Marbles

By Joey Baumgartel

Keegan never could have guessed a coffin could hold so many marbles. Keegan Owens little sister Laurie is kidnapped one day at the public park under Keegans watch. It has been two years and Laurie is presumed dead, but Keegan believes differently. He decides to go out to find his little sister, despite his fathers accusations and pessimism towards the situation. On his journey, his neighbour Melanie decides to help Keegan with his exploration. Through his search, Keegan realizes things about himself and those around him that he had never known before. While looking for Laurie, he also finds out how strong the bond between a boy and his sister really is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491765814

Joey Baumgartel

Jocelyn (Joey) Baumgartel currently lives in New Westminster, B.C. She attended the University of Victoria for Theatre and English, graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts. She has been writing her whole life and had her first work published when she was twelve-years old, which consisted of a short story about a magical mirror. She then went on to more serious work in a grade twelve writing class in which is novel was inspired. She also wrote short plays throughout university and continues to write plays. This is her first novel.

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Marbles

Joey Baumgartel

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MARBLES

Copyright © 2015 Joey Baumgartel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-6580-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-6581-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015906674

iUniverse rev. date:   05/20/2015

Contents

The Final Day

The Investigation

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

The Search

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

The Persuasion

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Keegan never would have guessed a coffin could hold so many marbles. They never found his sister’s body. Marbles were her favourite toy, so it seemed accurate to fill her coffin with them. She had been kidnapped a few years ago and was presumed dead.

Keegan stood by her coffin, watching with tear-filled eyes as they lowered the stale casket into the empty grave. He wondered why he didn’t feel as sad as he should. Why wasn’t he crying his eyes out or screaming at the top of his lungs for her to come back? Maybe it was because he felt—no, he knew—his sister was still alive somewhere …

The Final Day

Keegan, can we go to the park? his sister asked with that adorable face she would use when she really wanted something.

Ask Dad, Laurie. I have homework to do.

He’s at work. He’s always at work. Besides, it’s Saturday! Please? She began to tear up at that point. How could he resist?

Fine, give me five minutes.

She squealed for joy and ran up to her room to get ready.

Laurie was only 5 years old at the time. She had golden hair and ice-blue eyes, the kind that stung you when they held tears, just as their mother’s had. Keegan always subconsciously resented her for resembling their mother so much. When he looked deep into her glass-like eyes, he saw his mom’s, who had passed away while giving birth to Laurie.

Since their father was a lawyer and needed to support his two children, he was constantly out of the house. Keegan was 12 years older than Laurie, so it had made sense for him to be taking care of her. The age difference was inevitable to notice, and many asked why his parents had waited for 12 years to have a second child. Then they would begin to wonder if his mom was actually his real mom. She was Keegan’s mom just as much as she was Laurie’s.

The reason that it took his parents so long to conceive another child was that Laurie was somewhat of a miracle child. Keegan’s mother had gotten into an accident shortly after Keegan was born that damaged her uterus enough that having a child was almost impossible. But his mother craved another child to love, preferably a little girl. After a year or so, Keegan’s parents finally gave up, and then on their fifteenth anniversary night, Laurie happened. She somehow survived the broken-down uterus and managed to be born beautiful and healthy—but at a cost.

Keegan loved Laurie as if she was his own child, but when he looked deep into her eyes, he missed his mother more than he could bear.

I’m ready, Keegan! Laurie squealed as she ran down the stairs with a bucket full of marbles.

You’re going to lose those if you bring so many.

Keegan knew she didn’t care. Laurie loved the colours and sounds of the clanging marbles. She had developed a passion for them when she was about a year old. She somehow found some around her playpen, managed to snatch them up and started to play with them. Their father had checked up on her an hour or so later and ran to see if her mouth was filled with marbles. Her mouth was empty, but just to be safe, he took her to the doctor’s anyway. After some tests, nothing unusual was discovered in her stomach. She was just staring and playing with the marbles. Since then, she’d loved them and only asked for marbles for special occasions.

