WHEEZY // an IT story

s i x t e e n

JUNE 11th, 1989

richie flopped over on the soft mattress.

mattress?

he was just in a sleeping bag..
then, yesterday's events hit him all at once. richie sat up and scanned his surroundings quickly.
all he could see were the silhouettes of the other losers, sleeping on the floor. he was in some sort of motel room, with one bed and what looked to be a bathroom. but if richie was here.. then eddie was..
still in the schoolhouse!
richie had no idea where he was or how far away the schoolhouse was, but his mind was running far too fast to formulate words. so, all he could do was scream.
richie let out a distressed cry that woke up the other losers and mitch immediately.
"fuck! richie!" stan shouted. richie still couldn't formulate words, so he just sat there with his mouth open.
"guys! he doesn't know where we are," ben said. bill walked over to richie's bed and sat down next to him.
"richie, we're about an hour away from derry," he said. that meant that the losers had been driving for almost three hours. that was too long for richie to walk back.
"we thought it would be better to transport you when you were asleep, so you couldn't fight back," beverly added, softly.
"richie, we're sorry, but the clown got eddie, and now we have to focus on killing it," stan stated, pushing his hip to the side and crossing his arms. (sassy af)

richie couldn't speak. he didn't want to speak. the only time words would leave his lips would be when eddie finally came back. so, richie pressed his lips together and turned away from the losers.
"c'mon, rich. you gotta have something to say about this," mike encouraged.
of course richie had things to say. he had a billion words he could say, and a billion things he could do. but, none of them seemed to matter. so, he just stared at the wall and tried not to let any tears fall.

eventually, the losers checked out of the hotel and started their drive back to derry. of course, richie didn't put up a fight about leaving. he also didn't talk the whole hour home.
mitch drove around, dropping of each of the teens at their houses. when he finally reached richie's house, he didn't say goodbye. richie only grabbed his bag and trudged into his house, which seemed colorless without eddie.

for the first time ever, richie toizer had been silenced.