Why Is It Him?

Part 9

"He can't stay mad forever,' she thought as she made her way back to the arcade after picking up some candy for her and her brother. Ruby got herself Charleston Chew and Richie Jelly Belly beans.

After fighting the stupid clown, Richie and Bill blew up at each other. They were all scared, which ended in a fight. She was also scared, but she was smart enough to know that they needed to stick together. Richie didn't want any part of it anymore; he was more scared than her.

Ruby returned to the arcade and saw her brother playing a game with a kid with a bad haircut. Outside of the arcade, she couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw Bowers, Belch, and Victor enter from the other side.

"Shit," she muttered, moving the bags of candy to one hand. The moment she opened the door, she heard Bowers shout at Richie clear as day, calling him a slur that made her freeze.

Richie backed up and ran out, right past her. Ruby looked back once, found her breath, and chased after him. She found her brother on the bench in front of the Paul Buniun statue.

"Richie!" she called, and he looked up at her with red, teary eyes. She sat down next to him and put her arms around him. Growing up, the only thing they ever knew was that they had each other. Their parents couldn't care enough to watch over them after the age of 6 so Ruby found herself waking up at 11 pm because her brother, younger by five minutes, had a nightmare. This was something she knew to do, even if she hadn't had to in a while.

Taylor saw them running while taking a walk down the sidewalk and found them soon enough.
"Hey," she saw how they were, "What happened?" Ruby explained to her what happened.

"He did what?" The tone of her voice made Ruby almost want to take it back. "Where is he?"

"Probably still at the arcade," Ruby answered. Taylor turned on her heels and ran to the area.

She pulled the glass door open and stormed in, she spotted Bowers instantly.

"What brings you here?"
Instead of replying, Taylor grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him out of the arcade and into the alley next to it.

"You got quite the nerve," she said after throwing him on the ground, she kicked him in the side, "Get up." It was like a switch flicked in her. She kicked him again, "I said get up!" Bowers stood up and she wasted no time holding him against the brick wall.

"You're stronger than you look," he commented, the back of his head smacked against the wall.

"You're a piece of shit," she stated back, "I help you out and in return, you hurt my friend?! You called Richie that word?!"

"You mean I stated a fact?" he replied. Taylor socked him in the nose and threw him to the ground once again. She kicked him in the face, if his nose wasn't broken before it was now, and in the back when he rolled over. Her kicks weakened as her anger subsided.

"Touch or hurt any of them again and you'll get worse than this," she promised.

Taylor stomped him in the balls before she left.