WHEEZY // an IT story

f o u r t e e n

JUNE 10th, 1989

slowly but surely, the losers started to regain consciousness. eventually, they were huddled in the center of the cafeteria with one problem on their minds: no one could find richie or eddie.
"we've got to get up and find them," bill instructed. the other teens nodded and limped to the back doors of the large room. ben was having the most difficulty, clutching his bleeding stomach with one arm. suddenly, a mangled cry echoed through the halls.
"richie?!" beverly shouted. after a few seconds, there was a response.
"eddie?!" richie replied. the losers looked around at each other, and then decided to wait in silence until he appeared.
the basement door busted open, and a puffy-eyed richie scanned the group of teens quickly, searching for his boyfriend.
"you don't have..." he let his voice trail off, and he waited. he waited for eddie to pop out of a locker and laugh because it had all been a joke. but, richie knew deep down he would never see eddie again, and so he cried.
"richie?" ben asked, reaching his free hand out to the sobbing boy.
"i couldn't save him!" richie cried. the teens suddenly realized that eddie wasn't going to come back. it had gotten him.
"what happened?!" stan asked. richie couldn't speak, he could barely breathe. instead, he just sobbed and shook his head wildly.
"we have to get out of this school, before we can figure out what to do next," bill said, pointing towards the end of the hallway.

the last thing richie wanted to do was leave the last place he had seen eddie. maybe, if he stayed by the hole in the basement long enough, pennywise would bring eddie back. or, he would wither away into nothing. maybe then things would go back to normal. wherever eddie went, he did too. eddie was gone though, and so was richie.

richie tried so hard to return to the basement. but ben was a surprisingly strong kid. ben wrapped his arms around the lanky boy and threw him over his shoulder. richie screamed, kicked, squirmed, and did anything really just to get ben to put him down. nothing seemed to work.
when the losers finally reached the front door, they took one last look around.
"eddie?" mike shouted, one last time. the teens waited, just for a second. and they hoped maybe their friend would call back, or just make it known that he was somewhere in the school. but there was no answer. so, they trudged out of the schoolhouse, with richie still screaming and fighting.
the walk back to camp seemed like a blur to richie. hell, everything seemed like a blur to richie. as soon as ben placed him down, richie planned to make a run for it. he was going back to eddie.
richie's body swung over ben's shoulder and his feet made a small thump against the ground. as soon as the teen heard that sound, he sprinted, back through the trees, not caring about the branches slapping his skin.

suddenly, something heavy hit richie from behind and it sent him tumbling across the ground.
"fuck!"richie screamed, opening his eyes to see stan sitting on his stomach.
and at that moment, all richie could do was flail his arms and kick his legs. he was trying, trying so hard to get stan off of him. he needed to go back to eddie. he needed to be with him.

stan pinned richie's arms above his head, (not like that) while the rest of the losers came running towards the pair.
"richie, what the hell?" bill panted, from sprinting so fast.
"i-i need to go back! eddie! he's there!" richie shouted. bill looked at the other teens, who all gave looks of concern and disappointment.
"richie, we all miss edd-" beverly started.
"NO! none of you miss eddie like i do! none of you understand!" richie sobbed, still trying to break loose from stan's grip.
"richie, i know words can't begin to explain you and eddie's friendship, but we have to stay together," stan instructed.
"actually, there was a word! it's love! i was in love with him! and him with me! if you're looking for the word that means caring for someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything that they want no matter how much it fucking destroys you, it's love!" richie sobbed. stan let richie stand, but continued to hold him in case he tried to run.

"and when you love someone.. you just don't stop. ever! even after they're gone! even when people roll their eyes! or call you crazy! even then. especially then! you just.. you don't give up! because if i could give up, right now, if i could just take the world's advice, and move on! maybe find someone else, that wouldn't be love! that would be some other disposable thing that is not worth fighting for! it's not worth me going back to that hellhole! i am in love with him! and i can't stop it!" richie concluded, with one final sob. the other teens had been shocked into silence.

and in that silence, richie toizer' heart had completely shattered. and he couldn't fix that.