Hello! Sorry, I know I said I was going to update a month ago, but then last week I realized this could be a thing I do once a month at least, since I know there aren't a lot of people who come to this archive. I am one of the few people who comes here once in a while to check out any new and great story. And so far I haven't been disappointed. I was very happy to see some of my Girl Meets World friends from my other stories pop by here and leave me a review. Those people would be Ariel and lilLaine02. Don't think I haven't forgotten about this! I never do something without finishing what I started. But that's just me anyway... Okay, now I'd like to give a shout-out to those of you who reviewed my previous chapter: Izout, lilLain02, and Ariel.
Disclaimer: I do not own the novella, The Body (written by Stephen King) or the adaption of the novella, Stand By Me.
Jordan's Point of View
Friday, June 29th, Castle Rock, 4:15 P.M
I hopped off the bus that lead me to my destination. Castle Rock. I couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being watched or followed. I threw my heavy backpack over my shoulder and made my way to the ticket booth to ask for directions.
Ever since I was very young, I had always been independent. On my own, and that was mainly because my mom never babied me, especially when Mark came into the picture. I roll my eyes and scoff now with the thought in my head about how I'd wasted a good chunk of years listening to Mark and doing everything he told me to do. In reality, he shouldn't have come into my life. But there was a reason he did, and I was determined to find out why.
The ticket lady at the counter was this thirty-something year old, tall blonde with rosy lips and implanted breasts bigger than her face. At least that was the way I perceived her to be. She gave me this dirty look like I was the scummiest lowlife that ever existed as she smacked on her gum.
"Can you tell me where...124 Nine Hill is?" I asked as politely as I could reading off one of Rita's letters.
The ticket lady gave me a dirty glare. "I sell tickets, not give directions. Maybe if ya buy a ticket, I'll tell ya what I know."
"I already bought a ticket to come here. I'm just looking for directions," I explained.
"Hey Claire, give the kid a break, would ya?" a man in his late fifties said walking up behind the counter. He seemed a lot friendly than Claire. "I'm the manager. What'd ya need to know boy?" Oh right. They thought I was a boy. The baseball cap didn't help prove otherwise.
I didn't care to correct them so I just responded, "I'm looking for this direction," I answered, showing him the letter. His eyebrows raised in surprised.
"That's Rita's place." Wow, it was amazing. I didn't even need to tell him who I was looking for. He automatically knew who lived there! This town is smaller than I thought.
"Yeah. I'm her niec- um, nephew." The man didn't seem to notice my slip up. As he told me how to get there, Claire stood beside him with her arms cross over her chest, staring down at me with disgust. I assumed she didn't have a lot of friends.
"Need anything else?" the man asked.
"No, that would be all. Thank you."
"Ooh, a polite little fella, I see," Claire muttered under her breath sarcastically. "Welcome to Castle Rock sweetie," she said in a sarcastic and bitchy tone. Seriously, what's her problem?
At least I left the bus station knowing where I was headed. Only mere hours before, all I had to worry about was getting back into the basement on time before Mark would notice I left. Life's funny I guess.
It was close to five o'clock. It was hot and I was starving. I mentally thanked Rita Lorn for living close to the bus station. It was the heat talking, I guess. When I finally got to 124 Nine Hill, I knocked on the front door. A medium height redhead woman with a skimpy bartender waitress outfit answered the door.
"Yes?" she asked as she hooked on some hoop earrings to her ears while looking down at the ground, like she had something on her mind. I was completely shocked by this. I did not imagine Rita Lorn to look like this. "Can you make it quick? I'm late for work." She looked up to see me when she noticed I wasn't responding. "Look, if you're here to sell me something, I'm not interesting," she said about to close the door. I stuck my foot out before she could do so.
"No, wait! You're Rita Lorn, right?"
"Yeah, whose asking?" Rita asked, uninterested in the conversation.
I took a deep breath. "Your niece, Jordan."
Rita Lorn froze in her spot. Now she looked interested. "What are you talking about? How do you know my niece? Where is she?"
"I'm right here," I said.
Rita burst into laughter. "Is this some kind of joke? You're not my niece! You're just a boy- wait." She grabbed my face with both of her hands. Her long nails slightly scratching my cheeks as she looked into my eyes. "You're Cynthia's kid aren't you? I'm sorry, but the clothes, your cap and that hair! You don't look like a girl."
I shrugged my shoulders and took off my cap, revealing my short, boy-cut haircut. "I get that a lot."
Rita smiled excitedly and wrapped her arms around me tightly. "How long has it been? Ten years? I've wanted to spend time with you for a long time, but you're mother never responded back to my letters. She didn't want me seeing you."
