I stared around my room, looking for things to do while my mom was busily shoving things into boxes. "Come on honey! Aren't you excited? You finally get to see your old friends again! Back to Castle Rock we go!" She said excitedly. " Yeah... Sure mom.." I brushed my blonde hair out of my face and pulled my blue Yankees cap over my eyes. I used to live in Castle Rock, back when i was in the 3rd grade. I'm 12 now. All I remember is hanging out with 4 boys. Chris Chambers, Gordie Lechance, Teddy Douchamp, and Vern Tessio. God I loved the moments. Me and the guys all hanging out after school. But that was 4 years ago. I didn't know if the guys had changed, did they move on and forget about eachother, do they even remember me? And if they do will it make a difference that I'm a girl? Ugh... I sincerely did not want to go back.
" Mikey! MIKEY!" my mom shouted. I mustv'e blanked out again. " Huh? Oh.. Sorry mom..". She looked at me and sighed. "Someday you'll thank me.." she said under her breath. " Yeah I'll thank her for ruining my life.. " I thought.
I walked out of my room holding the last box. Turning around I took one last glance. " It looks so empty..." I thought. " Come on we have to leave!" my mothers voice came from downstairs. I shifted the box and headed back downstairs.
Heading outside, I saw all my friends were around the moving truck, waiting to say goodbye. Even my crush, Sean Brody! I got hugs and goodbyes from everyone. Sad goodbyes. When I got to Sean, he hugged me hard. Caught me off guard. I hugged him back and he whispered into my ear " I'll miss you." I kissed him on the cheek. I didn't even know he liked me that much! " Eek!" I said quietly.
Getting into the truck once everyone had had their hugs, we sped off. " Back to Castle Rock we go.." I thought.
The car ride was long, boring, and there was absouletely nothing to look at. " Oh there's a field... And there's another... There goes another..". For another 2 hours I was tortured by no change of scenery and my mothers lengthy backstories about her and my dad. I hated listening about my dad. It was painful. He died in a firework incident last year. Just the memory of that terrible night...
" We're here!" my mothers voice woke me up out of my nightmare. I looked around, it looked pretty much the same, at least the same from what I remember. I hopped out of the truck. Some of the place looked vaguely familiar. Not the people though.
"Come on Mikey help me out!". " Sorry mom.". I grabbed a box and carried it to our new house.
"Mom! Where's my room?" I shouted, I was totaly lost. " You have to choose! It's your pick!" she shouted back.
I picked a room with a small balcony and started to unpack my things.
[6 boxes later]
I ran downstairs and found mom working on some things in the kitchen. "Mom do you need any help?" I asked.
"No not now." she replied. "Okay can I got out?". "Go ahead but not for to long."
YESSS!
Walking out the door and down the street, I tried to look casual. Who knows who I'll see?
It had been only 10 minutes and I was already bored out of my mind. All I had seen was people and cars. Nothing serious except for some gang beating the crap outta this one guy. But other than that, nothing, no kids my age or anything. Looking over to my left, I finally saw something interesting! There was a boy who looked to be about my age. He had dark brown hair and was wearing the same blue Yankees cap as me. I stared at him in a strange way. He did the exact thing to me. God this kid looks familiar... Oh god who is he? I kept staring until I couldn't turn my head anymore.
"Odd.." I thought. "Why does that boy look so freakin' familiar? Was it one of the guys? Maybe...".
But who knows? I mean, it couldv'e been any guy. I kept walking, alone in thought when suddenly BANG! I was hit by some figure and knocked down onto my back. " Hey watch where your'e goin...Oh.." the figure said. I sat up and rubbed my head. In front of me was a blonde, muscular boy. " I'm.. I'm sorry ma'am.." he said as he helped me up. " It's fine! I'm alright!" I said as I adjusted my cap. " That's good... I think... Umm.. Chambers." the boy said as he extended his hand. "Chris Chambers." . My eyes got wide. " Chris Chambers?" I asked.
Was this him? " The one and only." he said smilingly. "Uh.. Chris.. Do you remember back in the 3rd grade... a little girl named Mikey Cusack?" I said.
" Mikey Cusack... Hhmm.. Oh yeah Mikey! We had the greatest time!" Chris said.
"Well Mikey... That's me!" I said. "Mikey! God no way! Boy do you look different!" he said. I didn't know what he meant, Iv'e looked the same practicaly my whole life. "I know!" I lied." Umm.. Where're the others?" I asked. " Others? Oh you mean the other guys? Oh yeah umm Gordie was walking by here a second ago and.. ". " Wait." I interupted. " Is Gordie the tall thin one with brown hair and the Yankees cap?". "Uhh yeah that's him... I was trying to catch up to him and I accidentaly ran into you." Chris said. " Umm.. That's cool.. Do you mind if I walk with you?" I asked. "Sure go ahead.". We walked in the direction Gordie had been heading, talking about random things. Like my life after Castle Rock and his life in Castle Rock. I was asking him stupid questions. Just stupid stuff. God was I nervous. I had a major crush on Chris in the 3rd grade, I guess I still had some feelings for him.
Once we saw the thin brown haired boy, Chris and I started to shout his name. " Gordie! HEY GORDIE!". He turned around and looked at me with that strange look on his face again. He ran across the street towards us. "Hey Chris... Who's this?" Gordie asked. "Gord-o... Do you remember Mikey Cusack from the 3rd grade?".
