35The young aged woman stepped out the back door, wrapped up in only a white bathrobe. Bare feet pressed against the dark wooden deck, a cup of coffee in hand. The sky was clear, revealing tiny bright stars to contrast against the black night. A half moon shone, illuminating the tops of trees and lampposts. The time was 1:05, way early to be awake on a Saturday morning. But she couldn't sleep, and had slipped out from her husband's arms to breath in the warm air of summer. A light breeze blew through her straight black shoulder length hair, causing a few pieces to tickle her face.
Unable to help herself, her mind wandered back to that summer where her whole life changed. The year was 1959, and it all began, with a tree house, and a card game.
"GOD DAMMIT!"
Ignoring my father's slurred cry, I jumped out the window, falling about twenty feet before landing hard on my side. Christopher, my twin brother was running up ahead of me screaming to get a move on. That's right, you guessed it; Chris and I hid Dad's stash of alcohol the night before and the consequences were about to dump all over our heads if we didn't start moving.
I hauled my ass off the dry summer grass and ran, my toes millimeters away from nipping at Chris's heels. It was at that moment I was thankful for wearing a pair of my brother's jeans. We ran through and out of town, dodging ole' Ace and his gang before skidding to a halt up on a hill. The hill was covered in dried-up grass and bushes, looking out over Castle Rock. Looming over our heads was a tree with a thick trunk, its branches thick enough to hold a tree house.
Our tree house.
I climbed up the wooden ladder and reached up, knocking my knuckles against the latch just above me. Knock-knock-knock-knock. Knock-knock. Knock-knock-knock. A fervent shuffling sound could be heard before the latch opened up. A head with thick, black-rimmed glasses and chin poked out. "Hey'a Tess. Chris." Teddy Duchamp cried gleefully and hauled us up. Teddy was crazy, had a laugh that sounded like a baby hyena, and always acted recklessly. His father was mentally unstable, and would throw into random acts of rage before calming down again. Once he even held Teddy's ear to a stove, almost burning it off. The scars were still there, his left ear thinner than his right. He was practically blind, (a bit of an exaggeration), half deaf even.
Once everyone was settled, a tiny table was set upon the now-closed latch. Chris took out a deck of cards that had been rolled up in his white t-shirt sleeve and dealt them out for the game 31. We argued over who was going to go first before the secret knock was heard under our asses.
Lifting up the card table, I pulled the latch open, peering down at the face of Gordon Lachance. A smile I couldn't conceal spread across my lips. "Get your ass up here, Gordie." I smirked and pulled him up. "Come on, deal him in," I said, grabbing some cards and handing them over to our newcomer.
Gordie was lean, had dark brunette hair, which looked light in the sun, and was always combed neatly to the side. He was intelligent, loved to write, and just lost his brother about four months ago. I felt bad for him, real bad, not because his famous football star of a brother passed away, but because his parents were shit. They didn't care one bit about him, they didn't even pay attention when he spoke to them, especially his father. He said all his father did these days was compare him to Denny.
I guess the only escape Gordie had was us.
"Hey," Chris said, bumping me out of my thoughts. "How do you know if a Frenchman's been in your backyard?"
Teddy scowled, cigarette between his teeth. "Hey I'm French, okay?" he said, pulling at the collar of is loose dark green t-shirt, before going back to his cards.
But my dear twin just ignored his friend's protest. "Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant." I snorted, flicking a piece of dirt at his head. To my annoyance, he ducked, laughing with Gordie.
Teddy wasn't so amused. "Didn't I just say I was French?" he demanded a little louder.
"I knock." Chris smirked.
"Shit."
"Twenty-nine." Chris drawled.
"Twenty-five."
"Twenty-two."
Gordie shouted in disgust. "Piss up a rope." Brushing off the rest of our laughs he went to go sit and read a magazine.
Teddy was still cackling. "Gordie's out! Ole' Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door!" Duchamp's nose crinkled, his eyes squinting, filled with laughter.
"Dude," I said in Gordie's defense, my tone dry."You laugh like a hyena, know that?"
He kept laughing.
Chris tapped the table with impatience. "Come on man, deal." Teddy dealt the cards, snorting.
"Hey Theresa," he giggled.
I scoffed. "What?"
"Stopped wrapping your tits yet?" everyone laughed, and I felt warmth creep up my neck. When you hang out with four boys, and you're the only girl with them, you tend to cover up any womanly features as possible. But since the year before when wrapping my tits became a useless point, I had indeed stopped.
Thinking quickly, I retorted. "Not for you though."
"Oooh." Chris and Gordie chorused, and Teddy scowled as three of us continued our game.
"I knock."
Chris glared. "You four-eyed pile of shit."
"The pile of shit has a thousand eyes." Teddy drawled, eyes wide.
I caught Chris and Gordie's eyes. We cracked up. Sometimes Teddy had the weirdest comebacks.
