the grudge.

E.

the night of, richie fell asleep on eddie on the couch, wentworth leaving with maggie once again after the blowup.

"okay, uh, i don't want to kill the mood, but can we talk about what happened?" stanley spoke up when the room went silent. eddie looked down at richie.

"yeah.. we need to," eddie said, looking back up at the losers.

"i d-don't understand why he didn't just t-tuh-tell us. we're his friends," said bill.

"you can't blame him, though. one, it's a really hard topic to open up about, and two, it's richie. he's not good at opening up in general, and he doesn't like people pitying him," beverly said.

"yes, but he needs to be more open about abuse," mike added. stanley nodded.

"yeah. he lied to bev and i about it, we should've just kept questioning."

"what do you mean?" asked ben.

"in our career class, richie was trying to get into some information about child abuse, and bev and i jumped to conclusions that it was something he was dealing with. but we shook it off after he lied somehow really well, and we shouldn't have," stanley explained.

"but don't feel guilty about it," said mike.

"i know, i just wish he would've told us the truth," stanley sighed.

"i agree," beverly said with a nod.

"he told me," eddie said.

everyone looked at him. "huh?" questioned beverly.

"he came to me all fucked up and beaten the shit out of, and i made him explain what happened. but he did come to me and told me about his situation days ago, he didn't want to go back to his house," eddie explained.

"i'm glad he told someone about it," ben said. "i feel really bad. that must be really hard on him."

"yeah," said stanley with a small sigh.

eventually, everyone else fell asleep, and the next morning they went home. maggie and wentworth returned at about 8:00, an hour off maggie's prediction. richie just stayed in his room until they arrived, ready to talk to maggie.

"where are you going?" richie heard maggie ask.

"i'm just gonna pick some stuff up from the store, empty pantry."

"oh, okay, stay safe, honey, love you!"

"love ya."

'perfect,' richie thought. he heard the front door slam and left his room immediately.

"hi, richie!" maggie said with a grin.

"can i talk to you?"

"oh, sure," she said, her smile dropping. "why? what's up?"

richie and maggie walked to the couch and took their seats, richie taking a deep breath.

"i need to tell you something about dad."

maggie readjusted uncomfortably, leaning in slightly. "go on?"

"mom, dad's been hitting me. bad."

maggie gasped and covered her face with her hands, being brought to tears almost immediately.

"oh my god! what?!" she screamed. tears filled richie's eyes as well.

"yeah."

"oh my god, my baby, are you okay?!" she yelped, crying and cradling richie in a hug. richie couldn't help but cry too.