The Hidden Window

"There's Creepo." Seventeen year old Bennett Fletcher watched from his bedroom window as the middle aged man across the street slipped through his back gate, glancing around.  

It was the beginning of summer when Bennett's family picked up and moved to a new town miles away from the home he had grown up in. His father had lost his job at the factory where he worked for thirty years. Bennett was bitter about the entire ordeal. While his parents scrambled around trying to find jobs, Bennett moped in his room, entertained only by the activities of his neighbors.

  "On time as usual." Bennett watched as Creepo ducked down under the window of his neighbor's home. 

The home belonged to a young woman whom Bennett called, Miss Oblivious. Based on the lay out of his own home which looked identical to every home on the block, the window that Creepo was now peering into was the bathroom.  

Next door, a couple deemed, The Perfects came outside. They were always dressed in the most prestigious outfits, looking like pillars of the community. The teenage boy whom Bennett assumed was their son, looked the exact opposite with unkempt hair and dirty jeans.  Halsey was his name,as Bennett had heard Mr. Perfect yelling at him before.

Bennett watched Halsey hurriedly wander off the down the street each day. He returned about a half hour later, always with a brown bag which he then would deposit behind a bush on the side of the house.  

On this day Halsey did not wander off down the street. Instead he moved behind his house, then across the backyard of Oblivious and up to Creepo's gate. He looked around before tugging the gate latch up and slipping into the backyard. 

Less then two minutes passed before Halsey came back through the gate carrying a bottle of clear alcohol. Bennett watched as Halsey deposited the bottle behind the bush before disappearing back into his house.  

Minutes later Halsey appeared back outside and his eyes locked on Bennett's home. Bennett ducked behind his curtain, hoping he wasn't seen.  He stood there holding his breath for a few minutes before sneaking a peak out the window. Halsey was no where to been seen.  

Bennett froze as he heard the squeak of a door opening down stairs.  He moved to his doorway and listened hearing soft footsteps from below and the sound of cabinets opening and closing. Bennett grabbed a bat and cautiously slipped from his room, taking the stairs as quietly as he could.  

  Halsey was there in the kitchen rummaging through The Fletcher's cabinets.  He turned as if sensing Bennett's presence.

"What are you doing here?" Halsey asked having not anticipated the interruption.  

"I live here." Bennett stuttered as he was intimidated just by the rough tone of the boy's voice.  

"I didn't know The Retro's had a kid."

"The who?"

"Not The Who." Halsey smirked. "The Retros." Bennett blinked at the obvious joke but wasn't sure what to say. "Your parents I'm guessing, lady always in old fashioned dresses. Man drives an antique Chevy."

"Yeah that's my parents." Bennett lowered the bat, not like he had intended on using it in the first place.  Halsey opened up the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. "I don't think milk really pairs well with alcohol." Halsey looked at him. 

"You been spying on me?"

"More like watching without being noticed."  

"You're a wise guy." Halsey looked somewhat amused.  

"And you steal from your neighbors."

"More like acquire without permission." Halsey placed the milk on the counter. "You gonna rat me out?"

"Well I'm not really a big milk fan." Bennett said though mostly he was afraid of what Halsey would do to him. "And Creepo doesn't really need his inhibitions lowered."

"Creepo?" Halsey smirked. "Old Peter Jenkins?" He chuckled. "I call him Pervert Pete. You see him peeping on Hot Jess?"

"Miss Oblivious?" Bennett kind of smirked. "Every morning like clockwork."

"You got nicknames for the whole neighborhood?" Halsey looked at him. "What do you call me?"

"Halsey." Bennett answered and the boy narrowed his eyes. "I'm assuming that's your name. I heard your old man call you that once."

"Yeah I don't like it." Halsey said. "Call me Hal."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Bennett or Ben Fletcher." Bennett offered his hand but Halsey didn't take it just picked up the milk jug. 

"See you around Bennett Orben Fletcher." He was gone from the house and across the yard before Bennett could protest.  

Bennett found the entire exchange a little odd.  The Curtis family seemed to be well off. Why was Halsey stealing from his neighbors?  When he went off down the street, was the bag he returned with full of stolen goods? Why did he leave them behind the bush?  Those were the questions that plagued Bennett for the next two days.  

He watched from his window observing the same daily actions from his neighbors, aside from Halsey. He hadn't come outside since being caught stealing milk. Bennett was conflicted by the ordeal. Stealing was a crime, no matter the items worth. At eight, he'd stolen a toy car from the market and got a lecture from his mother that would forever be engraved in his brain.  

Soon the day came when Halsey finally emerged from his house.  As he had days before he looked around to see if anyone was watching him specifically looking at Bennett's home. While Bennett was in fact watching, Halsey did not see him or if he did, it didn't seem to phase him as he headed off down the street. Bennett's curiosity got the best of him and he found himself leaving his house voluntarily for the first time.  

