The Keeper of Lost Things

by Jamie Campbell

  It annoyed me more than anything.

  “If you didn’t leave me it wouldn’t be so much of a shock,” I replied, not bothering to stick around and wait to hear whatever else he wanted to say.

  I charged for the stairs and headed upwards, now more concerned about how Frankie and Uncle Marvin were fairing than my father. I knew he was safe now but the others were a different story.

  The moment my head peeked into the next floor, my panic levels went into overdrive. Not only were the terrible duo upright and kicking, they had backup in the form of another five men who were packing more heat than a blanket factory.

  We were going to lose that fight.

  Not only because we were sadly outnumbered but because we weren’t fighters. We had no training, we had no weapons, and we actually had scruples. We cared about the law, we cared about not inflicting pain upon another human being.

  “Emmeline, get out of here,” Marshall Gabrielle urged from behind me. He pushed me toward the front door but my feet didn’t budge. I wasn’t going to leave Frankie and Uncle Marvin when they were still there. Nor was I going to take an order from a man who called me Emmeline.

  My name was not Emmeline.

  Maybe legally, fine. But that name belonged to my dead mother, it would never belong to me.

  I was Em.

  Only Em.

  Frankie picked up a vase and threw it at Malcolm’s head, he ducked to the side and it hit the wall. The vase smashed into a million pieces and made Malcolm so angry he immediately lunged at Frankie and pinned him to the wall. I screamed and leaped for him, trying to drag the muscled man away from the boy I loved.

  Uncle Marvin was losing his own battle, locked in a triangle of doom with the tornado killer and one of the new guys. They were all struggling, trying to get my uncle to the floor where they could take him out for good. Uncle Marvin was trying to use his weight to his advantage, it was the only thing he had, but he was losing.

  “Get off me, you bitch,” Malcolm hissed at me.

  I replied by trying to gouge his eyes out. He didn’t appreciate it but he did let Frankie go. He slumped to the ground, taking only a few quick moments to recover before making it to his feet again.

  Malcolm shook me off so violently I fell against the wall. My arm felt the impact, promising a serious bruise I would be sporting for a few days afterwards. If that was the extent of my injuries after all this I would consider myself lucky.

  Uncle Marvin lost his battle and tumbled to the floor. He was like a bug, his arms and legs flailing in the air while he couldn’t stand up again. “Uncle Marvin!” I called out. Frankie and I exchanged a quick glance before running to his aid.

  We barged past the men and stood guard over my uncle. There was no way he could get up without assistance and we didn’t have a chance of being able to give it to him while we were under attack.

  “Pick on someone your own size,” I snarled at them.

  “Move aside, little girl,” Derrick growled. “You’re gonna get hurt. Don’t think we won’t touch you because you’re a girl.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “Then let us do what we need to.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I said. I might have had all the words but I was terrified inside. There didn’t seem to be a way out of the situation and my father had disappeared once again. It was just the eight of them against the three of us.

  We were cornered.

  Uncle Marvin was on his back like a cockroach.

  Frankie was by my side, his hand in mine.

  It wouldn’t be long before Malcolm would be starting the fire in the backyard.

  I hope he had some marshmallows to toast.

  It was going to be a heck of a bonfire.

  Chapter 29

  The darkness of the night outside suddenly flashed with colors.

  For a moment I thought I was having an honest to goodness heart attack. The room lit up with the lights, shining as brightly as if we were being swarmed by UFOs and aliens were about to join us for some late night snacks.

  Everyone froze as the seconds ticked by the room.

  The criminals were momentarily stunned by the flashing lights before they jumped into action. They recognized the implications before I did, instantly understanding the police were outside.

  “Lay down your weapons and place your hands on your head,” boomed the voice from outside. They were speaking on a megaphone with a slight echo.

  The guys scoffed, trying to put on bravado in front of one another. Either that or they really were just stupidly brave. Sure, they had guns and knives, but so did the police. Considering the police were permitted to use theirs, I know which side I would be more afraid of.

