Author's Note: I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, guys! I know how frustrating it is when writers don't update frequently, so I hate to do it to my readers. I just started my first semester at a new college, so I've been writing a lot of papers (hence, the lack of motivation I have to write this story). Alas, I managed to churn this out. Anyway, there will be one more chapter and an epilogue after this (which will be combined in to one posting). I hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 14After about an hour of dancing, Gordie felt like he was about to suffocate in the stuffy air laced with sweat and stale hot dogs. Sara's dress was soaked with perspiration all across her back, so when Mr. Brown was changing records, he leaned over and said, "It's getting hot in here! Mind if I step outside for a little bit?"
"Not at all! I'll join you!"
They weaved through crowd, ignoring the suggestive winks and stares from their classmates, who undoubtedly thought they were going in to the dark parking lot for a little make-out time.
"Gordie, you getting lucky tonight?" hollered Steve Jenkins, the school's star football player and biggest moron.
"About as lucky as your game last night…which wasn't all that good!" he muttered, pushing his way outside. The air was like a bucket of ice water being thrown on his face, and he pumped his shirt collar to let the breeze refresh his sweaty chest.
"It's so nice out here," Sara commented. Suddenly, she looked over at him slyly, giving him her impish smile that implied she was up to no good. "Hey, Gordie?" she said in a singsong voice.
"Yeah?"
"Let's go take a walk in to the woods for a little while," she suggested.
His heart pattered with excitement; he knew going in those woods could only mean one thing. Holding her hand, they'd walk together until they came to a rest. Noises creeping through the darkness would scare her and she'd reach for him; her lips would kiss him all over and he imagined those hands touching places they'd never gone before.
He pants grew tighter at the thought.
"Gordie, make sure you kiss the girl for a bit before you make any other moves…you don't want her to think you're a pig only out for one thing. I mean, you are, but she doesn't have to know it!" He smiled as Chris' words from sixth grade echoed in his mind; they'd spent one spring day up in the tree house alone, bored and nothing to talk about except girls. He'd known Chris hadn't gone further than first base with Pamela Stretmeyer and that had been on a dare, but it didn't stop him from making sure Gordie didn't mess up any way.
'Now that I actually have a girl, he's pissed off at me,' he thought sadly. Gordie wondered why life had to change like that. Just a year ago, they were sitting side by side in the tree house, talking about girls and the best technique to unhook a bra ("Is it a clasp or hooks? Because my brother Eyeball says it's a world of difference!"), and now they were going on separate paths. He now had a girlfriend and the others didn't.
"You sure seem quiet tonight."
Gordie looked over at Sara, glad she couldn't see the expression on his face because it was so dark. He was silent for a moment, mulling over what to say, but Sara did the talking for him.
"I had a really great time tonight…it was nice to see you dance, at least."
"Yeah…I don't do that too much, so consider yourself lucky," he teased. She laughed and cupped his hand even tighter. They walked for a little bit through the woods, a pale sliver of moonlight cutting through the treetops was the only guide they had. Gordie spied a hole that was haphazardly covered with leaves (sometimes the high school kids liked to have bonfires after their sports games), so he gently led her away from it, telling her to be careful.
"Aww, such a gentleman," she said with a smile. "Ugh, let's stop here…it's kind of hard walking in these shoes," Sara complained. Gordie pulled a log out from the brush so they could sit and Sara gratefully took off her heels, her toes flexing and stretching as she aired them out.
"Oh, much better!" she exclaimed. They perched in an easy silence for a moment, listening to the noises of the woods at nighttime. Owls and crickets battled each other with their loud cries, and in the distance the howl of a wild dog pierced through the velvet blackness.
"God, I didn't realize it was such a zoo back here," Sara commented with a shiver.
"Yeah, there's a lot of animals in these woods," he said, thinking back to his search for Ray Brower a month earlier. The screech of coyotes had kept Vern awake most of the night; Gordie reckoned they sounded like restless spirits. "It's ok, though," he reassured her. "They won't hurt you if you don't provoke them."
Sara nodded, pulling her shawl close against her arms and chest.
'This is your chance, man…take it!' He cleared his throat and put his arm around her, rubbing the fabric covering her goose-pimpled arm.
She looked up and smiled wryly at him. "You're so smooth, Gordie."
He blushed and laughed nervously. "Yeah, I've been waiting to do that all night," he admitted. She shook her head and giggled.
"Well, I don't mind," she commented softly, tilting her head up to brush her lips against his. For just that moment, the beasts wandering about in the woods didn't bother her as much as it did before.
