Dissension (15 page)

BAG OF BONES

“Maxey’s gone and it’s my fault!” Anthony proclaimed loudly.

Mikey sneered at him and continued tossing stones into the water with Mit and Steve.  Anthony whined about how it was “all his fault,” for the last two hours to anyone that would listen.  His persistent jabbering put everyone in a bad mood, especially Mikey, who had taken the stance that she brought it on herself.

“All she had to do is keep her big mouth shut.” Mikey snapped as he chucked another rock.

Anthony moped about, kicking the ground, mumbling to himself.  He looked up as Sticks rounded the corner and pulled up to the beach.  Anthony immediately straightened up and offered a smile.  Sticks nodded as he dropped his bike and walked into the sand.

“Any word?” Anthony asked.

Sticks shook his head and plopped down next to Mit.  He took the news about Maxey pretty hard.  They waited for the police to tell them something or to talk to Maxey’s parents, but they hadn’t seen either.

Over the days since Maxey went missing Sticks had become pretty close with Anthony and his friends.  Anthony really couldn’t object anymore since he felt responsible.  Maxey was Sticks’ best friend and he searched for her non-stop.  He never said anything, but Anthony was sure Sticks held him responsible as well.

The next day at school Sticks apathetically languished through the halls.  This became his regular routine since Maxey’s disappearance.  He moved like a sloth, gliding pathetically from class to class.

Anthony could hardly stand the guilt he was feeling.  He had to do something, he needed answers.  He needed to find Maxey.

“I think I’m going to the police station myself.”  Anthony said to Mikey during class.

“Why?  They’re not gonna tell you anything bro.  Sticks already went there.”

“It’s my fault man.  I need to find out what happened.  I might as well start there.”  Anthony reasoned.

“Alright, then I’m coming.”  Mikey grinned.

The bell chimed loudly and the class began to pack up.  Anthony grabbed his bags and headed into the hallway.  Mikey followed behind him as Mit and Steve darted around the corner.

“Where are those two heading?”  Anthony looked confused.

“Told them we were going to the station.  They’re gonna meet up with Sticks and check Maxey’s house.  We’ll meet them tonight at Steve’s.  It’s a team event dude.”

“Yeah, ok.  Well I gotta hit practice.  I’ll meet you out front in an hour.”

Anthony headed off to the locker rooms for practice, his eyes fixed on the ground as he trotted along. At the sound of girls giggling, he looked up and found Nickie and her friends headed straight towards him.  He stopped dead in his tracks, contemplating on whether he should turn and go the other way.  It was too late, she had already spotted him.

Nickie whispered something to her friends and then looked over at Anthony.  They shook their heads at her and then ran off, leaving her standing there alone.  Anthony’s hands began to sweat.  Nickie gave him a look and started walking towards him.

“So, you’re still ignoring me?”  She said when she finally got close enough.  Anthony dropped his jaw in a look of confusion.

“Um I thought you were ignoring me.”

Nickie laughed.  “What! First you stand me up and then avoid me for three weeks.”

“I really like you!”  Anthony blurted out surprising himself and throwing his hand over his mouth.

“Oh yeah, well you have a strange way of showing it.”

“I’m sorry, I totally forgot about our date.  And then I thought you were mad at me and didn’t want to talk”

“Well I am, but I’ll give you a chance to make it up,” Nickie smiled. 

“After practice take me for ice cream.”

Anthony cringed and bit his bottom lip.  “I um…I can’t.  I have something I gotta do tonight.”

Nickie’s expression changed from a smile to a sneer.  She rolled her eyes and huffed.  “I get it, have a good life.”  Nickie turned and started to march away. 

“No wait, you don’t understand.  My friend Maxey she got kidnapped and I promised I’d go to the police station to ask around.”

Nickie stopped and turned around.

“Maxey Albright, that’s your friend?”

“Well a friend of a friend.”

