Found You
Prologue
Jamie:
"I remember the first time we met. I was probably seven-ish, which made her six. Her family had rented the house right next to mine, and she was standing on the porch, watching as her parents carried boxes into the house for the summer. I-I had seen her earlier, when they were driving up; I saw her through the car window, and we looked at each other.
"I vaguely remember arguing when my mom said something about going over to meet them, that wasn't really something I liked doing when I was younger. I was a shy kid. But we ended up walking up their pathway and mom introduced us, then we were all thrown out in scraggly backyard that lead down to the beach as the adults talked. We didn't really do anything out there. And when Jordie and Jenny got tired of hanging out with the "little kids", the two of us were left alone. I guess she was a shy kid too, but she perked up when they left.
"I can still see the looks on our moms' faces when we came in soaking wet from the tide pools that barricaded the beach from the ocean. And I tried to explain to my mom that it was all her idea that we climb the walls around them to see the tiny fish swimming around, but I was grounded for a while after that," he broke off, chuckling with exhaustion. "Jordie told me that she came by a couple times, wanting to apologize, but my mom wouldn't let her in; 'A bad influence' she claimed. I saw her a couple times around that small town when I was grounded. She would smile crookedly at me, like she could read my mind, but our parents would always quickly pull us away from each other.
"The first day I wasn't grounded anymore, I told my mom that I was going to find Jordie and Jen on the beach, but as I got closer to the sand, I saw her sitting in the bushes that separated our yards. She looked at me. I pretended I was picking flowers for my mom's sake. 'I'm sorry Jamie' she whispered. 'It's okay' I told her. 'Will you still be my friend?' she asked, and I nodded. Her eyes were really big, almost as big as the flowers I was holding in my hand, petals all stretched out, reaching all the way across her face. 'Pinky promise?' Her little finger was held out for mine. I kept that promise all this time.
"She would still smile at me from across the store or restaurant, but now I smiled back since we were in on this big secret together. My dad took my older siblings and I to the arcade once, and I saw her in there. This was probably halfway into the summer or so. Anyway, she and I hid behind the old skeeball machines, the ones that didn't work anymore, and counted tickets that I had won and played with an old Jacks set that had rolled under the machines; there was only two jacks and a bouncy ball, but man did we have the best time of our lives. It was thrilling at such a young age to sneak around like that. We shushed each other every time we heard footsteps, but my dad ended up catching us anyways. He wasn't happy that I had run off, but he didn't care that I was with her like my mom would've.
"After that, he became our biggest ally. For a long time, I would only tell him if I was going to see her. He would just look up from his paper, give a little crooked grin and tell me to have fun. Looking back on it, he was probably just glad that I had a friend. I was shy and chubby, and I really didn't connect well with kids my age. She didn't care that I was chubby, even as we grew older. It sounds cheesy every time I say it, but she always saw me for me.
"After a while Jordie and Jenny caught us down at the tide pools again and told mom. I was so mad. My mom was so mad. She tightened the leash on me even tighter, but we still found ways around it. We would slip notes under the bushes for each other to read. We did that maybe ten times a day. My mom was beginning to wonder about my sudden interest in flowers.
"I don't remember exactly when she learned about what we were doing, but she threatened to have a fence put up between our yards. My mom's the nicest lady in the world, and she was just worried about her youngest kid getting lured out to the deep waters of the ocean. Anyway, I ran over to her house late that night. Her bedroom was on the first floor. We cried about the fence together. We were so little, only six and seven, but we loved each other like little kids love each other. I gave her a candy bracelet on the last day we were there, telling her that it was my promise to always be friends, even if a fence was built, even if we never saw each other again.
"I don't know why, but that fence was never built, and both of our families came back the next year. We continued sneaking around a little bit, but eventually our parents were bound to notice. I think they just decided to give up trying to keep us apart. Our families would have dinner together once or twice a week after that. We all got along really well, like we were a family ourselves. We grew up together..." a regretful grin crossed his face. He hung his head. "I wasn't there for her. I wasn't there to save her!" he whispered into his chest. Tears made their way down to his stubbly chin.
"Son, this isn't relevant to Emily Renee's kidnapping," the detective spoke to him. His voice was rough, calloused, and patronizing. Jamie felt it like a slap to the face.
"Yes," he was whispered, clenching his teeth together to choke back more sobs. His voice came out louder than intended. "Yes it is relevant! I'm giving you the many reasons why you have to find her. I'm giving you all of the reasons why you need to bring her back to me!"
