derry, maine | it imagines ✔️

8. alleyway - eddie kaspbrak

Requested?:
Yes: [✔️] ; by @istoneywrites 's sister
No: []

Song?: No

If someone walked into Derry's pharmacy, they could be sure of seeing one of two people: Eddie or Gabby. Those two kids were almost always in that store. Whether it be for a prescription or hand sanitizer, they seemed to live there.

Never at the same time, however. Eddie and Gabby lived on two different schedules, which never let the two cross paths. A glance at school was all that was ever shared. So strange for them to have never spoken, yet they are placed in the same category: germaphobes.

Eddie always had his two fanny packs on hand filled with wipes, inhalers, and pills, while Gabby carried a small satchel over her shoulder with tissues, sanitizers, and disinfectant spray. They were always prepared for the worst of scenarios when it came to germs and sickness.

It was a surprise to them, however, when they met one day during the summer in the pharmacy. Gabby stood at the counter, handing a five-dollar bill carefully to Mr. Keene, the pharmacist. "Have a good day, Gabby," he told his regular customer. She smiled and walked away with her disinfectant wipes, as Eddie stepped up to Mr. Keene from behind her. He looked over at her, so she gave a small wave to the dark-haired boy, who now sported a clean white cast on his right arm. "Here for your pills, Eddie?"

Gabby exited the pharmacy, shoving her purchase into her satchel. She stopped when she heard a faint voice calling her name. Her blue eyes slowly trailed down the alley she had paused in front of, and she gripped a piece of her dirty blonde hair as she slowly turned and stepped into the alley. "Hello?" she asked quietly. "Who's there?"

"Gabby?" she heard the voice again, still small but rough. Sitting behind a couple of boxes was a small child with piercing green eyes and stringy black hair. Her little nose was red, and her eyes were puffy. She sniffled slightly, before wiping her face with her hand. Gabby's face contorted in disgust at the germy little kid. "I'm sick, Gabby. Can you help me?"

The blonde girl gave a weak smile and back away some. "No, not really. I think you should ask your parents and not me. I'm not good with sick people," she glanced toward the road.

The child smiled deviously, before narrowing her demonic green eyes. "I know," she whispered. Gabby's eyes widened as the girl began to spew out vomit and snot, leaking from every pore of her body. Gabby screamed as the liquid substances began to surround her, leaving little room for her feet as she was backed up to a brick wall.

"Someone! Help me!" Gabby shouted, tears spilling from her eyes.

The child's voice was replaced with a squeaky but frightening one. "It's okay, Gabby. You'll float too." When she looked up from the gross mucus-like liquid inching toward her, she was greeted with a clown with bright orange hair holding a red balloon. His eyes, blue, began to switch to yellow, and Gabby desperately searched for an escape route.

The clown, whatever It was, started coming toward her, and she screamed louder than she had before. "Hey!" someone called from the alleyway entrance. Both Gabby and the clown turned their heads; Gabby was thankful and It was pissed off. Standing there was Gabby's fellow clean-freak, Eddie Kaspbrak. Eddie didn't look necessarily brave right then, but Gabby could tell that this wasn't his first run in with the clown. "It's not real, Gabby! It's not real! He's trying to scare you!"

Gabby slowed her frantic breathing and closed her eyes. She imagined that everything was gone, and it was all fake. She heard someone slink away and a new person run over to her. When she opened her eyes, Eddie was in front of her, and It was gone. "Oh, thank God," she cried, sliding down the wall, and sitting. She wiped away stray tears from her face, crossing her arms around her body. "Thanks," she told the boy.

"You're welcome," he answered. "I've seen It before. Me and my friends all have, well former friends." Eddie sat down beside the girl. He shifted until he was comfortable, then glanced over at her.

Gabby sighed. "What does It want?"

Eddie didn't want to scare the girl, because she seemed to already be incredibly traumatized. "We don't know. We tried to stop It by going to the Neibolt house. That's where it lives," he explained.

"Where are your friends?" Gabby asked. She had never seen Eddie without his crew of outcasts and oddballs. It was strange to see him alone.

"My mom freaked out when I broke my arm at the Neibolt house, so now I'm not allowed to see them anymore. She's really concerned for my health, but the girl inside told me that these pills were gazebos," he looked at the ground, as he handed her the pill bottle. "That means bullshit, in case you didn't know."

Gabby laughed. "I think you mean placebos, Eddie. And yes, that means bullshit," she chuckled, looking at the writing on the side. "For once, Greta is right." She gave the pills back to Eddie, careful that their hands didn't touch. She let her eyes fall onto his cast, which was no longer clean. In big black letters, the word LOSER was spelt out on it. "Who did that?"

Eddie shrugged. "Greta. She asked why no one signed it, said she would, then wrote that." He frowned at the letters on the white background.

"I have an idea," Gabby grinned, reaching into her bag and pulling out a red permanent marker. She took Eddie's broken arm and uncapped the pen. She slowly colored a 'V' over the 'S'. "There," she nodded at her work.

Eddie stared at it. "'Lover'?" he asked, suspiciously. "Why?"

"I don't know," Gabby responded. "Seems fitting." She pushed herself off the ground, brushing off her clothes. She applied some hand sanitizer to her now dirty palms and rubbed it in. "I better go." She gave the boy a half-smile-half-smirk as he stood up. "Bye, Lover-Boy," she waved.

She turned and began to walk away, when Eddie ran up in front of her. "Wait," he sort of shouted at her. She raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, Gabby," he blushed under her gaze. Stepping forward, he broke both of their golden rules. He kissed the girl on the cheek, before running off with a blush. Gabby shook her head with a laugh and smile, and for once, she didn't worry about cleaning off her face.