I Won't Be Afraid Just As Long As You Stand By Me

Chapter 13: Home

     I was the first one up the next morning. I decided to go sit on the tracks, leaving the boys to sleep a little longer.
     It was about six o'clock and the sun, a rich golden colour, had begun to shine over the horizon. I remember when I was a kid, when my parents and I would go camping, Mom would wake us up early so we could watch the sun rise.
     My mother had always been fascinated by nature. My middle name, Aurora, is the Latin word for dawn. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch a full sunrise since she died. It brought back too many memories. But I knew that I had to get over her death; I couldn't let it stop me from doing the things that I once loved to do.
     So there I sat on a rotting tree log, slightly shivering in the cool morning breeze, watching a golden sphere rise higher and higher in a sky of soft orange and pink.
     I hadn't been there even ten minutes when I felt a warm arm drape itself over my shoulder. Chris Chambers sat down beside me on the log, smiling softly towards me. I hadn't even heard him approach.
     "What are you doing up so early?" I asked him, moving closer to him. Lying my in the crook of his neck, I wrapped my arms around his torso.
     "I could ask you the same thing," he replied, rubbing his hand against my arm to warm me up. Despite his words, he answered my question. "I got cold and I realized it was because you weren't beside me anymore."
     We had fallen asleep against the tree where we had guarded the previous night. The only source of warmth we had was each other, since both of our sleeping bags were by the fire where the boys were sleeping.
     I had woke up some time during the night to a chilling wind hitting my body, but I only hugged Chris closer to me, feeling the heat radiate off of him. I had felt him do the same a couple of times, but it never occurred to me that our sleeping bags were a few feet away and it would have been easier to get them.
     The two of us sat in silence for a while. I was still watching the sky, but I could feel him watching me. I turned my head to look at him, seeing that I was right; his kind blue green eyes were staring down at me. I felt my cheeks heat up despite my efforts to stop them from doing so. He grinned down at me and chuckled, making me bury my face into his neck again.
     "We should go wake up the guys," I mumble into his shirt, "We need to get home and I'm starving." I heard him sigh and felt him nod. He pulled both of us to our feet, keeping his arm around my shoulder as we walked back towards where the others were sleeping.
     I kneeled down next to Teddy and shook his shoulders gently. Immediately, he shot up, grabbed my upper arms and pinned me down, my back pressed against the ground. When he saw that it was me, he let me go and got up, offering a hand out to me. I took at and he pulled me up, smiling sheepishly at me.
     "Sorry about that, Liza," he apologized, "Guess I'm still a bit freaked."
     I shrugged, hitting his shoulder lightly with my fist, "Don't sweat it, Teddy. We all are."
     I looked over at Gordie and saw that Chris had already woken him up. They were talking about something quietly, but I couldn't hear them. Oh well, it wasn't any of my business anyway.
     I heard a shriek behind me, making me jump. Turning around to see what had happened, I saw that Teddy had poured the remainder of his canteen onto Vern, successfully waking him up.
     "What was that for?" Vern shouted, jumping to his feet. Teddy was laughing maniacally, thoroughly enjoying himself.
     "We're going home, Vern," I told him, walking over to my unused sleeping bag, beginning to roll it up. I heard Vern's stomach growl.
     "About time," Vern complained, "I'm starving!"
     "We all are, Vern," Chris said, rolling up his sleeping bag as well, "If we hurry up, we should make it before lunch."

     So we began our trek home, our stomachs growling the whole way. Vern kept complaining, so Teddy kept making smart remarks, which caused Vern to get angry, and it usually ended in Chris, Gordie, or I having to calm them down to prevent a fight. Boy, I'll tell ya, we only walked for four and a half hours, but it seemed like a hell of a lot longer.
     It was a little past eleven when we reached Castle Rock. We had only been gone three days, but somehow the town seemed different. Smaller.
     The five of us walked until we made it to Vern and Teddy's road. We all stopped and stood silently for a moment. Vern finally broke the silence, "Well, see you in school."
     "Yeah," the guys eventually said. I nodded.
     "See you in Junior High," I smiled sadly. I knew that the chances were slim, since he would be taking shop classes and I was taking college courses, but I really did hope that we could stay friends. Vern wasn't very bright, but he was a funny guy without meaning to be. He was like a little kid.
     He began to walk away, when he suddenly bent down and picked something up, turning towards us happily as he held it up, "A penny," he smiled innocently. Oh Vern. I grinned as I watched him continue down the road, his figure eventually turning a corner, leaving my sight. We were left in silence once again.
     "Well I better get home before my mom puts me on the 'Ten Most Wanted' list," Teddy said, smiling slightly at all of us. He walked past us, heading the opposite way that Vern did. He stopped and turned around, looking at Chris. "Hey Chris," he paused, "No hard feelings okay?"
     Chris nodded, the corner of his mouth lifting up a bit, "No way man."
     Teddy nodded and turned again, walking off, singing The Ballad of Paladin as he went.
     Only Chris, Gordie, and I were left as we continued on into town. We made it all the way to our tree house before we spoke again.
     "I'm never gonna get out of this town, am I?" Chris asked, staring out across the fields.
     "You can to anything you want, man," Gordie told him.
     "Yeah sure," Chris replied, obviously not agreeing.
     "I don't think there are any limits in life," I said honestly, "The only limits are the ones you set. I believe in you, Chris. You just have to learn how believe in yourself."
     He smiled down at me, pulling me into a one-armed hug. He released me and turned to Gordie, holding out his hand, "Give me some skin."
     "See ya," Gordie nodded at us, smiling sadly. 
     I returned it, "Not if we see you first."
     With one last shared glance, Chris gently took my hand and we turned around, walking away from Gordie. We turned around after a while, only to see that Gordie was still there, smiling at us. We smiled back and waved one last time, turning to continue our way home.