Nickie sighed.  “Tomorrow night eight o’clock.  Meet me at the ice cream shop on Bayshore.  No excuses.”  Then she turned and headed towards the girls locker room.

Anthony stared after her smiling.  He high-fived the air and then darted off to soccer practice.  By the time he made it to the field, the team had already completed their first warm up lap.

“Move, move, move!”  Coach Haggerty yelled.

Anthony hurried to join the rest of the team as they zipped in between cones with Coach Haggerty whizzing balls by their heads.

“I’ve got a special surprise for you guys.  Since Mr. Dimair thinks he’s exempt from being on time, you’re all gonna have some fun.”  Haggerty grumbled.

With a blow of the whistle they all dropped to the ground.  The whistle sounded again and they rolled over then stood back up.  In unison, the team glared at Anthony with a visceral rage in their eyes.  For the next twenty minutes they continued the drill nonstop.

“Hit the pool!”  Haggerty finally screamed

With legs like jelly, Anthony and the other players trudged to the pool and dove in.  The water was refreshing, but the drills Haggerty put them through were a nightmare.  After another thirty minutes of Haggerty’s water aerobics, practice finally ended.

Anthony bolted into the locker room and showered quickly.  Still putting on his shirt, he sprinted to the courtyard to meet Mikey.

When he got there the courtyard was empty.  Anthony checked his watch and sighed.  He tapped his shoe, impatiently checking back and forth.

“Dimair!  You lost?”  A deep voice blared from behind him.

Anthony whipped around to find Coach Haggerty shuffling down the sidewalk dragging an oversized duffel bag.

“No coach, just waiting on somebody.”  Anthony responded.”

“Good practice today.  Don’t be late again.”  He mumbled and kept walking to his car.

Ten minutes later Mikey showed up, skipping down the sidewalk with an ear to ear grin.

“Guess who’s got a date?”  He giggled.

“Guess who doesn’t care?”  Anthony shot back.

“Oh, come on dude.  You can’t tell me you didn’t see that?”

“See what?”

“When you were yapping it up with Mrs. Sutherland… I managed to hit it big with her friend Lacey.  Steve is gonna be crushed.”  Mike smiled as he pounded his fist into his open hand.

“Yeah, great.  Let’s get out of here.”  Anthony dismissed him.

“I don’t know what you expect to find anyway.  If they knew something they would’ve told us by now.”  Mikey rolled his eyes.

“I don’t care, it’s my fault and I have to do something,” Anthony reasoned as he jumped on his bike. 

“Well whatever makes you sleep at night bro.”

Together they rode off and headed towards the city.  It only took twenty minutes before they pulled up to the manila colored building that read “North Shore Police.”  Anthony had never been there before and was now wondering where he was supposed to go get information on a kidnapping.  He wished he had paid more attention when that officer had come to his class for Career Day.

Aside from the brick roof and columns, the majority of the police station was made up of floor to ceiling windows and glass doors.  Anthony could see men and women in uniform buzzing around like bees zooming from one room to another.  What looked like a reception area was in the front and some type of scanner prevented anyone from passing without authorization. 

Anthony jumped off his bike and tied it to the rack outside.  Mikey did the same as he stared up at the rectangular building.

“Let’s go.” Anthony said.

Mikey followed him into the brightly lit lobby. Their shoes scuffed and shrieked on the shiny tile floor.  Anthony spun in confusion, unsure which way to go.

Up ahead, a chubby, red headed officer was wedged behind a tall, black desk.  Anthony and Mikey approached the officer as he looked up and raised his eyebrows.

“Here to turn yourselves in?”  He eyed them sternly.

Anthony’s heart jumped and he felt a rush of adrenaline initiating his flight or fight syndrome; which these days normally meant actual flight.

“Calm down,” the officer laughed.  “I’m just joking.  How can I help you today?”

Mikey let out a sigh of relief as Anthony stepped closer.