---
"That was him, I swear it was! That was Gordie La Chance!" Vince piped up excitedly from the back seat, the flow of whiskey in his veins making him more loud than usual. "I don't know who that fucking girl was, though."
Ace peered in to the woods, hoping he could catch another glimpse of them but they were long gone. He figured the kid could be any one of 'em inside that school, any other young boy just looking to get a cheap feel from his girl. Was it a risk he was willing to take to go in there and find out?
"That better be Gordie, Vince, or I'll be mighty pissed you sent me out there."
"I know it's him…I know that pansy ass walk any where!" Vince argued.
"Alright, let's go," Ace announced, carefully easing himself out of the car. The others followed suit. Eyeball felt his stomach tighten as they headed towards the woods. All he could hope for was that Chris wasn't in there. Please, don't let that fucker be in there.
---
Meanwhile, Chris, Vern, and Teddy had just arrived at the school; their eyes surveyed the cafeteria frantically for any sign of Gordie.
"Hey, Chris, what's new?" Sam Barber called out when he saw his fellow woodshop classmate lurking in the crowd.
"Sam, have you seen Gordie La Chance?" Chris was really getting worried now because Gordie wasn't anywhere to be seen—not on the dance floor, nor leaning against the wall.
"Umm, I think I saw him go outside with his date…maybe he's in the woods?"
"Ok, thanks…gotta run!" Before Sam could say anything else, Chris disappeared in to the crowd, grabbing on to Vern and Teddy on the way out.
"He's in the woods?!" Teddy exclaimed as they burst outside. "Fuck, they could've gotten to him by now!"
"I know," Chris said grimly. "Come on…we've gotta find him before anything happens!"
---
Gordie was so wrapped up in kissing Sara that he didn't hear the slap of boots against dirt, and by the time he pulled himself off of her to look around, a pair of hands grabbed him roughly from behind.
"What the fuck," he muttered, his fists flying instinctively, ready to pummel whoever had a hold of him. Sara was yelling, but he couldn't make out any words. All he could hear in his brain was, 'Shit, shit, shit…what the fuck is going on?'
"Looks like I was right, Ace! It is the La Chance kid!"
Gordie realized with great horror that Vince Desjardins was the one that had him by the scruff of his neck. Ace and the rest of his gang appeared from the darkness, stumbling out from the brush.
"Shit…shit…let me go!" Gordie yelled, thrashing around wildly.
"Yeah, let him go," Ace instructed. "I can handle it from here." He stepped forward, his switchblade already out. When his eyes settled upon Sara, his mouth dropped open, sending his cigarette to the ground. "What the fuck are you doing with this kid?" he demanded. Ace turned to his friends. "This is my fucking cousin and she's with this shit…would you believe it?"
"He's my date," Sara said pointedly. She pushed herself between Gordie and Ace, her eyes sparkling furiously. "Seriously, leave him alone, Ace…he didn't do anything to you!"
Ace let out a quiet chuckle and said, "Oh, really? Look, I suggest you head on out of here, ok? You don't need to get in the middle of this." The tone he carried was calm, but Gordie knew better…he could hear the veiled threat laced in his voice.
"I'm not leaving," she said between clenched teeth.
"Then I'll knife him in front of you," Ace said nonchalantly. "No skin off my nose." He inched forward, the blade glinting like the stars above.
For the first time in his life, Gordie was scared enough to shit his pants. Not even the sight of Ray Brower's body had instilled in him this sort of fear. It was one thing to see something that had already been dead, but another to be in the face of death yourself.
Before Gordie could bolt, Ace lunged and pinned him to the ground, locking his legs around his body so he couldn't move. Gordie's face was pressed down so tightly that he could feel the dirt clogging his nostrils; he coughed and sputtered, trying to shimmy his way out.
'I'm going to die,' was all he thought as he was shoved even harder, suffocating with every labored breath.
---
Chris, Vern, and Teddy could hear the commotion in the distance, the echo of a girl's cries in the night. Vern plowed ahead, actually in the lead for once, and he somehow managed to avoid a hole that had leaves piled on top.
Before he could turn around to warn his friends of the ditch, Teddy barreled past him and right in to it, his body smacking down on hard dirt and remnants of firewood. Curses spewed from his mouth.
Vern peered down; Teddy was sprawled out, leaves sticking to his hair, glasses askew. Vern's mouth hung open, his lip quivering a little as he tried not to laugh. "I got you back! I didn't mean to, but I did! I got you back!" he sputtered, pointing at Teddy.