He followed Halsey, keeping behind the houses out of sight and ended up in town.  Halsey went into The General Store, a place Bennett had been a few times before with his parents.  Instead of following him, Bennett stood casually near the window peeking inside.  Halsey was walking around the store like he couldn't find what he was looking for. That was until another customer got to talking, distracting the store clerk. Halsey then stuffed several candy bars into his coat pockets, then moved towards the cooler for a bottle of water which he actual went to pay for.  

"You want a bag as usual?"  Bennett heard the clerk ask as the other customer came out of the store entrance.  

"Yes sir." Halsey was quite respectful, aside from the fact that his pockets were loaded with stolen candy.  

Bennett ducked back beside the building before Halsey came outside with his large bag for only a single water bottle. As Halsey headed back home, Bennett followed slowly behind him.  It wasn't until Halsey was just a foot from his home that he stopped and removed all the items from his coat, dropping them into the bag.  Then as Bennett had seen him do several times, Halsey deposited the bag behind the bush before disappearing into his house.  Halsey was in fact a thief, but why leave the stolen items outside?

Bennett crept slowly into Halsey's backyard, his back against the siding, and peeked into the kitchen window. He could see the boy there, staring into the refrigerator which was stocked full.  There was even a gallon of milk which was full unlike the one Halsey had lifted from The Fletcher's home, one item Halsey did not leave outside.  It only made Bennett question Halsey's actions even more.  

Halsey was stealing food, though he didn't need it. Food that he seemed to not be taking for himself. What was the point? Was he being paid for it? Was someone coming to pick up these items? Bennett had never seen anyone come into the yard.  What about the milk taken from Bennett's own home? Was it brought out in the night? Was it picked up then as well?

Bennett moved quickly to the side of the house and checked behind the bush. There was no bag there. Just a small window at the bottom of the of the vinyl siding, cloaked by a shade of gray.  

The next morning Bennett waited for Halsey's parents to leave before crossing the street. He was full of questions.  

"Orben." Halsey greeted, opening the door. 

"Mind if I come in?"

"Why would you want too?"

"I don't know, thought maybe we could hang out....." Bennett peeked into the house. It was immaculate, it was clear as he suspected, The Curtis family was loaded. "I mean unless you have some breaking and entering to do or perhaps more shoplifting?"

"What are you, neighborhood watch?"  Halsey crossed his arms.  

"Stealing is a crime." Bennett said. "And why steal when you obviously need nothing?" He gestured into the house.  

"You have no idea what I need."  Halsey said his teeth clenched trying not to let his temper show.  

"Haly?"  A soft female voice came from somewhere in the room. Bennett looked around as the voice came again. "Haly, are you there?"  Bennett's eyes focused on where the voice had come from. A door to the right, there in the kitchen, a large padlock across the top.  

"I think you should leave." Halsey grabbed Bennett's arm and ushered him towards the kitchen door.  

"Who was that?" Bennett asked. "Who's behind that door? Why is it locked?"  

"You really need to mind your business Fletcher."  Halsey looked suddenly pale. "Go, don't come back." He shoved Bennett outside and slammed the door. 

While Bennett was first concerned with the acts of thievery, the voice of the unseen made his stomach churn. The expression on Halsey's face was even more disconcerting. He seemed pained but more afraid than anything else.  The boy whom once intimidated Bennett with a mere tone now came off as frightened by the simple knowledge of what seemed to be more than unnecessary thievery. 

Bennett knew a lot of secrets going on his neighborhood, but Halsey's was by far the most disturbing.  He ran straight home and opened the unused door in his kitchen. This door was one he hadn't ventured into, having no need as his parents used the room for storage.  A basement they called it.  It was more like a cellar below the house, Bennett noted as he slowly descended the creaky steps. There was no light source in the room other than the sun shining through the small window at the back of the two by two foot space.  

Every home had the same layout, which meant across the street at Halsey's, someone was locked in a room just like the one in which he stood. Halsey was stealing food, not for himself but for whomever was in that room.  

Bennett tossed and turned all night thinking about the day's revelations.  Confronting Halsey only left more questions. Questions that Bennett never anticipated being answered. But then a little after midnight Bennett awoke hearing a soft ting against his window. Moving to take a look, he saw Halsey there in his front yard, signally him with a crook of his finger.  Bennett moved down the stairs and out the front door, closing it lightly before jogging across the street after Halsey who was now near the bush beside his house. 

"I'm sorry about earlier." Halsey whispered with sigh. "I just....I don't want you involved in this."

"In what?" Bennett asked. "What is this?" He gestured to the hidden window. "Who's in the cellar?"  

"It's Hailian....my little sister..."

"A sister?" Bennett had never seen a sister, then remembered the lock on the cellar door.  "Locked in the cellar?"

