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

Epilogue

     As time went on, we saw less and less of Teddy and Vern. They eventually just became two faces in the halls. I missed them, I'm not gonna lie. Teddy could be a real pain in the ass, but he and Vern were both like brothers to me. Well, they used to be.

     The last time I saw either of them was at our high school graduation. I was standing beside Chris, my boyfriend of six years, having been sorted into alphabetical order. Teddy was a few students down, while Gordie and Vern were closer to the end of the row. I looked back nervously, only to see that Gordie was grinning, giving me two thumbs up. I silently laughed, nudging Chris to look as well.
     I caught Teddy's eye as he scanned the room. I shot him a kind smile, and it took him a moment, but he sent back his crooked grin.
     I felt Chris grasp my hand as Mr. Tubman, the principal, kept calling kids up to receive their diploma, now beginning with the C's.
     Caldwell, Campbell, Casselman.
     With each name, I could feel Chris grip my hand tighter, his hand sweating. I placed my other hand on top of ours and rubbed slow circles on his with my thumb.
     Cavendish, Chaloner, Chamberlain. Chris was next.
     "Christopher Chambers," Mr. Tubman said clearly, holding out a piece of paper. Chris was frozen in place, so I pried my hand from his and give him a slight push. He snapped out of it and ascended the steps, walking across the stage to meet Mr. Tubman.
     He wiped his hand on his pants before shaking Mr. Tubman's hand and accepting his diploma. He was smiling the whole time; he never thought he'd make it that far. But I knew he could. He descended the stairs on the other side of the stage, joining the rest of the graduates.
     My name was called next, so I put a smile on my face and straightened my back, going over to the man with a huge gut and very little hair, whom I was happy to call my principal. He was fair and didn't seem to care what side of town you came from.
     He handed me my diploma, shaking my hand firmly. I looked out at the crowd of people, seeing my father sitting in an aisle seat, not far from the stage. He grinned proudly as his only daughter graduated.
     I went over to the other graduates, immediately feeling Chris grasp my hand again.
     "We did it, Liza," he whispered, pulling my hand up to kiss my knuckles, "We did it."
     "I knew we would," I told him, going up on my toes to kiss his cheek. He smiled warmly, released my hand and pulled me into a one-armed hug, kissing my temple.
     Together we watched Teddy, Gordie, and finally, Vern, accept their diplomas and graduate. Even though we weren't friends with Teddy and Vern anymore, I was so proud of them.

     I heard that Vern got married out of high school. He and his wife have four kids and he's now the forklift operator at the Arsenault Lumber Yard.
     Teddy tried several times to get into the army, but his eyes and ear kept him out. Last I'd heard, he'd spent some time in jail and was now working odd jobs around Castle Rock.

     My dad died when I was eighteen. Two days after graduation, actually. His car was hit by a drunk driver. He was dead before the ambulance even arrived. After that, Chris and I left Castle Rock. Neither of us had family to stay for, since his didn't give a damn about him. 
     We both went to Portland College. He went to become a lawyer and I to become a nurse.
     Throughout college, Gordie, Chris, and I remained close friends. Gordie got married, had a son, and became a writer, just like Chris and I had said he would.
     The only reason we didn't completely let go of Castle Rock was Gordie. He stayed, and we weren't going to completely abandon him after all we had been through. We made sure that we went to visit him when our schedules worked out. 
     Chris and I continued to date throughout college, and when we graduated from Portland, he proposed. He didn't have the money for a ring, so he gave me his mother's, one of the only things he brought with him from Castle Rock. It was meant to be temporary until he could save up the money for a new ring, but every day I wore it, I fell more in love with it. Eventually, we decided that we would stick with it. 
     I got a job at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland and he worked local cases to earn enough to support ourselves and pay for the wedding. It took a while, but after three long years, we got married at our house in Portland on Valentine's Day. Gordie and his family drove out for the event, but they were the only ones from outside of Portland. All the other guests were friends we had made in college or at work.

    I set the newspaper back on the table, looking down at my well rounded stomach. I was six months pregnant. Chris and I had found out about a month and a half after our twelfth wedding anniversary.
     I opened my purse and took out a photograph. It had been taken in the summer, about two months before Chris was killed. He was sitting outside on the grass and his hair, now much longer than when were kids, was ruffled in the afternoon breeze. A little girl was on his lap. She was our four year old daughter, Aurora May Chambers. She was the spitting image of me, with her chestnut brown ringlets and her bright green eyes. The picture had been taken while they were laughing, so their mouths were partially open and the corners of their lips were turned up. Beside Chris, I sat, smiling as my nine year old son, Alexander Gordon Chambers stood behind me, his arms wrapped around my collar bones. He was grinning, showing off the empty space where his front tooth had been. He was a mini Chris; both had even grown their hair out. He had the same crystal blue green eyes and soft facial features as his father.
     I clenched my eyes closed for a moment, taking a deep breath in and letting it out. I put the photo away and stood up, throwing away the remainder of my tea. Making my way over to the payphones, I took out a nickel and dialed the familiar number, hearing it ring after I was finished.
     "Hello?" A male voice said on the other line. He sounded as if he had been crying.
     "Hey Gordie," I greeted, "I'm guessing you saw the paper."
     I heard a sniff on the other end, "Yeah I did," he told me.
     Any normal person would have said something along the lines of 'I'm so sorry for your loss', but this was Gordie. He told me once, not long after Denny had died, that he never understood why people said that. It didn't fix anything and they had nothing to do with his death, so why were they apologizing? I understood him; I felt the same way when people said that to me at Mom's funeral.
     "How are you doing?" I asked, shuffling my feet in the small booth.
     "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" he said.
     "I have a feeling our answers aren't too different, so I guess it really doesn't matter who says it first," I replied, wiping my face as I felt a warm tear roll down my cheek.
     "I guess you're right," he told me.
     It was silently agreed right then that we both had lost someone that was inexplicably important to us. He had lost a brother and I had lost a husband, but we had both lost our best friend.

     Three months later, I gave birth to a baby boy. I named him Michael Christopher Chambers. He had my curly brown locks, but Chris's kind face and blue green eyes.
     All three of our children grew up well. None of them were burdened by the weight of reputation like Chris was. I did my best to support them. Shortly after Michael turned five, I retired, deciding that my job took me away from my kids. Instead, I began to paint. I had always loved art, but never had the courage like Gordie to actually pursue my dream job.
     As it was, I only did it because I knew I was financially stable. I had enough money saved so I could support the kids if my career as an artist never took off.
     Luckily, it did. I wasn't Picasso or Monet, but I made a living and was able to put Alex, Aurora, and Michael through University. Alex became a writer like his god-father, Gordie, Aurora ran her own little trinket store, and Michael became a lawyer like his father.
     I never married again, but I was never lonely; I had my three beautiful children and my best friend, no matter how old we all got or how far away they were.