"Now's not the time!" Teddy screamed. "Now, help me up!"
Vern and Chris lowered their arms down, allowing Teddy to be pulled up (he nearly came crashing down again since Vern had no upper body strength, but Chris managed to lift him up). Teddy pushed Vern, nearly sending him to the ground, but Chris stepped in and yelled, "Alright, stop it! Come on, let's go!"
They ran towards the direction of the voices, not really knowing who or what was ahead of them, only hoping Gordie wasn't in any danger. Chris could feel bile rising in his throat; adrenaline pumped through his veins steadily.
Suddenly, as they came to a clearing, a group of silohuettes became sharper. Upon closer inspection, he could make out the back of Ace's platinum blonde head as he overpowered Gordie, forcing him down in to the dirt. A knife gleamed in the darkness, pressed close to the back of Gordie's neck.
"Get off of him!" Chris screamed, and before he could even think, he lunged forward and landed on top of Ace, pummeling him with balled up fists. Ace cursed as his head was beaten, but with one swift kick of his leg, he managed to roll himself off of Gordie and on to Chris.
"You fucking asshole!" Ace bellowed. "Now you're in for it." He swung his fist out, knocking Chris straight to the ground in one punch.
"Ace, come on…don't hurt him!" Eyeball pleaded from the sidelines. "Come on, man, that's my little brother!" Suddenly, Eyeball wasn't the tough guy any more.
Chris lay on the ground, disorientated from the punch. His cheek, bruised like rotten fruit, was starting to swell. Groaning, he rolled over and tried to get back in a sitting position. As he was crouching, something slipped out of his jeans pocket and on to the ground.
'What the hell?' he thought as he palmed it. It was the knife he'd put in to his pocket on the first day of school. He'd never washed those damned jeans and suddenly he was grateful for that.
Ace barked out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, Eyeball? You're getting all tough on me now? You telling me who I can't kick the shit out of?" As if to prove his point, Ace kicked his leg out, nailing Gordie hard in the ribs. Gordie yelped out, tears springing to his eyes immediately as he rolled on the ground in pain.
"Oh fuck!" he cried. His cries were met with another kick, this time an even harder blow. Sara screamed, but was quickly silenced as Vince held her back, muffling her mouth with his beefy forearm.
"Stop that….now!" Chris demanded, trying to keep his voice strong and forceful.
"Or what, Chambers?" Ace challenged. "You gonna beat me up?" He shook his head and laughed, then proceeded to kick Gordie again.
"You're gonna hurt him…stop!" Teddy screamed, but he too was squelched by one of Ace's cronies. Ace laughed and kept kicking over and over again. Gordie howled and cried, not caring if he looked like a sissy any more.
Chris sat up, eyes focused on Ace. He felt the knife in his hand, felt every ridge of it. He knew what he had to do.
Just as Ace was about to deliver another kick to Gordie's sore ribs, Chris lunged forward, switchblade aimed at Ace's shoulder. Ace's head swiveled around in shock as he heard the commotion, but it was too late. The point of Chris's blade entered through the back, sending little rivulets of blood to cascade down his tee shirt. Ace let out a cry, a vulnerable noise that few had heard out of him.
"You little shit," he gasped as he stared at Chris, who held the bloody knife in his clutched hand.
The next few moments played out in slow motion. Gordie watched in horror as Ace suddenly flipped his own knife out, plunging it deep in to the space between Chris's breastbone, dangerously close to his heart.
"Nooooooo!" Gordie screamed. He kept screaming as Chris dropped to the ground. Eyeball rushed to his brother and yelled, "Holy shit, holy fucking shit!" over and over again. He leaned over, inspecting him close. When there was no response from Chris, he swiveled his head back.
"Get some fucking help! Go!" he ordered. Vince and Charlie hesitated, looking frightened and not really sure who to listen to now. "Go, you fuckers…now!"
They took off in to the woods, heading towards the school. Teddy, Vern, and Sara rushed over to Chris, too stunned to do much else than stifle sobs and whispered obscenities. Ace took off, still bleeding from the back. With the less than perfect criminal record he had, Ace knew he was going to be locked in the clink for sure.
"Shit, man," was all Gordie could muster. Ribs throbbing, he closed his eyes and felt himself weaken. All he wanted to do was sleep and maybe it would all be better. Maybe he could pretend this was all a dream.
Gordie was still lying there in that position as the sirens grew louder and the sounds of police officers shouting pierced the night like wailing animals.