We'll Meet Again - REDDIE

➵ chapter one

Everyone in Derry despised Sonia Kaspbrak.

Sonia was the stereotypical grumpy old lady, but she wasn't even old. She was only in her forties. Well, no one really knew exactly what her age was, but they assumed it was somewhere around there.

Point is, she was terrible. When kids biked too close to her house, she shouted at them to go away. When she went into stores, she always cut to the front of the line, insisting she needed to get home, or something terrible would happen. No one knew why she needed to go home. It wasn't like she had anyone to go home to. Maybe she had a cat or something.

Her favorite targets were the Losers Club. She despised them, and they despised her back. All six of them.

And so, just past midnight on a cold winter night of 1989, as the Losers played truth or dare, Richie Tozier was dared to break into the Kaspbrak house.

"Oh, come on, don't you guys think this is a bit... I don't know, excessive?" Mike said worriedly. "I mean, yeah, we all hate her, but breaking into her house? Maybe we should stick with ding-dong-ditching her."

Richie snorted. "Oh, come on, Mikey. She's not even here! What could go wrong?"

"So many things could go wrong," Ben pointed out as the Losers approached Sonia's house. "What if she has security cameras? What if we die?"

"We're not gonna die, Ben, don't worry," Beverly said, grabbing Ben's hand and squeezing it. "We're only pulling a little prank on good old Mrs. K, just like we've done millions of times before."

Ben nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Stan sighed. "I stand with Mike on this one. This is a terrible idea."

"W-We'll be f-f-fine, S-Stan." Bill smiled at Stan, then turned to Richie as the Losers stopped in front of Sonia's house. "H-How are you gonna g-get in?"

Richie pointed to the left side of the house. "There's a window around that corner. It's always closed, but never locked for some reason. I'll sneak through there, that way no alarms will go off." Richie looked into the driveway and laughed. "And look at that! She's not even here! It's perfect, guys. She's practically begging us to break in."

Richie climbed up the tree next to the window, ignoring Stan's comments of how stupid he looked and how he was gonna face-plant, then pushed the window open and slid inside.

The room was pitch black, so he had no idea where he was, but he could just barely see what looked like a bed and a desk, so he assumed it was a bedroom. Although, it looked like a child's bedroom, and as far as Richie knew, Sonia Kaspbrak had no kids.

He grinned and turned back to the window, pushing it open further.

"C'mon up, it's just an extra bedroom!"

As the rest of the Losers climbed the tree outside the window, Richie walked around the room, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. After inspecting all of the decorations and books on the shelves, Richie walked over to the bed and flopped down on it, just as Beverly was coming in through the window.

But before Richie could complain about how uncomfortable the bed was, he felt something move beneath him and heard a squeak. He yelped and jumped up, hiding behind Beverly.

"What? What happened, Richie?" Beverly asked, pulling Richie out from behind her.

"There's something in the bed," Richie whispered.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Richie, you said no one was home!" Stan whisper-yelled as he climbed through the window.

"Well obviously I didn't know someone was here, Stanley!"