"God, will you ever stop smoking?"
"You're very funny, Tozier."
Holly Taylor and Richie Tozier had never associated with one another, it just wasn't normal. But when summer starts, she befriended them in the oddest wa...
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Monday, September 4th, 1989
"Hello?" asked Holly groggily, phone pressed against her ear.
"Hey, babe. It's me. Just wanna to call and say you've got a nice rack." replied Richie, grinning.
Holly rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Richie." she said. "Wanna go to the arcade?" questioned the boy. Holly hesitated, then spoke. "Sorry, babe. Cass wants my help with Mandy today." she answered, twirling the cord around her finger. "Oh, all right. I'll see you tomorrow." stated Richie. "Remember, don't come tonight." Holly reminded. "I won't! I swear! Oh, and babe?" he said.
"Yeah?" retorted Holly. "Are you ever gonna let me touch your boo-" "Finish that sentence, I dare you." interrupted the girl. "Your rack!" yelled Richie, laughing. Holly sighed, smiling. She was gonna miss his humor. "Sometime in the future." she joked. "Now we're talking! I love you baby, see you tomorrow!" laughed Richie. "I love you too, babe." Holly answered. The phone clicked, and the call was over.
The last time Holly thought she was going to talk to Richie.
Holly sighed, throwing everything off her bed. She started playing Landslide by Fleetwood Mac on her Walkman, smiling as the song came on. She took the pillows out of their cases, along with the bed-sheets and stuffed them in the linen closet down the hall. A knock at Holly's door made her jump. "Come in." she said, beginning to fold the comforter. Cass walked in, smiling and holding a plate of pancakes.
"Here ya go, Hol." said the older girl, ruffling Holly's hair. She gave a short 'thanks' as she put the large, blue blanket on the shelf in her closet, her boxes in the living room packed and ready to go. Cassandra passed her the plate as Holly sat at her empty desk to eat. The warm, golden brown, fluffy pancakes were drenched in syrup, just how Holly liked it.
Holly remembered the time Richie tried to make her pancakes back in August, only a week after they got Bev back. He nearly burnt the house down, and the pair of them just went to Benny's. Holly ate in silence as Cassie sat on the bed.
"Pretty empty in here, huh?" she asked. Holly looked around the room. The white walls, which were once covered in posters and pictures, were now completely bare, a few scuffs and marks towards the floor. Her bed was just an old mattress now, and an identical underneath. Her dresser and nightstand were completely empty, as was her closet. The only thing left on the wall was Holly's cork-board and the rotary phone. She would keep that there, for if they ever came back.
Holly shrugged, not really wanting to talk. Since the day at Neibolt, Holly had come so distant to Cass, not wanting to speak. But now, Cassie was fed up. "Why won't you speak to me?" blurted Holly's cousin. The younger girl looked at her confused. "What do you mean?" she asked, pushing her plate away. "You've been so... distant. Like, we used to be best friends and now we're strangers living in the same house. You barely talk to me. Did I do something?" worried Cass.
Holly sighed, she would have to tell Cassie. "No, it wasn't you. It's- something-ugh." stammered the younger girl. "You can tell me." said Cass softly. Holly sighed once more. She hesitated, scared that Cassandra would put her in Juniper Hill Asylum. "Cass. Something happened this summer that was absolutely insane." whispered Holly, her voice quivering.
"What? Did someone die? Are you pregnant? Did you have-" gasped Cass. "What? No!" exclaimed Holly. "Then what?" Cassie asked. "You-you won't believe me." replied Holly. "Just tell me." Cassandra replied, frustrated. Holly took a deep breath, and then it all came spilling out. Everything from the last day of school to now.
She told Cass about the first encounter with the clown at Neibolt, about everything Ben told her, how Beverly went missing, and everything in between. Holly could see Cassie's lip tremble when she talk about Ruby's death and showed her the necklace. Cassandra started crying when Holly said she felt as if she didn't have a place in the world. The older girl was astonished at Holly's ring, it must've been expensive.
"It's why I wanted to leave. I need to get away. The only good memory in this town is my friends and my childhood, but all that's gone now. We've already started drifting apart." finished Holly. Cassie pulled the trembling adolescent into her arms, crying as well. "I'll miss them, I'll miss them so much. But I can't stay." whispered Holly.
"How's Richie take it when you told him?" asked Cassandra. Holly froze. "He-he was sad." she stammered. Cass nodded. "Should we start packing the car?" Holly questioned. "Yeah, come one. It's already one!" said the older girl, standing up. Holly was in and out of the house for the next two hours, packing boxes into the blue Buggy's small trunk. She put her favorite yellow backpack full of things she's need right when she got to New York in the front seat.
Her yellow and red Converse sat packed in a box at the top of the pile in the car, her black ones on her feet. The box contained her favorite things, such as one of Richie's Hawaiian print shirts and a bunch of Polaroids of her and her friends. Beverly's new number sat at the bottom of it. The three girls were soon done, and the care was packed to the brim. The pile next to Mandy's seat was all Cassie's and Mandy's items, and the back was all Holly's.
Holly realized she needed a few sticks of her signature red color before departing to New York. Cass gave her a ten, and the young girl was on her way to Keene's for the very last time. She threw her bike outside and walked in. She grabbed five tubes, they needed to last a while, and walked to the counter. Eddie Kaspbrak stood there, waiting for his medication.
"Hey, Eds." said Holly, standing next to him. Eddie jumped.
"Oh, hey, Holly." he replied. Holly smiled at him. The two stood in silence for a moment before Eddie said something. "Ready for school tomorrow?" asked Eddie. Holly shifted her eyes towards a glasses display as she answered him. "Oh, yeah. Pretty excited." she said. Eddie narrowed her eyes at her, he knew something was up. She hadn't talked about the school year at all, nor had she said she bought any school supplies.
"Here, Eddie. Your meds." said Mr. Keene, ringing up the total. Eddie slapped a twenty on the counter, giving Holly a smile and then turned around. "Hey, Eddie!" yelled Holly as he almost walked out the door. He jerked around. "Thanks, for this summer. I had a lot of fun. I'll miss it, kid." she said, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Me, too. See you around." he smiled, and walked out the door.
Holly bought her five tubes and walked out. She biked through Derry one last time, and entered Seventeen King Road's driveway. This time, though, she put her bike into the shed in the back, next to her mom's old one. Holly hopped upstairs for the last times, taking a once-over of the room. She looked at herself in the dresser's mirror, admiring the scars she had gotten over the years.
She was a strong girl, just scared.
Before Holly knew it, it was nine o'clock and time to roll. Cass turned off the circuit breaker in the kitchen, turning all the power off. The three girls walked down the halls of the house for the last time, the pictures on the wall looking at them Holly was almost crying when she buckled herself in the front seat of the Volkswagen.
Holly glanced at Seventeen King Road, the dark house looming over the street, for the last time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ omg omg one more chapter! this is insane. i wanna cry. thank you all. next chapter will tear your heart out.
