The Summer that Changed Everything

Chapter 14: The Scattered Notebook

  Chris first spotted the notebook as we were walking along the side walk. It was an oversized green binder. There was a trail of loose papers all over the place, pages and pages just blowing through the wind. He stopped down to pick one up and looked at it.

"Whose is it?" I asked. At first we couldn't make out the name. But then Vern recognized the hand writing.
"It's Lennie's I think. And that's her notebook." Vern said that she always took it with her to write in. Her name was on the front of it. So that crossed out the owner. We looked around for her.
"Guys. I got a real bad feeling about this." I said.
"Me too." Chris said.

Chris and I both felt that something was obviously wrong. We shared feeling's like these sometimes. It's like a gut feeling. And they always said to follow it.
"Wasn't she supposed to meet us here?" Teddy asked.
"Yeah." Chris told him. "Which is weird. Why would she leave her note book all lying about like this?"
A waitress came out of the shop. "Are you boys looking for a young girl?" She asked.
"Yeah." Chris said. "Do you know where she went?"
She came in here and got a frosty drink. There were some guys bothering her outside. And she ran off."
"In which direction?" I asked.
"Down that way." She pointed.
We started running down the path.
Vern kept pointing out more papers. Teddy looked down and said that he saw spots of blood. My heart was pounding as I kept running faster and faster.
I started yelling out her name. "Lennie! Lennie!"
We all started to yell it out.
Chris saw a shack. He ran over toward it.
"Chris wait for me!" I yelled back. We all stood outside it for a while. Chris was tried to pry open the door. It seemed to be stuck.
"I can't open it. It's stuck." He said.
"Look! I've got an idea." Teddy proposed. We all turned around and look at him. "Why don't we just pour chocolate all over the door and let Vern eat his way through?"
"Okay Teddy, that's all I can stand. And I can't stand no more!" Vern went to lunge after him but he jumped out of the way just in time and Vern broke through the door.
"Shit!" He said as he slid across the splintered floor.
"Thanks, Vern." Teddy said.
We walked in.
"Lennie?" I called out her name. I looked around. The place was really dirty and dusty. There were so many cob webs all over the place. I kept pushing them away.
"LOOk!" Vern yelled. "Over there. Over there!"
We saw the body of a shrunken girl curled over on her side.
Chris ran over toward her.
"Jesus." He muttered and bent over her beaten body.
"Is she... is she dead?" Vern asked.
"I... I... don't know." I said chocking up. "Chris..." I call out his name. "What happened?"
Chris touched her arm and moved some hair from off her face. There was bruises all over her. Her face was barely recognizable.
"Lennie. Lennie. Lennie." I head him mutter over and over. "Who would... ...Why would anyone do this to you?"
He jumped up and started pounding the wall. He punched his hand all the way through it. When he pulled it back out, it was bleeding.
"Chris." I ran over toward him. Teddy came too.
"Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!" He slid down against the wall and pressed his face into his hands. "Why? Why? I'll kill them! Kill them!!"
"Chris, are you alright? Your hand." I walked over towards him.
"Just let me bleed to death." Chris said.
"Chris no. We have to get someone. Get help." I said.
"Lennie is dead, because I wasn't strong enough to watch over her." Chris said.
Vern knelt by her.
"She's moving!" Vern said.
Chris pushed me and Teddy out of the way and ran over to her.
She was whimpering. "Mmm...mmm. Mmmm."
"She's alive. But barely. Come on, Gordie." Chris stated. "Come with me. We are gonna get someone. Vern and Teddy stay here."
Ace didn't work too far from where we were. He was the closest one at the time. Chris barged in with me through the door.
"Ace!" We yelled out his name.
He looked over at us.
"Something happened to Lennie." I said.
Ace put on his coat and told us to get in the car.
"We found her in here." I pointed.
He drove over to the shack and got out.
He walked in.
"Jesus Christ." He muttered.
He walked over and touched her neck. She had a pulse and was breathing. Teddy and Vern stood there unable to move.
"Lennie." Ace called out her name. "You are gonna be alright. Your friends are here and me."
She started to blink her eyes. But she couldn't open them up, because they were too swollen and it must have really hurt to move them.
"Can you talk, a little for me?" Ace asked her.
"Chris... Chris." She whispered out his name.
Chris knelt by her. "I'm here." Chris said. "Lennie... can you tell me who did this to you? Do you remember?"
She kept going in and out of consciousness. Chris kneeled down closer to her mouth when she tried to repeat the words we were dreading to hear.
"Eyeball Chambers." She said finally.