" Mikey.. Of course! How could I forget her! She was my first crush!" Gordies face seemed to lighten up instantly at the mention of my name.
"Gordie! It's me! It's Mikey!" I said. His face turned bright pink. " Uhh... Hi Mikey! Wow I did NOT recognize you!" Gordie rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yep...It's still me.." I said. There was a moment of extremely awkward silence.
" Nice hats." Chris broke the silence. I remembered that we both had the exact same blue Yankees caps. Gordie smiled and laughed quietly. I smiled back.
"Hey hey Gorday whos the chic?" a voice came from behind. I turned around and saw a boy with brownish blonde hair and thick glasses. He had the weirdest look. " Teddy... This is Mikey." Gordie said. "Mikey Cusack? God I hope that's her!" Teddy said. Should I be creeped out or happy? " It's me alright!". God I felt like I had met a million people in one day! "Dang girl youv'e changed! Still look better than ever, though!" Teddy said. "Gee thanks.. I think." I said.
I suddenly became very focused on his left ear. It was black, like burnt black. "What the heck happened to this kid?" I thought. As if reading my mind, he said "My dad put my ear up to a stove burner 2 years ago... Nothing much.". Yes.. I should be creeped out by now.
"Wanna come back to the treehouse with us?" Chris asked. "Yeah sure." I said.
Now with me, Teddy, Gordie, and Chris, we turned back around and headed toward our famous treehouse. Though I felt something was missing. " H...Hey guys where's Vern?" I asked. "Probably getting some more Pez.." Teddy said. " Or digging for pennies underneath his porch."Gordie said. "Pennies? What?" I asked. God were these guys weird. "Vern burried a whole jar of pennies under his porch and now he can't find 'em." Gordie explained." Vern mustv'e changed since I last saw him..."I said quietly. "Changed... In alot of ways..." Chris said.
It wasn't long until we had arrived at the treehouse. It looked exactly as I remembered. I was the first one to climb up. Teddy had insisted. God Teddy mustv'e turned physco... In the treehouse was a small bed and a wooden crate. We used to play cards on that.
It had everything, a radio, comic books, and lots of smokes. "Smokes?" I thought. "Do they smoke?". My question was soon answered when Chris and Teddy put a cigarette in their mouths. "Want one?" Teddy asked while handing me a cigarette. " Uh no thanks..." I said." Alright.. your loss..". I took a seat next to Gordie on the hand accidentaly brushed his and he turned a light shade of pink.
Gordie pulled out a stack of magazines. "Want one?" he asked. "Sure." I said. I took the magzine, and started to flip through the pages. Murder mysteries, crime fighters, detectives, cool! "It'd be cool to actually be in one of these." I thought. While Gordie and I looked at the many magazines, Teddy and Chris focused themselves on a game of cards.
"How do you know if a French mans been in your yard?" Chris asked. " Dude I'm French okay." Teddy said. "Your trashcans are empty and your dog's pregnant." We all burst out laughing. "Didn't I just say I was French?". Once the laughing died down, Chris and Teddy once again focused on the cards.
That's when a knock came.
"That's not the secret knock." Gordie said.
"I forget the secret knock!" a high pitched voice said. "Vern." the guys said. Chris lifted up the hatch and a chubby boy with brown hair came out.
"Oh oh guys your'e not gonna believe this! Your'e not gonna...Who's she?" Vern said. He had turned completely happy to completely confused.
"Cusack.. Mikey Cusack." I said. "Nice to meet you.. Anyway..".
"Wait Vern you mean you don't remember Mikey?" Teddy said. " No not really..." Vern confessed.
The other guys seemed... slightly.. mature but Vern was like a large kindergardener."From the 3rd grade Vern-o." Teddy said. Vern thought for a second, his chubby face all crinkled up. "Oh yeah I remember!" he shrieked. "Great... Now that were all aquainted, what's this amazing thing that were 'Not gonna believe?' " Teddy said.
"Okay... First of all... Do you think you guys can spend the night in my back field?" Vern asked.
"Yeah sure."Chris said while shuffling the cards. "Gordie?".
"Sure." Gordie took every chance he could to get out of the house. That summer, he had become the 'Invisible Boy'. His older brother Dennis had died and his parents were still upset. It seemed all they had ever cared about was Dennis.
"Teddy?". "Whatever.".
"Mikey?". Boy I wasn't expecting that. Plus spending the night with 4 guys in a tent in some guys field was not my idea of the best time. "I dunno.." I said. "Come on, Mikey." Teddy said. "Okay..." I had to give in to all the guys suddenly staring at me. Heck I just couldn't say no.
"So what are you moaning about, Vern-o?" Teddy asked.
"I knock." Chris said.
"What?" Teddy shrieked, immediately forgetting about Vern. "You aint got no pand hand, you friggen liar! I didn't deal you no pad hand!". "Make your draw." Chris said. Teddy reached for the card on the top of the deck. Chris leaned over to reach for the pack of Winstons, and Gordie and I went back to our magazines.
" You guys wanna go see a dead body?" Vern asked.
We all stopped.
Authors note-
Yes dear readers I know this is not the most exciting story in the whole world. But heck it's only the first chapter. It'll get better I hope. And yes I admit, I was reading the Body by Stephen King while writing this story, so if youv'e ever read the Body you'll see the resemblance. Anyway I will be writing more. Please read and review!
