How to Stay Invisible

Twelve-year-old Raymond Hurley sits in the front office of River Mill Middle School, waiting for his mother to pick him up. She has been late every day since he enrolled two weeks ago. Raymond begins the three-mile walk home, reflecting that River Mill, a small town in North Carolina, is his third town and third middle school this year. The best year of his life was fifth grade, when his father held a steady job, Raymond found his dog, Rosie, and his mother once cooked spaghetti, the only meal the family ever shared.

When Raymond arrives at the trailer, Rosie is on the stoop next to a duffel bag stuffed with his belongings. The trailer is locked and empty; the rental office confirms his parents left. Raymond grabs the duffel, his fishing pole, and Rosie and walks back to the school, but the parking lot is empty. He spends the night in the baseball dugout. He recalls that when he was nine, his parents disappeared for six days, and he was placed in a children's home. The experience was traumatic, and he resolves to endure anything rather than return to such a place.

The next morning, Raymond hides his duffel in the woods and slips into school. At breakfast, a tall, talkative boy named Harlin introduces himself. Harlin lives with his grandmother and is obsessed with NASCAR. In English, his teacher, Ms. Marcus, praises his perfect vocabulary quiz and asks if he needs anything. Raymond declines, remembering a previous school where a teacher involved Social Services. His mother performed normalcy for the social worker, who left without helping. Raymond concluded no one could truly help him.

Rosie leads Raymond to a massive fallen tree with a hollowed-out trunk, which he claims as shelter and calls "the hollow." Using a fire-starting technique from science class, he builds his first fire. On Thanksgiving, he catches a fish from the river, where he notices an old man on the opposite bank. The next day, desperation drives him to eat a dead bass, and he becomes violently ill. Afterward, he begins rummaging through the school cafeteria dumpsters at night, which become a crucial food source.

Raymond settles into a dual life. At school, he stays invisible: sitting alone, never raising his hand. Ms. Marcus quietly leaves toothpaste and a Gatorade packet in his cubby. Harlin proves impossible to shake off, and Raymond slowly warms to him. In the woods, he develops minnow traps and starts catching catfish. At a basketball game, Joseph Banker, a bully, taunts Harlin about his mother being in prison. Harlin punches Joseph and is suspended. Raymond is relieved when the principal, Mrs. Harding, declines to call his parents. He later finds a five-dollar bill tucked in his math book.

Raymond dreads Christmas break: 13 days without school meals. He stockpiles food and insulates the hollow. At the Winter Jamboree bingo game, Harlin wins NASCAR tickets, the prize he wanted most. Raymond watches another boy claim the thermal sleeping bag he desperately needs and retreats to the bathroom in tears. Afterward, Harlin is waiting with the sleeping bag, having traded his tickets for it. That night, Raymond feels warm for the first time in weeks.

Snow falls, and survival grows harder. A coyote plays with Rosie by the river but accidentally injures her leg, and over the following days the wound becomes infected. On Christmas Day, the old man from the river, Jacob "Stigs" Castiglione, a former army surgeon, finds Raymond carrying Rosie through town and takes them to his cabin. Stigs operates on the wound, and Raymond sleeps in a real bed for the first time in months.

Raymond lies to Stigs, saying his parents are away until after New Year's. Over the holiday, Stigs shares his history: He grew up in an orphanage, lost his wife to leukemia, and lost their son in Afghanistan. One night, overwhelmed by the contrast between Stigs's care and his parents' neglect, Raymond runs outside and screams. Stigs waits on the porch when he returns but says nothing. On New Year's Day, Stigs tells Raymond he can share whatever is going on when he is ready. Raymond opens his mouth, thinks of every time he has sought help and been let down, and walks away. He later finds a Swiss Army knife Stigs packed in his bag.

Back at the hollow, the coyote brings Raymond a freshly caught rabbit. He names the animal Hank. Raymond's survival skills sharpen as he builds traps, whittles dinnerware, and fishes with Stigs on Saturdays. Hank becomes a regular companion at camp. At school, a classmate named Lexi asks Raymond to be her science fair partner, and they begin meeting in the library. Raymond develops feelings for her. When Harlin's father, who has a mental health condition, appears at school and is handcuffed by police, Raymond stands beside Harlin and holds his hand. Afterward, Raymond tells Harlin his parents have been gone over a month. Harlin keeps the secret.

Stigs reveals he visited Social Services to ask about Raymond's parents. Furious, Raymond avoids the river for several days. At the science fair, where he and Lexi win third place, he spots Stigs in the doorway. Stigs apologizes, and Raymond embraces him. Harlin persuades Raymond to attend the semi-formal dance. Raymond gets ready at Stigs's cabin, but at the dance he sits frozen in the bleachers. When he finally stands to ask Lexi to dance, Joseph asks her first. Lexi follows Raymond outside and tells him she will see him Monday. Later in the library, Raymond admits he wanted to ask her, and Lexi assures him there will be other dances.

Then Joseph follows Raymond into the woods and discovers the camp. Hank growls at Joseph, who flees. Raymond destroys the camp and escapes with Rosie into unfamiliar woods, sending Hank away to protect the coyote. By morning, he resolves to leave River Mill rather than face a children's home. While fishing, he steps into marshy water and is bitten by a cottonmouth, a venomous water snake. He collapses.

Raymond wakes in a hospital receiving antivenom. Rosie had run to Stigs's cabin and led the old man to Raymond. Joseph reported the camp, and the school now knows Raymond was living in the woods. When rescuers arrived, Hank was standing over Raymond's body. Police, believing the coyote was attacking, shot and killed Hank. Raymond weeps. Stigs reveals that Ms. Marcus was engaged to his son before his death in Afghanistan, explaining their connection. That night, Lexi sneaks out to the hospital. She reveals she placed the toothpaste in Raymond's cubby and the five dollars in his math book, having read his notebook while helping Ms. Marcus. Raymond kisses her.

Mr. and Mrs. Adams, a foster couple from the nearby town of Commerce, visit Raymond in the hospital. Stigs tells him he tried to have the state let Raymond stay with him, but they refused, and promises to bury Hank on a sunny bank overlooking the river. As the Adamses drive Raymond over the bridge out of River Mill, he sees the river and whispers goodbye to Hank. Mrs. Adams asks if he likes spaghetti. For the first time in a very long time, Raymond does not want to be invisible. He wants to be seen.