Pastimes of the Invisible Girl

Secrets Only Hide the Hurt

Toru's beloved Aunt Melissa kissed her new husband, and pandemonium erupted. Hats, flowers, and in someone's case a dog-leash, flew into the air with a rather irreverent cheer for a chapel.

Caught up in the loudness, as most six-year-olds would be, Toru jumped to her feet and whooped as loudly as she could.

"Toru!" snapped her mother, tugging on the floating puffy pink skirt of her invisible daughter. "Just because everyone else-"

But Toru didn't hear the rest, as she took another moment to shriek, which echoed over everyone.

Face flushed, her very visible mother scooped up the floating dress and little shoes and carted her out. Toru felt her mass of curls crowding her face, but, being invisible, they did nothing to impair her vision. They did, however, fill her mouth, and she spent the next thirty seconds spitting out hair.

The floating dress and shoes were landed roughly in a corner by a window in the foyer.

"You," said her mother, "will stay here and quiet, do you understand me? You're damn invisible, so for once, work with it! And in a chapel of all things..."

Toru instantly felt ashamed. She reached up to bring the curls she had just fought off back into her face to hide, an old habit she had had before her quirk had kicked in four months previously.

Her hair had been red. Not orange like most gingers, but bright, brilliant red.

She missed it.

Huffing, still pink in the face, her equally ginger mother stomped back into the chapel. As the door closed behind her, Toru managed to catch a glimpse of her favorite aunt floating down the aisle towards her, her eyes on her husband.

Toru leaned left and right to see if she could catch something in the spaces around the doors (something she had learned existed recently), but these doors weren't like the ones at home. They were heavy and well placed, with no spaces in sight.

Pouting, she settled back against the stones. Goosebumps erupted over her skin at their chill.

For an eternity that could have been only a few minutes, as time works for young children, Toru stood stalwartly, like a good little girl. But one could only listen to the happy voices for so long before the pain of missing out on so much excitement and prettiness (for the wedding had been so pretty! Sparkly dress, flowers, shoes!), became too much for her. Checking her surroundings, Toru quickly wiggled out of her dress and shoes, tucking them behind a flowerpot, and skittered off, the thrill of air on her bare behind just as thrilling as the first time she had dared this.

She ran about the outside hall around the chapel to the side door-it made her feel sneakier. The side doors were also smaller, less...grand and obvious. She shimmied in the smallest crack she could-

Only to find, not the chapel, but another room. One with a tall mirror, hangers of dresses, bags, and the remains of a serious makeup and hair session.

She only had a moment to be confused before the sounds of voices behind her sent her scurrying to a corner to press herself against. She had to stop herself from hiding in the curtains. Invisible didn't mean her body didn't exist. Out of the way was the best hiding spot.

Moments later, none other than the beautiful bride stepped in, waving off her bridesmaids, and as white and glittery as a snow covered mountain.

Toru watched, star struck, as her aunt waved off the others, protesting she needed a moment to let it sink in on her own, with the biggest smile, before closing the door.

Just as Toru began to wonder at her luck that she finally got to talk to her favorite aunt-who would have laughed at her scream rather than blushed-her aunt's smile fell away and she sunk down to the floor in a poof of taffeta.

The glitters on her veil ceased to glitter. The sunlight didn't reach the bottom of the door.

Aunt Melissa burst into tears.

Stunned and more bewildered than ever, Toru felt her own eyes start to burn and her throat hurt. Oh no! Had her scream caused this? Was this why Mama was so mad?

It was this fear that kept Toru quiet as she watched her Auntie cry.

A knock came at the door.

"Mel," came a quiet, male voice.

The bride stiffened.

"I'll be right there!" she said in a cheery voice.

"Mel, I can hear you..."

Her aunt said nothing to that.

After some coaxing through the door, Aunt Melissa eventually stood up and let in a young man who Toru had seen with the groom-one of the groomsmen in his matching tie and waistcoat. Toru had especially liked the shiny material of the waistcoats and had wanted to touch them so badly-

The man grabbed her aunt and proceeded to kiss her.

It wasn't all that long before the kiss started to look really weird to Toru, far weirder than what she understood should be a kiss. For one, he pressed her up against a wall and they started to look like they were trying to eat each other's faces. When they started to moan, like they were hurt or sick, Toru's face became really, really hot. Now instead of crying, she was trying really hard not to laugh.

Eventually, they did stop, though not before grabbing at each other's no-no bits and just being overall weird. Then, once he had wiped away her tears, he left, leaving Aunt Melissa no longer crying, so...that was good.

Though it still made Toru feel really weird to watch her Aunt Melissa as she kissed and hugged her new husband instead of the other man. The other guy, who had tried to eat her face, seemed kind of hurt by it, though he smiled and laughed with everyone else and talked lovey-dovey stuff.

Eventually Toru's mom would find her discarded dress and shoes and send the whole bridal party searching for her naked, invisible daughter, but that part at least was fun-in a terrifying kind of way.