Nobody had ever lost a helicopter.
“Maybe I should just meet him,” Frankie said, like it wasn’t the most ridiculous idea in the world.
“I’m not playing around, Em. I’m hungry and I want some waffles.” Uncle Marvin’s tone was getting grumpier with every word he called out.
“No, we stick to my plan. Keep watch, and the moment you see us move, hurry down and leave.”
I didn’t give him a chance to argue any more. “I’m coming,” I called out as I took the stairs two at a time. My body was pumping with adrenalin, making my movement quick and jerky.
Uncle Marvin was standing in the foyer as he took a deep breath and got ready for another bellowing. I reached him just in time. “About time, girl. I want some waffles, go make them for me. What took you so long?”
“I was in the bathroom,” I said. “I came as quickly as I could.” Hopefully Frankie couldn’t overhear my lie. I didn’t want him to have visuals of me sitting on the toilet. It wasn’t exactly a romantic image. “I thought you said you weren’t going to be home until late.”
“I wasn’t. Plans changed. Get cooking. And I want real maple syrup, none of that fake shit.” He made a shooing movement, corralling me into the kitchen before I could think of a reason not to feed him.
My mind scurried to find a reason for Uncle Marvin to join me. He couldn’t sit down on his favorite chair in the living room because then Frankie would never be able to leave. It wasn’t like we had an approved fire escape from the second level of the house.
Because, in Uncle Marvin’s words, if you were stupid enough to get caught in a fire you were stupid enough to deserve to die. So, therefore, no fire escapes.
Don’t blame me for that statement, I didn’t share his opinion.
I quickly found the maple syrup–the real stuff–and placed it on the highest shelf in the cupboard. “Uncle Marvin, I can’t reach the syrup. Would you mind getting it down for me, please?”
“Use a chair.”
“I’m mixing the batter. Please?”
I waited with everything crossed, hoping the ruse would get him. He didn’t believe in doing work around the house, even if it was just to reach something out of my reach.
Finally, his heavy footsteps padded into the kitchen. I pointed at the syrup and he begrudgingly got it down for me. Over his shoulder I could see Frankie sneaking out. He was holding his shoes in his hand, walking in only socks.
Uncle Marvin plonked the syrup onto the table and then turned to face the archway into the foyer. Frankie only just managed to vanish out the door before he was sprung.
So I thought.
I was wrong.
“Is that the same boy I told you to stay away from?” Uncle Marvin bellowed. He was speaking far louder than our small house needed.
“What boy?”
“You know what boy.” His face was starting to redden now as his anger grew. “I told you to stay away from all boys until I said otherwise. What part of this didn’t you understand, Em?”
I felt like a deer caught in headlights.
No, scrap that.
A bunny rabbit.
Because my uncle was the size of a car and I felt only a few inches tall. If I could have scurried away, I would have. There was little worse than Uncle Marvin when he was angry. Especially when that anger was directed at me.
“There’s nothing going on with any boy,” I said, as if it was the most preposterous idea of the century. “Yuck. Seriously, Uncle Marvin, if there was a boy here I would want them to leave just as much as you did.”
“Sure. What were you doing? Huh? What were you up to?”
It was getting hot in the kitchen. Even without the warmth of the waffle iron as it heated up, it would have been as hot as an inferno. “I told you, there was nobody here. Maybe you saw Matilda running around.”
“I know the difference between a stupid cat and an idiot boy, Em.”
“Would you like ice cream with your waffles?” Deflection, always the last tool in my toolbox. Normally food was the best way to Uncle Marvin’s heart.
“Yes,” he humphed.
I returned to my task of making the waffles while he stared at me for a while longer. Whatever else he wanted to get out of me didn’t last too much longer. He took his grumbling into the living room and turned up the television until it blared in the otherwise quiet house.
His waffles–with ice cream and real maple syrup–was served to him a few minutes later. I retreated to my room afterwards, sitting on my bed and wondering if Frankie had really been in there only that afternoon.
A part of me suspected Frankie wasn’t real.
It was very possible that he was merely a figment of my imagination.
An imaginary friend.
It was plausible.
I’d had crazier thoughts.
My cell phone beeped with a message. The odds of it being from Frankie were high. I’d only ever received a text from one other person and that was my stepmother.
I picked up the phone with shaking hands anyway, hopeful that it was from the boy. If I had a message it meant he was real. I couldn’t be just making him up.
It was from him:
Are you okay? I’m sorry your uncle went off like that.
If Frankie thought that was as bad as Uncle Marvin got, he didn’t know the man very well. My uncle yelling was an everyday occurrence. It bounced off me by now, completely rolling away as soon as he started.
I texted back:
Yes, all good.
How could I be anything else when I had Frankie in my life? He was beautiful and caring and smart and nice and he always smelled really good. Of course I was okay.
