Timmy

CHAPTER FIVE: FOUND!

CHAPTER FIVE: FOUND!

On the catwalk, Angel was still shaken from her ride on the rope as she looked down at the stage far below. “That was intense!” Quivering, she whispered. She took a moment to compose herself. “I’d better get moving; it won’t be long before they start looking for me.”

  She took one last look at the people eating and talking around the table then walked unsteadily through the doorway she saw the mysterious boy slip through. She found herself in a long dimly lit hall that led in two directions. “Which way…”

  She looked both ways then turned upon hearing faint foot falls echoing from one direction and followed them. From one hall to another, Angel slowly came closer to the sounds of the footfalls until she spotted a door slowly swinging closed only a few feet away from her dressing room. “I got you now, whoever you are.”

  She dashed over to the door but paused as she found it to be the ladies restroom.  “Not a very good hiding place.”

  Angel slowly pulled the door open and crept inside with the intention of catching the child off guard only to find Stephanie, out of costume, throwing up into the toilet inside one of the stalls. “Stephanie!”

  Stephanie turned around, startled. Her long brown hair was a sweaty mess, her wild green eyes were puffy from crying, and her light makeup was smeared down her tear stained face. She gave a tearful moan upon seeing Angel. “Mr. Stravis kicked me off the production, didn’t he?”

  Angel sighed. “Actually, no one even knows you’re up here.”

  Stephanie paused; her eyebrows rising in surprise. “What?”

  “I’ll explain later. What happened to you?”

  Stephanie moaned again, clutching her stomach.  “I- I got sick on some of Brandy’s cookies.”

  Angel’s eyes widened her pulse quickening. Those snacks were meant for him to find. That explains why he took her place but not who he is.

  Stephanie wiped her mouth clean with the sleeve of her sweater as she held back a sob. Angel rewarded her with a sympathetic smile but it did not improve her friend’s mood in the least.  “Angel, I- I can’t find my costume. I know I brought in here with me but now it- it’s gone.”

  “Don’t worry, Steph.  I think I know where it is.”

  “Where?”

  “Well, it seems as if Tarra was right about there being a little specter somewhere in this theater.”

  Stephanie seemed confused. “What do you mean?”
  “Someone borrowed your costume and took your place, disguised as you, on the stage all day. That’s why no one even knows you’re up here.”

  Stephanie’s jaw fell open; her tears forgotten for the moment as she  looked at Angel in a stunned surprise. “You’re kidding!”

  Angel shook her head.  “No, I’m serious!”

Her voice rose with excitement; the more she thought about it all the more excited and anxious she became to find the mysterious boy. It was a true mystery and she was in the middle of it. “His disguise was perfect!  I mean the kid looked so much like you it was scary!  He, or she, could have easily passed as your sister!”

  Stephanie tiled her head to one side, raising her eyebrows again. “He?”

  “Well, Karen did say that some of the boys from the orphanage downtown were known to run away and hide in this theater from time to time.”

  Stephanie began to shake again, he pulse rising with her breath as she understood what Angel was telling her. “Oh, wow! How did you figure out the kid wasn’t me?”

  Angel smiled. “It was his eyes that gave him away.”

  “His eyes?”

  Angel nodded. “Yes. You have wild green eyes; the kid who took your place has bright hazel eyes. I knew he was not you when I saw that.”

  Stephanie stared at Angel taking in every word. A small excited smile touched the corners of her mouth, bringing some glow back to her cheeks. “Do you think that kid was the specter Mr. Stravis was telling us about earlier today?”

Angel shrugged. “I won’t know until I find him. I lost him in the hall somewhere, don’t worry about that. Right now, we need got to get rid of that bug you got. Follow me.”

  Angel escorted Stephanie out of the restroom, back into their dressing room where she rushed to her booth and opened her mother’s purse. After a brief search, she produced a small bottle of pink liquid. “I’m not a doctor but mom got this over the counter after she ate something that really disagreed with her stomach.”

Stephanie winced. “Should I tell Brandy that her cookies…”

Angel shook her head. “No. Don’t tell her anything; not yet.”

Steph looked at Angel, curious. But why…”

  Angel sighed. She wanted to tell her that someone had messed with the cookies to get to the mysterious child but it would not do her any good. If they say anything, the one who did it might go after them next.
Stephanie began to shake more; tears returning. “Angel? What do you want me to do?”

Making her decision, Angel poured a small amount of the pink liquid into a tiny dispenser cup and gave it to Stephanie. “I want you to take what I gave you and try to get some rest.” Firmly, she said. “The medicine should make you comfortable enough to fall asleep. With a little luck, you’ll be back to your old self in time for tomorrow’s rehearsals.”

Stephanie smiled, grateful. “Thanks Angel.”