"Well now she does," I lied. "Mom sent me here for a few weeks. She said she really misses you." It was painful for me to have to lie to my only aunt who I just met, but if she found out about what was going on, she would call the police and ruin my plan. Besides, Mark could kidnap my mother if he found out the police was after him.
"That's great. I should give your mother a call. What's her number?" she said heading back inside her house for the phone. I followed her into her small living room. I fidgeted with the hem of my sweater.
"Um, mom's pretty busy right now. She went on a second honeymoon with her husband, Mark."
Rita settled down the phone, to my relief. "Oh right. You're mom's still married to Mark, huh? Well, what do you think of him? Is he treating you okay?"
I faked a smile. "He's just like a father to me."
Rita grabbed her purse and made her way to the door. "Well I could go on and on defending my brother about why he left and all, but I'm really late to work. I'm sorry I can't give you a tour of Castle Rock right now. You're not old enough for me to take you to the bar, but make yourself comfortable. I'll be back before you know it. And feel free to call me Aunt Rita," she winked before closing the door behind her. Well, that went well.
Two hours later, I found myself wandering through the streets of Castle Rock. Into the night. Which I knew wasn't smart for me to do, but in my defense, what did I know at thirteen?
Mark probably figured out I wasn't home by then. Where would he think I went? I was curious and scared to think about what he was capable of doing once he figured out where I went and what I was planning on doing. I shivered at the thought. I kept looking behind me as I walked every once in a while. It was a habit I had picked up.
It took me about twenty minutes to realize that I should probably head back to Aunt Rita's place. Then I realized, I did not know how to get back. I had sort of wandered off without remembering the way back. Shit.
I came across a dark alley debating on whether I should walk through it. Did I come this way? I had no idea. My instincts told me that the later it got, the more dangerous the alley would be. I took a deep breath in and began my long walk down the dark, empty alley. At least I thought it was empty.
I made it half way in before I realized I was being followed. I turned around to see about five or six tall, lean hard men in their early twenties right in front of me. I jumped back in fright.
"Aw look, he's is scared," one of the guys said in a teasing voice. The blond man right in front of me, who I assumed was the leader of the gang, took my green baseball cap from my head and held it up.
I jumped up, uselessly trying to reach for my cap. "Hey! That's mine. Give it back!"
The blond sneered down at me and threw the cap behind him, landing on a puddle of mud. "Look what we have here boys. Fresh meat," the blond man said pulling out a knife from his back pocket. My eyes widened at the sight of the shiny, sharp blade the man held in his hand.
"You think we should be doing this Ace?" another guy said coming up behind this "Ace" person. He too was blond.
"Shut up Chambers. I think I can do whatever I want. This little shit needs to be taught who's boss. Fresh meat is in our territory. Now he's gonna pay." Before any of the guys could do anything, I tried to run. Bad choice. They immediately got me and held me down to the hard, cold pavement. "Where're you goin' fresh meat? Ya know what they do to fresh meat?" Ace asked. Obviously I couldn't respond since he had his hand tightly over my mouth to keep me from screaming. "They cut 'em open," he said taking out his knife once again and held it out for me to look as the rest of the guys held down my arms and legs.
I tried to kick and scream before the knife got too close to me. I managed to let out a scream when I bit down on Ace's hand hard and he screamed in pain taking his hand away from my mouth as I felt his blood run through my teeth. Next thing I knew, a loud police siren could be heard from a close distance and the gang got up immediately and bolted out of the alley. I sat up, rubbing my arms as a gang of kids my age ran up to me. A tear escaped my eye but I quickly wiped it off before they could see it.
"Told ya it would work," I looked up to see a tall skinny kid with brown hair say to the rest of his friends showing them a tape recorder the size of a small book.
"We got 'em good, didn't we Gordie?" a blond kid with thick black glasses said to "Gordie" high-fiving him.
"Are you okay man?" another blond kid said kneeling down next to me, concern showing in his blue eyes. I now realized there were four boys. The police siren sound was coming out of the tape recorder the skinny kid had, fooling Ace's gang into thinking the police was coming after them. They weren't going to hurt me. They'd just saved my life.
"What?" I asked, a little woozy and confused since my head had banged against the pavement when Ace's gang tackled me to the ground.
The fourth kid, who was a little chubbier than the rest, ran to me, knelt down pushing the blond kid out of the way, grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Are you okay?" he yelled in my ear, as if I was deaf. The sudden motion made me want to barf.
"Vern, you're gonna kill him!" thick glasses boy said.