My phone beeped immediately:
Call me if you need me, okay? I’m here for you. xx
Two X’s. They were kisses, right? I always got hugs and kisses mixed up. It didn’t seem an issue in my life until right now. Nobody had bothered to send them to me before.
My first X’s. Maybe I should have taken a photograph and pinned it to my wall. Maybe they would be the first of many. Maybe they would be my last.
I stressed over the message I needed to send back to him. Did I include X’s as well? Or was that needy? I wrote it and then deleted the message more times than I wanted to admit.
Finally, I settled on the final one and sent it before I could back out:
I’m happy you’re here for me. X
Just one X, one kiss. That was all I could bear to part with for now.
I went to sleep and dreamed of giant X’s that chased me around in a dark forest.
I didn’t believe in hidden messages in dreams.
Which was just as well.
For the rest of the weekend I remained in quiet solitude. Frankie was busy with his family and Uncle Marvin was still in a foul mood. I spent most of the time in the attic, making sure my new shelves were in perfect condition and ready to take on more lost things.
Monday would have been great–if I didn’t have to go to school. I still had to stay on my best behavior, one more strike and the principal was going to come good with his threats to take the matter further.
I kept a special kind of loathing for Principal Moore.
Walking through the school paths, I kept my head low and focused on the ground.
Searching.
Always searching.
But not looking for trouble.
Someone’s warm hand slid into mine. My first instinct was to pull away and then use that hand to slap them. But that’s not what I did now.
The hand belonged to Frankie.
He didn’t say a word about holding my hand. We simply walked, like this was a natural thing. Like our hands were made to always hold each other’s.
The warm and fuzzy feeling in my chest was now associated with Frankie. It always appeared within me whenever he was near. Sometimes even when I only thought about him.
Something was happening to me and it was both frightening and exhilarating. I wond
ered if Frankie was also experiencing the same transformation.
“So school, huh?” Frankie said. “You’ve got to be cool to go to school, right?” He playfully elbowed me in the ribs to make me laugh at his lame joke.
The giggles flowed freely. Although I suspected it was more from being with Frankie than what he was saying. “Don’t get too excited, we have another four days of school after this one. You don’t want to peak too early.”
“No, wouldn’t want that.” His face had grown serious in the space of a second. Still, I knew he was only joking. We reached the corridors and stepped inside. Our hand holding was now on display for anyone to see.
As a general rule, I didn’t like people looking at me. Looking meant seeing and then they might see me do something I didn’t want them to witness. The people looking at me now stirred a mixture of emotions in me.
Frankie walked me all the way to my locker. He squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile. “This is okay, right?” He nodded toward our twined hands.
“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you.”
He pulled my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it before releasing me. “It’s definitely okay with me. I’ll see you in English.”
My hand felt cold without him now.
I doubted it would ever feel warm again without him.
To avoid looking at all the people looking at me, I buried my head inside my locker and took extra time gathering my books. It was only when I really needed to get to class did I emerge again.
During my morning classes I formulated a plan. I never said it was a good one, but it was one nevertheless. In order to make sure Frankie didn’t get into trouble, I avoided him at lunch time as I walked as fast as I could without attracting attention to the school gates.
I left.
As long as I returned before my next class and nobody saw me, I wouldn’t end up in Principal Moore’s office. That was a large part of my plan.
The other part was speaking with my stepsister.
Chapter 20
The little girl was easy to find in the playground of Lakeside Elementary School. Her dark and wavy hair made her stand out amongst all the other children.
Or maybe it was some invisible tether that made me recognize my kin.
Yeah, right.
Most likely it was luck.
I headed straight for April, hoping no teachers would play interference. They probably didn’t even know she had a big half-sister.
“Hey, April,” I said as I sat on the bench next to her. Her bluest of blue eyes were only startled for a moment before they relaxed again.
“Hi, Em. What are you doing here?” She seemed happy that I was, that was a good start.
“I thought I would visit you and we could have lunch together.” I looked around purposefully before leaning closer. “Don’t tell anyone but I smuggled in a bar of chocolate. Long live sugar!”
She giggled, her little hand covering her mouth so nobody would realize we were sharing a secret. If I was completely honest, I would say my half-sister was quite adorable. I felt myself being sucked into her little world without a lifejacket.
There were different warm and fuzzy feelings reserved for her.
I pulled my chocolate bar from my backpack and opened it, offering her half. She took it eagerly. “Mom doesn’t let me have chocolate until after dinner.”
“Good thing this is a secret then.” I let her eat for a few minutes before I started with the real reason why I was there. “Speaking of your mom, how is she doing lately?”
“She’s sad all the time,” April said somberly. I wished I didn’t have to take her giggles away.
“Sad because your dad still isn’t home?”
Her little head nodded. “Do you know when he’s coming back? Mom says it will be soon but she’s been saying that for a while now. I miss him.”
“I don’t know, sorry. I’m trying to find him, if that helps. The police are also searching really hard. We have to keep hopeful that they’ll find him soon.”