Angel returned her smile. “That’s what friends are for. You just try to get some rest.  You are going to need it if you want to attend the rehearsals tomorrow.”

  Angel took her purse, more out of habit than anything else, and hurried to the door. Before leaving, she tuned back to Stephanie. “Hey, Steph; don’t tell anyone about this, okay? We don’t want to get the kid in trouble for helping us.” She smiled. “Besides, it would break Brandy’s heart if she found out that you got sick on some of her cookies.”

  Stephanie nodded as she took down the liquid medicine. “It’ll be our little secret.”

  Angel nodded back and left the room, easing the door closed behind her.  “Great!  That kid’s got to be long gone by now.”

  A faint knocking from above moved her to look up at the ventilation shaft as it rattled slightly. What she saw was a small figure scamper on hands and knees over a large grid vent cover. “So he’s the one who has been rattling the shafts inside the theater.”

  She could not help smile; she was onto a real mystery and she was the detective trying to crack the case. Angel followed the knocking in the ventilation shafts through a maze of halls and stairways. So focused was she on the rattling within the vents, she did not notice the increasing degree of disrepair. Nor did she notice the increasing number of stick figure drawings on the lower half of the walls.

  “Where are you leading me?”

  It was not until the faint knocking stopped when Angel looked around to find herself surrounded. Everywhere around her was a seemingly endless number of dark stick figure drawings and scribbling in crayon.  They were only on the lower half of the walls, leading her to guess the mysterious child was the one who had drawn them.

  Angel felt drawn towards them and momentarily forgot why she was there as she took a moment to study them. She immediately sensed a pattern as the drawings repeated themselves again and again, depicting a single violent event. Four figures had two others cornered somewhere with a smaller figure above in what looked to be a window. There were several blue slashes all around the figures which she guessed as rain. One of the two figures that were cornered Angel saw was a woman due to the telltale triangle rather than the two legs. One of the four figures, standing below the smaller figure had his arm extended with a flame coming out of what looked to be a gun. In the next drawing, the four figures were shown running with the two cornered figures in a red pool she could only guess was blood. The small figure in the window above was drawn in a similar way. A powerful sense of dread began to fill Angel’s mind as she stared at the endless drawings. She could almost hear the man and woman scream as they were shot again and again.  She finally shook her head and forced herself to look away.

  “This must be why they closed down the west wing.” Noticing where she was, she whispered. “They didn’t want wind of these drawings to get out because of the story they told and the legend of the Broadway specter.”

Angel shuddered at the drawings but paused as a faint thud from above reminded her why she was there.  She whirled around to the direction of the sound and found the door to what seemed to be a storeroom. She opened the door and peered inside only to find no one there. All she found were various broken props and torn pieces of tapestry.

  “What? Where did he go?!”

  Angel poked her head back into the hall to listen for any further knocking in the vents and scanned the storeroom again from the doorway. There was no sign of the child she was hoping to find, it was as if he or she had simply vanished.  Frustrated, Angel grabbed the doorknob with the intention of slamming the door.

  “Look again.” Whispering, the dark voice said.

  Angel spun around, startled; she knew she had heard a voice. Only that left her mind the moment she spotted a thin rope swinging slightly from the ceiling with a small wooden ring tied to the end. Curious, she walked inside and pulled on the rope.  A small door opened in the ceiling, revealing a retractable ladder.

  Angel smiled. Bingo!  Now we’ll find out just who you really are.

  Carefully, silently, she climbed the ladder, and pulled herself though the small doorway into a low but very spacious attic just high enough for her to stand in.  The room was almost completely clocked in darkness; it was difficult for her to see what was inside. That was until she looked down and spotted a very thin, faint line of light on the floor. A closer inspection proved that she was standing in front of a black tarp that was hanging from the low ceiling.

  This gets more curious by the minute.

  Angel pushed the tarp aside and walked passed it. As the tarp fell back into place, she found herself lost in the dark with the exception of a dim flickering light. The light was illuminating from behind an old back drop hanging diagonally from a number of the support beams, forming a large make shift room in a far corner of the low attic. Seeing this, only impressed Angel more as a small smile touched the corners of her mouth.

  Very clever, kid.
 
  As she drew closer, Angel heard two voices.  One was that of a small boy as his shadow paced back and forth on the light cloth.  The other she could not quite make out; it was too low just over a whisper.

  “It was my first and greatest performance!” With a hint of excitement, the child said. “I fooled everyone; even the boys from the orphanage!”

He paused a moment as an inaudible voice responded. “I know, I know.” With a moan, he said. “I might have to fool them again if Stephanie does not get better.”  He sighed. “I she gets better soon. I don’t know how long I can keep this up without getting caught.”

  By this time, Angel was now standing just outside of the backdrop with her curiosity at its peak. Who is he talking to?

