You Were My Sky Chapter 4: 56 Minutes, a stand by me fanfic

[Author's Note: This may very well be my longest chapter ever:) And the most boring. I'm on a roll!]

6:45 PM

So much for family bonding, Teddy thought bitterly to himself. His mother had asked if he'd like to watch TV with him that evening for a change, and the loneliness in her aged eyes made him say yes. But all she did was watch the news. Sitting in the overstuffed chair that smelled like beer and cigarettes because it had been his dad's favourite, Teddy crossed his arms over his skinny chest and slumped in his seat. It had been an hour since they'd sat down together, and now she was snoring. Scowling, he got to his feet and debated putting the quilt his grandmother had made years ago over her, but her snoring was getting loud and frightening, so he went to the kitchen to find food.

6:53

"MOOOOOOM!!!!!!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Vernon Tessio, what are you doing to your little sister?" Mrs. Tessio demanded from the living room.

"Nothing, Mom," he insisted.

"Why is she screaming?"

"Because I'm teaching her to pray!"

"He is not!" Jeannie tried to holler, but Vern clamped his hand over her mouth and carried her down the stairs. Vern spirited his sister through the backdoor and forced her to stay low behind the fence. "Okay, I'm going to let go of you now, and if you make any noise or kick me or lick me or punch me or step on me, I'll spray you with the hose," he whispered. "Go do what we rehearsed and you'll get a quarter."

Jeannie glared at her older brother, her blue eyes bright with fury. With a huff, she spun on her heels, causing her play-dress to twirl around her knees in a sort of endearing defiance. Resentfully, she peered through a hole in the fence.

"Is she back there?" Vern whispered.

"I don't know. There's two," Jeannie called back.

"The one with the reddy-blond hair," he hissed. "Is she there?"

"Yep." She tossed a grossed-out look over her shoulder. "You like her?"

"Shh!"

"Hahahahaha!" Jeannie cackled.

"That's it, you little puke," Vern grumbled, and started to grab for the garden hose.

"No!" Jeannie screamed, as if a pack of wild animals were after her. "No! Don't! Please! I'll do anything!"

"Shh!" he hissed. "That's not what you're supposed to do! Shhh!"

6:57

"Leaves, leaves, leaves," Jake sang cheerfully, keeping his older sisters company as they raked the leaves in their backyard. Little did they know that when they turned their backs, he ran through their piles so they were just raking the same leaves over and over.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Tabitha," Libby said. "I would not enjoy doing this on my own."

"If I'd known Mom would make me do yard work the moment I showed signs of improvement, I never would have admitted that I felt better," Tabitha grumbled. "So, any cute guys here?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to go into detail?"

"You'll have to see for yourself."

They heard hushed whispers coming from their new neighbours' yard. Tabitha and Libby held their rakes in mid-sweep, listening.

"NOOOO!" a young girl screamed.

"Oh my God," Tabitha muttered. "We moved next door to Norman Bates."

"No! Don't! Please! I'll do anything!"

More high-pitched squeals ensued, and then there was the sound of a squeaky tap being twisted, then water being sprayed. A gate swung open and pounding footsteps trampled down the back alley.

"Get back here!" a boy's voice yelled. "The hose doesn't reach that far!"

"I know!" a girl cried.

Tabitha turned around and saw Jake playing in their leaf piles. "JAKE!" she yelled. "Never mind. You're lucky you're still cute." She jogged across their yard and pulled open the gate to see what was going on.

As soon as she ventured out into the alley, a stream of water hit her, causing her to fly against the fence. She squealed, and when the guy with the hose ran over to her, she glared at him, ready to raise hell. Then she discovered that he was kinda cute, what with his big blue eyes and honest face.

"I'm really sorry, I was aiming for my sister!" he exclaimed.

She sputtered and wiped her wet strawberry blond hair out of her face. "I'm sick." She could hear Libby and Jake laughing maniacally in the back yard.

"Are you? Oh jeez, I'm really sorry!" He tried to smile apologetically. "I'm Vern. I live next to you. Um, welcome to the neighbourhood?"

7:03

"Abigail, stop goofing off and finish the damn dishes!"

Abby scowled and wiped the bubbles out of her hair. Sometimes she hated her Uncle Gregg. She wasn't hurting anything by playing with the bubbles so she didn't see why he cared. But, her uncle was only stern. He would never hurt any of them.

When she'd lived with her parents, her dad had only hit the older kids. Chris had gotten it the worst because he was the boy, and he always tried to intervene when their dad attempted to beat anyone up besides him. While not as bad as her younger brother, Delia had also gotten it pretty bad. She had a way of pissing their father off. Aunt Marian had some sneaking suspicions that their father had abused her in more ways than one, but Delia denied refused to talk about him. There were also the two oldest Chambers brothers, Eyeball and Frank [AN: His name was Frank in the book, right? If it wasn't, I'm sorry, but I have the memory span of a flashbulb and I lent my book to a friend]. Eyeball had taken off sometime after their mom died, and they had yet to hear from him. Frank, the oldest, was still in jail. But they had gotten their shares of beatings when they'd lived at home.

Abby and the youngest brother, Todd, had escaped pretty much everything except for the verbal abuse. And Abby felt guilty, even now that they were all safe, because sometimes she would catch a glimpse of Chris' and Delia's scars and realized that they would always have to live with those memories and distant fear.

Chris would be okay because he was strong, although he was too grown up and had seen too much for his age. But he was making a life for himself. Delia on the other hand, was growing up cynical and hateful. The only guys she trusted were Chris and Gordie, and Delia knew that Gordie couldn't really stand her. But it was hard to worry about Delia, no matter how much she was going through, because she was such a bitch sometimes.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Chris asked, getting an apple from the fridge.

She looked up, startled out of her thoughts. A sudden wave of emotion hit her when she saw him. It was stupid, but just seeing him standing in the kitchen eating an apple, his hair freshly brushed and dressed in ironed clothes made her sad. He could be a normal teenage boy now, but he could never get rid of what he had gone through as a child. "Why?" she asked after a long pause.

"People don't usually look so contemplative when they do the dishes," he said.

"It's when I do my best thinking," she said with a smile. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I was thinking about going to see Andie, yeah," he replied.

"I like Andie," she giggled.

"Me too." Chris grinned. "You can't come with me."

"Gross, I don't want to, you get all gooey around her." Abby wrinkled her nose.

A look of disgusted confusion crossed over his face. "What do you mean by 'gooey'?"

7:10

Teddy changed his mind and returned to the living room, and spread the quilt over his mom and turned off the TV.

"Dammit Teddy," his mom muttered groggily. "I was watching that."

Shaking his head, he flipped the TV back on and went to see what the liquor cabin had in store for him.