Hidden Friends

If you had ever asked Crystal Smith what she would think of the little people who lived in her walls, she would have called you insane. It’s a well-known fact that little people — fairies, brownies, pixies, or others of the sort — didn’t exist. But as her radio turned itself on for the third time in as many weeks, blasting the Queen’s Greatest Hits CD she’d been forbidden to remove, to wake her up, she would say her answer had changed.

“Up! Up! That thing is coming again!” A squeaky but somehow still booming voice called out.

Crystal groaned, cracking open an eyelid to see that the first morning light was barely through her apartment’s window.

“Christ. Switch, what fucking time is it?” Crystal pulled her coffee-stained pillow over her head, but she could still hear that CD as the little person on her desk cranked the volume higher. If she didn’t get up and turn it down, there’d be hell to pay from Mrs. Norris upstairs.

She’d tried unplugging the stereo before. They knew how to plug things back in. The resourceful little pains.

Crystal winced her way to sitting, standing carelessly out of the bed and lumbering the three steps to the stereo. One button, one three-second press, and blissful silence came once more.

Switch stared up at her, wearing his patent-pending (his words) shirt made from her grandmother’s old handkerchief that had gone missing three months before. She thought the rats had gotten it to use for a nest. Switch told her there were no rats in the building; they made sure of it.

His brown hair was the same color as the baseboards of the old, rickety, Midwestern college town-like apartment. The place had supposedly once been its own house, and Crystal believed it. But her rent was low, and the heat worked in the winter, so it was perfect for her current needs.

“What thing is coming? Switch, don’t you know what time it is?” Crystal asked, combing back her hair with her hand. It stuck on several knots, and she winced.

“I let you sleep in. It’s 5 according to your clocks.” Switch said. “Come on, the thing is in the front yard again. You’ve got to scare it off before it finds the tunnel! We’ve got new fabric coming in.”

The little man-like creature hopped off the table, the handkerchief shirt billowing as he ran, and his gerbil-like tail twitching anxiously. Crystal had been surprised by that at first. Switch said it was something to do with fashion and balance within the walls of a house. She supposed, being no more than five inches tall, that would help.

Crystal followed him to the front room, where her first-floor apartment window overlooked the porch. An orange tabby cat lay on the front pavers, sunning itself in the dawn rays. Crystal groaned.

“Norris let Simba out again?” she muttered under her breath. Switch let out a huff of disgust.

“That thing shouldn’t be a pet. Murderous, stinking thing.”

“Hey,” Crystal defended. “He’s not that bad. He’s a really cute cat, even if he doesn’t have a brain most of the time.”

“Oh, he’s got more brain than you believe. He’ll be the death of this house if he stays here a moment longer!” Switch squeaked. “Go! Go and take that broom from the kitchen and shoo him off for good!”

“I’m not doing that.” Crystal rubbed the bridge of her nose. A headache was working it’s way deeper into her skull. “Listen, just- stay out of Norris’ apartment? How hard can that be?”

“She has so many things, though.” Switch shook his head. “If I’m going to make fashion a bigger thing, we need access to it.”

“You cannot keep stealing from her,” Crystal scolded. “I’ve told you! I’ll buy you what you need. Stop taking from her and the others in the building, or they’re going to call an exterminator. Even if Mrs. Norris is a hoarder, that doesn’t mean you get to take her things!”

Switch’s mood changed on a dime. His tail puffed up and started to flick as he worked to keep the rest of his body looking calm. Crystal felt her headache grow.

“Would we be able to go today?” He asked. “I could overlook the thing still existing if we could head out today.”

Crystal sighed. Yep. There it was.

“I don’t know. I’ve got some chores I have to do,” Crystal tried to think, but the fog of sleep was still strong.

“You don’t have any chores besides loading and unloading your dishes. We do everything else, including the scrubbing of dishes!” Switch countered. “Whatever you need done today, let us know. While we shop, the others will get it done.” He smiled.

Crystal looked over at the cat clock on her wall that had been a present from her aunt. ‘You should have a clock in every room!’ her aunt’s voice echoed through her head.

“Fine. I’ve got to do some grocery shopping today anyway. We’ll go to, like, Joann’s or something for fabric before then,” Crystal said, walking back to her room. “But after I get some more sleep.”

Crystal fell face-first onto her bed, pulling the covers back around her shoulders as Switch replied. She didn’t catch what he said, though, asleep again as soon as her eyes closed.

Four hours later, Crystal was dressed, hair brushed into a ponytail, and driving her Geo Tracker into town as Switch sat in her faux leather purse in the passenger seat, going over his list made on the back of an envelope tab he or one of his colony members had nabbed from somewhere. She pulled into the parking lot of the fabric store and held her hand out to Switch.

“Remember, only when you want to see something do you speak up. And you make sure I’ve said the coast is clear,” Crystal reminded him as he climbed into the front pocket of her jean jacket.

He grinned back at her in excitement. “Yes, ma’am.” And he ducked down.

Crystal swung her bag over her shoulder, locked her car, and walked into the store.

They had just switched from heat to AC as the spring days turned to summer. The chill sent a shiver down Crystal’s back as she grabbed a cart and meandered towards the fabric.