  She pushed the backdrop aside with two fingers, just enough to peer through, and took a careful look inside.  Directly in front of her was a music stand in one corner with a small picture of an orchestra taped to the wall in front of it. Lying on the floor next to it was a large stack of sheet music from which she guessed the boy had learned all of the songs in the production. Taped to the wall above the sheet music was what seemed to have been a large, hand drawn map but she could not make out what it was a map of. Angel began to wonder how long the boy had been living, hiding, inside the crawlspace of the theater.

  Taking a chance, Angel pushed the backdrop aside a little further and saw a large but neat pile of old discarded costumes lying on the floor in the fashion of a makeshift bed. Beyond it was what looked like a small prop door. She was confused at first but a strong breeze from outside pushed the door open to reveal a small window just large enough for an adult to squeeze though. Looking at the door, she found a heavy piece of a back drop painting strung to the outside that made it appear to be bricked over. It was then Angel realized that it was there to hide the boy’s hiding place from outside view.

  This kid is good.

  There was no further doubt in Angel’s mind that the child was a boy, hearing his true voice. Still, she could not see him. She cautiously moved the backdrop aside more and poked her head inside to view the entire room. She found the mysterious boy, wearing Stephanie’s costume dress restlessly pacing back and forth in front of a small table in the far corner of the room but there was no sign of the person he was talking to and Angel guessed he was simply talking to himself.

  The table seemed to have been the focal point of the boy’s crudely built home. There were an impressive number of production posters taped to the wall anywhere there was room around it. Lighting everything were a number of burning candles. They all hung from the wall on a small hook or nail in small tin cups. The eerie scene before her added to the dark stick figure drawings she saw sent a chill down her spine. She remembered seeing the men searching the auditorium with their eyes and wondered what exactly had happened to make the child live like this. After a chilling thought, she wondered if she really wanted to know. She was over her head and she knew it but she had come too far just to walk away now.

  “Gee, I’d better clean this off before I take it back to Stephanie.” Looking at the costume dress he was wearing, the boy said. “I don’t want her to get in trouble for ruining her costume; that wouldn’t be good.”

  Summoning her courage, Angel decided to confront the boy. She pushed past the backdrop and inaudibly walked up to him as he struggled to reach the zipper of the dress, oblivious to her presence.  For a moment, Angel just stood a mere foot behind the boy trying to think of her next move. She wanted to learn more about him but she remembered Karen telling her how no one had ever been able to catch him, despite their many efforts.  That, and the disturbing drawings she found on the walls in the hall, made her wonder how the boy would react seeing her in his space.

  I’d better watch myself around him. Who knows how he is going to react when he sees me.

  “Oh, how do those girls get out of these things?” Grunting from his effort to reach the zipper, Timmy asked.

  “They ask for help.” Softly, Angel replied. She quickly took a hold of the back of the costume dress and unzipped it for him.

  Timmy froze, startled; his body becoming instantly stiff from fright. He slowly turned to face her, his lips trembling. There were tears in his eyes as his face scrunched up in what looked like a prelude to a massive eruption of screams and tears. To Angel it seemed as if he were afraid for his very life.

  Angel took a few steps back and gently raised her hands to show him that she was not a threat.  “It’s okay.” Slowly, she said. “Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.”

  Timmy just stared at Angel, trembling with tears flowing down his face taking the light makeup with it.

  “My name is Angel. What’s your name?”

    “I- I- I...”

  “The pretty lady asked you a question.” Calmly, a smooth talking voice from the posters said. “Don’t keep her waiting; talk to her.”

  Although he found it difficult, Timmy eventually managed to find his voice.  “I- I’m Timmy.”

  “Hello, Timmy.” Softly, Angel said. “Do you live here?”

  Reluctantly, Timmy nodded. “I’m waiting for mom and dad to come back for me. They promised they would be back.”

  “Where are your parents, Timmy?”

  Timmy turned to the small window and pointed outside. “Mom and dad are out there.” He held back a sob. “Somewhere…”

Remembering the stick figure drawings, Angel looked at him with a hint of pity forming in her eyes. “You don’t know where they are?”


  Timmy swallowed hard. “How did you find me here?”

  Angel paused. He’s trying to change the subject. It must be hard for him to talk about his folks.

Her teeth sunk down into her lower lip.  She wanted to ask him about the stick figure drawings but decided now was not the right time. I’d better not push the subject just yet.


“I saw you ride a rope up to one of the high catwalks and decided to follow you.” Finally, she replied. “It’s quite a rush.” She paused before adding, “It was almost fun.”

  “I like this girl.” Amused, a young voice from another poster said. “She’s got real moxie!”

The comment forced a small smile to touch the corners of Timmy’s mouth as he relaxed a little. “You- You get used to it.” His smile faded. “I was sure I lost you in the girl’s bathroom.”

