The Invisible Boy

The woods were cold and silent baring the quiet murmurs of the expectant crowd. A handful of teenage boys were gathered in an opening at the center of the small thicket of trees, away from the prying eyes of adults. Some of them were first timers who came off the recommendations of frequent attendees. They congregated with eagerness to catch a glimpse of the oddity they heard tales of.

The small talk of familiar faces ended abruptly at the sound of rustling leaves. He was here. From the thicket of the trees approached a small child, no older than twelve years. He had matted platinum blonde hair and dirty, ill fitting clothes. His eyes, full of wariness, darted from one boy to another. Jacob stepped out of the crowd and addressed them. He gave the same speech and rules he always gave with all the guile and gusto of an experienced circus ringmaster. He basically was, and his main attraction was the unkempt child who lived in the woods, the Invincible Boy. 

The concept of the clandestine weekly meetings in the forest at the edge of town was simple. The boys would show up and pay money to Jacob, as the only one who had any form of communication with the boy, and in return they would watch him try to harm the strange boy with knives, nails and whatever tool of mutilation was available. The catch, of course, was that the boy came out unscathed. The knives never broke his skin, the nails merely bent when hammered against his forehead, and the tree branches broke against his neck but would never leave a mark.

The show began to grow in popularity amongst the boys of the sleepy town. It was an unexpected bright spark in an otherwise dreary and listless existence they faced in their town. It wasn’t every day that you came across a boy with impenetrable skin and unbreakable bones. It was a way of satisfying their curiosity and killing time. The sheer uncanniness of what was witnessed at these gatherings garnered a committed weekly audience.

Jacob didn’t speak much about this boy who he shilled to a paying audience. Nobody knew who he was or how they met. Only Jacob knew that he found him in the woods an orphan, the only child of his deceased father who was different like him. Only Jacob knew that they had to put on these shows to feed the boy. Only he knew that the boy was being hunted by his captors who he escaped from. What Jacob didn’t know, however, was his name. It was one of the many things the boy kept to himself in their rather taciturn relationship. Jacob took to calling him the Boy.

He often thought of how such a young boy dealt with such turmoil. The burden of having to live in constant fear of being found, the fear of being totally alone, the fear of having no one to trust. These very thoughts occupied his thinking as he journeyed back from the gas station where he had acquired food and water. Although their little show pulled a decent audience, the profits were not particularly handsome as you wouldn’t expect a bunch of unemployed teens to pay a premium. The profits were just enough to keep the Boy fed, with the addition of extra things Jacob stole from his mother’s pantry. 

Jacob had a compassionate fondness for the boy. He cared for him like the sibling he never had. He handed him the goods with a smile on arrival and the piercing blue of the Boy’s deep-set eyes expressed the gratitude that his reticence prevented. He smiled back and gave a curt nod and they parted ways.

Like most teenagers, Jacob hated school. He didn’t enjoy the mundaneness of 10th grade and often prided himself on giving a modest few the chance to be entertained once a week. Passing time on his phone before his next period, he shrieked at the suddenness with which Stevie appeared.

“What the fuck Stevie? You almost gave me a heart attack!” he exclaimed.

“Dude, I fucked up big time. This is actually so bad dude!” Stevie looked around nervously and whispered “Meet me out back, near the dumpster, hurry.”

Jacob couldn’t help but begin to worry as he approached the big green dumpster behind the school. Stevie was already there, pacing frantically. “I hope for your sake this isn’t one of your famous screw-ups with Melissa because I swear to God...” Jacob said this with a grin as he approached Stevie but he did not reciprocate the gesture.

“Two men came over to my place this morning. They said they were from the government, I don’t know man, maybe FBI. Super menacing. They saw the video I posted on YouTube and they asked about your friend, the freak kid…..and I tried to cover for you, I swear I did. I told them I didn’t know where he was or….”

“Wait, what video?” Jacob asked.

“I’m sorry dude. It was Trevor’s idea to take a video of the thing man. He said it would be cool for like views and stuff. I didn’t think anyone would actually see it, I didn’t expect the video to blow up, I just…..”

“Stevie, what the fuck did you do? I told you no phones, oh my God!” Jacob was panicking. He couldn’t help it. They found him, they found him and they’re here, he thought. “What did you tell them?”

Stevie gave him the run down. How he tried to convince them it was visual effects. How they didn’t buy it but left anyway. How he’d seen men in black tactical gear and guns near the woods. Jacob’s heart started racing. He ran as fast as he could towards the woods. He didn’t know what he intended to do once he got there but he knew he had to warn him. 

The woods were dead silent. All he could hear was his footfalls as he made his way to their meet up point. He saw a body on the floor as he neared the opening among the trees and stopped dead. It wasn’t the slight frame of the young boy. He could feel the knots in his stomach tighten as he moved closer. There laid, at his feet, the body of a man in tactical gear lying face down with a piece of wood sticking out of his back. The panic began to set in. Fuck, he thought. He needed to move fast. He looked around for the boy, checked as much as he could, but he was nowhere to be found. He had to leave or he would be in trouble. He raced for the exit.

Jacob tried to act as naturally as possible for the rest of the school day. He hadn’t set eyes on Stevie since the revelation that morning and he could only imagine the worst. Did they get the Boy? His mind was reeling. He was deep in thought staring at the reading material handed out in English class when he heard Mrs Glendale call his name. “Jacob? There are some people here to see you.” It’s never a good sign when you are called by the principal, and the state of things didn’t make it any better. She led him to her office where two men sat. She gestured for him to sit and stepped out immediately. 

“Hey kid! We’re with the government and we just want to ask you some questions about a video a friend of yours uploaded.” He fiddled with his cigarette as he gave the introductions. “We’d appreciate your cooperation, alright?”

“I don’t know about any video.” Jacob said feigning composure.

Callaghan, the odd-looking one of the two Government officials, took a drag of his cigarette, “Look kid, we know you don’t want to get yourself into any trouble. We’d like to be out of your hair as soon as possible. We wouldn’t want to overcomplicate things, now would we?”

“I don’t think the government would have sent officers in full tactical gear to hunt down a child if they intend to avoid overcomplicating things.” They weren’t feds and he knew it. He tried to sound unflustered. Schmidt, he other one, reached for his supressed pistol.

“Don’t” Callaghan said sternly, holding eye contact with Jacob. “Too many witnesses.” He stood and his partner followed. 

“I hope for your sake you’re telling the truth.” Callaghan said over his shoulder, “Would be a shame for you to lose your life meddling in affairs that do not concern you.” He dropped his cigarette on the floor and put it out with his shoe.

They left and Jacob never saw them again. He never heard from the Invincible Boy too. He wandered into the woods weeks later and the body was gone. The sleepy town once again drifted into its normal lull like nothing happened. He wondered where the boy was. If he was safe.