𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄 - 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

pursuing their mission along the train tracks, the group walked in relative quiet, surrounded by the gentle rustling of trees and the tunes of birds. 

gordie, deep in thought, eventually paused and looked down a road.

"teddy?" he called.

"yeah?"

"is this the back harlow road?" gordie inquired.

"yeah."

chris decided, "brower-kid must be round here someplace. teddy, you and vern watch the left side of the tracks, we'll take the right."

the group split along the tracks, their eyes scanning every space and crevice for a sign of the lifeless body they had set out to find. soon enough, vern's excited yell echoed through the air.

"there he is! i see him! look! look over there! i see him! i see him!"

the urgency in his voice spurred everyone into action, running toward vern.

finally, they were in the presence of what they had embarked on this journey to find.

"none of us could breathe. somewhere under those bushes was the rest of ray brower. the train had knocked ray brower out of his keds just like it had knocked the life out of his body."

"jesus," sighed chris.

led by chris, the five of them descended the hill, drawing closer to the lifeless body. as they reached the site, each member of the group absorbed the grim reality before them. the young boy's lifeless form displayed the stark evidence of tragedy--shades of gray, purple, and blue bruises adorned his body. he also had dried blood on his nose and ear, as well as a sizable wound on his forehead.

"the kid wasn't sick. the kid wasn't sleeping. the kid was dead."

in a heavy silence that settled over the group, they all stared at the lifeless figure before them.

"let's look for some long branches. we'll build him a stretcher," ordered chambers.

gordie, in particular, found it difficult to avert his gaze from the haunting sight of ray brower. his eyes lingered, taking the longest look among the group. caroline noticed gordie's intense focus. she desperately wondered what he was thinking about, but she had an idea.

as they prepared to pick up branches, a familiar, deep voice broke the stillness. all heads turned to where it was coming from.

"what the fuck do you know about this?"

it was ace.

beside him, eyeball chambers noticed the group, exclaiming, "son of a bitch, my little brother!"

the two descended the hill with ace questioning, "you wasn't planning on taking the body from us, was you?"

chris, who was feeling the pressure of the situation, responded, "get away, man. we found him, an' we got dibs."

mockingly, ace retorted, "ahh! you better start running, eyeball, they got dibs!"

teddy, vern, and caroline stood behind chris as tensions rose.

chris held his ground, asserting, "we earned him, man. you guys came in a car. that's not fair. he's ours!"

"well, not anymore."

"there're five of us, eyeball, just make your move," stated teddy.

caroline felt her heart drop, a chilling memory surfacing of the earlier incident with ace and his cigarette.

"oh, we will, don't you worry," ace declared with a sinister tone.

as if on cue, five other members of ace's gang began going down the hill, and the tension thickened. one of them directed anger at vern for snooping under the porch. in a panicked response, vern bolted away, leaving only teddy, chris, caroline, and gordie lingering off to the side. 

ace seemed irritated, presenting an ultimatum, "you guys have two choices. either you leave quietly, we take the body. or you stay, we'll beat the shit outta you, and we take the body."

the situation escalated as teddy made derogatory remarks about billy and charlie. this only further fueled the fire within the rival group.

"what do you say, kid?"

"why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more," smartly mouthed chris.

chris's comment only incited ace's anger. the atmosphere tensed further as ace pulled out his pocket knife.

pointing it at chambers, he whispered, "you're dead."

feeling the intensity of the moment, teddy urged chris, "come on, chris, let's split."

"they're not taking him."

"come on, man, that's crazy," responded teddy.

"they're not taking him," repeated chris.

"he's got a knife, man!" cried teddy.

ace played with the knife in his hand. he ominously approached.

chris said, "you're gonna have to kill me, ace."

"no problem."

instead of turning the knife to chris, he turned it to caroline, telling the boys he was going to kill their little girlfriend instead.

before any harm could be done, a sudden, loud bang exploded in the air. the group turned to see gordie lowering a gun, directing it at ace as he approached.

with palpable anger, gordie asserted, "you're not taking him. nobody is taking him."

ace, who was caught off guard, took a deep heavy breath, saying, "come on kid, just give me the gun before you take your foot off." he continued, "you ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck."

despite his attempts to downplay the situation, gordie remained resolute with the gun raised.

"move, ace,"gordie warned, his voice carrying a serious edge. "i'll kill you, i swear to god."

"come on, lachance, gimme the gun. you must have at least some of your brother's good sense."

maintaining his serious demeanor, gordie cocked the gun.

his voice hushed but firm, gordie uttered, "suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood."

ace, attempting to mock gordie, questioned if he was going to shoot them all. in response, gordie clarified that he was only going to shoot him.

ace eventually gave up his aggressive stance. he warned the group that he would get them for this.

"maybe you will, maybe you won't," said chris.

"oh we will. we're not going to forget this if that's what you think. this is big time, baby."

with ace's group finally retreating, gordie was able to lower the gun, and a collective sigh of relief sounded among the group. 

as the tension eased, caroline turned to gordie, with a mix of amazement and humor in her expression, "your fat one?"

chris chimed in, "who ever told you had a fat one, lachance?"

gordie broke the tension with a toothy smile, replying, "biggest one in four counties."

laughter rippled through the group. however, as they turned their attention to the body of ray brower, vern questioned if they were going to take him. quickly, gordie declined.

the group decided to place a blanket over his body before turning to head home. with heavy thoughts racing through their minds, the conversation among them remained short. walking through the night, they pressed forward, determined to reach castle rock.

as dawn broke on sunday morning, the day before labor day, the gang returned to town. despite their absence being only two days, the once-familiar streets seemed different. castle rock appeared smaller.