  Angel nodded. “I have to admit, you did. I walked into the ladies room, expecting to find you, but I found Stephanie. She wasn’t looking good.”

  Timmy curled a single fist, tears falling. “That was my fault! If I had gotten to those cookies first, she wouldn’t be sick right now!”

  He swung his hand against a plate of cookies, sending them flying off the table into the backdrop. Angel jumped, startled by the move as her purse fell off her shoulder onto the hard wood floor. She knelt down, picked up her purse and placed it onto the small table.

  “I gave Stephanie some strong medicine from my mom’s purse. Right now, she’s sleeping it off in the dressing room.” She managed a smile. “With a little luck, she will be feeling better in time for tomorrow’s re...”

  Angel stopped short as Timmy started to pull off the dress and let out a loud gasp before quickly turning around, blushing.

  Timmy finished taking off the dress, revealing a pair of shorts and an over-sized V-neck tee shirt he was wearing backwards and was confused to see Angel with her back turned towards him.  “Why did you turn around?  Did I do something wrong?” 

  “Are you, you know, decent?” Not turning around, Angel asked.

  “Huh?”

  It took Timmy a few moments to understand, but when he finally realized why Angel had turned around, he could not help giggle as he blushed himself. “I’m wearing shorts and a shirt under the dress, silly.”

  Angel slowly turned back around and breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You scared me there for a minute. Why do you have that tee-shirt on backwards? You had me thinking you weren’t wearing anything but underwear under there.”

  Timmy smiled. “That was the idea. You see, I knew that I was going to have to ask someone to zip the costume dress up for me, because…”

  He paused; wanting to tell her about the spirits who were helping him but decided not to mention it. If Jeff and Jason don’t believe me, why would she?

  “Okay, you could not reach to zip up the dress.” Understanding, Angel said. “Only why did you wear that T-shirt backwards?”

Timmy blushed brightly. “I put the tee shirt on backwards so no one would see it when the dress was open except for maybe a small part of it and think that it was a… well, you know.”

  Angel smiled and nodded.  “That was very clever, Timmy. Tell me; how did you get out of the ladies room so fast? I was practically on your heels.”

Timmy dusted off the costume dress.  “There’s a big vent opening in the ceiling, above the sinks in there. I used it to, um, borrow the dress from Stephanie.” He frowned. “I was going to give it back but I heard you coming down the hall.  I got into the vent using an old soap tray above the sink counter as a stepping stool.”

  Angel shook her head. “I should have known.”

Timmy gulped, looking worried. “You’re... not going... to tell on me... are you?”

  Angel sighed then smiled.  “Your secret is safe with me, Timmy. It took a lot of courage for you to help my friend out of that jam.  You gave very good performance.”

  Timmy frowned, sobbing slightly. There was disappointment and a clear sense of fear in his eyes. “It wasn’t good enough. I didn’t fool you.”

  Angel gently placed a hand under Timmy’s chin and slowly raised his head up so she could look him in the eye.  Normally, Timmy’s first reaction would have been to quickly jump away but, for some reason, he did not feel any need to.  There was something about Angel that made him feel strange.  He had no clue what that feeling was but he liked it; he was almost sorry when she eventually removed her hand.

  “You did a wonderful job pretending to be Stephanie, Timmy.” Firmly but kindly, Angel said. “Your imitation of her voice, talking and singing was uncanny; you managed to hold it through the whole day.”

  Timmy opened his mouth to say something but Angel continued before he could speak.

  “You hardly missed a beat on the stage and you did an amazing job making yourself look like Stephanie.” She suppressed a giggle. “You even put on makeup and painted your nails!”

  Timmy looked at his brightly colored nails and frowned. “I just hope it all comes off.”

  Angel giggled. “Don’t worry. The makeup will come off with a little some soap and water.  As for the nail polish, I have something in my purse that will take it off.”  She took her purse from the table and sat down on the floor, opening the purse in front of her. “Here, sit down and I’ll take care of it for you.”

  Slowly, uncertainly, Timmy placed Stephanie’s costume onto the table and sat down on the floor. He watched curiously as Angel reached into her purse, retrieving a small bottle and a small bag of cotton balls. She put the bag onto the floor then moved her purse to the side. As she opened the bottle, Timmy wrinkled his nose as a strong smell reached him.

  “It stinks.”

  Angel smiled.  “Yes, it stinks.  But it does the job.”

  She dabbed a small amount of nail polish remover onto a cotton ball before placing the bottle down and gently took Timmy’s hand into her own.

  Timmy’s heart raced.  He had never held the hand of a girl so close to his own age before; he was not sure how to react.

  “This shouldn’t take long.” Looking at his nails, Angel said. “It looks like you only put one coat on each nail.”

  Timmy made a sour face. “Yuck! One was enough!”