“I heard Mommy say to Auntie Sarah that he might never come home.”
It felt like I needed to hug her or something to offer comfort but I wasn’t sure. It was safer just sitting there and doing nothing. Words were all I could really offer. “She was probably just worried. If she knew you were listening, I bet she wouldn’t have said that. People say things they don’t mean all the time, especially when they’re sad.”
She nodded again, her fringe bouncing with the movement. The chocolate bar was gone now, the only trace was her sticky fingers. “How come I never met you before?” she asked, her eyes alive with innocent curiosity.
“I didn’t know I had a half-sister,” I replied honestly. There was no point in exposing her to the full story. She didn’t need to know about our father walking out and leaving me when I was younger than her.
“Don’t say that.”
My brow wrinkled with confusion. “Don’t say what?”
“Half-sister.” Her small arm linked through mine. “We’re sisters. I’ve always wanted a sister and now I have one. You’re not going to leave, right, Em?”
There was no way I could break the eight year old’s little heart. I wasn’t going to be my father. “I’ll always be here for you, April. I promise.”
She smiled and that was it.
We were sisters.
I didn’t get any of the information I went there for. My plans to interrogate her about her parents’ relationship completely went out the window after her whole sisters speech. From what I could piece together Samantha was distraught over her husband’s continued absence. If she was the one responsible for his vanishing act, then April didn’t have any inkling.
The only thing I learned from the whole thing was that I might be able to do the whole sister thing. Maybe I wouldn’t mess it up for a while. Until I did, I could be a big sister and know what it was like to be part of a family.
Maybe.
Probably.
The moment the school bell rang I left April and hurried back to my own school. I cleared the front gate with more than five minutes up my sleeve.
Instead of risking being late, I went straight to class instead of finding Frankie like I wanted to. I would see him in class but it wasn’t the same as having him all to myself.
Algebra class was first after lunch, the students filed in slowly after the bell rang. I watched the door until Frankie walked in and I gave him a wave. He sat just down the row, the desks surrounding me were already taken by people I didn’t care about at all.
Just as Mrs. Keating was about to take a breath and launch into what I was certain would be a fascinating insight into the world of multiplication, a senior student knocked on the door. She was admitted with a sigh. “Principal Moore needs to see Emmeline Gabrielle in his office immediately.”
Every single set of eyes in the place turned to me.
Traitors.
The thought of jumping out the window and running did cross my mind.
But I wasn’t that fit.
I begrudgingly stood up and gathered my things. There was no point in pretending I would be back again to resume the lesson. In order to leave I had to ignore the questioning glance Frankie gave me.
The moment we were in the corridor, I said, “You can go now, I know the way to the office.”
The girl just shrugged. “I have to go back there anyway.”
“How’s Moore’s mood today?”
“He looked like he was going to blow a gasket. Good luck with that.”
Great.
She left me at the reception desk and I was told to go straight on in. Apparently Principal Moore was waiting for me. It had to be leaving the school grounds at lunchtime. It was against the rules, but I may have been able to talk him out of throwing the book at me.
My brain hurt as I tried to think of anything else I could possibly be in trouble for. I had been so good, following all the rules like a star pupil. My grades were good, my
attendance perfect, and nobody had accused me of stealing for at least a couple of weeks.
I stepped into the office like I was going to the electric chair. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Moore.”
The girl was right, he was mad. It roiled off him in waves as he pointed to the seat across the desk from him. “Emmeline. Sit.”
I sat.
Ready to jump and run at any moment.
“Do you want to confess anything to me?” he asked. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that one.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, sir.”
“I think you know perfectly well why you’re here.”
This was going to be more painful than I first thought. “No, sir, I’m sorry but I don’t know. Has someone said something about me?”
He stared at me.
For a long time.
I was immune to all his tricks. He should have known me better by now. I thought we had a good relationship going on, but he didn’t really know me at all.
It was disappointing.
I shrugged, trying not to look belligerent but it was difficult. He was wasting both of our time and I couldn’t help but notice. I would rather be sitting in Mrs. Keating’s class and she spat whenever she was too close.
A sigh filled the silence–his, not mine. I knew better than to sigh when in his company. “Miss Gabrielle, our school mascot has gone missing.”
“Bubbles the tuna fish?” I wasn’t pretending to be shocked, I really was shocked. That ugly statue had been sitting proudly in the courtyard since I could remember. It was far older than I was, probably older than Principal Moore too.
“Yes, Bubbles.” He looked at me again as if I should know something about his current missing status. I didn’t mind being blamed for things I actually did, but when it came to things I was actually innocent of, it ticked me off.
“Why do you think I did it?” I asked. Because, really, it was just rude making accusations without evidence. Considering I didn’t do it, there was no way he could have any kind of proof.
“Because, Miss Gabrielle, whenever anything goes missing around this place it’s usually you that has something to do with it.”
The Keeper of Lost Things Page 16