“We are… trying to get some information on a missing person.”

The officer shook his head and pointed to the left at a glass door that read “
Missing Persons Dept
.”

“Kids these days,” the man blurted as they headed off.

Anthony pushed open the glass doors and stepped inside.  The room was full of desks covered in mountains of papers and file folders.  They were set in rows that made a little walkway that ran the length of the office.  In the back, a broken UV light flickered on and off buzzing like an alarm.

At the far end of the office a tiny lady sat, barely visible behind the large stack of files on her desk.  She pounded away on the keys of her ancient typewriter, smacking loudly on a piece of gum.  Her head bobbed from side to side as she hummed to herself.

Anthony and Mikey walked towards her skeptically.  A loud phone blared from behind a desk somewhere and they spun around.  The office lady didn’t budge and continued typing.

“Um excuse me miss,” Anthony’s voice echoed through the empty room.

The lady looked up from her typewriter and let out a little sigh then returned to typing.  Mikey looked at Anthony tipping his head then cleared his throat.

“Ma’am, hello,” he said as he tapped on her desk.

“Yes, I heard you the first time.”  She stopped typing and looked at them annoyed.

“Oh, well we are trying to get some information on a missing person,” Anthony said in an excited voice.

“Name?”

“I’m Anthony and this is Mikey.”

“No, name of missing person,” she retorted as she turned to a small table on her right, knocking over several piles of paper to reveal a little, black laptop. 

“Oh, her name is Maxey Albright.”

The little lady turned back to them. “Oh yes, the young lady that went to Switzerland with her parents, shimmering black hair.”

“Her hair is blond,” Mikey said with a puzzled look.

“Oh yes, glowing blonde hair, that case is closed.” 

Anthony looked at her scratching his head.  “You mean they’ve found her?”

“Oh dear she was never lost, her parents moved to Switzerland.”

“No, we saw someone take her,” Mikey demanded as Anthony shot him a look.

“I’m not sure what you saw young man, but that little girl is in Switzerland with her parents.”

The lady turned back to her typewriter and waved her hand at them like she was swatting at a fly.  Anthony stood over her for a moment watching her smack her gum.  An overwhelming sense of rage rushed over him and he fought the urge to snatch her typewriter and hit her over the head with it.

“Let’s go.”  Mikey said and rolled his eyes.

Anthony hesitated for a moment and then turned around.  They both stormed off and made it a point to knock down as many stacks of files as they could on their way out.

“Maybe Mit found something.”  Mikey said as they jumped on their bikes.

Angry and annoyed Anthony and Mikey left the station and headed to Steve’s house.  When they arrived, three other bikes were already scattered in the lawn.  Anthony walked towards the door, but Steve and Mit ran out with Sticks trailing behind them. 

“You guys get anything?” Mit yelled from the door.  “You’ll never believe what we did.”

“They moved,” Anthony replied.

“They did what!?”  Sticks said as his voice cracked.

“They moved…to Switzerland, according to the police at least.” Mikey walked over joining the conversation.

“No they didn’t,” Mit replied as if he was stating facts.

“Hey, that’s what the police told us, can’t say I believe it either.”  Anthony sighed.

“Well, we snuck into their house.” Steve sneered.

“Yeah, and everything is there, even the TV is on.”  Mit said.

Anthony could see the concern in Sticks face as he spoke.  He could see the overwhelming despair and panic.

“After Mrs. Clark and everything you snuck into someone else’s house?” Mikey looked at them in disbelief.

“I thought we weren’t bringing that back up…ever!”  Mit spat back. 

“Yeah so what?  Did you hear him they didn’t go anywhere; their clothes, furniture, everything is still there.”  Steve continued.

Anthony could feel his stomach drop as Sticks covered his mouth with his hand.  They were all coming to the same realization at the same time.  Not only had Maxey and her parents not left, but the police were covering it up.  There was absolutely no one left to turn to.