  Angel giggled and began to wipe the wet cotton ball over Timmy’s first fingernail, slowly washing away all of the bright red polish. 

  As Timmy watched her work, the curious feeling that had fallen over him earlier began to grow again. He was not sure what it was, but it steadily rose over his fear.  Angel somehow made him feel warm and safe.  It was a good feeling, he wanted it to last.

  “I- I hope I didn’t scare you when you saw me in the prompter’s box earlier today. I was just trying to, uh, see what was going on.”

  Angel smiled. “So that was you I saw.”  She shook her head.  “Well, you didn’t really scare me.  I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone standing in there, that’s all.”

  Angel threw a cotton ball, her third, out the crawlspace window and wet another before taking Timmy’s other hand.  She glanced at him and found, to her surprise, that his eyes were fixed upon her every move.

He’s just as curious of me as I am of him. He must not have been this close to a girl before.  A small smile touched the corners of her mouth. It’s too bad he’s so shy, he’s actually kind of cute.

  Realizing what she was thinking, Angel tried her best not to blush as she quickly returned her focus onto Timmy’s nails but she could not help return his gaze from time to time.

  Within a few minutes, Angel was done.  She tossed the last dirty cotton ball out the crawlspace window and tightly closed the bottle before putting it back into her purse with what was left of the cotton balls.

  “Well, that should do it. The smell will go away in a few minutes.”

  Angel rose to her feet, with Timmy following, and placed her purse back onto the small table as Timmy walked over to the window. He paused to peer out then turned Angel. “How did you know I wasn’t Stephanie?”

  “It was your eyes that gave you away.”

  Timmy carefully closed and latched the prop door with a small hook before turning to Angel, confused. “What? How did my eyes give me away?”

  Angel giggled. “Simple; you have hazel eyes, Stephanie has green eyes.  So when I got a close look at you I knew you were not her. It was the only detail you missed but there was no way you could have hid that.” She smiled. “I have to admit, you made a really cute little girl!”

  Timmy smiled, blushing slightly.  “It was my first big performance.”

  “You did a very good job.  But listen.  I may need to ask you to make an encore performance.  Do you think you can fool everyone tomorrow, if you had to?”

  Timmy paused; fear creeping into his eyes. His lips trembled slightly as he gulped down a lump in his throat. For a moment, Angel feared he would refuse but he finally knotted his jaws and carefully slipped the costume dress back on. “I can try but you will have to put Stephanie’s costume in the dressing room down the hall so I can get ready without the girls seeing me.”

  Angel sunk her teeth into her lower lip, thinking.  Finally, she smiled and snapped her fingers.

  “I’ve got it!  Come on, let me zip up your costume so you can show me the way back to the dressing rooms.”

  Confused, Timmy turned around so Angel could reach the zipper. “What’s your idea?”

  Angel closed the zipper to the collar. “I’ll tell you on the way.  Hurry, it won’t be long before the kids all head back to freshen up.”

**********


  Meanwhile, on the stage, Brandy worriedly looked at her watch, shaking her head. “Where are those two?”

  “Don’t worry, my dear.” Calmly, John said. “They probably just ran back to the dressing room ahead of everyone to talk.  They’ve become fairly good friends during the coast to coast tour.”

  Brandy gave her husband a weak smile. “You might be right.  Still, I would feel a lot better if I knew for certain.”

  “I’ll have Stone go look for them. In the meantime, I suggest you escort the rest of the kids to their dressing rooms so they can get out of their costumes.  I’m sure they’re all anxious to get home for a good night’s rest.”

  “May we go with the boys?” asked Jeff. “We still have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Brandy nodded.  “That’s fine. Just make sure you two are ready to help the stage crew clean up after the kids leave, okay?”

  Jeff nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Brandy smiled. “Good lad.  Help me gather everyone; we’ll take them all up right now.”

  As Brandy, Jeff, and Jason gathered the children to escort them upstairs, Mr. Stravis took a small two way radio from his belt and hit the transmit button.

  “Stone, are you there?”

  “I’m right here, sir.” came Stone’s voice, over the speaker. “What do you need?”

  “Angel and Stephanie have run off somewhere, I have a hunch they are upstairs in the dressing room but I want you and your boys to look around for them just in case they’re not.”

  “We’ll get right on it, sir.”

  John nodded, satisfied, then returned the small radio to his belt while, inside a spacious basement workroom, Stone placed a small radio of his own onto his belt and turned to the three bouncers who were assembling a large variety of prop furniture.

  “Keep working that shipment has to be ready by tomorrow night. It’s our biggest order to date and I want it delivered on time.  Our men in the workshop should have the rest of the prop furniture ready for you by the end of the next hour. They’ll bring them over to you after hours. I’ll go look for the two missing girls.”

  He left the room, locking the door behind him, and casually made his way towards the nearest flight of stairs to begin his search.