Chris got up and started to retreat backwards. He looked over at me. I saw the fury burning in his eyes. He made a fist. "I'm gonna fuckin kill him! I can't believe my own fucking brother!"
Ace called for an ambulance and called up Lennie's father to tell him that she was at the hospital. We waited there till they arrived. After they came and left, Ace turned towards the four of us said that we were going to make a stop at the house to get 5 bats.

"What are the bats for?" Teddy asked.
"We are gonna pay Eyeball a little visit." Ace said.
Ace came out the front door and pushed Eyeball in the back. He came tumbling down the stairs.
"You tell me that you didn't go up to Lennie Davis. You tell me you didn't lay a hand on her!"
"I didn't do anything. I didn't! What are you talking about?" Eyeball exclaimed.
He hit Eyeball in the back of the leg with the steel bat.
"Shit!" Eyeball grabbed at the back of his leg and toppled over.
Chris and I swung at him too with our bats. He went to go after us. Teddy smashed his right index finger.
"Shit. I bet that hurts!" Teddy said. "Now you know what Lennie is feeling."
Vern feeling more courageous with his steel stepped up to the plate and swung at him too.
"Take that you coward!" Vern said.
"Dammnit! I am going to smash all of your skulls in!" Eyeball said.
Ace stepped then onto his back.
"You are going to smash my skull in? You are going to smash my skull in?" Ace asked.
"Noo. NOo. Ace. Please." Eyeball pleaded.
Billy stood next to Charlie and Jack. Eyeball was brought to his knees.
"Chris, go ahead." Ace instructed.
Chris took a step forward and braised his knuckles across his brother's face. Teddy took his turn. Vern threw dirt in his face and I kicked him in the groin. I think this was the first time I ever hit someone bigger than me. I think this was the first time I hit anyone in Ace's gang and not be hammered by one of his goons. They all stood back and watched. They couldn't do anything.
"Spill." Ace told him.
"I just wanted to talk to her. She didn't want to talk to me. That's it." Eyeball said.
"Well, if talking to you resulted in a concussion and 50 stitches, I wouldn't want to talk to you neither." Ace said.
"She has a concussion?" Billy looked nervous.
"A girl is almost dead because of you." Ace said. "What the hell happened?"
"I didn't touch her. I swear, Ace. She opened the door when we were driving and fell out of the car and then down a hill." Eyeball explained.
"Yeah. We'll believe that when Pigs fly." I told him.
"He really didn't touch her, Ace. You got to believe him." Charlie started in now. "He just talked to her."
"Shut up, Charlie." Ace told him.
"What did the hell did you need to talk to her for anyway?" Chris asked.
"She took a hat... it belonged to me. She gave it to Gordie for his birthday. I asked for her to get it back. She said no. She said she never took a damn thing. She said she had no idea what I was talking about. I told her she was lying. We made her get in the car to take her to Gordie's house to get the hat back. She opened the door as we were driving and she fell out. We ran to check on her and we panicked. Billy and Charlie grabbed her and hid her in the shed."

A few days ago it was my 13th birthday. I had a party at my house. I had a bunch of family members here, including Lennie and the gang. It was the first time—I think that everyone was together and my father wasn't usually barking orders or telling me how much he couldn't stand my friends. I think he still felt bad over the incident that happened a few weeks ago during dinner. He apologized for it and said that he was sorry for always making me feel like he was constantly comparing me to Denny. He just missed him a lot. I could buy that. We all did. We had the party outside, catered food, cake—the works. I opened up everyone's presents, including ones from my parents, and aunts and uncles.
The last present was unmarked.

