Here for each other

The Feeling of Victory

As summer drew on, the air changed in Derry.

The sky blazed in hues of oranges and pinks as dusk approached on yet another August day in the town. Birds chirped gleefully and leaves rustled calmly in the light breeze. The fiery sunset began to fade into subdued shades of purple and blue, signaling the approaching night. Mere days ago this would have meant that the safety of the day was coming to an end. Children would have been shooed inside by either watchful parents or dutiful police officers. Any kid who failed to listen put themselves at a dreadful risk, one that had been harassing Derry citizens for months. Nighttime was a time for fear.

But now as two young boys walked together in the dimming light, neither them nor any adult who saw them felt such fear. The threat was over.

In the eyes of the majority of the town, this meant the threat had been caught. The deranged maniac who had been ripping away their children was discovered. Despite the assumption that the murderer had been an old pervert, no one was truly shocked in hearing that it had been the Bowers kid instead. And in case the killing and mutilation of kids wasn't enough, the nutter had murdered his own father, too. But luckily he had a spot up at Juniper Hill now, the townspeople would say. He wouldn't be hurting anyone ever again, they were certain.

When the news of the psycho's arrest reached a certain group of seven, none quite knew what to say. When Bill told Eddie, both had looked at each other before averting their eyes to the cast on Eddie's arm. They both knew he didn't kill those kids, but they seemed to silently agree that it was best to keep that knowledge hidden. Who would believe the truth in Henry Bowers' defense anyhow? And all seven Losers knew he would have murdered every one of them given the chance. As far as they were concerned, Bowers was exactly where he belonged.

However, this was just icing on the cake for the heroic group. Unlike the rest of the town, they were at ease for another reason. They knew the truth. The threat was gone because they had fought It and defeated It. They had won.

It was this that had encouraged the two boys to take a walk so late at night. They were some of the ones truly responsible for the lifting of the curfew, and perhaps this made them even more excited than most to test their freedom.

So Eddie walked long past seven o'clock, with Richie walking on his left. The pair joked and laughed and bantered as loud as they wanted and no one told them to hurry indoors. Eddie thought it might have been the most freeing thing he'd ever experienced. Their laughter eventually died down and they instead walked in a peaceful quiet. The type of quiet that used to be so rare between him and Richie, but now didn't seem so strange. Eddie thought maybe it was because they had grown somehow, over the course of just that summer. Everything that they had faced - especially that day in the sewers - it had aged them in a way. He didn't feel as much like a kid anymore, and he figured the others felt the same way.

As he mulled over these thoughts, he and Richie walked on, going nowhere in particular. Every once in a while they looked to each other and smiled or cracked a joke. They were close enough that their hands bumped occasionally, but neither were willing to lace their fingers through the others'. Not this publicly, at least. Henry Bowers may be locked up, and the leper gone, but there were plenty of other people who wouldn't react well if they thought something was up. That was another thing he reflected on a lot.

Imagine what Ma would think of me if she knew. If someone saw and told her.

The scary thought flickered through Eddie's mind as his fingers brushed Richie's once again. The anxiety that it produced made his breath quicken, if only slightly.

"Well mah Gawd," Richie hooted in yet another one of his Voices, breaking through Eddie's thinking. "Who woulda thawt we'd make it awl the way across town befo' the stahs was even out."