  “I wonder if our little specter friend has fallen for my trap.”

  Inside the workroom, Al set a piece of prop furniture aside. “How much do you think that kid really knows?”

  Max fitted a beautifully carved table leg into place and thrust a pin with a ring, holding a tassel, into a hole in the table leg, locking it into place. “Who knows?  The kid has managed to survive this long on his own, not to mention elude everyone.” He pushed the table aside, unaware that the tassel ring on one of the leg pins had become snagged onto a hook in the wall. “It’s a real shame; he could have proven useful to us.”

  Wayne grunted.  “It doesn’t really matter.  We can’t afford to take any chances.  The King boy must be dealt with.”

**********
  Upstairs, as the boys and girls separated into their respective halls, Paul whispered to Jeff, “Where’s Timmy, I thought he would come out to see us by now.”

  Jeff smiled. “He’s been closer than you think.” his smile faltered. “I’m afraid he might have gone a little over his head this time.”

  Alex turned to him, concerned. “What do you mean?  What happened?”

  Jeff hushed him silent. “He’s all right, don’t worry.  I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow morning.”

  In the other hall, Brandy walked into the girls’ dressing room with the girls behind her and found Stephanie lying down on a small couch on the far side of the room, near the washroom. “So here you are. Did you and Angel have a nice little talk up here?”

  “Huh?” Stephanie looked up at her, rubbing her eyes.  When she realized who it was, she jumped, startled. “Oh! Yes, we had a lovely talk.  I was just, uh, taking a quick nap; today really wore me out.”

  Brandy giggled. “Well, rehearsals are done for today so you can relax.  Just make sure you have something for breakfast tomorrow, okay?” She paused, scanning the room. “Where’s Angel?”

  “Angel?  Oh, uh...” Stephanie’s mind raced, she did not want to hurt Brandy’s feelings by telling her that she had gotten sick on her snacks. “Angel, uh, went for a walk in the halls; she should be back any minute.”

  Brandy smiled. “Okay, well I’ll leave you be so you can get changed.  We’ll see you all here tomorrow morning at six.  Good night, girls.”

  With that, she left the room.

  After she was gone, Tarra turned to Stephanie.  “Okay, Steph, what’s really going on?”

  Stephanie gave a small, nervous laugh.

**********


  Inside the west wing, Timmy cautiously led Angel down a long, darkened hall towards the east wing of the building.

  “So what are you saying?” Walking beside him, Angel asked. “Your mom and dad just left you hiding in that crawlspace and ran off without you?”

  Timmy hushed her quiet. “It’s not like that.  They’re coming back for me, they promised they would.”  He gave a small grin. “They may already be here.”

  “How do you think that?”

  “The man who picked you up in the grand hall this morning looks a lot like my dad, he even sounds like him.  The lady he talked to, she looks a lot like my mom.  I’m not sure yet, but I really think they two are my mom and dad.

  Angel sighed. “I hate to break this to you, Timmy, but those are my parents; they got a divorce when I was younger.”

  The two stopped walking as Timmy turned to Angel, stunned. His mouth half opened and his lower lip quivered; tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. Seeing him, Angel knew that knowledge had had hit him hard and wanted to say something to assure him. “Timmy; I’m sorry.”

Timmy shrugged, rubbing his tears. “I’ll just have to wait a little while longer, that’s all. I know they will come back.”

  “How long have you been waiting?”

  Timmy did not answer; he turned away from her, still rubbing at his eyes as he struggled to control his tears. Angel slowly knelt down and turned Timmy so to look him in the eye. “Timmy, tell me. How long have you been waiting for your mom and dad to come back?”

  Timmy swallowed hard, trying in vain to hold back his tears. “I was five when they left me here. I’m nine now…”

  Angel’s eyes widened in shock as her mouth half opened, allowing a low gasp to escape her lips. “You have been living here, all by yourself, for four years!?!”

  Timmy sniffed and nodded sadly.  He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. “Uh huh.”

  “Why on earth did your folks leave you here, in this theater, if they knew it would be this long?”

  Timmy shook his head, frustrated. “I don’t know.  They made me promise to would wait here until they could come back for me.”

  Remembering the stick figures, Angel had to fight a few tears of her own as she could guess what had happened. Only she knew that asking him about the stick figure drawings would only upset him more.

  Someone must have killed them but why? she sighed. The poor kid had to live in hiding for all this time without his mom or dad.


  Angel knew what it was like to go without one parent. Only she could not imagine having to live without a mother or a father let alone live on her own at such a young age.  She shivered at the very concept.

  “How did you manage to survive all this time without anyone to look after you?” she asked.

