As the days passed and the temperature raised, Sadie's traumatic night began to fade in her memory. Her appetite returned and she began to doll herself up again on a regular basis. On the days when she had to see Ace, she always felt sick to her stomach. The two were bonded by their grim secret and she would do anything if she could erase that. He would smirk at her while he lit a cigarette or touch the brim of his nose and glare at her.

Sometimes after these uncomfortable moments she was forced to share with Ace Merrill, she would wake up in her bed in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, a scream just behind her lips. For the most part, however, she had moved on. Regardless of what anyone might have thought of her, she was a strong girl.

She began to day dream less about a bracelet that Richie may or may not buy for her in the future, and began to think more about college. She wanted away from Castle Rock, and away from Ace Merrill. While a handshake with a kid on her boyfriend's porch might seem silly, she thought of it fondly and often. She and Chris would get out and become successful in a way that they both deserved. She hadn't told anyone of her college plans. Her girlfriends would think she was crazy. Richie would absolutely lose it when she told him. She wanted to be a teacher though. For that, you had to go to college and earn a degree.

All of that was more than a year away though. On this day, she didn't have to worry about how Richie would react to the news. She did need to tell someone though.

A steady rain was pouring down outside and the roll of thunder shook the windows in their frames of the Tessio homestead. Her father was working at the mill, as per usual, and her mother was out playing bridge with Mrs. DuChamp and some other ladies from around the neighborhood. Vern hadn't been home all weekend. Sometimes Sadie envied him. He hadn't a care in the world, yet. He had everything at his feet. He was at the perfect age where he could get into harmless trouble and come away unscathed. She wondered if he knew that, and considered if maybe someone should tell him to enjoy it while it lasted.

Sadie walked out to the garage and found Billy tinkering with an old broken lawn mower. Sadie took a seat on an ancient tricycle that hadn't been used since Vern was in diapers.

"Hey, Billy." She said conversationally.

He grunted at her in reply, fixated on whatever it was he was trying to do with the lawn mower.

"It's raining pretty good out there, huh?" She said, looking out the window.

Billy looked up and followed her gaze, "Yeah. It's really comin' down now. I gotta get this mower working again. Dad's been ridin' my ass all week about it. You know how he is. Do you want something or did you just come out here to bug me?"

Sadie smiled. Billy was certainly rough around the edges, and at times she thought she might even hate him, but times like these reminded her that he would always be her brother. While she had childhood memories of him shoving her face in the ground and making her eat dirt, or putting worms in her hair, she also had good memories. Good natured teasing and noogies and all the other things siblings did to each other, just because. She could also remember one magical moment, when the two of them had kneeled, holding their breath, watching as a butterfly emerged from its cocoon. She couldn't have been more than eight, Billy nine. She wondered if Billy remembered that. She started to ask him, and then decided against it. If he didn't remember, it would take away some of the fondness of the special memory. She would keep it to herself, at least for now.

Billy was looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. "I dunno." She said. "I was just wondering, maybe, if you ever thought about leaving here."

He looked at her, his mind working behind his eyes again. "Leave? You mean Castle Rock? I don't know…I never really thought about it. Why leave? Everything is here." He went back to fiddling with the mower.

"Yeah, I know, but I was just thinking maybe I could go to college after high school, you know? To be a teacher or something."

He put down the tools he was working with and wiped his hands on his Dungarees. "College? What do you need college for? You're just a girl. Who's going to take care of your house and your kids if you're going to college and bein' a teacher? That's for rich broads and dorks, not people like us."

"Oh.." She said, disappointed. She knew he wouldn't understand, but she had to tell someone. She never had anyone to talk to. Her friends at school were just people she ate lunch and walked the halls with, not real pals. Besides, it was summer, and she didn't see much of them anyway. She couldn't talk to Richie about this. That left Billy, and he reacted in a way that she had hoped he wouldn't, but deep down knew that he would.

She sighed and then smiled at him, "Yeah, I guess so." She didn't care what Billy thought, though. She didn't care what anyone thought, she was going to do it, no matter what.

There was another question she had to ask though. "Billy?" She said hesitantly.

He looked at her, waiting for her question.

"Would you ever hurt a girl? Make her do things with you, even if she didn't want to?" She had to know. She had to know if her brother was a monster. If Billy was capable of doing something like that, maybe Richie was too. His older brother Frank was in prison right now for that very thing, after all. But if he wasn't, maybe it was just Ace. Maybe the other boys didn't know just how dangerous he really was.

"Christ, no! What the hell are you askin' me that for? Jesus, that's really pussy. I don't need to force no girl to do somethin'. What the hell's wrong with you?" He shook his head and went back to his lawn mower. "Get outta here. Your really buggin' me now."

Sadie breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the garage, feeling slightly better than she had before.

As she walked back into the house, the rain was still pouring down heavily and thunder rolled in the distance. As she started into the living room, she heard something much closer than thunder: a knock on the door. She hesitated before she turned around. Who would come all the way out here in a storm like this? With the comfort of knowing that Billy was only a holler away, she shrugged her shoulders and went to the door.

When she opened it, Richie was standing there, his wet hair matted to his head and his clothes dripping on the welcome mat.