Thief of Diamonds

Chapter 1

“HAHAHA! CORAL’S GOT NO DADDY!”

Will they just shush!

Mira was bullying me, again, about Dad. Why did she have to? She’s got her group of friends to join in the chant, too. This was seriously making me very mad.

Dad was in prison for something he didn’t actually steal. And that made me very mad, because before this, I had only known him for five years. And I was five 

years old when he got arrested. So I’ve been dad-less for five years straight, and still haven’t got any more mature.

I mean, that’s what a dad’s like, right? He keeps you young. By that, I mean that a dad puts fun into everything. But Adira, on the other hand, she was seven years old when he got arrested. She was already gaining maturity.

So basically I’m still a five-year-old at heart, even though I’m ten. I know it sounds crazy. But anyway.

Mira basically has nothing better to do than to bully people, and she’s been taunting me like this for four years straight, ever since she found out my dad was arrested. So because of her, basically the whole school knows.

I’m in fifth grade, so I’m in the middle school hallway, although I’m still not really in middle school. At my school, they consider fifth and sixth graders to me “middle schoolers”, and obviously seventh and eighth graders to be “junior high”. So Adira and I are not in the same hallway, which is kind of annoying, because I could really use some sister support right now.

Luckily, my friend, Daisy, walked up behind me and she said, “Get your butt out of her business, Mira. You’ve got better stuff to do.”

So I am scared to stand up for myself. I admit it.

“Thanks, Daisy”, I said.

“No prob’, Coral”, she replied. That’s what she calls me.

We walked to our next class: History. “Did you do that math homework?” she asked me.

“Of course”, I said. “Why?”

“Well, I didn’t really get it, but I tried”, Daisy laughed.

“Okay. Well, let’s go in”, I said. We went into History class.

***

AFTER SCHOOL THAT DAY, I DECIDED TO GO 

do some research at the library. Was there anything that the evil man could have stolen? Who was he?

Adira came with me, this time, and we were pouring through history books, but we didn’t find anything. The librarian came up to us, saying, “Can I help you

two girls?”

“Well, we can’t find what we were looking for”, said Adira. 

It probably looked like that, since there were maps and papers strewn all over the floor and books on tables.

“We are looking for the thief who robbed Tiffany’s”, I said.

“That was Harold Weiner”, replied the librarian.

“No, it wasn’t him”, replied Adira, “because he is our father.”

“You two! You little idiots! Get out of my library right now! And never come back!”

“B...but he didn’t...he didn’t steal it!”

“I don’t believe you. Now get out! I will not have you two in here! Who knows...you could be thieves, too!”

“But…” I started, but Adira shook her head, which meant, “We shouldn’t argue.” So I stopped.

Adira and I walked home helplessly. We were sort of mad at the librarian. Why was she so mad at us?

The birds were chirping in the trees, and the river rushing past us from the melting snow. But I was miserable. I missed Dad.

I did my homework when we got home, and finally asked Mom if I could take a walk with Adira.

“Yes, be back soon”, she said. So I threw on my sweatshirt and shoes, Adira put on her sweatshirt and her shoes, and we started out.

***

FIVE MINUTES LATER, I TOLD ADIRA WHAT I wanted to do. “Let’s go visit Dad.”

She turned to me, raising her eyebrow. “You really think that’s a good idea? Remember last time when they kicked us out because we’re too young? And remember how dark and creepy it is?”

“Yeah”, I admitted, “but still. I want to see Dad.”

“Fine. But we’ll only be there five minutes. That place creeps me out”, sighed Adira.

A storm was coming. The wind was picking up, and the sky was getting dark. For some reason, I had a bad feeling about the storm. Like really bad.

There were all these little whirlwind thingies, and they kept picking me up (I’m only like 65 pounds anyway) and twisting my hair. Adira had to keep pulling me back down.

“Will this ever stop?” Adira seemed to be shouting to the sky. “Why can’t you give us a peaceful day for once! Since 

Christmas, all it’s done is rain!”

The sky thundered in response.

“Okay, I have to admit I’m getting scared”, I said.

“I don’t blame you”, Adira replied.

There were lightning bolts only a mile away, so I started to clench my fists. “Um, Adira, that lightning is only like a mile away”, I said nervously.

