Bichie

Beginnings

Bill tightened his grip on his backpack, walking around at this hour always seemed dangerous. Yet he promised his mom he'd retrieve a few books from her from Derry's local library. As he quickly made his way across the street, he heard a distant yell. With his curiosity getting the best of him, he decided to check it out. He switched his direction and began to head toward where his school building was. As he got closer, the voices got louder and more comprehensible.

"You're just doing this because... Because you..." the unfamiliar voice shouted before getting cut off. Bill shuttered as he heard the other voice, of all the people in Derry it had to be Henry Bowers and his gang. They seemed to be shouting something back, even as he neared their voices all merged together and sounded like a pack of angry dogs barking.

Bill remained still and quiet. Hiding from where he assumed the crime was taking place. As he squatted behind a garbage can, he could have sworn he heard crying. That's when the engine of a car could be heard, and Bowers and his crew's car rushed by. They obviously hadn't seen Bill hiding, otherwise he'd face the same fate as this other kid. Slowly he stood up from his hiding spot and began to head around the side of the school.

Sitting on the sidewalk sat a boy, his forest of brown locks disheveled and his baby blue shirt ripped down by his side.Bright red blood seeped through the tear. Whatever Bowers did to him must have been bad, because he had his head resting on his knees, which were tightly hugged to his body. He was shaking slightly, and the occasional sob could be heard.

Slowly Bill crept toward the shaking figure. The boy seemed so fragile and broken that it physically hurt Bill to see him. He breathed out slowly as he approached him.

"Hey..." Bill called quietly, he thanked God that his stutter wasn't acting up at the moment. Slowly, the strange boy looked up. A line of crimson red blood trickled down his nose, and tears ran down his rosy cheeks. The left eye was clearly swollen from being punched. His eyes were wide with fear as he saw Bill, and he began to back away slowly.

"Y-Your okay..." Bill said soothingly, "I wo-won't hu-hu-hurt you..." he stuttered. This caused the boy to stop from fleeing and look at Bill confused. He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and the blood from his nose.

"I'm fine." He barked defensively, but it wasn't hard to hear his voice breaking. "Just... Leave me here..." he grumbled as he looked away. Bill looked at him pitifully as he approached the injured boy. He slowly sat down beside him.

The two boys sat next to each other in silence for a minute, the only sound to be heard was the bloodied boy's quiet sniffling. Neither of them were sure on what to say, and for once Bill wasn't the only one searching for words.

"Wh-Wh-Who are you?" Bill asked gently, he felt so worried for some stranger he doubted he ever even met.

"Richie Tozier." Richie stated quickly, he wiped the blood from his nose again. It left a bright red stain on his arm, but he couldn't care less.

"O-Oh. I'm B-B-Bill Denbrough," Bill responded. He wasn't sure what else he could say. "Le-Let's go get yo-you help.." the boy mumbled. Speaking seemed to be getting harder by the second. He wasn't sure why he was so concerned over the wellbeing of this stranger. He slowly heaved himself to his feet and offered a hand down to Richie. Richie simply stared at his hand before pulling himself up to stand next to Bill. He wrapped his arms around himself as he shuttered. He seemed to think if he let go of himself he would completely fall apart. Slowly they began to head away from behind the school.

"Holy shit!" Richie yelped loudly after walking only a few feet. Bill quickly turned to look at Richie, his eyes wide with concern.

"I lost my glasses!" he cried, instantly he threw himself to the ground and began to feel around. Bill tried not to laugh at how stupid he looked crawling around the floor and reached down to help him search. In a tall patch of grass he picked up a thick rimmed pair of glasses, the left side had it's glass severely cracked, he must have been wearing them when he got hit. He picked them up and walked back over to Richie.

"Here..." He gently placed them onto Richie's face. Richie blinked slowly as his vision came into focus. His face heated up as he noticed just how close Bill was to his face. It was fine though; after all, he wasn't gay. He adjusted them with his own hand before smiling slightly.

"Thank you..." Richie mumbled before shoving his hands into his front pockets and stepping back slightly. Bill nodded and began to walk again, slowly of course, so that Richie could keep up.

As they reached Bill's house, Richie could hardly walk. The blood that had been leaking from his side had gotten worse. Things were even worse because the two hardly talked the whole journey, so now Richie was nervous on top of bleeding to death. As Bill opened the door, Richie held his breath, he was afraid of how much trouble Bill would be in for bringing home a stranger. Yet no one seemed to speak up as they made their way through the living room to the kitchen.

"Wa-Wait here." Bill instructed before turning and rushing off toward what Richie only assumed to be the bathroom. He quickly returned with a first aid kit. He set it on the blue counter top and looked at Richie expectantly. Richie looked at Bill confused for a second. Bill sighed, he didn't want Richie to judge him for his stutter, it was rare that he found anyone to actually talk to him. He just sighed and picked Richie up and placed him onto the counter top. Richie looked at Bill dumbfounded, but just chuckled slightly.

"You sure your rent's wont mind having a piece of shit sit on your counter?" Richie asked with a slight chuckle. Bill just laughed slightly and shrugged before opening the kit. He pulled out rubbing alcohol that he only assumed would help. He poured some onto a cotton ball and pulled up the portion of Richie's shirt where the blood was coming from.

At first the liquid just felt cold, but within seconds it started to burn. Richie yelped and shoved Bill's hand away fast.

"Holy shit!! A little warning would have been nice asshole!" Richie whined, as he tugged his shirt back down. He tried to keep himself from crying again, the situation was already embarrassing enough.

Bill just chuckled again and pulled out a bandaid. He gently placed it over the wound and patted it slightly to keep it in place.

"First off, why the hell do you have puppy bandaids? " Richie sneered. Bill looked at the box of bandaids and shrugged. They were for his brother, who did end up getting hurt the most in the family.

"Secondly, why aren't you talking anymore? Do you just not talk when you're around handsome guys? Because if so I totally understand," Richie boasted, he seemed to finally be cheering up again. Bill just bit his tongue before speaking up again.

"I-I ha-ha-have a st-stutter..." Bill admitted, "Yoh-You prob-probably noticed by now th-though..." he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Bowers always called him names and mocked him, most kids did. Now that Richie was back to normal it wouldn't be unlikely for him to do it too. But Richie just laughed.

"Yeah. No shit dude. I don't care though-" he smiled down at Bill, and Bill smiled right back. Richie tried to keep his breathing steady, this random stranger who saved him from getting his ass kicked also happened to be the cutest guy he'd ever seen.

"Thank's for saving me..." Richie added softly, Bill smiled gently and nodded. And suddenly, Derry Maine didn't feel so lonely.