  “Nobody needs to get hurt tonight,” the police negotiator continued.

  Derrick whispered to his men, so quietly I couldn’t hear them. We were momentarily forgotten while they consulted between themselves. Surely they had to understand they were outnumbered. With the police outside their door, and probably surrounding the property, their chances of getting out of there were zero to none.

  Or were they crazy enough to believe they could get away?

  I’d seen crazier.

  I remained quiet, too scared to say a word. It was up to the police now. Plus, I didn’t want to remind them that they had three hostage candidates with them. We had red targets blazoned across our chests which I hoped they didn’t notice.

  “We have you surrounded. There is no way out.”

  More whispering.

  “We all want a peaceful resolution tonight.”

  All of a sudden the group broke up and Malcolm raised his gun, shooting out the back window without warning. An involuntary scream escaped my throat. Frankie held me against him as I buried my face against his chest. I couldn’t look any more, I didn’t want to see what else they were about to shoot.

  The window at the front of the cabin suddenly exploded as a can was thrown through from the other side. After a few seconds it started leaking with smoke, filling the entire room with a thick fog. It choked my lungs and made breathing difficult as I coughed and spluttered.

  My eyes started watering, making everything blurry through the grey smog. I held onto Frankie tighter as I struggled to see what was going on around me.

  The noise of doors opening, slamming, closing, and then footsteps, shouting, guns, cries, orders surrounded me. If I could have seen anything I probably would have been terrified. As it was, all I could do was stay completely still and hold onto Frankie with a silent prayer on my lips that we were invisible and therefore safe.

  “This is the police, you’re okay. Come with me,” a woman said softly into my ear. For a moment I wondered if she was lying to me but there were no females in Derrick’s gang so I opened my watering eyes and followed her.

  “We need to help Uncle Marvin,” I said.

  “We have an officer assisting him,” she replied.

  I held onto Frankie like my life depended on it. There was no way I was letting him out of my sight.

  Outside the house I blinked and reveled in the fresh air. Wiping my eyes on my sleeve, I pushed all the grit and smoke out of them. They had to blink several times before they would entertain the idea of staying open for a long length of time.

  The policewoman guided us to the bank of several vehicles. She sat us at the back of an SUV, handing us some water and telling us to drink and wash our eyes out. We followed directions like robots. Uncle Marvin joined us a few minutes later.

  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited to see my uncle before. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in the folds of his stomach before sitting back down again.

  He perched on the edge of the vehicle with us. “About time you showed up. You sure took your time,” he grumbled.

  “We came as soon as we could, sir,” the policewoman replied. Uncle Marvin grumbled in response, his usual demeanor returning. Clearly his near-death exper
ience hadn’t given him a new outlook on life.

  I turned to my uncle. “You called the police?”

  “Yeah.”

  “When?”

  “Just before we left home.”

  “Why?” I asked as I replayed the moments just after I convinced him to give me a ride out to the cabin. There had been a few moments I left him alone while I got Frankie and told him we had a lift. I never expected him to call the police in that time, though.

  “Because you said your father was out here,” Uncle Marvin replied, like it should have been obvious.

  “But you think I lie about everything,” I said.

  “You do. Most things, anyway. I trusted you on this so I thought I’d save us all some trouble and call the police.” I could have been mistaken but his cheeks blushed just a little while he spoke. Maybe Uncle Marvin didn’t loathe me as much as I thought he did. Maybe he had a teeny, tiny soft spot for me somewhere inside. “Stop looking at me like that. I only did it because I knew you were leading us into something dangerous and I need you to keep making my dinner.”

  “Right, of course,” I said.

  At least I didn’t lie when I told Derrick Bowden and his friends that the police were on the way. That had to be a first. Maybe I was turning over a new leaf. Maybe I would start telling the truth from now on.

  Like that was ever going to happen.

