Disclaimer: Four chapters later, I still own nothing. :(

This is the last chapter, guys! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Four: Chris

We're not supposed to be doing this. Normal twelve year old boys aren't supposed to know what a real dead body looks like. We're not supposed to touch dead skin, or stare into eyes that don't have life in them anymore. We're not supposed to be here.

There's an awkward sort of silence between us guys. I think everyone wants to know what everyone else is thinking, but no one is going to speak. We can't.

The air's so thick it's practically choking us. Well, me at least. I guess I can't really speak –erm, think – for the other guys.

I don't like this. I don't like the look in Ray's eyes, or the expression on his face. I don't want to be here anymore.

When I really get to thinking about it, Ray kind of reminds me of my mom. I mean, aside from the fact that's she's a girl and everything. But really, I'm mean, just the way his face is right now… he has that look. It's some kind of weird mixture of things… terror… disgust… It's the same kind of look my mom used to get when my dad knocked me and Eyeball around. She doesn't get that look anymore.

She used to scream at him to try and get him to stop. "You're hurting them! You're going to kill them!" It was always the same thing, over and over. He never stopped. Usually he just turned around and hit her too. She doesn't scream at him anymore. She doesn't say anything.

But what was Ray going to do anyway? Yell "Stop train; you're going to kill me!"? Hell, for all I know he never even saw the train coming. Or maybe he just didn't care.

I can't say I would blame him… for not caring, I mean. You can't really blame some body for wanting to get away, can you? He could've just stood right there on those tracks, right there, and just… waited.

Soon enough everyone will forget all about Ray Brower. He'll just be "that kid that got hit by a train". But what if Ray didn't want to be remembered? Just another name etched in stone…

"Why did he have to die, Chris?"

What? Oh, Gordie…

"Why did Denny have to die?"

Gordie... don't do that. Don't ask me that question. You know I don't know the answer. No one does.

"He hates me. My dad hates me."

You think he hates you? No, he doesn't hate you. How could anyone ever hate you? No… he just doesn't know you. Just doesn't know you…

"It should have been me."

It takes me a minute to realize that he's not asking me, he's telling me. Do you want to get away too, Gordie? No, don't say that. Please. Don't ever say that…

You know you're going to be something great one day, Gordie, and so do we. And maybe sometimes we wish you wouldn't, because we don't want you to forget us. But we know you're going to be a writer, and you're going to win awards, and everyone's going to love your work. And maybe if we're lucky, you'll write about us one day, and we'll know you didn't forget.

"Holy shit! It's my little brother!"

Oh fuck.

Don't do this, Ace. We found him first. Don't touch the body. We've got dibs.

You think your knife is going to scare me?

"You're going to have to kill me, Ace."

Go ahead. You'd be doing me a favor.

"No problem."

BANG!

Gordie?

You always do that, Gordie. You always have to save me. Well what if I didn't want to be saved?

"Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood."

A snake will always think it has you running scared until you threaten to blow its head off.

"We're going to get you for this."

"Maybe you will and maybe you won't."

"Oh, we will. This is big time, baby."

Don't even bother, Ace. Just… don't even.

I sigh and raise an eyebrow. "Who ever told you you had a fat one, Lachance?"

Gordie gives me that big, toothy Gordie Lachance smile. "Biggest one in four counties." He says, still grinning.

Thank you for saving me, Gordie. Thank you.

He says we aren't going to take Ray's body. I'm glad, and I wonder if the other guys can tell. I don't care anymore. They're relieved too. I know they are.

We cover up the body and head back the way we came. No one's saying anything, and I guess everyone's just kind of caught up in themselves. Maybe we should have just camped out in Vern's back field and hung out at the drag races like we told our folks we were going to. That's the kind of thing normal twelve year old boys are supposed to do, not dodge trains or go searching for dead bodies. But I guess most guys our age don't bury pennies under their porch, or have their dad almost burn their ear off, or any of those things that just seem so ordinary to us.

Oh well, we just aren't normal I guess.

It's DONE! I'm so, so happy! This is actually the first piece of writing I've ever posted and finished, so I'm really proud. :)

Passionate Fire – Thank you for being my first reviewer! I'm glad you liked it!

Doc's Cowgirl – haha, you think this is brilliant? Well thank you! I'm glad you like it!

KL inc – You're such a consistent reviewer, thank you thank you thank you! The Cobras really do just follow Ace around like he's a ringleader or something. I'm glad you mentioned how I linked the baseball cap; I wasn't sure if anyone would notice, haha. Thanks again for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

xoborogrlxo – You've also been a consistent reviewer, thank you so much! I could really picture Vern being scared of all those things (I mean come on, that's so Vern) and then just playing along when people picked on him, hiding the fact that it really hurt. He's kind of like a representation of every kid who's ever gotten picked on, you know? But I'm so glad you've enjoyed this, and I hope this chapter was to your liking. Take care!

susie q – Thank you, believable is exactly what I was going for. :)

Summer's Almost Gone – Thanks for reviewing! It's tough sometimes to stay true to the characters and the way they're portrayed in the film while trying to prod around in their minds at the same time. I'm glad you thought I did a good job. Thanks again:)

JJAH – Aw, I'm sorry I have to end it here. I am going to start something else very soon, so keep an eye out. ;) Thanks for reviewing!

SamSammySamantha – haha, I'm touched that you would take time away from doing laundry and showering just to check out my update. I think you're right, it might be "wet-end" instead of "wetend" my Microsoft Word shows both as wrong, though (yeah, I'm a bit of a grammar freak, so I checked, haha). But no, you're not crazy. :) Thanks for reviewing!

Pickle – Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad it kept you captivated.

Lizzy – Thank you so, so much. That's such a good compliment that you gave me. It definitely made my day. Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you've enjoyed this!

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. And to everyone who read but didn't review, thank you too. You guys are seriously so awesome; I love you all to death. Take care!