Lovely~Richie Tozier {2}

15. Vic Finally Broke

7 months later

Victoria ended up staying in Derry much to her excitement. She barely even talked to her mother but it was honestly for the best. She wasn't emotionally stable ever since the whole Pennywise incident and she held in all of her emotions. It was only a matter of time before she cracked and when she did it was bad, really really bad.

It was the first day of summer vacation and the losers were all on edge. They walked through the park, looking for a place to sit when Victoria could have sworn she heard someone call her name.

"Victoriaaaaa" They dragged her name out as she turned around. She audibly gasped and her heart rate sped up at the sight of a red balloon floating in the air, she tried to reach for someone but there was no one near her.

Richie noticed the loss of her presence and turned around to see her staring at nothing. He watched the way she was behaving, she was digging her nails into her upper thigh and she was tapping her left leg frantically.

"Vic!?" He called after her, making her turn around. There were tears growing in her eyes. "What's wrong babe?"

"There's a-a" She turned around and pointed to the direction she had been looking and screamed loudly, she saw the clown.

His twisted grin, those glowing yellow eyes and that sadistic laugh. His head shaked erratically and he laughed as if he was having a seizure.

"YOU'LL FLOAT TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT TOO" He recited over and over again. She cupped her hand over her ears as hot tears rolled down her face. She wasn't screaming anymore, she couldn't. She was frozen and as Richie tried to calm her down she gripped his hand tightly. He winced at the pain but he was more concerned about Vic.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. What's wrong?"

"Th-the clown! You don't see him?!" She yelled.

"What are you talking about?! There's nothing there!" He cupped her face in his hands and the clown began to yell louder. She screamed and sobbed as he held onto her. She tried to tell him what was happening but the only words that came out of her mouth were unintelligible. After that everything went blank.

Victoria only remembers bits and pieces of the following events. She remembers Richie trying to tell her something but she couldn't hear him. She remembered Stan grabbing her by the shoulders as Eddie held Richie back as he cried.

While Victoria was screaming and gasping for air Richie was almost as scared as she was. It was obvious that he was going to be no help and Stan took over at trying to calm her down. He knew from the many panic attacks he had before. He knew that freaking out was only going to make it worse.

______________________________________

Days had passed since the incident in the park and Richie refused to leave Victoria's side just as much as she refused to talk. He hadn't slept since then so when the losers came to visit Ben, Mike and Bev had been given the task of forcing him to go home and sleep. So while they argued and tried to pin him down on the bed Bill, Eddie and Stan sat around Victoria's room.

Eddie was sat criss-cross at the end of her bed, facing Vic, Bill and Stan. Vic was in between Stan and Bill. Her head was placed on Stan's shoulder as they sat quietly.

"Are y-you ready to t-tell us w-what happened?" Bill cautiously asked.

"Just promise you won't think im crazy" She spoke for the first time in days. Her voice was was quiet and shaky as Eddie looked at her with pity.

"We would never think you're crazy" Eddie reassured her and Stan nodded comfortingly.

"I s-saw it" She spoke and all of the boys froze.

"What do you mean?" Stan asked.

"He was just standing there, laughing and he-he was yelling" She explained as her mind flooded with thoughts of that day.

"You're not crazy" Stan said. "I see him too"

"Me t-too" Bill admitted.

Eddie hesitated before speaking up. "Me too" He nodded.

"What if we didn't kill him?" Vic worriedly asked.

"Even if we d-didn't he c-can't come back yet. He only c-comes every 27 years" Bill shook his head.

"When's it gonna stop?" Vic asked as the boys grew silent. They wanted so badly to tell her everything would be okay but they couldn't.

"I don't know" Stan admitted.

"We'll get through this...together" Eddie said.

"Y-yeah, we'll be here f-for you Vic" Bill smiled comfortingly.

"GET IN THE FUCKING BED!" Beverly yelled as she pushed Richie onto his bed.

"Beverly please" Mike said as she held Richie down.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" Richie yelled as Bev held him down.

"You need to sleep Richie" Ben sighed.

"B-but Vic!"

"She'll be fine" Ben reassured.

"No she won't! She never is! No matter how hard I try to help!"

"Richie..." Mike started.

"I hate seeing her like this but I don't know what to do! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FUCKING HELP HER!" He sobbed as they all pulled him into a hug.

"Love isn't going to cure her anxieties Rich...but she can't go through this alone. You being there for her has helped way more than you know" Bev comforted as he sniffled.

"And you aren't going to be much help if you're a sleep deprived mess. Take a nap and then you can see her" Mike suggested as Richie nodded.

"Okay.." Richie agreed.