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? How did they change, how did they stay the same?
Disclaimer:I only own Shawn, all the rest belongs to Stephen King and Rob Reiner and whoever else created Stand By Me.
A/N:Well, here's the end. I thank all of you who stuck with me for the entire time of this story. And I hope you liked it, too! That's the most important part. This is just the epilogue and kinda short. But, I hope you like it anyways!
Epilogue
Things stayed the same with me and Chris and Gordie. We stayed close throughout high school and stayed in touch a little through college. Once high school started, things were awesome. We were all in the same gym, English, and science classes. Our other classes were different, but we were together most of the day and at lunch.
It took way longer than we wanted, but by our junior year of high school, Chris was finally accepted. Teachers realized that he was gonna gut high school out, and in the college courses at that, and girls realized that Chris was a hot guy and a really nice guy.
We all dated through high school. I had boyfriends they didn't like (they turned out to be jerks anyway) and they had girlfriends I didn't like. But, they never came between us. We clung to each other since we were kids, it was just survival now.
After high school, Chris and Gordie went to the University of Maine while I went down to Duke to pursue a medical career. Since then, I found out a few things, most of them sad, but brutally true.
In 1966, when we were about eighteen, maybe nineteen, Vern Tessio went to a house party one night. He passed out while smoking a cigarette and the house caught fire. He was killed in the fire and the police had to identify him and the other victims by their teeth.
I remember in junior year, Teddy Duchamp called his guidance counselor a lying sack of shit because he said that, because of his hearing aid and glasses, he'd never make it into the army. He got a three day vacation for it.
He got held back for tardies and skipping too much, but he graduated, which was a miracle in itself.
He tried many times to get into the army, no luck, as you probably guessed.
When we were growing up, there was a saying that went, 'If you go out alone, you're a hero. Take someone else with you and you're dogpiss.' Teddy and some other friends were in his ancient Chevy Bel Air and passing around a joint and drinking. The car crashed into a utility pole and everyone was killed instantly. That was back in 1971.
I went to both of their funerals and tried to cry, I knew I should've. They were my best friends growing up, but I couldn't cry at either of the funerals.
Chris enrolled in the college courses with me and Gordie. It was hard, he was very close to quitting dozens of times. Once, his old man actually smashed a Rhinegold bottle on his head. Chris needed four stitches to close up his scalp.
We helped Chris for hours every night to help him catch up on the seven years he skived off of school. He ended up graduating nineteenth, Gordie stood seventh, and I was thirteenth, right in the middle, just like I've always been.
Chris never married. He was still in college when it happened. And while he had plenty of girlfriends, most of them from places that wasn't Castle Rock, he told me that he never had that "can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, World Series" kinda thing with them. When I asked him once whether he thought he ever could get that feeling, he told me seriously that he didn't really think he wanted it.
"Once I get it, I won't be able to know what else is out there for me," he said. "I want to test all the waters I can. I wanna be as free as I can be, forever. And I can't do that if I get married. I don't want my chains to tie me down any more than they already have."
In late 1971, it felt as if the world as I knew it was crashing around me. One day, Chris went into a fast food restaurant and saw two guys in front of him in an argument, one of them pulled a knife. He stepped in between them and tried to break it up. But, he was stabbed in the throat and killed almost instantly. At this funeral, me and Gordie did cry. We didn't want to cry in front of Mandy, Gordie's wife, or Rick, my current boyfriend, so we went to a corner and cried together. It would be pussy to do it anywhere else.
But, Gordie and I are still alive and keeping in touch. He's a writer and very successful and I'm a doctor. We're both still in Maine and while all our other friends are dead, we still have each other. I don't think I could ask for anything else.
He got married, and I was there watching. He married a girl named Mandy Bonn, a girl he met in college. She was a great person, and just right for my Gordo. I was very glad she didn't mind when I stole Gordie for a few dances at the wedding reception. If she got mad, I'd probably have to smack some sense into the chick!
A few years later, I got married to a great guy named Mikey Flynn. Gordie was there and did the same thing to me at the reception. Mikey didn't mind, either, and he even danced with Mnady a few times. I smiled as I saw them and told Gordie we may have our spouces cheating on us with each other. He shoved cake in my face for that. How rude was he, right? But, I got him back, so it's all good. Took us about a week to get the triple chunky chocolate frosting out of our hair.
Gordie and me, the last of our gang left. And that's the way we'll stay until we both die, too. Then who knows what will happen? Heaven and Hell will never be the same again, probably!