"Thomas Stewert, missing for 2 weeks" reads the title in the paper,
the morning started with the same silence,
all familys of the small town in the same distress.
A young boy just the age of 12 missing for 14 days now with no new leads.
For Jamie Forbet like everyone else he is consumed with confusion of what could have possibly happened, it is 1976, In [[Baneberry River]]
Baneberry River was peaceful place settled inbetween two tall mountains, in a meadow of soft greens and reds, there was a thin icey river that ran from the top of one of the mountains, along the south of the town and right through the middle of the meadow seperating the town into two sides.
the north side, for the richer folk with tall statues and pools galore,
and the south side, where people worked for the scraps of the north siders.
Jamie was a south sider who had worked every spare second they wern't at school since the young age of nine,
Thomas on the other hand, his father was the mayor of Baneberry and kept the quiet town a peaceful place with little to no crime, nothing ever happened out of the ordinary.
well untill the dissaperance of [[Thomas]]
Jamie knew Thomas, he was a privilged child with short golden hair neatly slicked back behind his ears, he had short stumpy limbs and a round middle, he was almost three of Jamie, he was a warm soul with pink cheeks and gleaming white teeth that flashed lighting up the room when he smiled.
each week for a brief amount of time Jamie would visit Thomas' large house,
Jamie mowed the lawns that stretched far and wide around his castle of a home.
[[how they met]]
one sweltering sunday as Jamie lugged mower around the lush grass avoiding the plastic toys scattered across the yard,
he noticed what looked like a boy bowing his head in his knees,
peeking out from behind a large marble statue was Thomas panting through the tears,
he cut the engine and made his way around the maze of rose bushes towards the sobbing boy.
his mother and father wern't around much and Thomas was often left alone with his housekeeper,
behind the warm rosy cheeks and bright smile was a lonley boy,
he was slowly withering away, desperate for someone, anyone to care.
Thomas explained to him that the only person who had ever really cared for him was his uncle,
his father had been made mayor at the young age of 18,
and years later decided that his brother was not worthy of the family name,
his Uncle was a drunk and struggled to keep a job,
he was banished him from the town, sending him off to the mountains.
It was then Jamie was struck with shock, it was so clear like a bolt of lightning striking through him!
Thomas, he was somewhere in the mountains looking for his uncle Jhon...
[[realisation]]
Jamie was so deep in thought he hadn't noticed that he had been pouring milk into his bowl when it had overflowed, seeping into his jeans and travelling down the table towards his fathers seat, who was wearing a disaproving glare.
"sorry" he stumbled
he grabbed a towel and began wiping up the mess, he scanned over the memory plucking out anymore details as to where he could be.
[[explain himself]] or [[keep it quiet]]"I was thinking about Thomas" he admited
"I, I can help, I can help find him-
"oh my word you stupid boy" his father interupted
he pointed his long bony finger towards him
"what could you possibly do to help, a usless little rat like yourself"
"I, I, nothing sir" he scrambled
It was at times like these he wished he had a mother or other family to sitck up for him, to come save him like his friends would have done.
"Bean and Maria! yes they'll know how to help.
he grabed his bag from under the table and dashed towards the door, just missing his fathers grasp,
"sorry dad! gotta go" he called from over his shoulder,
he cluchted his bag to his chest rummaging for his walkie talkie as he bolted down the street,
"BEAN, MARIA" he repeated
"junkyard in 10!"
Bean and Maria were his closest friends, his only friends really,
[[Maria Falven]]
It's probably best to keep my thoughts and consipiraces away from my family, "keep your heels on the ground boy and your head out of the clouds!" his father would say
as he wiped up the final drops of milk, his mind racing with adrenaline.
"Bean and Maria! yes they'll know
Bean and Maria were his closest friends, his only friends really,
[[Maria Falven]]
Bean was thirteen and the oldest of the three,
Richards father also stacked the shelves at the supermarket for a living,
His father was a hard working man, married to a sweet souled women,
they met in highschool and married young, but over the years the softhearted women started to slip away, being replaced with schizophrenic symptoms.
the women hardly ever spoke to Jamie but for as long as he could remember Bean insisted that there was nothing wrong with her, she was just a little sick.