  Timmy shrugged, trying to dry his tears. “I don’t know.  I just did, I guess. The police and city workers are always trying to catch me.  They want to take me to that old orphanage downtown.”  He frowned.  “All of them keep telling me that it’s for my own good, but I know better than that, they can’t fool me.  Jeff, Jason, and a few other boys I know all lived there once, they told me that it was a terrible place.”

  “Brandy’s sons were orphans?”

  Timmy nodded. “I don’t think I would have made it this long without all of their help and...”

  “And who?”

  Timmy shook his head. “No one.” he said. “A lot of people have tried to catch me; they want to send me to that horrible orphanage.  I won’t let them; they can try all they want.  I promised to wait for mom and dad here, they won’t find me if I go anywhere else.”

  Angel raised a hand to her chin in thought.

  “I’m thinking it was either one of the three bouncers or their boss who had contaminated that tray of snacks. Maybe they were hoping you would eat the snacks and get sick so it would be easier for them to catch you.”

  “I know.” Firmly, Timmy replied. “I heard them talking about it. That’s why I took the tray, but Stephanie got to them first.”

  The two turned a corner and froze upon finding themselves face to face with the head of security, Mr. Stone. “So here you are.” he said. “What are you two doing running around in the west wing? You had Mrs. Stravis worried sick.” He folded his arms. “Didn’t you hear Mr. Stravis earlier today? This wing was closed off due to safety concerns. You two could have easily gotten hurt, or worse.”

  “Sorry.” said Angel. “We just wanted to see how bad it was.”

  Stone shook his head.  “It’s bad enough. I won’t mention that I found you here but try to remember that the rules are set up for a reason; to keep you kids safe.”  He sighed. “You two had better get back to your dressing room.  Your folks are waiting to take you home.”

    Timmy and Angel nodded and hurriedly walked passed Stone who smiled slightly as he watched them scamper down the hall. “To be that age and know what I do now.” Muttering, he said.

  He let out a short laugh then walked back towards the nearest stairwell making his way down to the basement workroom.

  After they were a safe distance away from Stone, Angel turned to Timmy and smiled. “Not bad, kid. I think you really fooled him.”

  “Who was that?”

  “That was Mr. Stone, the head of security here.  He’s the guy those three bouncers answer to.”

  Timmy curled his fists, cracking the knuckles. “He’s the one I heard talking about putting that junk into the cookies.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Timmy.  There was no way you could’ve gotten to that tray in time.  Anyway, if Stephanie is still too sick tomorrow, we will just have her hide inside the women’s dressing room after you make yourself look like her again. When you’re ready, you can just walk right in with the other girls; that way, no one will suspect a thing. You will still have to be on your toes.”

  “Why? I fooled everyone the first time.”

  Angel shook her head. “Fooling everyone while their minds are focused on their performance is one thing but fooling them all while they’re relaxed is another.  You’ll have to give better performance than before.”

  Upon reaching the door to the girls’ dressing room, Angel unzipped Timmy’s costume and helped him out of it. “How can I let you know if I need you?”

  Timmy sighed. “Just wave your hand when you enter the grand hall; I’ll be watching for you.”

  Angel nodded then opened the door Timmy watching from the hall to find all of the girls standing around the couch Stephanie was resting on.  Both Angel and Timmy reacted in the same way. “Uh oh…”

  “Alright, Angel!” Turning to her, Tarra yelled. “What’s going on here; who is that kid!?!?”

  Timmy, sensing his cue quickly ran off and bolted down the hall.

  “Hey, come back here!”

  Tarra ran after him but Angel jumped in her way, spreading out her arms to stop her.  “Trust me, Tarra.  You’ll never catch him.”

  Tarra eyed her impatiently.  “I want answers, Angel! Who was that boy and what are you doing with Stephanie’s costume!?!”

  Angel threw Tarra an impatient look of her own. “There’s no time to get into it all right now; I’ll explain everything tomorrow morning.” She sighed, seeing Tarra’s face harden. “I promise.”

**********

  Four floors down, Stone stopped half way down a hall and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket to unlock a door leading into the basement but stopped upon seeing Brandy walking towards him.

  “Mr. Stone, I’m glad I caught up with you.” Calmly, she said. “I found Stephanie in the dressing room; she was taking a quick nap when I walked in with the girls.  The two of them had run up there to talk as my husband had suspected.  I asked her where Angel was, she said she was taking a short walk so there is no more need to search for them.”

  “Yes, I know.” Slowly, Stone replied. “I ran into Angel in one of the halls upstairs a few minutes ago; I hurried her along.”

  Brandy nodded. “Very good; I’ll leave you to your work now.”

  She walked passed him, up the stairs on the other side of the hall, out of sight. Stone waited until she was gone before thrusting the key into the lock and turning it. “It appears as if I had greatly underestimated that boy.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, now I have to find out exactly how much our lead actress, Angel McCarther knows.”