"The things I take, it's all she has..." He sighed. "My parents keep track of all the food in the house. I'm allowed just enough for myself which is barely enough but it's more than the loaf of bread and quart of water Hailian receives each week. She's fifteen and barely fifty pounds."

"Why?" Bennett couldn't hide his horrified expression. "Why is she is she locked up?"

"My parents think something is wrong with her." Halsey looked at him. "That she's got the devil in her They think giving her bread and water will not only sustain her, it will purify her soul."

"That's insane." Bennett couldn't keep from saying that. 

"Yeah, tell me about it." Halsey sighed. "Look I hate that you found out. I know you find it immoral that I'm stealing, I-"

"It's more immoral that your parents lock your sister in the cellar and deprive her of food." Bennett cut him off. "You need to go to the police."

"I can't do that."  Halsey shook his head. "He would kill me." He looked at Bennett. "If anyone knew about Hailian, he would kill me. No one knows she exists and if they did....I wouldn't. You understand?" Bennett just looked at him. "If something happened to me, Hail would have no one to take care of her. That alcohol I lifted from Old Pete?  It wasn't to drink. It was to disinfect her wounds.  They don't just starve her, they beat her. Three lashes every day.  Claim it just might bring the devil out." Bennett was speechless. "Her clothes are soaked in her own blood from the beatings, but no one would know as dirty as they are. There's no bathroom in the cellar, she hasn't bathed in over a year. The whole place reeks of filth."

"Why do they think the devil is in her?" Bennett had to force out the question. Halsey chuckled then as if the situation was humorous. Bennett looked stricken by the action.

"She had a miscarriage."

"What?" Bennett found that even less amusing. "At fifteen?"

"Fourteen actually."  Halsey told him. "She'd only just become a woman a few months before the conception."

"I don't understand why that would-"

"Daryl." Halsey cut him off. "My old man. He's actually our step dad. He did it."

"By did it, you mean...." Bennett was sure he knew what he meant but felt it was too horrid to be said out loud.

"He raped my sister." Halsey said it. "She told my mother who refused to believe it. She shoved her down the stairs into the cellar, Hailian lost the baby because of it. Daryl convinced mom that Hail was lying, she was possessed. That she had been carrying devil spawn." He cracked a smile. "Not really far off though.  Daryl is the most evil man I've ever known." His face grew solemn once more. "Mom brings her the bread and water, hoping to cleanse her. He's the one who does the lashings, but Mom is always there, she doesn't stop him. It only happened when I was in school, so there was nothing I could do. I'd kill him. I plan too."

"No, you need to tell the police." Bennett told him.  

"I can't." Halsey grabbed him by the shirtfront. "And you won't. Promise me."

"I promise."

The next morning Bennett went straight to his parents. He'd wrestled with it all night long trying to figure out a way to save Hailian without betraying his promise. Bennett claimed he'd seen Daryl Curtis steal the alcohol. That Daryl was leaving bags behind the bush. Said he thought it might be drug money. In order to make it all believable, Bennett had stuffed two hundred dollars he'd saved into a brown bag and left it behind the bush the night before. A simple note attached read, "In the cellar."

Not taking Bennett's concern lightly, The Fletcher's immediately notified the police who showed up later that afternoon to investigate. There was no answer at The Curtis residence as the parents would not be home from work for another few minutes. Halsey, alarmed by police presence had scrambled out his back door and now stood watching from a neighboring yard.  

Bennett stood at his window as they circled the house, stumbling upon the bag.  As he'd hoped, it drew enough concern for them to take further action.  One officer called out that the backdoor was unlocked while another noticed movement behind the hidden window. Immediately they sprang into action, moving quickly inside the house.  

Within minutes an officer appeared,Hailian in his arms, dressed in tattered dirty clothes, her hair knotted with filth. Mrs. Fletcher crossed the street immediately concerned by the turn of events.  Hailian became suddenly frantic as her parents car pulled into the driveway.  

"What right do you have to invade my home?" Daryl was out of the car instantly.

"If this is your home, then that's your hostage." The Sheriff gestured to Hailian. "Which means you're under arrest for child neglect."

"And rape."  Halsey came forward then. "Of a minor."  He looked at his sister. "Tell them Hail, tell them everything." She looked at her brother questioningly. "Don't be afraid." She nodded trusting her brother over anyone else than began to tell her story. Both Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were handcuffed upon Hailian's admittance. Halsey looked up at Bennett in his bedroom window, knowing somehow this was his doing.  Bennett left his room, moving quickly down the stairs to meet his friend who stood now in the doorway of his kitchen.  "I guess you're sorry not sorry?"

"I'm sorry I misjudged your purpose." Bennett said sincerely.  

"I'm still a thief."  

"More like a shade of gray, shielding a hidden window."