Dissension

by R. J. Wolf

  “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.

  “I hate you guys!” Sticks yelled.

  He ran off and jumped on his bike. Anthony didn’t bother to chase after him; he knew how he must feel. He stood there for some time looking at everyone else hoping one of them had an answer, an idea on how to bring Maxey back.

  “Don’t look at me. It’s all her fault, dude.” Mikey jabbed as Anthony turned to him.

  Anthony sighed then turned around and grabbed his bike.

  “I’ll catch you guys later.” He mumbled dismally, before riding off.

  Anthony headed for his house, his mind racing a mile a minute. As he turned the corner to his street he saw his mom and dad standing outside with the police. Anthony slowed down and stopped his bike. He stared ahead, debating if he should run or not.

  “Anthony!” His dad called, waving him over.

  Reluctantly, Anthony slowly rode down the sidewalk. His mom turned and gave him a reassuring smile as he approached. He wanted to turn and go back to Steve’s house, but the officer was already staring at him skeptically.

  Anthony dropped his bike and gave his mom a hug. She kissed him on the forehead and turned back to the officer. He was short for a cop, not much taller than Anthony’s mother. A hairy mole grew on the side of his nose and his crooked teeth gleamed yellow as he grinned.

  “Good thing this guy wasn’t home,” he smiled at Anthony. “We’ll let you folks know when we find something.” The officer turned and headed to his car.

  Anthony looked to his parents in confusion. His dad patted him on the back as they headed into the house.

  “Someone broke into the house while you were at school.” His mom whispered to him.

  Anthony quickly glanced around. The house seemed perfectly normal. Not a thing was touched or out of place.

  “Seems they were only interested in your room.” His dad added.

  “What!” Anthony quickly sprinted up the stairs.

  “The police have already been up there, nothing is missing.” His mom yelled after him.

  Anthony yanked his bedroom door open to find the room a mess. The TV was thrown on the ground, his drawers were open and clothes were tossed about. Some of his soccer posters had been torn from his wall and his balcony door swung in the wind. As he looked around the room, he noticed that while everything was out of place he really wasn’t missing anything.

  “I’ll help you clean it up,” his father said from the door.

  Anthony looked over to him and smiled. “How’d they get in?”

  “Not totally sure, but the police are looking into it.”

  Anthony shook his head. He knew this had to be connected to everything else that was going on.

  ”Well, let me know if you need some help.” His dad smiled then headed downstairs.

  Anthony spent the rest of the evening trying to get his room back in order. As he plugged the TV in he noticed a card wedged between the dresser and the wall. He reached down and grabbed it. When he opened it he saw his uncle’s familiar writing and suddenly it all hit him.

  We need to talk, you’ll know when,” it read. He couldn’t have known about Anthony’s condition. But it all seemed like much more than coincidence.

  Anthony stared at the card for hours. How could his uncle have known that he would need to talk to anyone? An eerie feeling slowly crept up Anthony’s back and for the first time he was starting to connect the dots. Why would someone only be looking in his room, but take nothing? Any real house burglar would’ve had a field day. His Xbox, laptop and stereo seemed ripe for the taking, yet they all remained. If Maxey had told, they already knew who he was so what could they find in his room?

  Anthony questioned what was going on long into the night. At some point he fell asleep still holding the card in his hands.

  The next day Anthony met up with Mikey and Mit at the beach and told them how his house had been broken into. Mit wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but Mikey went into full blown conspiracy theory mode.

  “Things are getting crazy dude.” Mikey said as he tossed a rock into the water. “Maybe they injected you with something. Maybe they’re trying to make Maxey grow wings. Maybe it’s in the water.”

  Anthony frowned at him. As outlandish as Mikey sounded, everything he said could be right. Anthony turned and stared out to the bay. The water rushed against the shore like a lullaby. He hadn’t said a word to his friends yet, but he already knew what he had to do.

  A little later Sticks and Steve showed up and were just as puzzled as Anthony retold the story. They all sat on a boulder overlooking the water taking turns guessing what was really going on. Sticks seemed more interested than anyone else and he quickly related the break-in to Maxey’s disappearance. Mikey however, was creating scenario’s that would puzzle even Sherlock and Steve kept trying to involve Ms. Sniz.

  “What could they find in your room?” Mit asked.

  Anthony shrugged his shoulders. He’d thought maybe the card, but what was that worth? Who would care what his uncle wrote him or where he lived?

  “Well…I got a hot date. I’ll catch you guys later.” Anthony grinned as he slid off the rock.

  He gave Steve a high-five then jumped on his bike and headed off. The boys stared after him for a minute then went back to discussing Mikey’s theories on the break in.

  Anthony arrived to the ice cream shop at exactly at eight. Nickie was already outside with two cones sitting at a table. He smiled, grabbed the cone from her outstretched hand and sat down.

  “I normally only eat vanilla, but I’ll make an exception.” Anthony laughed.

  The shop was the local hang out in North Shore. Everyone from the retirees to the grade-schoolers would gather there to eat ice cream and watch the local bands play. Tonight was no different as the tunes of “Snider and the Boys” echoed throughout the courtyard.

  “Wasn’t sure you’d show,” Nickie smiled at him.

  “Yeah, well you know, I gave my other ladies the night off.” Anthony retorted as he dropped a blob of ice cream on his pants.

  “Smooth,” Nickie laughed. “Any word on Maxey?”

  “Nah, just more dead ends.
” Anthony hung his head.

  Nickie smirked and then quickly changed the subject.

  “So how’s the team going?”

  “Eh, you know Haggerty. Building an army one kick at a time.”

  Nickie laughed. For the rest of the night she didn’t bring up Maxey again. Anthony found out they had a lot more in common than soccer. Nickie was also an only child, and like him had a fondness for the water. She was also an avid risk taker and had the scars to prove it. She was almost as clumsy as Anthony.

  Anthony grinned from ear to ear as she talked. He was mesmerized by her, in shock that he was actually on a date. Just being around her took his mind off of everything else that was going on.

  Nickie’s tanned skin glowed in the moonlight. Her hazel eyes gazed right through Anthony. They sat in silence, lost in each other’s eyes until a voice snapped them out of their trance.

  “It’s closing time,” the middle aged shop owner announced.

  Anthony glanced at his watch, certain it was at least midnight by now. He was shocked to see it was barely ten, which was actually thirty minutes past his curfew.

  They both stood up and she reached out and grabbed his hand. Her smooth skin felt like cotton against his palms.

  “Walk me to my car,” she whispered.

  Anthony smiled and headed into the parking lot. As they reached her car she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. Although she was two years older she still had to stand on her tippy toes to reach him.

  “I had a great time Mr. Dimair,” she smiled at him.

  Anthony smiled back. “Me too.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. She leaned into him and gave him a kiss. Anthony closed his eyes trying to hang onto the moment. In the split second when their lips touched nothing else mattered. He was simply a boy on a date with a girl and the rest of the world faded away. Then it was over and he was staring into her eyes again. She beamed at him relaxing her arms and turned to open her door.

  “Call me.” she said as she stepped into the tiny silver two-seater.

  “Of course I will,” Anthony gleamed back.

  “Uh huh.” Nickie grinned as she drove off.

  Anthony stared long after the car had disappeared. The night went better than he could’ve imagined. As the parking lot started to empty, Anthony finally went back to the table to grab his bike.