She's back in town // Chris Chambers

12

We talked into the night, none of us mentioned the Ray Brower story but we were a thinking about him. We eventually got tired and ended up going to sleep, we all felt the temperature drop.

"Ugh, anyone else cold now?" Gordie asked, sitting up. "Yeah, sincerely" Vern sat up too.
I sat up too and rubbed my eyes, "yeah, the temperature dropped for a real one." They all nodded their heads, "what do we do?" Chris asked.

I shrugged, "we'll just keep the fire going, I'll keep an eye on it" I laid back down, I probably wasn't gonna sleep anyway.

"Good idea" Gordie laid back down too. "I'll keep an eye on it too" Chris rubbed his eyes and laid back down. I shrugged and smiled, he returned it.

I wasn't fully asleep I was just resting my eyes. (My dad says that all the time LOL) All the guys went back to sleep, until we heard what sounded like someone screaming or howling.

Everyone jumped up, "Omg!" Vern yelled out in fear. "It's that Brower kid. His ghost's out walking in the woods" Teddy joked. Vern closed his eyes and put his hands together, was he praying?

"I promise I'll hawk no more dirty books. I promise I won't say no more bad words. I promise I'll eat all my lima beans"... yup, he was.

"What is it, Chris?" Gordie asked.

"Maybe it's coyotes" he answered looking around us, gun in hand. "It sounds like a woman screaming" Gordie looked around the woods, I shook my head in agreement, "it's not coyotes, it's his ghost" Teddy said, standing up and walking around. "Teddy, sit your ass back down" I growled at him.

"I'm gonna look for it, I wanna see what it looks like!"

"Don't say that!" Vern called out, he looked like he was about shit his pants. "Maybe we should stand guard." Vern suggested. "Yeah, that's a good idea" I agreed. "Gimme the gun, I take the first watch" Teddy put his hand out to Chris.

Who in the right mind would give Teddy Duchamp a loaded gun... good thing we're not in the right mind. He stood next to tree making shooting sounds with his mouth and talking to himself.

"Shut up, Teddy and keep you eyes peeled" Chris complained. He just kept going, "Hey, Teddy, cut it out! Before I slap you like I slapped Vern!" I yelled at him.

They all had their turns, Teddy, Gordie, Chris, Vern, then me. I was asleep next to Chris, we were farther apart when we fell asleep but we were closer now. I heard some footsteps by my head, only to open my eyes and see a gun dangling down in front of my face.

I pushed it away, "Jesus Vern, this bitch is loaded you know" I grabbed the gun from his hand, walking over to the tree. Vern just shrugged and got in his sleeping bag.

I walked around the tree in circles a couple times, looking at my shoes. I would occasionally look up to see if there were any like animals or sum shit.

I was getting bored so I sat down, leaning on the tree. I grabbed a Winston from my back pocket and lit it. I leaned my head back on the tree, looking up at the sky.

I looked back down at the gun, let's just say I'm not in the right state of mind to be holding a gun either. I wouldn't do anything but I think about it a lot you know?

Like, I have a loaded gun in my hand right now. One shot to the head and it's all over. No more pain, no more suffering, no more dad.

But what stops me is more important, Chris, Gordie, Vern and Teddy. These guys may seem like complete idiots and bad kids as others would describe us but in reality, they're like family.