“Oh! Start with the velvet. I need some more.” Switch’s voice rang up at her in a whisper. She nodded and sighed as she made her way over. Of course, he’d choose one of the expensive ones. She tried to calculate what her bank account was at after Friday’s paycheck. She could make it work.

She took her time looking over the fabric, pulling it close and squinting, to give Switch enough time to make his requests. Moving from isle to isle, they kept their conversations quiet. Crystal was sure, if the store had been any busier, people would have thought she was insane, talking to herself with her cart full of different bolts of fabric. The workers knew her, though, and knew that while she had a lot of fabric, she would rarely get over half a yard of each. They always asked what she did with it, why she needed so little, but she just smiled and said it was a personal project.

She turned into the cottons and came quickly to a stop. Ahead was Maysliee Connors, former beauty queen now turned trophy wife of her class. They’d been- well, friends was not the best way to put it, but acquaintance was too far off. They had grown up together but chose different paths for life. They’d drifted apart, as people do the longer out of school they get. Now though, it was like those years were actually just yesterday as Maysliee beamed, letting out a high-pitched squeak as she rushed Crystal.

“Oh my gosh, Crystal!” Maysilee grabbed her in a bear hug that Crystal worried would crush Switch. She could feel him in her pocket and did her best to angle herself in the hug to give him space.

“Look at you!! You look- well, you look comfy!” Maysilee’s smile faltered for only a second. Crystal knew she didn’t mean it as an insult, but she did look down at herself in self evaluation she rarely did anymore. Dark, boot cut jeans, a shirt she pulled from her closet, covered in wrinkles with a band’s name on it she didn’t remember, and the old, worn jean jacket that had definitely seen better days.

“Lazy Sunday,” Crystal shrugged. “I thought I’d get a few things for some personal projects and get my grocery shopping done. I didn’t expect to run into anyone, especially you. Didn’t you move states?”

“Oh, yeah, but Devin and I moved back to town.” Maysliee smiled, holding out a hand with a large ring on it. “We decided we missed the old place, and with Ma’s health running down, well, we wanted to be closer to help.”

Crystal nodded, though she was trying to remember Devin. Was he the guy from college Maysliee had written about, or a new one? She couldn’t remember, so she decided it was safest to play dumb.

“Oh, congrats! It’ll, uh, be great to see you around more.” Crystal smiled. She felt Switch kick her and winced. Maysliee’s eyes widened in worry.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright? I didn’t hug you too tight, did I?” Maysliee asked, starting to worry over her like she had in high school.

“No! No, I’m okay!” Crystal stepped back. “Just- must have had something for breakfast that didn’t agree.” She smiled again, hoping it was good enough. She grabbed her cart and turned to leave.

“You should come over sometime.” Maysliee’s voice followed. Crystal looked over her shoulder.

“Absolutely. You should too,” Crystal said before she could think. She did miss her friend, but at Switch’s next kick, she remembered why that wasn’t a good idea. “My number hasn’t changed. Just- give me a call, and I’ll make sure everything’s picked up.”

Maysliee’s smile softened. “Absolutely. See you then?”

And with that, Crystal walked off. The mix in her stomach was truly painful. She hated the lie but knew what it meant to protect what lived in her house. An entire little city, right inside the walls and centered in the attic. She promised to help them. Even if Switch could be a pain, he was still a friend, too. She shouldn’t put them at risk like that.

Crystal took the fabric to the counter, got it cut, and paid. She was lost in her head until she reached her car. Switch, thankfully, was silent as she unlocked the car and put the bags in the back. She set her purse down, then opened the pocket to look down at him. He stared back, brown eyes looking at her with pity.

“It’s good for you to have friends, you know.” He wasn’t usually so mushy, and as Crystal helped her out of the pocket and onto the seat, she signed.

“Yeah, but you’d hate it.” She smiled. “Having to hide and sneak? Not your style.”

“I mean, as long as it’s only once a week.” Switch shrugged, though Crystal knew he wasn’t serious. She laughed.

“I mean it!” He said, but he was never a good liar as he fought down his smile. “She sounds like a chipmunk! I don’t think I could listen to that more than once a week!”

“Hey, you be careful with your words. That was my high school best friend there. She’s a lot nicer than she came off,” Crystal said. “Well, she used to be, anyway.”

Switch sat quietly as they made their way back home. Crystal decided she no longer had the energy for grocery shopping that morning. Besides, she didn’t need anything desperately. She had bread and peanut butter. That’d be good for a few days.

“If you trust her, I’m sure I can get the others to trust her too,” Switch suddenly said.

“No,” Crystal responded, pulling into the shared parking lot.

“I mean it!” Switch said. “I was able to do it for you, so I can do it for her too. If you trust her, then we should too.”

Crystal shook her head. She didn’t know if she trusted Maysliee. It’d been too long. But, if someone else was in on this secret, maybe it would be easier to carry? Or maybe it would be easier to spread. Crystal didn’t want to think of what would happen to her friends if they were found out. Thoughts of pet shops or scientists flashed through her mind. Switch on a dissection table or in a pickling jar. She felt sick and was glad she hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning.

“We’ll see,” Crystal said, already making up her mind but wanting to appease Switch’s insistence. She picked him up, then the bags, and made her way inside.