RAPTURE ! ( it )

six.

RAPTURE !

006. ' who's rectum cream is this? '

"THIS KID IS BASICALLY LEAKING HAMBURGER HELPER, YOU KNOW," Richie remarked loudly as the six of them rode down the street that entered their provincial town.

Ben, who was poised on the back of Bill's bicycle, mindfully placed a hand to his blood-soused tee-shirt with an uneasy glance at Richie.

"You just had to say that?" Amelia called from the rear of their cluster, throwing a nasty look of her own at Richie with a shake of her head.

"Hey, I was only informing all of you how horrible his situation is!" Richie proclaimed loudly with a minimal shrug.

She merely rolled her eyes as they advanced towards a scanty alley that was positioned outside the town's pharmacy. As quickly as she had veered into the shadowed lane, Amelia had toppled off her bicycle to go and assist the wounded boy as Bill gently pedaled into the alley himself.

"What if one of us get AIDS from helping him?" Eddie abruptly fretted the moment he saw Amelia aiding Ben off the bicycle's rear, "It's a huge possibility. Is anyone aware of how to, uh, amputate a waist?"

"It hasn't even been an hour and you're already bitching about another thing," Richie stated harshly as he flung his own bike against the building's brick wall.

"Says the one who can't go two minutes without saying something dirty," Eddie remarked in return as he set the boy with an infuriated glare.

As Eddie and Richie disputed behind them, Amelia glanced at Bill and Stan from where she had laid Ben on a collection of boards, "Do you think you two can go to the pharmacy and purchase the supplies we need?"

"We would want Eddie for that, though," Stan murmured while casting a sidelong glimpse to the squabbling boy at the opening of the alley.

"It's common sense, Stan," Amelia exhaled with a sag of her shoulders, "Bandages or gauze, disinfectant, alcohol pads, and perhaps some medical gloves."

The two boys before her gawked in return to her rattling off of medical supplies.

"I'm best friends with a hypochondriac, what did you assume?" she mumbled while angling her chin into her hand. Bill and Stan shift their wide-eyed gazes to one another in uncertainty. "Do I need to come with you two?"

"I'll actually stay here with Ben," Stan retorted briskly and Bill's shoulders drooped in defeat. "Someone has to."

Nodding, Amelia rose from the wood boards and whispered a reassurance of a swift return to Ben, who had grown clammier since their initial encounter. The wounded boy's mouth upturned into a tiny smile in which she mirrored before starting into the direction of the alley's opening. Bill trailed after her in trudges that resounded on the brick walls encompassing them.

As the pair began to reach Eddie and Richie, their dispute abruptly halted as Eddie swung his head to stare at them, "What are you doing?"

"G-Getting supplies f-for Ben's w-wound," Bill responded simply while halting at Amelia's side and peering over at Eddie.

"I'll come with you," Eddie stated too quickly and scrambled away from Richie, who rolled his eyes and departed towards the stack of boards at the rear of the alley.

Proceeding on around the corner, the three of them braced open the pharmacy doors that clanged in greeting as they yawned wide. The cashier scarcely spared a glance at the tip of her magazine as the three kids wandered down the medical supplies aisle.