My Own Private Paradise
Author: hell's lil angel13
Summary:Before and after the journey to find Ray Brower, there was another one there. After their journey, what happens next?
Disclaimer:I only own Shawn, all the rest belongs to Stephen King and Rob Reiner and whoever else created Stand By Me.
A/N:I know this has been done so many times before, but I, and many others apparently, happen to like them, so I'm giving it a try. Just so you know, there are pieces in here that connect to the book as well as the movie, so if you notice it's more like the book than movie, that's cos I made it that way, the biggest will be that its in Maine like the book instead of Oregon, mostly b/c I can connect better with Maine. Please r&r?
My Boys
You know how everyone is supposed to have that one best friend in their life that is always there for them when they need them, no matter what? That one friend they can go to for anything and talk about whatever, like boys and breaking up and just anything without being judged? Well, girls have their girlfriends; guys have their macho men, and me? I have my boys, four guys in the neighborhood who are my age and who are, in my eyes at least, a few of the coolest cats around.
I'd lived in Maine since I was nine and never really left Castle Rock since then. My daddy was a football coach and had been since I was little. When I was six, he started working so hard, my mama left him and tried to take me with her, but I stayed with Coach.
There aren't any girls my age around Castle Rock where I live, just a bunch of bitches from up on the View who let's just say I don't get along with too well.
I remember the summer of 1959 was a real turning point in our friendship for the five of us. It was the hottest summer in decades and there was really nothing to do after July or August. Well, until the Friday before Labor Day, that is.
Daddy had a meeting somewhere, I think in Portland, and I was home alone for a few days. Naturally, I hung around with the guys most of the days and well into the nights, it was lonely at my place. So, that morning, I was sleeping in later than I usually would, but who was I kidding, I had nowhere's to be. Well, I didn't think I did, but apparently Verno thought otherwise.
Vern Tessio lived about a mile up the street from me and was one of my best friends, along with three other wackjob guys. He was trying everything he could think of in what little mind the god Lord decided to give him to get me up. He knocked on the door, threw rocks at my window, kicked at the door, and so many other things that annoyed the hell out of me so much I had to go to the front door.
"Okay Verno, you better have a good explanation for waking me up," I said to him while I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes and get them to focus a little better.
"I do, sincerely, I do. Get dressed and come to the tree house, this is so boss, come on!" he was practically pissing himself with excitement, so I nodded and held up my hand to tell him to wait.
I was pulling my shirt on over my head and trying to walk down the stairs at the same time. Amazingly, I was able to keep myself upright and not fall down the stairs. Vern was still jumping in my doorway and holding my chucks out to me so I could get them on while we walked to the tree house a mile away.
Did I say walk? Well, I had to run to keep up with Vern all the way to our tree house. "Vern, would you fucking slow down!" I yelled. I had just woken up and it was well over eighty, so, in other words, this was no time to be running a mile to get to a bug-infested fort.
I think I'll take this time here to pause a sec. I kinda forgot to introduce myself, you'll have to forgive me, my manners are not the greatest. So, my name's Shannon...Shannon Elizabeth Collins to be exact, but no one calls me that except the teachers. I don't really know why, but for as long as I can remember, to everyone, I've been Shawn. Teddy Duchamp was the first one to call me that when we first met and it just kinda stuck since then. I don't really remember why he called me that in the first place, but, oh well, doesn't matter. He musta thought that Shannon didn't suit me too well, which I can't agree with more.
I have rusty, brownish-reddish hair and brown eyes. Sadly, I'm pretty short, only about 4'10, but I'm hitting growth spurts like crazy right now, which I'm happy about, I'll finally pass the 5 foot mark, go me!
All my friends are guys and that's alright with me, 'cos I'm such a tomboy that I can connect so much better with them than with any other girls. Yeah, I guess you can say I'm just one of the guys and that's perfectly fine with me.
Vern, Teddy, and the other two, Gordie Lachance and Chris Chambers, are more like brothers to me than you can ever imagine. They are like older brothers in the fact that they try to protect me all the time, even if they know I can take care of myself. It can annoy me sometimes, but I get over it 'cos I know they're just doing it because they care about me.
I moved to Castle Rock from another small town nobody ever heard of called Broken Ridge, California. My daddy was a high school football coach there, too, but once they started to loose too many games, they got a new coach and we had to move. We've been in Castle Rock since then.
Vern got up the ladder first and knocked on the trap door, which Gordie opened for us, after I had to do the secret knock that he forgot about, again.
After a few attempts of Vern trying to tell us what was so boss, the attempts that we kept stopping by breaking into a horribly off-key chorus of 'I ran all the way home,' we kinda stopped listening. I was just reaching for a tonic in the cooler when Vern uttered those life-changing words. "You guys wanna go see a dead body?" We all froze.
He told us quickly how he heard his brother Billy and Charlie Hogan talking about how they found Ray Brower's body near the Back Harlow Road. That was too far from us, we could go see it if we wanted! Dude, this would solve our summer boredom in seconds!
"Can you come Shawn?" Vern asked me excitedly.
"Daddy won't be back for a few days, you know I'm in," I said smiling and Teddy even started jumping up and down in his seat. He looked over at Chris and Gordie, who had stayed quiet. Chris had a fading black eye and a cut on the bridge of his nose, I didn't like the look of either of them. But, they both said that they'd come with us to see the body.
It was almost too good to be true when we finished figuring out how we'd be able to get this past our parents and have no one finding out about what we were actually doing. We split up to ask our parents if it would be okay if we "camped out in Vern's backyard." I really couldn't ask my dad, who wouldn't be back for a few more days, so I went with Teddy so he could ask his mother if he could go.
I liked Mrs. Duchamp, she was always so nice and her house always smelled like something really tasty was baking in the ovens. Today it smelled like peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
"Mom! Mom, where are you?" Teddy yelled up the stairs when we came into his house. She made some noise from the kitchen and I led him in there, the smell of the cookies becoming too great for my nose to handle any more.
"Hi Mrs. Duchamp," I said and snagged a cookie quickly from the cookie sheet. I think I burned my finger on the sheet, it was really hot! "Youch!"
"Hello Shawn, careful, the cookie sheet's very hot," Mrs. Duchamp said to me while I sucked on my finger and held the cookie in my other hand. "What are you two up to?"
"Can I go tent out in Vern Tessio's back field tonight? I'll go there right before supper and then go to the races tomorrow?"
"I don't know Teddy, who's going to be there?"
"Just the guys; Vern, me, Gordie, Chris, Shawn."
"I suppose," Mrs. Duchamp said and Teddy whooped excitedly, gave her a kiss on the cheek and literally dragged me down the stairs to his basement/bedroom type thing. He took a bedroll and started throwing a bunch a clothes and random other crap at me, where I put them in the blanket.
Then, we went to my house where I did pretty much the same thing as he did, running all around my house to get everything we needed for an adventure I will never forget any time soon.