Don’t bring your eye marble, Keegan joked.

Of course not! It’s still in my glass case upstairs.

Their father had bought an extremely expensive marble for Laurie for her fourth birthday. The colours of the marble looked exactly like Laurie’s eyes. Swirls of blues and greys filled the glorious sphere. It was her favourite marble, and she never removed it from her glass case.

As they left for the park, Keegan strapped Laurie tightly into her car seat. As they pulled out of the driveway, Laurie waved to the house and stared at it, not knowing it was the last time she would do so.

It seemed like just another day at the park. The sun was shining on the small playground as the children frolicked around. The wooden shavings were piled around the ground beneath the metallic jungle gym. The blue-and-red-coloured steel glistened in the sunlight, and the wind blew onto the swings, shaking them slightly.

Keegan let Laurie run over to the kids on the playground with her pink bucket full of marbles. She then ran to the small, square sandbox and saw a familiar face: little Sarah Baker from next door. She was shovelling little clumps of sand into an indigo bucket and trying to assemble the sand into a castle. Sarah was a few years younger than Laurie, but Laurie played with her all the same.

Keegan looked around at the parents who sat on the green benches surrounding the park. They all chatted to each other about their lives or just admired the scenery of the beautiful little area. There were multiple pathways laid out for those who wanted to walk their dogs or take a stroll in the forest. The trees looked as though they had many stories to tell in their old age. They stood around the park and loomed over the benches, providing shade for the parents. The park was truly beautiful, and Keegan noticed this as he looked around the small area of children playing and parents talking.

Since Keegan didn’t know anyone else around, he went to sit next to Sarah’s older sister, Melanie. He began to walk over but stopped in his tracks when he caught a glimpse of her. Melanie was a year or so younger than him, so it wasn’t odd for him to go sit next to her … was it?

Hello, Keegan. Please, sit down, she said when she noticed him.

He sat down next to her on the park bench. She was the type of girl who wasn’t afraid to speak up or embarrass herself. She had a beautiful face—wonderful teeth, adorable dimples and hazel eyes that almost turned gold in the right light. Her long blonde hair glimmered in the sunlight as she sat on the bench wearing a cute white summer dress with a pattern of yellow flowers all over it. Her short legs showed, and Keegan noticed her wonderful petite figure. Though she was pretty, Melanie also had her flaws: her nose was off-center, and her hair was a little brittle; she also had a crooked smile. Keegan didn’t care, though. He thought she was beautiful.

How’s your final year of high school going? she asked, revealing her cute, crooked smile.

While they chatted, Keegan stole a few glances now and then at Laurie as she played. After he got engaged in his conversation enough with Melanie, he stopped checking on Laurie. After about twenty minutes of conversation, it began to slow down and head into the direction of awkward pauses.

Before the conversation got too awkward, he glanced in the direction he had last seen his little sister. His stomach churned. His breath froze midsentence. He could feel his face go pale and his hands sweat as he realized she was gone. His heart raced as he looked around again to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Melanie asked what was wrong. He got up so quickly that he almost fell back onto the seat with a head rush. He ran to the sandbox to see if Laurie had wandered into the nearby woods. He also looked for Sarah. She had run off to the jungle gym and turned around to call for Laurie when she had noticed Laurie was gone. Keegan felt his heart coming up into his throat as he began the relentless, futile attempts to find her.

Laurie! Where are you? Laurie! he screamed, half expecting her to bolt out of the woods and apologize profusely for running off.

Melanie ran to Sarah and asked her where Laurie went. She explained, through sobs, that they were racing to the jungle gym, and Sarah was winning. When she turned around to see where Laurie was, she was gone.

Keegan ran into the woods to begin his frantic search for her while Melanie explained that she’d quickly drive Sarah home and call the police before she came back to help.

Keegan noticed the park had emptied due to the sun’s disappearance behind the trees. All he had for light was a few street lamps and what was left of the sun’s rays.

