Where I Belong - Ace Merrill

Chapter 6

Harper thought about his question for a second. How would she even begin to tell him?

"Well?" He asked again.

Harper shrugged slightly as she looked down at the part in his hands.

"I guess it's because whenever I watched the movie I felt safe..." she mumbled quietly so only he would hear.

"As much as I loved the kids and their story, something about the cobras made me feel safer you know?" She asked him as she tilted her head and looked up at him.

He nodded slowly, "We're better than them anyway."

Harper laughed slightly as she shrugged against him. "Well they've got their own girls you know?"

Ace scoffed and shook his head. "Oh hell no! Take away my glory like that?!"

Harper laughed and nodded. "Sorry Merrill!"

"Seriously?" He asked again, still shocked and unhappy. "They actually got the girls?"

Harper nodded slowly. "There are a few Chris and Gordie girls out there, generally a bit tamer than yours though."

"Oh?" He asked curiously.

She nodded slowly and laughed slightly.

"Oh yeah! Ace girls are a whole lot more horny than Chris and Gordie girls." She said laughing as she remembered all the fan fictions she'd read herself.

Ace smirked triumphantly as Harper just laughed.

"So about you..." he mumbled as he looked down at her.

She shuffled slightly so she was more leaning against one his arms and looked up at him.

"Are you an Ace girl?" He asked curiously, still finding the whole concept weird.

Harper felt her cheeks go red slightly as she shook her head quickly, going to sit up straight but Ace quickly pulled her back down.

"You are an Ace girl!"

Yet before she could retaliate she heard Eyeball ask Billy what was going on between him and "this Connie Palermo chick?"

She sat up straighter as she listened to the scene unfold. Ace of course adding in that if they wanted to get laid they had to go for a Protestant or a Jew.

Yet as he was about to turn to her and ask another question she slammed her finger on his lips, keeping him silent as the radio crackled its broadcast with an update about Ray Brower.

She kept her finger on his lips as she listened to the cobras discussing how they'd end up finding the body after some hunter took a leak on his bones.

Charlie then bet a thousand bucks they'd find him before ten years was up.

Eyeball placed his bet of two-thousand bucks that they wouldn't.

Harper moved her finger from Ace's lips and smiled at him. "Go." She whispered.

Ace gave her a confused look before snapping his head at both the boys.

"Will you two just shut the fuck up. If either one of you assholes had two thousand dollars I'd kill you both."

Harper smiled as silence fell upon the boys. Ace turned to her and raised his eyebrow.

"You knew that too?"

She smirked back at him.

"Okay okay." He started slowly. "You know it all aye? What's next?" He asked confidently as she slowly thought of the answer.

The train dodge to end all train dodges.

"Nothing for you lot till tomorrow." She mumbled as she thought it all over.

Ace grumbled slightly as he pouted.

"Seriously?" He moaned out.

She laughed slightly. "Where's the problem?"

He shrugged slightly. "I wanna know what happens and I don't have much patience."

She laughed and nodded. "That's true."

Then it clicked. Her mind went to the end. Ace would happily threaten to kill Chris. The smile fell from her face. Gordie would pull a gun on him and say he'd happily shoot him.

Ace noticed the worried expression on her face. "What's up?" He asked her curiously.

Harper snapped from her thoughts as she shook her head quickly. Ace however didn't believe her.

"Well somethings up, what is it?" He asked as he chucked his engine part down and leant his arm out over the side of the car as Eyeball began his tattoo.

"Nothing. Honestly Ace it's nothing." She mumbled out as she went to climb off the truck but he grabbed her wrist quickly with his free hand, yanking her back.

"Ace please don't." She whispered as she felt all her emotions rising.

She hated the final showdown between both gangs. She had such a huge soft spot for Chris, Gordie, Vern and Teddy but this was Ace.

He had no clue as to how the idea of him had kept her fighting. Kept her strong. He had no clue as to how many nights she dreamt of running wild and free as a cobra with him.

And now he was finally here. Coma or not she didn't want to see a gun pulled on him.

"What the fucks going on?" He asked her again.

"I can't... I want to go home... I want to wake up or whatever!" She practically screamed out.

The other cobras all turned to her in shock as Ace nodded at Eyeball, who let go of Ace's arm.

Ace leant forward and wrapped his arms around her. He felt her sink into him as she tried desperately to hold back the tears.

"It's not a good ending is it?" He asked her quietly.

Harper moved slightly so she could wrap her arms around his waist. This was literally everything she'd always dreamt of. Yet it was so painful, knowing it wasn't real. None of this was real.

Ace was a fictional character, a creation of Stephen King, someone portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland in the 80s.

Yet as he held her close to him, he felt more real than anything else had done in her entire life.

"Ain't she supposed to go home when this so called movie ends?" Billy asked the other cobras as they watched her cling to Ace like a baby koala.

Eyeball shrugged as he looked at Ace and Harper before back to the others.

"What happens to us then?" He asked quietly as realisation hit them all.

If they were just fictional characters in a movie she knew what would happen to them when the supposed movie ended?