  He opened the door and began to walk through but he stepped back, closing it again as he saw the two reporters Sarah and her husband Tom running towards him. “Mr. Stone!” Out of breath, Sarah called. “We need to talk to you!”

  “What can I do for you?” With a strained politeness, Stone asked.

  Tom handed him a printed out picture of Timmy peering out of the prompter’s box. “We believe this specter was on the stage with the children, sir.”

  Sara and her husband quickly relayed what they had discovered and voiced their concerns.  Stone nodded and grunted occasionally as he patiently listened.

  “There’s nothing to be concerned about.” After hearing their story, Stone said. “As I had said before, the boy is harmless.” He gave them a reassuring smile. “I found Angel wandering the halls with Stephanie in the east wing and hurried them along.  As for the specter, he’s probably gone back to his hiding place to sleep.”

  Sara opened her mouth to speak but Stone stopped her with a wave of her hand. “I don’t know how the boy managed to get a hold of Stephanie’s costume or what had happened to make her miss the rehearsals but I assure you, I will find out.”

  “How will you do that?” asked Tom.

  “You let me worry about that, sir.” Serious, Stone replied. “In the meantime, I suggest you keep this to yourselves. My men and I are trying to catch the boy for his own good.  However, if wind of this incident gets out, it could start a panic. That will only make it harder for us all to our job.”

  “We understand, Mr. Stone.” said Sara. “We were thinking the same thing, in fact.”

  “It’s settled then.” Smiling, Stone said. “No word of the specter being on stage will get out.” He casually reached into his jacket pocket, producing a number of large bills and handed them to Tom. “If you manage to catch the specter on film again, please inform me of it immediately.  Any of the pictures may give us a clue as to where he has been hiding.”

  Sara eyed Stone suspiciously, but she took the money anyway and thanked him politely. “We will do that, Mr. Stone.”


  Stone nodded. “I am going to have to keep this picture and ask that you do not print out any copies for security reasons. I hope you understand.”

  Tom and Sara nodded and Stone nodded in return.

  “Good.  You had better collect your daughter and head home; she will need all the rest she can get for rehearsals tomorrow.”

  Tom and Sara nodded and left. After they were gone, Stone breathed a heavy sigh. “Those two reporters could prove to be a real nuisance; I will have to keep an eye on them as well.”

  With that, Stone took his keys out again, unlocked the basement door and walked through, closing the door behind him.

**********

  Later that evening, inside the crawlspace, Timmy carefully opened the prop door, holding it open on the tiny metal hook, and allowed himself to fall back onto his soft bed of costumes.

  “What a day!” Smiling, he whispered. “It was really fun!”

  Shortly after leaving Angel at her dressing room, Timmy returned to the dressing room where he had disguised himself as Stephanie and used the washroom to straighten out his hair and clean off the makeup the spirits helped him put on. “It feels good to get that stuff off, it made my face fell heavy. Why do girls put that stuff on themselves anyway?”

  Timmy shrugged and yawned as he stretched himself and leaned back onto his bed of costumes.  He looked out the window and sleepily watched the setting sun as it slowly disappeared behind the many tall buildings of the New York City skyline.  As his eyelids eventually became heavy, he could not help thinking about Angel and her visit to his crawlspace home.

  “What is that weird feeling I get every time I see her?” Curious, he asked aloud. “I felt it the first time I saw her, I felt it when I was on the stage with her, and I felt it was I saw her here.” He sniffed the air and caught a faint fragrance coming off his clothes. “I can still smell her perfume, its pretty.”  He shook his head. “What is this feeling?”

   
  “Maybe its love.” Whispering, a woman from one of the posters said.

  “Maybe.” agreed Timmy.

  As he pondered over this new feeling, he slowly fell into yet another restless sleep.

  “Good night, Angel.”

  Inside her apartment bedroom, Angel fell back on her bed and gazed out the window.  As she watched the sun slowly set, she thought about Timmy.

  “What an amazing kid. It’s no wonder why no one has ever been able to catch him. I guess I should be proud to be the first person to catch him off guard like that.  Despite all that, he seems so shy.”

  She smiled, remembering how he had acted around her and could not help give a short giggle.  “I think he likes me.”  Her smile faded. “He seems convinced that his parents are going to come back for him but he’s reluctant to talk about them.  What’s worse is that he has been waiting there for four years and all those drawings suggest they are likely not coming back at all.”

  Angel sighed, turning away from the window, and sunk her teeth into her lower lip, thinking.  She did not know what to do.  “I am way over my head on this. I'm going to need some help but I promised Timmy that I wouldn’t tell anyone about him.”

  She paused, thinking and her smile returned.  “The girls had already seen him.  It’s going to be hard to convince him to trust all of us but if I can get the girls to help maybe together we can get to the bottom of this.”

  She looked back out the window and blew a light kiss.  “Good night, Timmy.”