𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗,, stand by me

chapter 3

Friday 4th September 1959

"you guys! seriously, this i great, you won't believe it! sincerely," he said desperately, "screw you guys." he said as we kept singing. "no wait, what is it?" chris asked the boy. "can you camp out tonight?" his eyes darting between us all. "i mean if you tell your folks that we're gonna tent out in my backfield?" 

"i guess so.  but my dad's on a mean streak," he taps the latest bruise on his face. "drinkin' ya know?" my heart breaks for him. "you've got to man, sincerely. you won't believe this. can you gordie? gracie?" he asks the twins.

"yeah probably." gordie says. "it's not like mom will notice we're gone anyway." gracie chuckles. "what are you pissin' and moanin' about vern-o?" he complains as i start to speak. this bitch, always interupting me. "i knock." chris announced. 

"what?! you liar. you ain't got no pat hand! you didn't deal yourself no pat hand!" teddy bursts out. "make your draw shitheap." the older boy smirks. a few seconds passed any the boys continued their game when the secret knock came from below our feet. as i moved the table to let nicki in vern said, "do you guys wanna go see a dead body?" 

"i'm sorry what?" nicki asked. "what have i missed?" she looked to gracie and i for an answer and all we could do in return was shrug. "i was under porch digging you know?" vern began.

 we all knew what he was on about. when he was nine he buried a big jar of pennies under his front porch and drew a map so he could find them again. a few months later his mum went and threw out the map when she was cleaning his room. he'd been looking for the coins for about three years now, he diddn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

well anyway, the gist of his story was that when he was diggin' his brother billy and his mate, charlie hogan started talking about the missing kid, ray brower, and how they knew where he was. the story had really freaked my parents out, i'm lucky i've been allowed to leave the house lately cause of it. the kid had been missing for three days now. he went out to pick blueberries and never came back. so unless he's picked a shit-ton of berries, he was probably a goner. dude, that's dark. 

"i know the back harlow road!" teddy exclaimed, "it comes to a dead end by the royal river. me and my dad used to fish for cossies out there." 

"if they knew you were under there they would've killed you." chris said to vern-o, the rest of us nodding in agreement. "could he have gotten all the way from chamerlain to harlow?" gordie mused. "yeah," i added, "that's gotta be like twenty or thirty miles."

"i think so. he must've started walking on the tracks and followed them." chris explained. "yeah and after dark the train must have come along," teddy started, "and.. el smacko..." he concluded, hitting his right hand with his fist, earning a flick on the ear from gracie. "teddy!" she scolded, "what..?" he questioned, bewildered. 

"you know i bet if we find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper." chris marvelled receiving a 'huh' from vern. "yeah! we could even be on tv!" teddy laughed. "sure. if we can find the body and report it, we'll be on the news." they can't be serious.

i looked at nicki to see if we were hearing the same thing. she looked baffled. i mean sure, it'd be cool to go on tv. but i don't think they realised how serious the situation was. a kid was missing and they were more occupied with being in the paper than seeing if he was okay. gracie and gordie didn't look awfully enthused either, it must be difficult talking about this with their brother gone and all. 

"we'll be heroes," teddy said in awe. "i dunno guys, billy will know where i found out." vern gulped. it was literally your idea..?  "he won't care." gordie insisted. seriously gordie? i gave him a look. "because it'll be us guys that find that kid, not billy and charlie hogan in a boosted car. they'll probably pin a medal on ya." 

"yeah? you think so?" the tessio kid wondered. "but what'll we tell our folks?" "just what you said." gordie reminded. "we'll all tell our folks we're tenting in your back yard, and you tell your folks you're sleeping over at teddy's. and that the next morning we're all going over to hang out at the drag races. we're rock solid 'til dinner tomorrow night."

"and if we aren't back in time, we can just say we got home late so we camped out another night." gracie added. really? you too? they can't actually want to do this. "if we find ray, they'll know we were lying." i chided. "yeah, we'll get hided." vern agreed.

"no, cause everyone will be so jazzed at what we found." teddy countered. "my dad'll hide me anyway, but hell it's worth a hiding!" chris declared excitedly. my heart sank for him.

 he didn't deserve a life as vile as the one he had. he deserved a happy, loving home, not black eyes, bruises and an estranged mother. none of us had exactly picture perfect home lives, but i reckon chris had it the worst.

"let's do it! what do you think gordie?" he continued. "sure." he answered after thinking for a moment. "vern?"

"i don't know..." he whined. "vernnn..." chris drawled, standing up with teddy, putting the smaller boy in a headlock and rubbing his fist against his spiky hair. "vern-ooo, come on it'll be great." teddy pleaded. "yeah, okay." 

"yes! too cool!" teddy punched the air. "nicki?" chris turned to her. "ugh, fine. but i swear if my mom finds out i lied to her.." she threatened. "great! gracie?" he looked at the brunette and teddy encouraged her to say yes, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "sure, why not." she sighed. of course she's going, she wouldn't want to upset her lover-boy. 

"y/n? what about you?" chris grinned. "i dunno bro, i mean i kinda knew ray... it seems like.. almost rude going to find his dead body. god forbid he's actually dead.." "y/n, c'mon. come with us, don't you wanna know he's okay? give his parents some closure?" 

i thought for a moment more. "okay, yeah. i'll come with yous."