Feet crushing the grass below them, I sprint all the way home to collect my things. I pause a little to catch my breath before opening my front door, and bolting to my room.
Throwing the doors open to my closet, I dig for my water canteen and sleeping bag. I roll my sleeping bag up and push my canteen into it. I shove various articles of clothing in after it. I grab a notebook and pen, and force it down my pocket.
Before I run out the back door, I vaguely grasp at a pile of change and a pack of Winstons. I roll the cigarette pack up into the sleeve of my shirt and shut the back door behind me. As I turn to round the back corner of my house, I see my dad's car roll into the driveway.
"Shit." I whisper under my breath. I can hear him slam the door shut and stamp his way into the kitchen.
I bolt down the road as fast as I can, in no discernable direction. My main priority was to just go.
Running down an unfamiliar street, I run face first into a familiar chest. I stumble back and look up to see Eyeball; Ace stood behind him. I could see Ace wince a small bit when Eyeball shoved me back.
I fall to the ground, my palms behind me-- staring up at the two of them.
"Where the fuck are you going?" Eyeball spits out.
I watch Ace's hand grab Eyeball's shoulder and pull him back. He leans into his ear and hisses like a true cobra. Eyeball's eyes glaze over, and he nods-- walking out of the alleyway. I barely even took in my surroundings as I was running. My bag fell to the ground, with its contents partially spilled.
I look up to Ace, confused. He steps towards me and reaches out a hand for me. I take it, and he pulls me up.
"What?" I ask, panting and confused.
"You're lucky as fuck that I was here for you kitty." He pulls me into a hug.
I stand stiff and still, what was happening? This is the Ace Merrill?
After a moment of silence, I step back defensively, afraid of him. He hurt Chris. I hold fear in my chest as I look over Merrill.. he was so sweet that other night.
His eyes fade from compassion into hurt. "I'm not gonna hurt you." He winces at me, "Did you--"
He throws his gaze away over his shoulder and turns from me.
"Of course you did."
My breath shakes deep in my lungs, I let my shoulders drop and relax. I look to him, obviously in pain from it.
I really just assumed he'd hit me. Maybe I'm no different from anyone else. I reach out a hand to touch Ace's shoulder, but pull back. I turn on my heels and enter back onto the main road-- catching Chris and Gordie in my view. They were running. Why were they running?
Chris grabs me by the collar of my shirt and pulls me along, running with them. He whips his head back and lets out a laugh.
"Jesus, Gordie Lachance is shooting up Castle Rock!"
My gaze focuses on Gordie as we come to a halt from our sprinting.
He looks angry. "You knew it was loaded, you wet end!" He screams to Chris.
I put my hand out to touch Lachance's shoulder to calm him. He looks from Chris, to my hand, up to me.
Chris sighs, "Hey, Gordie. I didn't know it was loaded. Honest."
Their eyes meet once more, and the tension is still tangible, but not as thick as it once was. Gordie squints his eyes tight at Chris. "You swear? On your mothers life-- even if she goes to hell 'cause you lied?" He asks
Chris crosses his heart and kisses his pinkie before presenting his hand to Lachance, "Pinky swear."
I breathe a small breath of relief, and continue walking to our designated meeting spot with Teddy and Vern. My heart pittered with excitement as we got closer, and I couldn't help but let out a small skip.
I turn my head after hearing Chris laugh, and Gordie shakes his head.
Our energy remains short lived when I hear Chris's older brother's voice from behind us. My instinct is to run away, but I freeze in place, hidden behind Chris.
"Hey girls, where are you going?" He sneers.
He reaches a lumbering arm over Gordie's head, and picks up his Yankees cap. He lets out a spine chilling laugh as he puts it on his own head.
Gordie jumps up at him to try and get it back. "Hey, c'mon man, my brother gave me that."
The hair on my neck stands up.
"And now.. you're giving it to me." Ace's voice echoes through the street.
Chris shifts his weight from one foot to the other over and over again. It's a nervous tick of his.
"You're a real asshole, you know that?" He spits up at Ace, now stepping closer to him, leaving me exposed. But Ace doesn't take the moment to look over at me, and instead focuses in on Chris-- who is now stood in front of him.
Ace taps on Eyeball's shoulder, "Your brother's not very polite, Eyeball."
Chambers sneers once more, "Now Christopher, I know you didn't mean to insult my friend."
Ace slides in front of Eyeball, and picks up where his friend left off, "I know he didn't mean to insult me. That's why I'm gonna give him the opportunity to take it back."
His hand wraps around the back of Chris's neck and he slams him to the concrete. I wince at the sound, but I'm still frozen in my tracks. Chris writhes under Ace's weight pressing him to the ground.
Ace picks up a hot cigarette butt off the ground and pulls it right up to Chris's face, "Take it back!" He demands, inching the searing ashes closer to his cheek.
Gordie begins to scream and Ace to stop-- for somebody to do something. Nobody moves an inch. I can see it wearing on Chris, he looks like he's about to cave in.
"A-Ace." I whimper softly.
His head shoots up at the sound of my voice, and he drops the cigarette. He still has his hand on Chris, holding him down. His eyes meet mine and his brow wavers. He stands up and gets off of Chris. He takes a step towards me to plead, by no words come out.
"Of course I did." I spit, mocking his earlier conversation with me.
His hazel eyes look to the sidewalk, and he kicks a pebble or two. "Let's just go." He mumbles under his breath as he stumbles his way past Gordie.
Eyeball looks just as confused as anyone else, but like he always will; he follows right behind Merrill.
Ace takes one final look at me as he slumps away without another word.
I almost feel an ounce of regret course through my body, as he kicks pebbles off the path into the street. His shoulders are down, and his head stays put. He looks broken. I feel like I can't move at all, I just stand there, shaking. Everything feels wrong-- cold; empty.
A warm hand on my shoulder brings me back to my senses. It's Chris.
"Come on, just forget him." Chris shakes his head lightly.
After a moment that really feels like an eternity, I turn around and we pick up our old pace.
Only a minute or so later, we run into Teddy and Vern, not far ahead from us.
"Took you long enough." Teddy smiles.
I can barely force a glance up to him, we've walked away, but Ace still hasn't left my mind. I seem to have fallen behind the rest of the group, when we verge onto the path leading to the train tracks. I feel a hand meet mine and our fingers intertwine. I don't look up-- but it feels comfortable.
"I missed you." I whimper, before turning my teary-eyed face to who I thought was Chris.
Teddy's face twists with confusion, "You missed me?" he asks.
I stammer, "I-I.. uhm.." I let go of his hand.
He looks confused. I just look back down to the tracks and try not to think too much about it.
"Have gun will travel reads the card of a man." I hear from ahead of me. I see Chris turned around to face me as he sings.
A bright smile creeps across my face. The memories of us singing together flood my mind. "A knight without armor in a savage land." I chime in, losing all my inhibitions with it.
I see Gordie's eyes on me with surprise. But nonetheless, we continue on all together.
"His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind."
For a moment, everything we were walking away from in Castle Rock leaves my mind.
"A soldier of fortune is a man called.." Chris nudges me with his elbow.
I roll my eyes and belt, "Paladinnnnnn."
I laugh lightly, Teddy continues the tune on from behind us. The rest of us fill the air with chatter. Where we were headed.. we were gonna change forever. We didn't know it quite yet though.
We had twenty or thirty miles to walk before we got to the Back Harlow road-- we didn't know how long it'd take, but there was some sort of unspoken rule between us. Ain't nobody turning back around until we see that kid.