  I loved lying.

  It was a part of me.

  The policewoman’s walkie-talkie crackled. “All suspects have been apprehended. No casualties. The place is clear. Crime Scene Unit can move in and start to process.”

  All the fear left my body with a sigh. Frankie squeezed my hand in silent communication. We had done it. We survived and succeeded in rescuing my dad. Everyone important to me was safe and sound.

  Even if my dad had disappeared again.

  At least I’d got to see him.

  For a few moments.

  I had a new image of him to add to my image bank. Maybe all I needed was a few minutes every decade and that would tide me over until the next encounter. I’d done fine without him all this time, it wasn’t like I needed him in my life, after all.

  Still, it stung.

  To know he just took off like that. He couldn’t even stick around to see if we were all right?

  I was his daughter, Uncle Marvin was his brother. He should have been fighting alongside us, helping us, we were there because of him. We saved his life, risked ours for his. He should have had the decency to stick around.

  Frankie pulled me closer to him as if he could read everything that was going on inside my mind. I felt safe snuggled up next to him. He had shown me how brave he was tonight.

  And how stupid he was by coming with me.

  I thought he was smarter than that.

  He was my hero. The boy that knew better than to take on a guy twice his size and did it anyway. He could have died several times tonight but he fought alongside me anyway.

  I loved him.

  With every piece of my broken heart.

  I’d given so many pieces of myself to those that just threw them away. Those pieces were laying in dumps all over Lakeside. I hoped someone like Mr. Adison would find them and give them a home.

  I would never get them back again.

  But maybe they could regenerate. Perhaps it would take people like Frankie and Samantha and April to shape new pieces and place them in the gaping holes left by those of the past.

  My heart might be whole again one day.

  Perhaps, one day.

  Miracles had proven themselves to occur so I wasn’t about to dismiss anything too quickly.

  A long shadow took away the light from all the cars, stealing my attention away from my thoughts. I looked up, expecting to see Uncle Marvin waiting impatiently so we could leave–he was probably hungry or ready for bed.

  Instead I saw someone that looked similar but was half his weight. Someone that shared the same nose but his was straight and hadn’t been broken at some stage. A man that shared the same surname but didn’t raise me from a child.

  My father.

  Marshall Gabrielle.

  I guessed he didn’t take off after all.

  Chapter 30

  “Can I talk to you?” Dad asked. His eyes didn’t stay on me, they flicked between all of us. Me, Uncle Marvin, Frankie, the police officers surrounding us.

  Frankie squeezed my hand. “Do you want us to stay?”

  I both wanted to speak with my father and I didn’t. There were things I wanted to say and things I didn’t want to hear. Inside me was a war raging on while everybody looked at me and expected an answer.

  It was difficult catching my thoughts as they flew around my brain and then sorted them into some sort of order. The best I could come up with was knowing that if I didn’t speak now, I would regret it later.

  There were things I needed to say to him.

  I pushed to my feet and unraveled the blanket from around my shoulders that the policewoman had given to me. I could do this. I needed to speak with my father but I couldn’t do it with so many eyes watching me. “We’ll be right back,” I assured them.

  My father and I found a quiet spot by a police van a few cars over. Everyone else was busy with their tasks while we stood in silence looking at each other expectantly. Apparently we’d forgotten how to speak with one another.

  The silence was killing me. “I thought you ran away.”

  “I heard the sirens. I ran outside to wave down the police, it’s difficult to find the cabins sometimes,” he explained. I wanted to believe him so I chose to. It seemed easy enough. “Did you really think I would just run away when you were still in there?”

  I shrugged. It seemed the appropriate response.

  He slumped against the vehicle as his face turned up toward the sky. His profile made him look exactly like Uncle Marvin. I hadn’t noticed that when I was six years old. He was always just my dad, I never thought of him as my uncle’s brother.

  He sighed out a long breath. “I really stuffed everything up. I’m so sorry, Emmeline.”

