Eternal

ETERNAL: 

© Courtney Melville 2012 <-- that means it's all mine. steal it and like they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. 

Chapter 1: Missing 

I remembered the day that it happened very clearly. Even after everything it would remain one of the worst days of my life.

The last time I saw Keegan we arranged to meet up on Saturday afternoon for our customary drive to Fisher's point to watch the sunset. It was something we'd been doing for years and the only time we hadn't gone was when I got a serious case of the flu when I was fourteen and was under bed arrest until further notice. 

Still, Keegan went and set up his godfather's laptop while I sat in bed with my own bejewelled pink one and watched it together. So, besides that one day we'd always gone up together and stayed out until one or another of our parents phoned us and told us to come home.  

That was not the case on the afternoon of August 11th.  

Where was he? I glanced down at the pink Minnie Mouse watch that I'd worn since I was ten to find that ten more minutes had passed without a sign of Keegan's bumbling green truck approaching my house. He was already an hour late and if he didn't hurry up we were going to miss it completely! I yanked my brand new I-phone from my jean pocket and pulled up Keegan's number. Never did I think I'd have to call and remind him what day it was.  

I hadn't spoken to him since yesterday when he dropped me off at home but that was unsurprising considering my mom dragged me shopping all day with my phone on silent in her handbag. When I'd got it back and noted the lack of calls or even texts from Keegan I was a little surprised.  

The phone rang and rang without an answer until finally I got his voicemail. His deep baritone mumbled something about calling later bringing a smile to my face. Two weeks and he still hadn't changed the chubby bunny voicemail. I snorted rather ungracefully before heaving a sigh when the beep sounded. "Hellooo, anyone home? Where are you Keeg? You're an hour late! Call me, okay?" 

I rocked on the balls of my feet, shuffling idly as I glared down the road as if that would encourage Keegan to come round the corner. A further twenty minutes cast the sky in a dark blue, the sun already having past the treeline so I could only just make out a vague pinkish hue to the west. My shoulders slumped in defeat, accepting the fact that he wasn't coming for the first time in five years. I kicked a stone from the driveway onto the road before heading back inside.  

Mom was in the kitchen washing dishes while Miles threw his pea-flavoured baby food at every available surface with his rubber spoon, his curly brown hair flecked with the gross goo. I couldn't help but smile at him, plucking his almost empty bowl from the highchair and attempting to take the spoon only to have him shove it in his mouth. "Peas are out." I said, rinsing out the Popeye bowl.  

Mom sighed heavily and shook her head, "Honestly, if he doesn't choose one he likes soon I don't know what I'm going to do." 

Miles was going through a very picky stage, we'd worked our way through almost every flavour of baby food imaginable from bubble-gum to cherry and he had yet to finish a single spoon of any of them. "I have high hopes for..." I pulled open the cupboard, "Sweet potato." I assured, winking at her.  

Mom smiled then furrowed her delicate brow, "Is Keegan sick?" she enquired, picking up on the fact that I shouldn't have been home for hours yet.  

I shrugged, "I have no idea. He's not answering his phone." 

"Why don't you try the home line?" Mom suggested, swiping a lock of her coal black hair behind her ear, "Maybe he had to pick up an extra shift at Valkyrie." 

It didn't sound very plausible and I could tell mom didn't think so either but I was hoping she was right.  

An unpleasant tingle started crawling up my spine as I picked up the phone and dialled the Masters household. "Katherine!" the sound of Jane's cheery voice had me relaxing for a moment. If something was wrong she wouldn't be half as happy.  

"Uh, no, it's Liz."  

A pause, "Oh hello Liz darling!" Jane enthused, "It's very unusual for you to use the home line. I hope everything is alright? Has Keegan fallen asleep on the couch again?" 

My grip on the phone tightened at that and the tingle grew more uncomfortable, "Actually...Keegan isn't here. He didn't pitch. I thought he might be at home." 

The pause this time was tense with shock at my admission, "Lisbeth, Keegan hasn't been home since Friday morning. We assumed he was with you." Jane's voice was tight with strain, panic simmering under the surface.  

Bile rose in the back of my throat but I managed to keep talking, "He dropped me off yesterday and I haven't seen him since." I sounded choked even to my own ears.  

"Frank!" Jane yelled and a second later I heard thumping footsteps as both godparents crowded around the phone.  

"What's going on?" I heard Frank's muffled question as Jane quickly filled him in. "What? What do you mean he wasn't with Liz?" he growled a second before I'm assuming he snatched up the phone. "Liz, Frank here. What time did he drop you off last night?"  

I tried to think back, replaying the evening. We'd gone to the park after school for about an hour then to Valkyrie for a late lunch. That was about two hours since we ended up talking to Katie and Justin for a while. After that we stopped by the school so I could grab my memory stick from my locker. We stopped at Ryan's so that Keegan could fetch their science project then he took his time driving to my place where he begged me to make a batch of brownies for our hike. "Sevenish." I whispered, realising that my backpack was still slung over my shoulder. It suddenly felt very heavy with that box of untouched freshly made brownies and two bottles of luke-warm water.  

"Jane, get Chris on the phone." Frank instructed and that was the final nail in the coffin. Cold rushed through me in a wave, the blood drained from my face and it took everything in me not to drop the phone.  

Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. Frank was calling the chief of police which meant only one thing: Keegan was missing.  

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