Will You Stand By Me? •On Hiatus•

0.2

"A dead body?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, I was under the porch diggin this morning, and I heard Billy talking to your brother about it. They know where Ray Brower is!" Vern said excitedly.

"Woah, what?!" Teddy said, and Vern spilled all the details.

"I know where that is man! Me and my old man used to fish for cossies out there, we should go find him!" Teddy yelled, and Chris nodded.

"Who's with us?" he asked.

"I'm in!" I said, grinning at them.

"Sure," Gordie said.

"I don't know..." Vern groaned.

"C'mon Verno," we started chanting.

"Oh, alright. Meet me in my back field as soon as you can!" he shouted, as we all piled out of the treehouse. I raced home to grab my canteen and a few blankets, on account that Charlie had ripped my sleeping bag to shreds after a fight we had. I shoved them into a small bag, along with a few dollars, and bounded out the door.

"Where are you going?!" my mom shouted from inside.

"Me and the guys are camping out in Vern's back field!" I called back, walking down the block. I was only a block or so away, when I saw Teddy dart across the street over to me.

"Hey Teddy, you ready for this?" I asked, not so sure myself.

"Yeah, I guess," he said, shrugging his shoulders. We walked silently to Vern's, not so much as glancing at each other. Teddy had seemed weirdly distant lately, we used to be the closest of friends, but he almost seemed to be avoiding me lately.

"Teddy? Can I ask you something?" I said, turning to him.

"Sure Van, what is it?" he responded, still looking at his feet.

"Why have you been so distant from me lately?" I asked, and he picked his head up to face me.

"Van, I don't know how to put this, but I rea-" he was cut off by a loud POW! and Chris and Gordie came racing around the corner.

"What did you guys do?!" I asked, and they both broke out laughing.

"Chris hawked one of his dad's pistols, and we didn't know it was loaded, and I shot a trash can," Gordie said, and Chris pulled out the pistol.

"What on earth do we need a pistol for?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Sleeping in the woods is spooky, who knows what's out there?" Chris said, putting the gun away.

We continued walking, and saw Vern sitting on his front step. He came jogging over and we started to walk for the train tracks. It must've taken only 20 minutes before we reached them.

"Ready guys?" Chris asked, and we all nodded. We stepped onto the tracks and started on our way to find Ray Brower.