  “Please don’t call me that. I’m Em. Everybody calls me Em.”

  “Why’s that?” He seemed genuinely interested, like perhaps I was an enigma he was trying to figure out.

  “Because it was her name, it belonged to Mom. I’m Em, that name belongs to me.”

  My father stared at me for a long time, his eyes grazing over my features like a razor blade. I refused to look away, stuck in his gaze like a deer caught in headlights. In all the hundreds of ways I’d imagined this reunion, I’d never pictured it to be like this.

  There were no slow motion scenes with inspirational music playing in the background.

  No tears and smiles with outstretched arms that we ran into, spinning around until we were both dizzy and giggling when we finally collided in the middle.

  A montage of our lives didn’t play in the sky, showing our lives as we made our way back to each other.

  It was just the two us standing in the shadows, awkwardly trying to work out what we were supposed to do and say to one another. The years that had passed seemed to tear apart our relationship brick by brick, scattering the pieces in the wind.

  I wondered if we would ever be able to rebuild that relationship.

  Did I want to?

  Did he?

  “You look just like her, you know that?” Dad said. It took me a moment to realize he was talking about my mother again. Emmeline Gabrielle.

  The original Emmeline Gabrielle.

  The only Emmeline Gabrielle, as far as I was concerned.

  “Uncle Marvin doesn’t have any pictures of her,” I replied honestly. I had no idea what my mother looked like. I’d wondered many times but it was a pointless exercise. Her image was lost and I couldn’t find it no matter how often I searched.

  “I do, at home. I can give them to you, if you like.”

  “I would like that, thank you.”

  He nodded, a
gain reminding me of Uncle Marvin. His brother might have grumbled about him mercilessly but they sure had a lot in common. I remembered the photograph I’d seen of them in Uncle Marvin’s closet, of the two boys up to mischief together, I could see it now. I bet they got up to so much trouble they gave their parents more headaches than not.

  “Why’d you leave?” I asked before I lost the nerve. The question popped out before I could have second thoughts about it. It was, after all, the question I really wanted to know the answer to.

  My father’s eyes snapped to mine, sadness turning them darker. “I wasn’t coping. Your mother was the love of my life. I thought we were going to be together forever, grow old together and the whole deal. When she died I just lost it. I fell apart and I didn’t know how to put myself back together again.”

  “It wasn’t my fault she died.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. But I wasn’t a good father. I couldn’t look after you, I couldn’t even look after myself. I didn’t know what to do so I just left. I didn’t think it through, all I could think of was getting away from everything that reminded me of her.”

  “You could have taken me with you,” I pointed out.

  “I couldn’t look after you, honey. I was a mess. You were too young to understand, but I was barely functioning. I knew Marvin would provide for you, he would look after you when I couldn’t. You were safe with him.”

  “He wasn’t you, he wasn’t my father.” Tears started to prick my eyes, making them sting. I didn’t want to turn into a blubbering mess right now but it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice in the matter.

  Ten years of holding it all inside tended to make you an emotional time bomb.

  Yeah, me.

  “I’m so sorry, Em. I thought I was making the right decision at the time. I’ve regretted it ever since.”

  “You were living in Lakeside, only a few streets from my house,” I said, my voice got louder as I forced the shakiness from it. “You could have visited me any time but you didn’t. You just let me stay lost all this time. I have a sister, for crying out loud! Would you ever have found me? Ever?”

  “I didn’t want to disrupt your life. I know that sounds like an excuse or me taking the easy way out, but it’s not. Em, I’ve thought about you every day since I last saw you. I’ve dreamed about having you back in my life but I’ve feared this moment too. I’ve been so scared you wouldn’t want me that I’d convinced myself it was better this way.” He stopped, taking a deep breath and staring back up at the stars again. “I want us to be a family, Em. Please give me a second chance. I’m not perfect, I know I made a huge mistake, but please let me make it up to you.”