Disclaimer: Okay, so now Ace and Eyeball are stuffed under my bed, is it illegal to be obsessed? But I still don't own anyone... Sadly...

A/N: Okay, this is the night under the tree, from Gordie's point of view...

When Adults Do Wrong

"Alright Gracie... here's my story." Gordie said, and Grace smiled, the only people who had ever called her Gracie were her father and Eyeball, and it felt good to hear her nickname again.

"The four of us, me, Chris, Teddy, and Vern, were sitting around the campfire, right? We were talking about all different things, the type of things that felt important when we were twelve, you know what I mean?" and when Grace nodded, Gordie went on with his story, "Soon, we were all dead asleep, dreaming of something or other, probably the body, but I don't remember. The next thing I know, I hear some howling in the woods, I hear Vern whimpering, and Teddy is saying something about goin' to find some ghost. Chris is on his knees next to me, his .45 in his hand.

I scrambled to my knees next to him, my eyes must've looked like a deer in headlights, 'What is it Chris?' I asked your dad, and he held the gun up so that the barrel was pointing to the sky.

Vern was going on and on about promising not to do things, but I wasn't really listening, all I could hear was that howling. It sounded like a woman screaming, and when I told the guys that, Teddy shook his head and said,

'It's his ghost, wandering out in the woods.' And then stood up. You dad told him to sit back down, but Teddy said 'No, I want to see the ghost. I just want to see what it looks like!' and he started to walk towards the woods, but a howl came so loud, that he fell backwards, just like the rest of us, and huddled with us in fear.

We just sat there for a while, then someone suggested that we take turns being guards. Teddy held his hand out and asked for the gun, and Chris gave it to him, so it was Teddy's turn to stand guard.

Personally, I don't think that worked too well, because he spent the whole time talking. Most of it was about war stuff, and we all got aggravated, so it was Vern's turn on guard. This was better, but not by much, 'cause Vern pointed the gun at every sound he heard. I kept hearing the twigs cracking under his feet, and the scared moans he was making.

Soon, it was your father's turn. I was asleep, and I had this bizarre dream."

Gordie said, then pause as Grace looked up at him with curiosity. "I'd rather not talk about it Gracie, that's another story for another time." Grace nodded, not saying a word, so Gordie went on, "When I woke up, your father was sitting next to me, poking at the fire with a stick, 'You okay?' was all he asked, I didn't answer him, 'I didn't cry at Denny's funeral' was all I said, Denny was my brother by the way." When Gracie nodded, Gordie began again, "'I miss him Chris... I really miss him...' I told your dad, and your dad nodded knowingly, 'I know.' He said. I dunno how he knew, I never really talked to anyone about it, so how anyone can know is beyond me... but he did, 'Go back to sleep.' He told me, like I was a little kid. That got me a little mad, him always treating me like I was little... he ever do that to you?"

Grace nodded, "Yeah..." she said, and then poked Gordie's arm, "Go on Mr. Gordie." She said, she was sitting in front of him now. The last time Gordie had seen eyes like Grace's, listening intently to his stories were over ten years ago, when he was telling Chris of his stories, and how he was going to publish them one day. "So I crawled up and sat next to your dad, and we started talking. Your dad, he stole some milk money back in the day... from the school." Grace's face dropped, she looked down at the ground, Gordie could see the cloud she was holding her father on was falling, so he quickly fixed what he said, "But he tried to give it back." He said quickly, and Grace looked back up at him, "The teacher, she took the money, said your father never gave her any money, and he got suspended. Mrs. Simons, she spent the money on herself, and Chris found this unfair, but he didn't say anything to anyone...

Who would've believed him? Like he said, he was from a bad family, and everyone judged him on it. He started to cry, and his face turned red. I don't think he meant to cry in front of me, and for some reason, it seemed like he was surprised himself. Like he had never cried before, I had seen Chris whipped with a belt on his bare ass... oops... sorry." Grace rolled her eyes and Gordie kept going, "and not wince at all, but now he was crying like a baby. I thought that he was going pussy, I thought that men didn't cry, but then I realized that he should've been crying... an adult had let him down, and he was sad, and surprised." Gordie had finished his story, and Grace nodded, taking his story in one piece at a time.

"So he tried to give the lunch money back?" she asked, her eyes widening slightly, her heart was inflating, "I knew he wouldn't steal anything..." she added, then she sighed heavily, and the two were silent for a couple of minutes.

"My dad was a great guy." Grace said finally, and Gordie nodded.