atelophobia ↠ e. kaspbrak | ✓

Chapter Six

It had been exactly four hours since my encounter with the voice.

I had walked home from what I learned to be Bill's garage and managed to safely make it past a dozing Tyler on the living room recliner, who was completely unaware of my four hour disappearance. Seeing as he had practically ignored me during the scenario before I left, I really wasn't surprised to see him not even phased that I randomly bolted out of the house and didn't come back for a while.

If anything I was more concerned about the town curfew. Leaving Bill's garage, I had checked my watch and noticed it was 6:30 PM. Only thirty minutes 'till seven, the time of the curfew. I had gotten home with only a few minutes to spare.

Hardly noticing the vanishing of the red balloons, I had quickly went and brushed my teeth then went back to my room, yanking my socks and shoes off before crawling underneath the covers of my bed, ready to be done with the lengthy and strange day. I had had no interest in eating dinner due to my weird encounter with the voice that had ruined my appetite and I could have cared less that it was only seven at night.

June 1st, Saturday, 9:00 AM || The First Day Of Summer Vacation

I awoke with a tired groan, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes weakly. My hand instinctively flew over to my nightstand and I groped around until my fingers brushed up against the edge of a bottle. I grabbed it and pulled it over towards me, squinting to read the label on the side. Melatonin. I sighed. The bottle was empty. I forgot to go get more yesterday. No wonder I slept like utter crap last night.

I reached over and set the empty pill bottle back onto the nightstand before grabbing what I had been looking for in the first place, my glasses.

     With another tired groan, I extended out my body against the length of my bed, stretching out my achy limbs. The action pushed my stark white sheets back slightly and I pushed them the rest of the way back before swinging my legs off the side of my bed and standing. The wooden floorboards creaked in protest, but I ignored the obnoxious sound.

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     I made my way downstairs, absentmindedly rolling up the sleeves to my worn, purple and grey flannel, stopping the process just below my elbows. As I made my way into the kitchen, my eyes trailed towards a piece of paper set on the counter.

     Already at work. Had an early shift. Gonna be working a late shift too, so if you get hungry then just make something from in the cabinets. You're a decent enough cook, so I trust you. Have a good day, Ro, and don't get into too much trouble.

Love you, Ty

     I sighed. Tyler was just lucky that he didn't get some irresponsible little punk as a younger sibling because he'd be so screwed. Don't get me wrong, I have my immature moments, but at least I'm not as bad as Henry Bowers. Frankly, I don't think his dad even gives a crap about what his son does at all. Then again, rumors had gone around that his dad was just as much of a jerk as Henry himself, so it might actually make sense as to why the kid is a total d-bag.

     Gently tossing the note to the side, I pulled open the kitchen cabinet and grabbed out a bowl and a box of cereal. I went and got milk from the fridge before opening both up and pouring them in at the same time. Whirling around, I yanked open the utensils drawer and grabbed a spoon before spinning back around and plopping down into one of the kitchen chairs.

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     I strode along the sidewalk, whistling a random Debbie Gibson song when my eyes fell on Center Street Drug Store. Perfect. The walk didn't take me near as long as I thought. I approached the glass door and reached out my hand to pull it open when another hand jutted out from behind me and grabbed the handle first.

     "Excuse me, I appreciate the gesture, but I can open my own doors. Or are you just rude?" I spat out, whirling around and coming face to face with Eddie.

     "S-sorry. I just thought I'd get it for you, but if you wanna open it yourself that's f-fine." He stammered nervously, quickly letting go of the door handle.

     "Oh! Um- you're good. Don't worry about it." I replied sheepishly, embarrassed that I'd snapped at someone who was just being nice.

     "Okay." He said, smiling happily.

     A long, awkward pause resonated between us before he finally spoke up, "hey, uh- do you maybe wanna go with me and my friends to the quarry later? Bill and Richie will be there, so you'll know more than just me, I guess. They're really friendly, I promise... but I mean, it's totally cool if you don't want to go."

     "No, that sounds nice. I'd love to go." I stated, a grin beginning to tug at my lips.

     "Alright. I'd meet you at your house, but I don't know where you live, um- so I hope you don't mind meeting us there. We'll be there at like, two o'clock." He informed, glancing at his watch.

    "Sounds good. See you there."

     "See ya."

This was such a fluffy chapter, that's why it took so long for me to update, so I'm sorry about that!