Save me.

When Chris came to, he found the house eerily quiet. His whole face hurt and there was a throbbing pain in his rib cage. He stood up and wandered into the bathroom, wincing with each step. He stared blearily into the mirror, his nose was bloodied and swollen, over his left eye was an ugly bruise already turning purple. The bruise crept over his cheekbone and right up to his left eyebrow. Chris gingerly peeled off his t-shirt, wincing as he pulled the light material over his head. His torso was red and swollen and over a couple of his ribs was a deep purple and red blotch. He wondered whether his ribs might be broken.

   Chris stepped into automatic mode and with a cloth gently washed away the blood from his nose, gritting his teeth against the waves of pain that washed over him. This situation was all too familiar and yet it still left him with despair. He knew already that he wouldn't be in school tomorrow; this beating was going to leave lasting imprints.

  Once Chris had washed his face he went through to the room where he and his siblings slept and silently changed clothes. His ribs were really hurting, he felt certain they must be broken. Chris sat down on his bed and tried to think, he had to get out of the house tonight. He had no idea where his mom had gone and he knew his dad would be back soon. Deciding to just go take a walk and see if he could figure something out, Chris stood up and left. He left the house unlocked, there was no way anyone could possibly want to burgle the Chambers, what did they have that anyone could possibly want?

After Gordie stopped crying he considered doing some homework but quickly rejected that idea, schoolwork seemed so unimportant. He went downstairs and left without speaking to his mom at all. Gordie felt too angry and confused and the thing was he knew whatever he did was never going to make a bit of difference; he was always just going to be 'Denny's younger brother' to his parents.

   Outside The Blue Point Diner Gordie ran into Teddy and a girl he didn't know.

"Hey Gordie!" Teddy exclaimed greeting him with a 'friendly' punch in the shoulder.

"Hey Teddy," Gordie replied.

"This is Sarah," Teddy said proudly.

"Hey," Sarah said shyly, glancing up at Gordie from under long blond bangs. "I'm sorry I was just leaving, but maybe we can talk some other time."

Sarah disentangled herself from Teddy, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and walking away. Gordie and Teddy watched her leave.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend," Gordie said.

Teddy smiled. "She's more than that man, she's my fuckin' saviour."

Chris wound up on the outskirts of Castle Rock and he was just about to turn and go back into town when he spotted his brother Eyeball and the rest of his gang. Chris braced himself for the attack.

"Hey look Eyeball, here's your brother," Ace Merrill said, his eyes lighting up.

Eyeball turned around to see Chris. "How is the little bastard?" he asked but his voice lacked that certain 'Eyeball' quality. He had seen the bruises; he knew Mr Chambers was on the warpath.

Chris just nodded and stood his ground; crossing his arms across his chest he surveyed the Cobras with a cool, detached air.

Ace stepped forwards and nonchalantly struck a match off his shoe, he lit a cigarette then leaned forwards and put the match out against Chris's skin. Ace laughed slightly. Chris refused to react, it hurt sure, but since everything hurt right now there was really no point making a scene.

"Why didn't you answer?" Ace stage whispered. "C'mon you little bastard your brother wants to know how you are."

Chris turned cold blue eyes on Ace. "Shouldn't you be out with your mother or maybe if she's unavailable, a sheep or a goat? Hey you're not fussy." He was entirely deadpan; maybe if he got Ace mad enough Ace would kill him and put an end to his misery.

Ace's eyes widened. "Take that back you little son of a bitch, fuckin' now!"

Chris just smiled, a cold smile as if from far away. Ace made to punch him but Eyeball suddenly stepped in between them.

"Hey man" Eyeball said to Ace. "I'll go talk to Christopher, no fuckin' strain, you just stay here." Eyeball grabbed Chris by the collar of his shirt and dragged him a few paces away.

Chris glared at his brother but to his surprise Eyeball didn't look mad. In fact Eyeball just looked sad. Eyeball didn't live at home anymore, he lived and worked at the local garage along with Ace and a couple of other guys including Vern Tessio's brother, Billy.

"Shit Chris, Dad did this to you?" Eyeball said with the first trace of brotherly love Chris had ever heard from him.

Chris nodded.

"Listen" Eyeball whispered. "I know a place you can stay tonight if you don't want to go back there, you dig me?"

Chris nodded again.

"This girl I know will probably let you crash at her house for a couple of nights," Eyeball explained. "I'll take you there now."

Eyeball turned back to his jd buddies. "I'll back in fuckin' five minutes," he called. "Gotta take this little bastard home."

Eyeball turned back to Chris and there was silence but it was almost comfortable. The two brothers started walking together and Chris mused to himself how strange life could be; one minute you're up and one minute you're down and sometimes even Eyeball will catch you.