"I remember the first time we met. I was probably seven-ish, which made her six. Her family had rented the house right next to mine, and she was standing on the porch, watching as her parents carried boxes into the house for the summer. I-I had seen her earlier, when they were driving up; I saw her through the car window, and we looked at each other.
"I vaguely remember arguing when my mom said something about going over to meet them, that wasn't really something I liked doing when I was younger. I was a shy kid. But we ended up walking up their pathway and mom introduced us, then we were all thrown out in scraggly backyard that lead down to the beach as the adults talked. We didn't really do anything out there. And when Jordie and Jenny got tired of hanging out with the "little kids", the two of us were left alone. I guess she was a shy kid too, but she perked up when they left.
"I can still see the looks on our moms' faces when we came in soaking wet from the tide pools that barricaded the beach from the ocean. And I tried to explain to my mom that it was all her idea that we climb the walls around them to see the tiny fish swimming around, but I was grounded for a while after that," he broke off, chuckling with exhaustion. "Jordie told me that she came by a couple times, wanting to apologize, but my mom wouldn't let her in; 'A bad influence' she claimed. I saw her a couple times around that small town when I was grounded. She would smile crookedly at me, like she could read my mind, but our parents would always quickly pull us away from each other.
"The first day I wasn't grounded anymore, I told my mom that I was going to find Jordie and Jen on the beach, but as I got closer to the sand, I saw her sitting in the bushes that separated our yards. She looked at me. I pretended I was picking flowers for my mom's sake. 'I'm sorry Jamie' she whispered. 'It's okay' I told her. 'Will you still be my friend?' she asked, and I nodded. Her eyes were really big, almost as big as the flowers I was holding in my hand, petals all stretched out, reaching all the way across her face. 'Pinky promise?' Her little finger was held out for mine. I kept that promise all this time.
"She would still smile at me from across the store or restaurant, but now I smiled back since we were in on this big secret together. My dad took my older siblings and I to the arcade once, and I saw her in there. This was probably halfway into the summer or so. Anyway, she and I hid behind the old skeeball machines, the ones that didn't work anymore, and counted tickets that I had won and played with an old Jacks set that had rolled under the machines; there was only two jacks and a bouncy ball, but man did we have the best time of our lives. It was thrilling at such a young age to sneak around like that. We shushed each other every time we heard footsteps, but my dad ended up catching us anyways. He wasn't happy that I had run off, but he didn't care that I was with her like my mom would've.
"After that, he became our biggest ally. For a long time, I would only tell him if I was going to see her. He would just look up from his paper, give a little crooked grin and tell me to have fun. Looking back on it, he was probably just glad that I had a friend. I was shy and chubby, and I really didn't connect well with kids my age. She didn't care that I was chubby, even as we grew older. It sounds cheesy every time I say it, but she always saw me for me.
"After a while Jordie and Jenny caught us down at the tide pools again and told mom. I was so mad. My mom was so mad. She tightened the leash on me even tighter, but we still found ways around it. We would slip notes under the bushes for each other to read. We did that maybe ten times a day. My mom was beginning to wonder about my sudden interest in flowers.
"I don't remember exactly when she learned about what we were doing, but she threatened to have a fence put up between our yards. My mom's the nicest lady in the world, and she was just worried about her youngest kid getting lured out to the deep waters of the ocean. Anyway, I ran over to her house late that night. Her bedroom was on the first floor. We cried about the fence together. We were so little, only six and seven, but we loved each other like little kids love each other. I gave her a candy bracelet on the last day we were there, telling her that it was my promise to always be friends, even if a fence was built, even if we never saw each other again.
"I don't know why, but that fence was never built, and both of our families came back the next year. We continued sneaking around a little bit, but eventually our parents were bound to notice. I think they just decided to give up trying to keep us apart. Our families would have dinner together once or twice a week after that. We all got along really well, like we were a family ourselves. We grew up together..." a regretful grin crossed his face. He hung his head. "I wasn't there for her. I wasn't there to save her!" he whispered into his chest. Tears made their way down to his stubbly chin.
"Son, this isn't relevant to Emily Renee's kidnapping," the detective spoke to him. His voice was rough, calloused, and patronizing. Jamie felt it like a slap to the face.
"Yes," he was whispered, clenching his teeth together to choke back more sobs. His voice came out louder than intended. "Yes it is relevant! I'm giving you the many reasons why you have to find her. I'm giving you all of the reasons why you need to bring her back to me!"
LOVE
6/24/16