"What?" he said, confused. "What's so funny? Come on I've got thirty, what have you got?" he said, focusing back on the game.
"Nineteen."
Chris couldn't stop laughing. "Sixteen," he giggled, head down in embarrassment.
Teddy shook his head in frustration. "Go ahead, keep laughing," he taunted. "You're down to your last ride, pal." He heaved in, then breathed out smoke, as my brother kept laughing.
He and I came from a bad family. They were always drinking, and didn't have a care for us. Even our elder brother, Eyeball we called him, was sick. And I don't mean sick like cool sick. No man, he was one of the most disturbing, sickest, human beings I knew living on planet earth. He was part of ole' Ace's gang, and with his slicked-back black hair and pale skin, he looked tough, fit in right well with the hoods.
My name's Chambers, Theresa Chambers, everyone calls me Tess though. I have Eyeball's raven black hair that reached down passed my shoulders and pale skin. I'm not as bad as people mouth off, but since my family's screwed, and hanging out with these crazy pals, tough reputation spreads real fast around here. Same with Chris, his reputation was worse than mine though, (kudos for being a girl).
He was tough, and sometimes would screw up, but he wasn't like Eyeball, or Dad, or Mom, or even me. He didn't even share Eyeball's and my looks; no he had fair skin and cut short blonde hair like our mother. Since we all had to deal with shit at home, us three kids would take it out on our social lives, and not in the best way possible. Eyeball joined ole' Ace's gang, I took it out on cussing people to hell. But Chris, no, he traded violence and cruelty with peace and tenderness.
It sounds crazy, but he's real tender, especially with the people he's closest to. I see it every time he looks at me, and especially Gordie, like he's so afraid he'll break the thread of friendship. But what's ironic, is the thread of friendship between him and Gordie is as thick as the tree holding us four up.
A fervent knocking came from beneath our feet, once again, jolting me from my thoughts.
Gordie sighed, still reading his magazine. "That's not the secret knock."
"I forgot the secret knock. Lemme in!" A voice yelled from below.
"Vern," we all chorused, and removed the card table.
More yells came from below. "Come on you guys, open up!" Once Vern climbed in, I could tell he was breathing hard, and a peculiar look upon his face. "Oh man! You guys aren't gonna believe this! This is so boss!" Vern said breathless, settling himself on one side of the tree house wall. "Wait'll you hear this! Wait'll you hear this!" He ranted on, way too excited for his own health. "You won't believe it! It's unbelievable!"
We situated ourselves around the latch, leaning in.
"Let me catch my breath," he paused, still hyperventilating. "I ran all the way from my house."
"I ran all the way home," we all sang out, making Vern scowl. "Just to say I'm sorry..."
Vern's scowl deepened. "Come one you guys, listen to me," he whined, but was drowned out by our singing. "Forget it, I don't have to tell you nothin'."
Chris stopped. "Alright, hold on you, hold on." We stopped singing, leaning in again. "What is it man?" he asked as we all faced Vern.
"Okay, great." Vern proceeded. "You won't believe this, I swear. Sincerely."
Since ole' Verno wasn't getting to the point fast enough, we broke into song again. "I ran all the way home..."
"Screw you guys." Vern waved his hand in defeat, still scowling. "Forget it."
We stopped, leaning in again. "What is it?" Chris said.
Vern sighed, then gave us an awkward furrowed brow look. "Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean if..."
My mind blocked out his words, for a moment, reality settling in once more. Oh it was possible alright, to camp out. But my father had been drinking a lot lately, sort of on a mean streak. Which is exactly what my twin explained when Vern asked if he could come.
"I'm surprised he hasn't assaulted me yet," I joked nonchalantly.
"Tess!" I snapped towards Chris, who looked ready to jump me.
I gulped. His eyes narrowed dangerously, a glare so like Dad's.
"Don't you dare say that," he hissed, voice low, pointing straight at me. A warning. "Don't. You. Dare." To break the tension, I just waved him off, but I could tell he wasn't going to let go of my words, yet.
How else was I to cope with the danger? Humor was my forte.
The tree house was filled with silent tension, the kind where if someone didn't break the silence soon, you felt like jumping out of the place.
Surprisingly, Vern was the savior.
"Can you Gordie?" he asked, facing him.
"Yeah. Probably," the handsome boy replied, his chocolate brown eyes not wavering from his magazine.
Teddy, who's patience was filled said, "So what are you pissin' and moanin' about Verno?" But before the poor boy could respond, everyone's focus was back to the card game.
Finally, Vern said his reasons, an eyebrow awkwardly raised. "You guys wanna go see a dead body?"
Those words, unbeknownst to me, changed my life, forever.
Hi, arosequartz here, coming from 2023. I'm reading through each chapter and cleaning up some of the views and portrayals on here. Afterall, I did write this when I was 16, now I'm almost in my mid 20s.
To anyone still reading this, or newcomers, I hope you enjoy!