GHOST - IT [1]

EIGHT.

Jaime felt mentally unstable, but she still took her bike home. The two boys followed her on their own bikes, both of them occasionally sharing anxious glances.

Once they arrived, Jaime got ready for the conversation she knew was approaching. She was going to come clean about Henry and his wrongdoings. But when she opened the door, the house was completely empty. Her father was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" She asked, peering into each room. The two boys followed behind her, confused.

"He put me in this mess, and now he's not even here?" She asked in disbelief, looking to the boys for an answer.

"Maybe he's on a date with a hot girl." Richie suggested with a shrug. "Oh!" His eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. "Probably that hot middle-aged mom who works at the diner! Oh, what I would give to-"

Eddie's eyes grew wide. "Shut it!" He nudged his loud-mouth friend in the side. "Or, more realistically, he was called into work unexpectedly."

Jaime shook her head. "Whatever." She began up the stairs to her room. However, as she was a few steps away from the second floor, her head began to spin. "Shit!" She sunk to her knees, clutching her head in her hands.

"Jay? What's wrong?" Eddie asked frantically, kneeling beside her on the stairs. She rocked back and forth dangerously, her legs teasing to send her rolling down the steps.

"I-I don't know. I just got really dizzy. I think I'm okay." She hesitantly stood up on shaky legs. She continued the trip to her room, now extra cautious.

"Dizzy heads can't be a good sign, Jay. You could be traumatized." Eddie pointed out fearfully.

"Newsflash, Eddie, I am. Bowers just tried to-" She stopped, shaking her head. "Sorry." She opened the door to her room and let the boys inside. They both gawked at her room.

"Hasn't changed a bit." Eddie commented. "Okay, sit down."

Jaime did as told and sat criss-crossed on the bed. Eddie sat across from her, and Richie sat on the floor. Eddie gently used his finger to tilt her chin up towards the ceiling. He then began tending to her cut, making it sting with hydrogen and then putting a bandaid over it.

"Okay, I'm gonna go get a wet cloth to clean the blood. I'll be back." He said before leaving her room. Richie immediately looked up at her.

"Has he done this shit before?"

"Yeah, Eddie probably does stuff like this even when he gets a tiny cut." Jaime shrugged nonchalantly.

"No," Richie shook his head, "has Bowers hurt you like this before?"

"Oh." She looked at the floor, which didn't really help her avoid her gaze with Richie since he was right there, "no, he hasn't. He's just made threats. Something must've set him off today." She admitted quietly.

It was silent in the room for a moment. Then Richie let out a puff of air and said, "well, now I feel like shit for being a piece of shit."

That was probably the closest she'd get to an apology. She didn't know how to respond to the mask he put over his completely penitent mood, so she shrugged right as Eddie returned with a dripping wash cloth.

"So you didn't kill each other." He stated proudly. Richie punched him in the shin. "Ow, okay, sorry!"

He then gently cleaned up the blood on Jaime's skin. Thankfully, the cloth was already dyed red so there was no way to tell blood was staining it. She then looked down her dress. Some blood had even stained her white bra. Great, gotta throw this away. She cursed silently.