"Whose it from?" Chris asked.
"I don't know." I said.
I started to open it and then I yanked it out in a flash.
"It's my Yankee cap!" I shrieked and put it on my head.
"That's the one that your brother gave you?" Teddy questioned.
"Yeah... it is." I said.
"How do you know?" Lennie asked curiously.
"It has his signature under the cap part, right here." I showed her.
"Ohh." She returned.
"Just last summer Chris and I were walking into town and.... ... Ace and Eyeball came out from one of the markets and were bothering us as normal—they uh."

I paused and then looked at Chris. He nodded as that he understood. I didn't want to go into it anymore in respect to Chris. He knew that his brother was no good and the fact that he was related to him made him look bad. He always felt bad that his brother stole my cap from me because it meant a lot.
"Well, what happened?" Lennie insisted.
"Well, Eyeball took the cap." I told her. "He was being a pain in the ass as usual."
"So how do you think the cap ended up here?" Vern asked which was a question we were all thinking about. I mean... according to Chris—Eyeball still had the hat and he had told him that if he tried to get it back for me, he would have made sure that he would never able to see his unborn children, and he actually broke Chris's right arm just to prove his point. I told Chris the hat meant a lot, but his friendship meant more.
No one knew how the hat ended up at my house.

Either someone was playing a joke or Eyeball actually matured a bit and realized that he didn't need or want the hat anymore. Well, no matter what the situation was, this hat was never going to leave my room. I was sure to that. I'd go and buy a safe and keep it locked up just to make sure.
"So how did the hat end up back at your house, Gordie?" Eyeball asked.
"I have no idea." I replied back.
"I bet you told Lennie about that hat, didn't you? I bet you cried all over about how your brother gave it to you and you put her up to it?" Eyeball replied.
"And I bet I didn't!" I said back. "I remember that day clearly; Lennie didn't know who left the hat at my part. The gift was unmarked. But aren't you forgetting one important detail?"
"Like what?" Eyeball looked fed up.
"Like the hat was mine and you stole it from me!?" I asked him.

Charlie and Billy looked at each other and then fessed up.
"Listen, Eyeball. It was a joke. We left that hat there for Gordie before the party started and when you asked who took it we said it was Lennie. She didn't know it belonged to you. She had nothing to do with it."
"What?" Eyeball looked over at them. "I don't believe this."

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard." Ace said. Ace swung his bat and hit Charlie and Billy. "I could kill all of you! I can't believe this all over a fucking hat! And I can't believe you left her there in the shed. She could have died if the boys didn't find her in time. Every person in town saw you with Lennie moments before she disappeared. All the cops have to do is walk to the cafe ask a few questions and they'll know. And you know who is going to have to take the rap? Me. Because I am the leader of the fucking Cobras. Can't you guys do anything right?"
"Listen." Billy tried to calm Ace down. "You don't have to take the rap for anything. It was the waitress who saw us, not you. So you can't be involved. Plus Lennie knows that Eyeball didn't lay a hand on her. If she talks, she will have to tell the truth."
"And if she doesn't, well, maybe I'll see you in a few years after you get out of prison because I ain't bailing none of you jerks out." Ace said.
Chris pointed the .45 at his brother. "You don't need bailing out, when you are going to be buried 6 feet under."
"So what are you going to do Chris, kill your own brother?" Charlie Hogan asked.
"Maybe." Chris leered at him.
"Yeah, ok." Charlie Hogan rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid."
"You think I'm joking?" Chris said. "You understand how much better it would be with just me here? The whole town thinks I'm a loser, because of you. And I'm fucking sick and tired of it."
"Chris, don't do this." Eyeball said. "I'm your brother."
"It doesn't matter, nothing matters anymore." Chris said.
"Please, don't." Eyeball pleaded. "Put the gun away."
"Ok." Chris said and then shot off the gun off in the air on purpose. Charlie and Billy ran for cover. Eyeball fell towards the ground, he was whimpering. I think he might have even pissed on himself.
"See you in hell." Chris told him and put the gun away. And that was the last time Eyeball Chambers ever bothered Lennie Davis ever again.