atelophobia ↠ e. kaspbrak | ✓

Chapter Four

What happened after that was a blur of pure chaotic panic.

I squeezed through the balloons as quickly as I could, cringing continuously at the noise of latex rubbing on latex. I had to convince myself I was still breathing as I took off out of my room and down the stairs, racing by Tyler and his oblivion.

Next thing I knew I was on Neibolt street, kicking up dust and refined pebbles as I sprinted past the gospel church.

I took a small second to glance behind me, barreling right into someone in the process.

My body jolted backwards at the amount of force in the collision and I tumbled into gritty dirt.

A few groans of pain were exchanged before I felt a hand grab my arm and attempt to pull me up. I used my other arm to give some momentum and soon, I was on my feet, brushing my knees off.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you. I hope you're ok." He managed out, shooting me a concerned look.

     It took me a second to compose myself before I responded, "don't worry about it. I'm fine. I shouldn't have been running that fast anyway. I just got a little startled and kind of took off."

     He nodded as an uncomfortable silence fell in between us.

"Anyways uh- I'm Rose." I spoke up, awkwardly sticking my hand out to shake.

"Eddie." He replied, a wide grin spread across his face as he shook my hand.

"Um- are you sure you're okay?" The small boy questioned, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Fine. Thanks." I slowly reassured, nodding at him reluctantly. "Do you mind if I walk with you?"

He shook his head vigorously in response.

     Another long silence fell between us, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest as we began to walk down the street together, the sounds of our worn chuck taylors gritting against the refined gravel of Neibolt street. All of a sudden, his watch went off, beeping loudly and interrupting the silence. He automatically stopped walking and began to fumble around in the fanny pack wrapped around his waist.

I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows at him at first until I saw him grab out a daily pill plastic container and realized that he must have some type of condition that required him taking pills at certain times.

He looked up from the container in his hands and shot me a sheepish smile. I could tell he was slightly embarrassed, but I simply gave him a happy smile, letting him know it was okay. He began to blush intensely as he looked back down and pulled out a blue and white pill from the container, holding the tiny thing between his index finger and his thumb. That's when his eyes landed on something behind me and he froze.

Puzzled, I turned around and directed my gaze to the thing he was staring at. It was the dilapidated house at 29 Neibolt. I was still confused as to why he seemed so scared and frozen in place. I mean, sure, the house was trashed. The place had a history of housing more squatters than all of Derry and several rumors had started in the past about how it was supposedly haunted, but it was just a crappy structure with four walls made out of rotting wood to me; I didn't exactly see the supposed scare factor.

That's when I heard it.

The voice I'd been hearing.

Except this time, it was louder; more frightening, if that was even possible.

Oh Rosie... why'd ya have to leave so soon? You aren't a scaredy-cat are ya? The voice cooed, it's voice rising an octave the longer it spoke.

... now that would be a real shame, don't ya think? Tough ol' Rosie is really just a lil' scaredy-cat...

My hands began to shake and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

...I know your fears, Rosie... and I know JUST how to exploit them... every last one...

Tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to bring myself to move, but I felt numb, like I couldn't move even if I wanted to.

Rosie doesn't think she's good enough... because she's really just a worthless nobody that no one cares about... ain't that right, Rosie?

"S-stop... p-please..." I begged, choking back a sob.

Her friends left her because she was too weird... too weird to ever fit in... poor ol' Rosie.. so, very, worthless...

I felt as if I was in a daze, as if the voice's taunting was pulling me into a trance. I wanted to scream, but nothing would come out.

But Rosie's biggest fear is that she knows it.. she knows she'll never be good enough to deserve it... never good enough to deserve people that truly love her... never good enough to deserve a happy life... never good enough to deserve anything... never good enough..

The world felt like it started into slow motion and in an instant,

Everything went white.