A/N: Sorry it took me forever, I promise if school isn't so hellish I'll update more often.

A sweltering cigarette, that's what made the mark on Chris' arm. I couldn't help but stare at the pinkish mark right near the join of his elbow. He was leaning over one of my old comic books. We had decided that we wouldn't get used to the cool water of the creek. We would only use it on those especially hot days. The radio across the room was cranking out Buddy Holly's voice but this still couldn't distract me from the welt on Chris' arm.

"Who burnt you?" I said flipping the page of the comic under me, I wasn't really pay attention to it, it's had taken me ten minutes to read a single page.

"Eyeball." He answered without looking up.

"I thought Eyeball wasn't in Castle Rock anymore." I stated looking down at the characters drawn on the page. Eyeball had left just after he graduated he had gotten engaged to some girl named Mary Lou, a protestant, of course. They were married last fall, if I was recalled correctly.

"They came for visit, we were playin' chicken." He looked up at me. I was certain his father hadn't burnt him, Chris was too old for his whippings, and after a drunk brawl with another man and almost losing his own eye he stopped being so violent in his drunken stupors.

I nodded at his arm, "You won?"

"We tied." He placed his hand over the mark, "It's a battle scar." He laughed, eyes glinting in the morning light. He had gotten to my house early, right when the sun was coming up. The sky was orange when he knocked on my window.

He turned back to the comic and started to hum a familiar tune, I didn't pick up on what it was until he started to mumble the words to it, "A knight without armor in a savage land." My thoughts jumped to Teddy, who was still trying to get into the army. He would always sing it.

I sat up on my bed and looked down at Chris on the floor, "You remember Teddy?"

"Of course." Chris' eyes peeked above the cover art.

"Man, I haven't seen him in forever."

"Me neither. I bet he's still crazy as hell-"

"- And Vern's still gullible." Our laughter filled the room. I still wonder if those guys ever talked about Chris and I. We went back to our books, and soon I found myself not paying attention to the story once again. My eyes floated over the room, and on Chris whose brow was furrowed in the climax of the story. My eyes drifted closed. A sudden tired wave mauled over me, and I was asleep.

I woke up I don't know how long I was sleeping but Johnny Cash was now on the radio, and I was looking at the back of my eyelids. I was on my stomach, and I had felt this weight on my back.

I opened my eyes, and Chris' face was inches from mine. He was breathing lightly, and dead in slumber. I tried not to move to wake him. We had both been up early. His arm was lazily thrown on my back. I just slipped my eyes closed and went back to sleep.

"Gordie?" my vision was hazed, but it was now afternoon, and I was on my back looking up. Chris was over me, hand waving in front of my face, the heat was choking me.

"Uh." I grunted.

"Hey." His voice was soft, my vision was staring to clear, I could see an in focus Chambers now.

"What?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes. I wish I could just sleep through the day and be awake for the cool of the night.

"Your mom is calling us for lunch." My mother had warmed up to Chris over the years, not like she was another mother, but to the point where she called him by name and had let him stay for dinner a few nights after studying. I was going to sit up but Chris was still over me, just looking at me.

"Oh, well…" I said looking toward the door. He moved back and was waiting for me to lead the way to the kitchen, which I did.

My mother had fixed us peanut butter sandwiches, and had left for town. We sat at the table in the kitchen eating the sticky substance and washing it down with milk. Chris interpreted the topic of how his mother licks up vomit, "Gordie you've got some peanut butter on your face."

"Where?"

"Your face."

"I know dumb ass where on my face."

Chris pointed to the corner on his own mouth, I wiped both corners of my mouth. It was still there. "Did I get it?"

"No."

"Well where is it?"

Chris leaned over with his napkin and wiped it away. We locked eyes, like we did when being serious, it was uncomfortable, and I looked away first. He recoiled his arm and looked down at his empty plate. "What to go for a walk?"

I cleared the dishes away, putting them in the sink for my mom, she won't appreciate it, but she'd expect it.

We left my house, and followed the dirt path back into the woods behind the house, Chris had said, "Why go through town like we always do, that's boring." The path behind my house was over grown with grass and fern plants. The trees stood crooked and solemn making the summer sun dim. The walkway was narrow, but it was still big enough for us to walk side by side. He was my arms length away. "Our last summer." I sighed thinking about it, the last summer before we graduated, before we went off to college, before we left Castle Rock.

"Yeah, I can wait to get out." Chris said with excitement in his voice. He always said that if he stayed in town people would think of him as an adult the same way they viewed him as a kid, one of them no good Chambers kids.

It was hard to believe everything we had been through. "Yeah, getting out of this town."

"Getting away from these people."

"Going to college, having a lot of girlfriends."

Chris laughed at my remark, "We'll be ladies men!"

"Yes we will! A different girlfriend every week." Something about that sounded hollow but we kept laughing. We were deep in the forest now and Chris was closer to me, not even three inches away. Was the path getting smaller?

Our chuckles subsided it was now quiet. Chris had stopped, "Gordie?"

"Yeah?" I kept walking turning my neck to look at him. He stood perfectly still, I could now feel the heat of the day, it was thick and setting in. I stopped and turned to face him when he didn't say anything.

"I wanted to…" Before I knew it he had knocked me to the ground and the only think running through my mind was what had gotten into Christopher Chambers.