She hadn’t seen that. “Oh, Coraline, we’re doomed!”

“You sound like C-3P0”, I said. “We’ve got to think.”

There was this awkward silence where we were both thinking of what to do, but then that was broken by a bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder.

Then it started to rain.

“Ugh!” exclaimed Adira. But I was kind of happy, because if it was thundering, it might as well have been raining. And plus, the water felt nice on my sweaty face.

“We need to find shelter”, I said. There weren’t even cars on the road; everything seemed deserted, and the flat plains made it seem even scarier.

“I won’t be surprised if a tornado comes”, I said, “cause these plains are flat as flat can be.”

I know, you must be thinking, “How can she act so calm when it’s thundering a hundred yards away from her?” Well, that’s because I was just trying to act calm, and keep Adira calm, too. She was absolutely freaking out.

“What are we gonna do? What is happening?”

“Listen, Adira. You’ve got to stop worrying and actually think”, I said. “Everything’ll be okay.”

But I must’ve jinxed it, because the next thing I knew, there was a blinding flash of yellow light, thunder, and then everything was black.

Chapter 2

I WOKE UP IN A BED.

But I wasn’t at home. There were all these weird-looking machines, and there were all these glass screens with all these charts and information on them, just like in movies. I was on an uncomfortable cot, and it was thin and wobbly. There was a doctor that looked more like a scientist than a doctor checking one of the screens.

“W...where am I? And who are you?” I must have startled the doctor, because she slightly jumped and turned around.

She had pale skin and dark golden-brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes. But I still didn’t trust her...that’s ridiculous!

“Um, I’m Doctor Murphy”, she said. “Your blood sugar is dangerously low, and your heart rate is 23.”

Well that’s a nice introduction.

“Where am I?”

“You’re at S.E.D.T. Observatories”, she said, “Scientific Experiments Dangerously Tested.”

That was just what I needed.

“Where is my sister?” I asked.

“Adira? She’s in a room down the hallway.”

“Can I go see her?”

“No, sorry, Coraline, you’re too sick. That lightning bolt was serious.”

“A lightning bolt hit me and I survived?” I asked, amazed.

“Yes, and it was very fortunate, I must say. Now you must rest here for a while. Doctor Ferguson will be here soon with your breakfast.”

She left me there.

I got struck by lightning and survived? Was that even possible?

I clasped my hands together and thought about everything. Hmph.

I thought about what had happened, but then when I opened my eyes, there were blue and purple illuminated lines whizzing past me, forming a tube, and through those lines I could see the star formations of the universe. What was happening?

But then I realized what was happening. I was in a portal. I had time travel powers from the lightning bolt. But which time period was I going to?

Then I saw yellowish grass. I was about to land. Luckily, I landed on my feet.

I looked around. There were mountains all around and a small town. But I was standing outside of a house: my house, a two-story colonial.

I walked inside.

“See you later, Daddy”, said a five-year-old me with my long, auburn hair. 

“Bye”, said seven-year-old Adira.

“Good luck, honey”, said Mom. “Hope you get that job.”

Then I remembered: this was the night of the theft! Dad had gone to get a job at Tiffany & Co. and was dressed in his best: a blue suit. So if you get accused of stealing from Tiffany’s, it’s a pretty big deal and will probably get on the news. And that’s what happened to Dad. We wouldn’t see him for the next two years until we were able to visit him in jail.

Then I wondered if I could change the past.

“Waaait!” I ran out of the shadows. “Dad, you can’t! Don’t do this! It won’t end well!”

But I couldn’t because they didn’t notice me. And I could walk through them, which was weird. Like, really weird.

Then I thought about back at the...what was the name? Oh yeah, S.E.D.T. Observatories. Okay.

Then another portal opened up, and I was going back to present day… hopefully. But it was okay; I did.

So I landed back in bed.

Two minutes later, Doctor Ferguson came in with a platter of cereal, orange juice, and strawberries.

I ate the food, while Doctor Ferguson checked some heart rate stuff (I actually don’t know what he was doing).

Maybe this doctor would have a different answer. “Doctor Ferguson, can I go see my sister?”

“Uh, sure”, he replied. “Here, I’ll come with you.”

