Chapter One:

-1955-

My friendship with Jamie began when I was in her father's Christmas play. Of course, back then I wouldn't have been a huge part of the play. I was too shy and soft spoken. That was the way I was with Jamie at first, but she seemed to accept that I was quiet. We did talk, however, about several things.

One topic was the play. Jamie told me how much she liked the play, and I told her I enjoyed working on it. Having this conversation was the reason why it was such a horrible experience for what happened next. It wasn't until after a few weeks of rehearsal, and we were nearing the opening night. I was beginning to become comfortable with talking to Jamie, and I was disappointed that I found it hard to feel that comfortable again after that afternoon.

"I... I'm sorry Jamie." I said awkwardly. It was the only thing I could get out of my mouth. We were all at rehearsals, only to find that several of the set props had been stolen. At first we thought we had misplaced them, but after spending half of the rehearsals looking for them, the teacher instructing us finally sighed and announced they must had been taken.

Several students agreed to try to find them before they left. I was one of them, but I had no clue what I would do if I did find them. I figured I would take them over to Jamie's, so before I left I asked for her address.

"I just want to know where the right place is to bring information." I said, and she smiled at me.

"Thank you for helping," she said. I just nodded, but she didn't seem to mind. I felt terrible about the whole situation, and I wondered how her father felt, but it became much worse for me when I headed home later that evening.

I passed a graveyard that used to always creep me out on my walks home, but that night I heard voices. Sometimes my imagination got the best of me and I heard moans and voices of sadness, but that night I heard a few laughs and a couple snorts. When I stopped in my tracks to listen, I realized that the voices were male, and also sounded familiar. At first I wasn't interested in who was sitting and laughing in the cemetery, but then I heard a snatch of conversation and forced me to stay.

"...Now all we have to do is damage some of this stupid play props, and then we can bring it back."

My heart leapt at first, because I knew they must have had the stolen props, but then it quickly sank when I figured it must have been troublemakers that were laughing and I'd probably would be pounded down into the ground if I stepped in there and demanded to know why they had property that didn't belong to them. I tried to walk on and forget about it, but I started to feel guilty, and I knew I couldn't leave them to be destroyed. I thought I would be able to go to Jamie's house before I went home to tell her what I heard, but when I looked up I saw that the keeper of the voices- three boys- were standing a couple of feet head of me, and if I walked by they would see me.

I started to feel sick to my stomach as I thought of what they'd do to me, especially if they saw me in my nice school girl ensemble. Before I even finished my horrible thoughts, I was couching towards the ground, hidden behind a tree, holding my breath as one of the boys said,

"Hey, did you see something?"

"Where?" said another one.

"Over there."

There was a small silence except for the sound of moving leaves, but I stayed put. I didn't want to attract any attention.

"Nah, I didn't see anything." The familiar sounding boy said, and I almost fell over in relief. I remain crouched, and somehow I knew I'd have to wait here until they left. It was either that or take the long way home and possibly be seen.

"Well..." I thought to myself. "They didn't see me when I was walking towards them..."

I turned myself around, and tried to walk quietly in the other direction. I was still worried about the props they had, but I thought that there might be a chance I'd pass Jamie's house if I went the long way. I doubted it, but what else could I do?

It wasn't until a moment later that I realized who the voice belonged to. "Do you think we'll get caught, Will?" said one of the other boys, and something in my brain clicked just as a twig under my shoe snapped. The boy who I thought I liked was the one who had taken the props, and he was planning to destroy them and finally give them back for the play. My heart sank even lower, as it usually did when Will did things like this. I never thought of doing anything about it, to be honest, because I knew I wasn't an object in his troubled world, even though he was an object of my troubled one.

When I finally escaped and found my way to Jamie's house, I couldn't help thinking about the play, and how they were going to ruin it. I knew boys like them liked to play pranks to ruin people's day, but I had never thought they'd go for the play. Half of me was surprised they were so clever, and the other half was scolding me of thinking so. By the time I got to Jamie's house, I almost forgot where I was. When I shook my head and cleared my mind, I knocked, forgetting that I didn't know how I was going to tell her and her father what happened.

Jamie was the one who opened the door, and when she saw me she must have thought I had the props, because her eyes lit up. "Hello Maria!" she said cheerfully. Then she stepped away from the door. "Come in!"

I shook my head slowly. "I'm sorry, I have to keep this quick." she looked a little disappointed.

"Oh. All right," she then smiled again, which surprised me. "Have you found out anything?"

"Kind of..." I felt my face grow red in my embarrassment. I didn't even know what I was embarrassed about. "I... I..." Jamie was very patient with me as I eventually got the story out. I didn't say any names, but she seemed to see that I was hiding something. I'm also pretty sure that she knew why I hadn't taken the props from them. She didn't pressure me, however.

"Well," she said when I was finished. "If you didn't see who took them, I guess we'll have to keep our eyes open for them," she gave me another smile. "Thank you for letting me know, though."

She watched me nod and look at the ground, and once again she saw that something more must have happened. I could see it in her eyes, and I knew that whenever she looked at me after that, her eyes would be asking me to tell her what I was hiding. My mouth wouldn't open that night, however, and instead I turned to leave. She watched me leave, but she didn't call me back like I thought she would. I heard the door shut and I knew she had gone to tell her father what she had heard.

(Future chapters will be longer than this, too.)