Maybe she’s lost in the woods, he thought. She followed a squirrel or something and just got lost. He prayed as he knocked tree branches out of his face that she wasn’t taken by someone. If she was, the one who took her may still be around. Keegan picked up his pace to a sprint. He bolted as fast as he could through the small forest, calling her name in desperation. He knew she was gone, but he didn’t want to believe it.

He began to look on the ground for something—anything—that would show him where she may have gone. The only thing he saw was broken tree branches, but he had broken those in his search.

How could he have let this happen? Why hadn’t he been watching her more closely? How could someone take her without anyone else around noticing? Why would anyone take such a sweet and innocent child in the first place? A million questions ran through his head before he heard a voice calling for him. His heart stopped again when he heard it. He ran towards it, calling for Laurie. The voice was getting louder. He couldn’t feel his legs anymore. All he wanted to do now was to hug her and take her home.

His heart sank as he realized who was calling for him. Melanie ran up to him and asked if he had found Laurie yet. He shook his head and felt the tears running down his face. He didn’t even notice Melanie hugging and comforting him as he let his emotions go and bawled out of anger and guilt.

The police swarmed around and began their search, but he knew they wouldn’t find her. His mind ran at a mile a minute. He barely realized what was going on around him: the police putting up their Do Not Enter tape around the area, Melanie explaining what had happened, the beams of light from flashlights shining in various directions, the questions he was mindlessly answering. All of what was going on seemed like some horrible nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from, but he had to face the truth: Laurie was gone.

The Investigation

Chapter 1

Where am I? he thought.

He knew he was moving, but it was too dark to see. He tried to move, but his hands were tied. He tried to speak, but his mouth was gagged. So he decided to just observe and figure out where he was. He remembered nothing from before. His head had a throbbing pain on one side. He thought a little longer. He knew where he was: he was in the trunk of a car. He could tell by the rags and the gritty smells of oil and battery acid that stung his nostrils.

He had been kidnapped. He began to panic. Would he ever get out? Would he ever see his father or Keegan again? Wait—he was Keegan. Why did he think of himself instead of—

Suddenly a flash of light came pouring onto him. Finally he could see who had kidnapped him! He scrunched his eyes to try to get them to focus more, but the bright light was too strong—almost. His eyes began to focus. He could see the silhouette of two men. A few more seconds …

He woke up. Keegan had been having dreams like this of Laurie’s kidnapping for months. He assumed it was exactly how she had been kidnapped because he was Laurie in his dreams. Why would someone throw a small girl into the trunk of a car? The thought made his blood boil. If only he could dream for a few more seconds to see who kidnapped Laurie, but he always woke up just before then.

Keegan turned on his light, got up and went to his desk. He pulled out a notebook and recorded his dream. He added another day onto the total consecutive kidnapping dreams he’d been having: seventy-two.

Keegan flipped through the pages. They weren’t all about him being in the trunk, though; some were of him being tied up in the back seat of the car, and some were of the two men actually taking him. They led him into the woods with a shiny object and took him quickly so no one would notice. Keegan recorded estimated heights, weights and eye colours, but they of course wore ski masks to hide any noticeable facial scars or deformities.

Keegan went back to bed and tried to fall back asleep. He lay in bed thinking about Laurie. He thought, but he couldn’t remember her face! He bolted out of bed and ran across the hallway. Keegan stared at the big white door for several minutes. He could still see the outlined letters of her name that had been painted over. He hadn’t stepped in that room for two years now. It had been two years since she left him. And now two days since they had held her funeral. Keegan took a breath, turned the doorknob and slowly walked in.

The room was just as he remembered: bright-blue walls with swirls of grey and indigo paint mixed in, just like her marbles. Her many artistic expressions were posted on the walls. He walked around aimlessly, letting himself drown in her memories. Keegan began going through her things, all of her art supplies and her toys. He came across a drawing at the bottom of her desk drawer. It