We walked through a hallway with a few other windows looking into rooms. One room has some odd-looking machinery in it, where an eighteen-year-old scientist was welding something together. Another room was completely except for a few boxes on the sides. We passed a doctor. Then, we finally came to a room with a bed. Adira was in it.

“Adira! Are you okay?” I exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah, Coraline, I’m okay”, she said. “The weirdest thing just happened-”

“Tell me about it! I time-traveled back to the morning that dad was accused”, I said.

“What?” said Adira.

“Yes!” I replied. “Wait...what were you saying?”

“I could read Doctor Murphy's mind! I have telepathy powers!”

My jaw dropped. “They’re from the lightning bolt”, I replied. “When the bolt hit us, it gave us our powers.”

“These could really help us find the real thief”, Adira said. “I’m not so tired anymore.”

“Me either! Doctor Ferguson, could you show us around the place?” I asked.

“Of course”, he said. “Follow me.”

***

“THIS”, HE SAID, AFTER TAKING US OUTSIDE, “is the entrance.”

It was a tiny building, like one of those toll buildings, that was about three feet wide and three feet long.

“Stand on this platform”, he said, beckoning us inside the small building. He closed the outside door, entered a passcode, and pressed a button. Then we started going down.

Doctor Ferguson pointed to a map on one of the walls. “This is the entire facility.”

The entire thing was underground, and there were four floors of it. There were about ten rooms on each floor...forty rooms! There was an office floor, an experiments floor (which we were just on), a computer lab floor, and just another floor for other stuff like bathrooms (of course there were bathrooms on the other floors), the cafeteria, and the kitchen.

He showed us all of the rooms, which took about an hour and a half. When we were done, I said, “We should probably start looking for the actual thief.”

“Oh, definitely”, Adira said.

So we told Doctor Ferguson about our dad, and he was eager to help. “Let’s go”, he said. “What do we need to do?”

“Well…” Adira and I looked at each other. “We were hoping you had ideas.”

“I mean...we could go to the police station and get his criminal records and where he is hiding”, he said.

“Okay”, Adira said. “Let’s do that.”

So we took this golf cart type vehicle to the police station. It was a large, three-story building downtown. There was a large parking lot in the back for police cars and other police vehicles.

We walked into the police station. Doctor Ferguson said to the front-desk lady, “Can we look at criminal records?”

“Yes. Let me just call the criminal records person…” she picked up her phone and dialed 607. “Can I please have Robert to his office? There are guests to speak with you. To your office. Thank you.” She put down the receiver and said to us, “Yes. Please follow me.” The lady showed us down a short hallway and into a room on the left. “Here he is.” She walked away as we walked into the room.

A man was sitting at his desk. “Hello”, he said. “I’m officer Robert Doyle. Please, sit down.” We sat as he nodded at Doctor Ferguson. “Whose record would you like to look at?” 

“Well...we don’t exactly know”, I said honestly. “We just want to look at the man who robbed Tiffany’s five years ago.”

“That was...Harold Weiner, wasn’t it?”

“No, because that is our father.”

Officer Doyle’s jaw dropped. “Really?”

“Yes. When I talk to him, he always tells me that he is not the real thief and that we will meet again”, Adira said. “And since I haven’t seen him in the past two years, I really do miss him.” She started whimpering. I nudged her, and she used her mind-reading powers on me to tell her not to get upset. She nodded, gulping.

“Well, I believe you, but we need to find out who actually did it.” He typed into his computer. “Let’s see..okay. Files… Tiffany and Co….okay. Known thefts. November 2013. One theft. Saturday the 16th...okay. Suspects: Harold Weiner, Oliver Douglas, or Zagan Larson.”

“Well, Harold Weiner’s off the list”, said Doctor Ferguson. “It’s either Oliver Douglas or Zagan Larson.”

“Let me look up those two…” said Officer Doyle. “Okay… Oliver Douglas doesn’t have any criminal records. He must have been just coming out of the building when the theft happened and got out of there. Okay. Zagan Larson. Let me see…” he typed it into his computer. “Zagan has three criminal records and has been in jail three times. He must be the one.”

“Okay. Thank you so much for your time, Officer Doyle”, I said. “I am sure we will see you again.”

“No problem”, the officer replied. “Have a nice day.”

We got up and walked out.