Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 44: Winds of Change

Bev walks her bike to school Monday morning, deciding to take her time getting there. It's not like she was eager or excited to see anyone.

The late summer air continues to linger as the second week of September begins. Barely a chill to be felt, which was fine as Derry, Maine usually got colder much faster due to it being by the ocean. The sun shines through the slowly changing leaves, creating a tarp of green above her and the warm wind creates various fluttering shadows that cause the sidewalk to appear as if it's moving. A few pieces of trash blow along the street beside her, before getting caught in the grate of the nearby sewer. Bev does her best to ignore the thoughts creeping into her mind. This was Hawkins, not Derry. That IT thing had not followed them and neither had her father.

She reflects on how the rest of her weekend had gone. After the drama of Friday, seeing Jane again and then having Max flip out on both of them, she was glad they were able to resolve it in a good way. They started fresh and that's all she'd wanted. If only her former friends could be so mature and iron out their differences as they did. While she wasn't 100% sure that she and Max were cool, it was better than being actively hated by her. She didn't quite buy the excuse that the other redhead had given her, but whatever. After returning to the cabin, Beverly apologized and left to go home. The girls had clearly planned a sleepover and she didn't want to intrude on that. She said goodbye and said she'd stop by on another day. She then left and went home.

The rest of the weekend meant nothing, smoking in secret behind the shed (her foster parents didn't know about her habit and her older foster brother was always banished to the porch if he wanted to smoke) and homework.

Damian was her foster brother, twenty years old and still living at home. He had no job, no college prospects, and did nothing but smoke or go joyriding on his motorcycle or both. Bev thought that he was kind of cool for having a motorcycle and he even promised to show her how to ride it when she was older. He also bought cigarettes for both of them and snuck them under her door after the parents had fallen asleep. Damian was sympathetic to her, understanding how hard it is to live in a foster home. He was a foster kid as well; his Mom was an addict, in and out of rehab, leaving her unable to properly care for him, and his dad left when he was young. Mr. and Mrs. Michaels had taken him in when he was ten and they were great foster parents. He saw them as his real parents, but it's still difficult living with strangers and adjusting to their rules. Bev had lived with her aunt for a while after the incident with her father over the summer, but then her aunt got transferred because of her job and couldn't take her niece with her. That's when the Michaels offered to take her in. Bev would rather be anywhere than with her father.

...

"You sure you don't want a ride to school Bev?" Damian had asked as she grabbed her lunch from the counter. He sat at the kitchen table, in his boxer shorts, reading the paper's comics.

"Damian, you know the rules about that," Mrs. Michaels had said. "Bev can't even sit on that death trap until she's 16."

"Just trying to be helpful," he put his hands up in surrender.

"Helpful would be finding a job for yourself," Mr. Michaels said, coming into the kitchen, dressed in a suit and tie for the day. He then reached over and grabbed the Help Wanted section to replace the comics in his foster son's hands. "Anthony just called the other day saying that he has one already. He's in Colorado working as a ranger in the national parks."

"You're always comparing me to Anthony. We're not even brothers."

"Maybe not in the traditional sense, but you're still our family." Mrs. Michaels said softly. "Damian, we just want you to be successful."

"No, you want to show blatant favouritism to the oldest son you're always proud of. The first child is the first draft, so they have to work the hardest to achieve success. And she's the youngest and only girl, so you give her all the attention, plus girl power and all that. So that leaves me, by default, the forgotten middle child and the black sheep of our family," Damian said, a little too dramatically. His theatrics had Beverly smiling the entire time.