked into a crowd of adults all dressed in bumblebee costumes, one of them wearing a crown and wielding a scepter.

If he remembered correctly from the previous year, the bathrooms were in the other direction, but she was already too far away for him to call out to her, and if she’d impressed anything into him, it was that if she told him to stay put somewhere, he was to stay put; otherwise, he might get lost forever.

Forever is what it felt like as Emory waited for his mom to return.

The crowds thinned out. Most of the kids his age had gone home. Some of the car owners were clanking shut their trunks and packing up their leftover candy. Emory stayed seated but searched around for a red puffer vest among the masses now heading home. This was one really difficult game of Where’s Waldo?

From inside, he heard the DJ say, “Let’s all dance to ‘The Monster Ball’ together one more time!”

The night got cold fast. Emory belittled himself for insisting he leave his coat at home. It would ruin my costume! he’d shouted.

Around, nobody seemed to notice Emory. He’d been told not to talk to strangers, so he didn’t speak to anyone, despite the sinking feeling in his stomach that something was wrong. Or maybe he’d just eaten too much candy?

He pushed his bucket away, sat his chemistry kit on his lap, and stared after the DeLorean as it drove off, expecting colorful sparks to fly and flaming tire tracks to line the asphalt. Instead, an orange blinker flashed twice before the car disappeared around the corner.

By the time an older white woman and a younger dark-skinned man wearing police officer costumes came over to inquire after his parents, he was shivering. It took him several minutes to realize that they weren’t wearing costumes; they were actually police officers, who assumed his parents were volunteering.

“My mom’s not volunteering,” he said. “She’s in the bathroom.”

But the bathrooms were empty, her car was nowhere on the premises, and Emory Griffin, with his candy and his chemistry set, had been left all alone.

And for over two decades, he’d stay alone, despite his crowded foster placements and college roommates, until a perceptive pop star appeared in his life and changed everything.

StepFour

Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

Place a pop star and a scientist in a high-pressure situation on Halloween.

Observe carefully.

34Gerard

From the moment Gerard woke up, he didn’t want to leave Emory’s side.

The night before, finally, Emory had shared the hurt that had simmered beneath everything he’d said and done since Gerard arrived. The clearest takeaway was that Emory thought himself both Dr. Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster, yet to Gerard, he was neither.

Gerard’s heart ached for young Emory left alone on that bench, watching the Halloween party clear. He could not fathom the pain of having a family member you loved disappear without a trace.

As he got ready for the day, guilt was a self-playing drum kit banging inside his head. Hadn’t he done that to his family? Decided it was all too much and ran? Everybody he’d left behind was an adult (though some didn’t act the part), but still.

Before he went out, he considered waking Emory, but after the sex and the egging and the sharing, he figured the man could use the rest. It would’ve been cruel to force him to confront a day he wanted to skip.

In the back of Gerard’s mind, he wondered if blocking out Halloween only gave the holiday more power in Emory’s psyche. As a gesture, Gerard left the costume he bought for Emory hanging beside the door with a note pinned to the cloak.

I hope you slept well. Thank you again for trusting me with your story last night.

I’m leaving this here in case you want it. Maybe making new memories around the holiday will help you heal. No pressure either way. I’ll reprise my performance for you when I get back.

Love,

Gerard

PS: I stored the candles and matches in the cabinet above the fridge in case the storm knocks the power out. See you tonight!

After one final choir rehearsal that lasted most of the morning and an afternoon spent in the library reading up on admittedly more concerning facts about Saint Gerard, the unsainted Gerard made his way to the school after the final bell. The masquerade had been moved up to 5 PM, given the weather forecast. Gerard trudged on with a heavy load—costume in a bag, a couple of books, the dulcimer under his arm. By the time he arrived, he was huffing and puffing and the sky was bruised with clouds.

Sergeant Adye was posted outside the door. At first, this gave Gerard pause, until he thought about how rambunctious Halloween could get and how the whole island was expected to attend the masquerade.