Jamie knew that the denial helped him cope as for he could never let her go.
Bean lived just down the street across from the [[junkyard]]
Maria was a smart girl with straight As, probably the smartest person he'd ever met, (he would never tell her that though, she was already enough of a know-it-all as is)
Maria, well unlike the others she lived on the north side, she came from a wealthy family with four succesful children,
three boys and one girl,
all her brothers worked with their parents in the family buisness, the oldest also owned the most successful fishing buissness of all the town,
Maria was the youngest child, and expected to follow in her siblings footsteps of wealth and success,
but Maria had a different plan rather than eventually owning the prosperous family buisness,
Maria was set on leading a life on the sea studing marine life.
[[Richard Bean]] The junkyard was where they spent most of their time,
Beans house was out of bounds to all people but his family, it had always been this way, Bean claimed it was some weird religon thing that his mother insisted on,
and Marias house was on the right on the edge of the river on the oppisite side of the village,
her parents didn't approve of her choice of friends, and didn't like her accoiciating with south siders believing they were a bad influence on her.
and Jamies house was of course a no go with his fathers explosive temper, he didn't want to worry his friends or get his father in any sort of trouble if they were to see his violent behavour.
Jamie crawled through the hole in the fence, and ran towards the old yellow school bus, switching on the battery powered christmas lights the hung from the corners of inside the bus.
when he heard a loud blare of a horn,
"Maria"
[[the river]] that rolled through the middle of the town twined its way around the west of the meadow gushing right on the edge of the junkyard,
Maria hauled the boat to a stop, sprung out onto the river bank, and happily skipped towards the bus.
she had a frail figure with short dark hair that sat just above her shoulders fraiming her speckeled porcelain face,
the pixie like girl danced along the overgrown grass hardly touching the ground, Jamie was suddenly woken from his trance by Beans large hands gripped firmly to his shoulders viggorsly shaking his enire body, Jamies head spun like a merrygoround.
"wait stop this is important" he yelled through the quesyness
Bean broke his grip and they both took their usual seats in the bus.
[[the plan]]
"we can find him" Jamie summarised
after some questionable looks were exchanged they began to make a plan,
Maria was skeptical of the plan but Bean managed to convince her,
"we'd be heroes, everyone would know our names, the young adolescents who saved the mayors son"
It was monday afternoon when Jamie, Maria and Bean hurried over to the Mayors home,
Jamie was to mow the Stewerts lawns, the others staked behind him hiding out of sight, when he arrived he began to conversate with the [[housekeeper]]
keeping her distracted while Bean and Maria began to search Thomas' bedroom for anything linking to his uncle or where he could be.
[[monday afternoon]]
coversating with her was rather easy, new topics and stories springing to life, but just as he turned to start on the lawns she called out over her shoulder "I hope your friends find what they're looking"
he turned slowly to face her crooked smerk,
"could you possibly be looking for this?" she said pulling out a crumpled envelope addressed to Thomas Stewert.
she carfully placed the battered paper in his hand,
inside contained a note that read:
Dear Thomas,
"how's school going?, are you still taking up baseball?
I know it's been awhile but there is something I have in my possesion that is meant for you, it holds great value and is rightfully yours, this is top secret so please right me back as soon as you get this!
if you have the great bravey there are 3 copies of the directions to my home, see you soon my boy"
and inside laid 2 copies of a hand drawn map of the east mountain...with no difficulty , she was a talkitive old women with light gray hair and deep set emeralds for eyes, she had worked for the family since mayor Stewert was a boy.
he doddled along at her side as she dusted every surface of the dinning area, leaving no stone unturned.
when she broke off her endles chatter of how the town has changed and why isn't the same safe place anymore
"you'd better get to it then" she said with a sly smile
"oh and I dont think the mayor would be very happy about your little friends roaming Thomas' room" and winked
[[monday afternoon]]