Several hours later, surrounded by several empty beer bottles, the friends were now sitting around a fire they had built themselves , in a darkened clearing ,a few yards away from the spot, that had for a brief period of time, been Ray Brower's final resting place.
" C'mon guys do I really have to" Stammered Vern, with a look desperation on your face.
" No one wimps out of a dare Vern" Laughed Gordie, slopping some beer down his trousers. " Shit, now it looks like I pissed myself"
" Hey you should dare Lilly to lick the beer off you" Smirked Teddy giving Lilly a not so subtle wink.
" Teddy Duchamp, if you weren't such a retard, and if I wasn't ever so slightly a teeny weenie bit drunk" Lilly held up her thumb and fore finger about a centimetre apart, " I would kill you with my super girly woman lady powers" Giggled Lilly attempting to jump into a heroic pose, instead falling awkwardly to one side. " Oooh, I found another pine cone for you Verno" Said Lilly, throwing the cone at Vern a little too enthusiastically considering she was sitting right next to him. The pine cone hit Vern squarely between the eyes sending a dull thud throughout the clearing, the other launched into fits of raucous. Whilst Vern rubbed his now red forehead in displeasure.
" Hey Vern that makes ten, now you gotta put em in your underwear." Smirked Chris handing Vern the pine cone that had just been thrown at him.
" Ok, ok but you guys promise you won't look." Grimaced Vern picking up the first pine cone.
" It's ok Vern we left the binoculars in the car" Joked Teddy, whilst dragging on his cigarette.
" Oh real funny Duchamp, hilarious" Scoffed Vern dropping the first of the pine cones down his pants.
About half an hour later, with Vern's pine cone dare done and laughed off. It was Lilly's turn to choose a truth or dare from Gordie. Owing to the fact that she was now definitely past the stage of simply being merry, she picked truth, last time she had picked dare in this condition, Teddy had had her running round topless singing lollipop in a French accent, and she wasn't quite drunk enough to forget that incident.
Gordie looked thoughtful from a moment or two, then smiled mischievously " Do you fancy any of us guys"
"Chris" Said Lilly defiantly, before she really thought about what she was saying. She would have never admitted this under normal circumstances, and she was ready to blame the bottle in her hand for her sudden outburst.
Chris, who was about to take a drag of his cigarette froze, he had liked Lilly since they were about ten, but until recently Lilly hadn't noticed the way Chris's beautiful blue eyes lit up when he laughed, she hadn't noticed the way he always made sure everyone else had an opened beer before getting one himself, and she hadn't noticed the fact that no matter how bad his family life got, he was always smiling, ready to help you with any problems you had, no matter how trivial or pathetic they seemed. It was these little things that attracted Lilly to Chris, and now he knew, now he could reject her, and now he could break her heart.
" You like Chambers?" Exclaimed Gordie who was now staring at Lilly with utter surprise. He wasn't the only one, Vern and Teddy were staring at her looking just as bewildered as Gordie. The only who didn't have his eyes so accusingly on Lilly was Chris.
" Erm,.. I gotta pee." Lilly said the first thing that came into her head that would give her a get out clause, and she was already cringing at what she has just said.
Without hesitation, Lilly stood up quickly and awkwardly, grabbed the flash light hastily switching it on in the process, and ran towards the nearest gathering of trees. She ran until she knew she was out of sight and fell face down on the forest floor, partly out of drunkenness and partly out of exhaustion from sprinting so suddenly. A tear rolled down her cheek, shed blown it, how could she possibly hang around with the boys now. She heard a rustling of leaves close by, and raising her head slightly saw a pair of blue and white keds about a meter away from where she was laying.
"Leave me alone please , go back to the others" Sniffed Lilly, trying to sound as though she hadn't just been crying.
" I can't go back, help me, please, I'm lost" cried a voice of sheer desperation.
Lilly froze, rooted to the spot with fear, the hairs on the back of her neck would have stood up if they too, weren't to petrified to move. The voice didn't belong to Gordie, Teddy, Vern or Chris. This voice was new, it was strange and it was alone with Lilly in the middle of a darkened wood.
" Please help me" The voice repeated this time more pleadingly.
Lilly felt like she was going to throw up, she was icy cold and covered in goose pimples, slowly and cautiously she raised her head. Her eyes widened, she wanted to scream but at the same time be deadly quiet. As standing before her was a boy of around twelve, he had dark brown messy hair and a bloodied face, his arms were out stretched, and his eyes were wide an glazed over. The boy wasn't blinking he was just staring. Lilly couldn't move she couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. Her heart was pounding, the sound of it came as a slight comfort in the dull silence of the wood. If she wasn't mistaken, and she prayed to god that she was, standing before her in the dark clearing. Was Ray Brower, the same Ray Brower that had been killed out right by a passing train four years earlier. She knew his face, everyone in castle rock knew his face, it was plastered over every news paper and every milk carton for weeks. And now that same face was advancing towards her, with it's arms out stretched, just staring and staring.