Fading away || Reddie

Six

Includes harsh content

"Nice outfit by the way, eds." Richie said as he walked over to his bike.

"Oh shut up, my mom made me wear it" he said remembering the fight they got in.

"Well, Eddie boy lets get going" he said motioning towards the bike. Eddie sat on the back seat and was unsure of how to stay on the bike without falling off.

"Awayyyyyy" Beverly shouted into the crisp night air as they took off. They soon picked up speed and Eddie threw his arms around Richie without a second thought. He was terrified of falling off.

"Ya scared, eds?" Richie shouted into the air.

"You wish!" He shouted back.

The three kids biked all around the empty Derry streets and ended up at the Derry park. They parked their bikes in the grass and fell into the wet grass.

"So Eddie, how you liking Derry?" Beverly asked as they looked up at the trees and sky.

"Oh it's great, Henry bowers is definitely my favorite." Eddie said sarcastically. The three kids laughed.

"Yeah I heard about your run in with him, pretty bad luck huh?" Beverly said.

Eddie nodded and the three of them stayed like that for a while. Soon Eddie leaned back up and pulled out a cigarette and lit it in the night air. He offered the pack to the other two kids and they all smoked until their cigarette was at its end.

"We better get going back, it's almost 2:00" Richie said and with that they hopped back on their bikes and pedaled off into Derry.

Eddie woke up as his alarm blared, reading 6:30.  He groaned softly and rolled off the bed. Like every other morning there was a pair of clothes laid out for him.

"Fucking hell" Eddie said as he put on the horribly ugly clothes. "This'll really make me look good to Henry bowers, huh?" But Eddie didn't dare put on his own clothes, afraid of another fight.

Eddie heard the familiar "hello, dear" and ate the same breakfast and took the same pills and the same route to school

Eddie walked through the front doors as he got multiple looks from different, probably because of his horrible clothes. He heard various whispers of "fag" and "loser" from different crowds, he kept his head down and walked to his first period class.

"Hey rich" Eddie said as he sat in his seat.

"Hey, moms clothes again?" He asked and Eddie nodded, feeling his face then bright red.

"Hey don't worry about, if it's any help, it doesn't look that bad on you." Richie said and Eddie smiled at him, Richie always knew what to say.

Before he knew it, it was lunch again and Eddie found the familiar table where Ben, Stan, Bill, Beverly, and Richie sat, laughing amongst themselves. When Eddie sat down, they didn't say anything about him, and didn't mention his clothes, it was like he was a part of the group.

Lunch passed, no Henry, Eddie let out a sigh of relief. But he knew he couldn't avoid Henry in pe.

Eddie walked Into the locker room and changed as quickly as he could an was about to run out the door when he body slammed into three different people right outside the door.

"S-sorry." Eddie whispered and tried to get around the three people but a familiar hand reached out for eddies polo and stopped him.

"Watch where you're going faggot" a voice grunted at him. Eddie looked up with timid eyes to see Henry and two people to his left and right. One was large and wore a trucker hat, the other was very scrawny looking and had white hair.

"Henry, erm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you" Eddie said, wondering if he could possibly get out of this situation.

Henry pushed Eddie back into the locker room and Eddie tripped on someone's book bag and fell backwards. The locker room was empty, just his luck.

"Get up, girly boy." Henry barked and Eddie did as he was told, trying to avoid any situations of getting kicked in the sides.

The scrawny one and the other one stepped behind Eddie as Henry stood front and center.

"Nice clothes by the way" the scrawny boy muttered, Eddie felt himself turned pink. At that moment Henry took a swing and landed a punch on his nose. Eddie threw his hands up to his face and felt steady stream of blood pour from his nose.

Fuck he thought what is Sonia gonna say when she sees me?

Before Eddie could even open his eyes, Henry pushed him into the kid with a trucker hat, who then slammed Eddie into a wall. Eddie saw stars and then felt different kicks into his side.

Tears filled his eyes but didn't fall. One last kick landed in his side before Eddie was left alone in the locker room. As more people started to file in Eddie quickly changed back into his clothes and walked out the front doors of the school.

He didn't even care about missing pe anymore, he hated this school, hated everything about this town.

Well he thought except for Richie and his friends
But life wasn't ever lucky for Eddie, he was on his way home with blood dripping from his nose to his shirt.

Eddie made it to his house and ran up the stairs, ignoring Sonia's words, and slammed the door shut and locked it. He didn't feel like talking to her now, especially not looking like this.

Looking in the mirror Eddie took off his polo and threw it in the trash, he wiped all the blood off his nose and mouth and threw on a black hoodie. Eddie was so tired, his eyes sunk deep into his head, and there were to many bruises on his body to count.

Feeling his lungs close up and his breath pick up, Eddie reached for his inhaler and pulled the trigger. It was starting to feel like something normal, like he always needed an inhaler and didn't know it.

He reached for the bottle of whiskey in his duffle and took swigs from it until his nose and sides stopped throbbing. By the time his whole face was numb, Eddie could no longer see straight. The room swayed back and forth.

The small boy opened up the window and lit a cigarette. The world soon turned black as Eddie laid his head on the pillow. He woke up once again to his alarm at 6:30 am.

Looking in the mirror, he wasn't sure if he could look any worse. He had even darker circles under his eyes and his nose was more purple and swollen.

At school, Eddie kept his head down and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. He wore what he fell asleep in, not listening to the protest from Sonia. Eddie walked up to his locker to find Richie leaning against it.

"Hey eds- woah, you good?" He asked, the one thing Eddie did not feel like hearing from anyone today.

"I'm fine Richie, I just- fell." He said, lying.

Richie turned eddies face with his hand and removed his sunglasses. His face fell in shock.

"Eds! Oh my god, are you okay?!" He shouted and Eddie looked away on the verge of tears.

"Hey, come on.. Let's get out of here, just you and me." He whispered and he grabbed eddies hand and led him through the front doors.

Eddie looked down at their intertwined hands and smiled but at the same time felt his heart race.