"Stop shaking him like that, he's still in shock," skinny boy said.
"Vern" stopped shaking me. "Oh, sorry." He smiled awkwardly.
"I-it's okay. Where's my cap?" I asked, looking around. The room was still spinning a little for me.
"Right here...I don't think you want it back though," the blond kid with blue eyes stated picking up my cap from the puddle.
I took the soaked dirty cap anyway. Damn it, that was my favorite cap.
I picked myself off the ground once I was feeling better. "Ew, what happened to your mouth? Did Ace punch you?" thick glasses boy asked, referring to my bloody teeth.
I spit on the ground. "Nope, I bit his hand."
"That's sooo cool!" the chubby kid said excitedly. "I can believe you bit Ace Merrill's hand. He's the toughest man in town! You're like a God now."
I rolled my eyes, wanting to forget it. "Well I did. Now I hope you know, I can't repay you for saving my life. I don't have a lot of money on me."
"It's okay-" the skinny boy said before he was cut off by thick glasses boy.
"Wait, let 'em talk. Maybe we can work something out."
Blond hair boy rolled his eyes. "Shut up Teddy. You don't have to repay us. What's your name?"
"Jordan," I answered.
"Well I'm Vern!" the chubby kid smiled happily.
"This is Teddy," blond hair boy said pointing to the thick glasses boy, "Gordie," he pointed to the skinny kid with the tape recorder, "and I'm Chris."
"So that tape recorder trick, how'd you know how to do that?" I asked Gordie.
"I read it somewhere," he shrugged simply.
"Shadow Nights?" I asked, referring to a classic mystery novel I had read once.
"Yeah!" he said. "How'd you know?"
I smiled. "It's a classic. How can't I not know about it?" Finally! Someone who understood my love for reading.
"Okay, nerd alert," Teddy said rolling his eyes. Gordie slapped his arm. "Hey! What was that for?"
"At least I've opened a book. When was the last time you did?"
Teddy scoffed. "Two weeks ago, right before school ended. When was the last time you went on a date? Or french-kissed a girl?"
"Enough!" Chris said getting in between the two. "You're new here aren't you?"
"Yeah," I responded. "I come from Derry. I'm visiting my aunt."
"Who's your aunt? Maybe we know her?" Vern wondered.
"Rita Lorn."
The four boys mouth dropped simultaneously. What's with these people? Why do men seem so shocked when I say Aunt Rita's name? Then I remembered the way she was dressed before leaving for work...
"Shit, your aunt's hot man!" Teddy blurted out. "I heard she does everything." I shuddered a little at the way he said "everything". He was slapped a second time on the arm, but this time, by Chris.
"Shut up Teddy! That's his aunt you're talkin' about!" Great. Now they think I am a boy too. But perhaps it was a good thing. The less people that knew I was a girl, the better. The harder it would be for Mark finding me in Castle Rock. "Sorry man. It's just that your aunt is really popular here. But you probably know that, right?"
"No, I didn't. Thanks for the unnecessary information," I said sarcastically. I turned around, continuing my walk down the alley. After a while, I turned around to see that they were following close behind me. "What do you want?" I asked irritably.
"Where're you heading?" Gordie asked me.
"I'm going to my aunt's house."
"Your aunt lives that way, you know that right?" Chris asked, pointing to the opposite direction. I huffed. Without saying anything else, I turned to walk in the direction Chris had pointed at. Then I stopped when I realized something.
"Wait, how do you know where my aunt lives?"
Vern responded, "the whole town knows where your aunt lives!"
"SHUT UP VERN!" the three boys shouted in unison.
"What did I say that was so wrong?" Vern asked, confused. I assumed he was the clueless one from the group.
"We can take you to your aunt's house is what Vern meant to say," Gordie explained.
I thought about it for a moment. "On two conditions. You promise to stop calling my aunt a prostitute."
"Done," the all said eagerly.
"And you promise not to kidnap me."
Teddy raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Jesus, you've got trust issues. Why would we want to kidnap you?"
I shrugged, smirking at the response I came up with. "I've been through a lot of shit."
Author's Note: Whelp, that's that. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Shadow Nights is a fictional book I came up with right on the spot. That will be referred to a lot in the story. Lots of stuff will come out of it and unravel later on. How does the gang come into play in terms of Jordan's mission? Well, you'll just have to wait and see! Thanks and review! Tell me what ya think! :)
P.S- Don't forget to check out my Tumblr blog for last chapter for those of you who reviewed last chapter!
Quote of the week:
"If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy, pez. Cherry flavor pez. There's no doubt about it." -Vern Tessio
-Mimi1239