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*im not trying to romanticize any mental illness, Arrietty would be sad with or without Richie— just to put that out there. And, it's Valentines Day so have a great one or I hope you did
The other day Richie and Beverly tackled me into an alleyway to tell me to talk to the others. I didn't want to but I really needed to. We were at the Quarry, all on the rocks in a circle. Seems as if this is the one place I Derry where time stops, I'd never want this place to change and if it did I would pass out. I swear it.
"Summer's finally here, Bowers didn't push me nearly as hard as usual." Eddie mused as we all looked out towards the water. I smiled and chuckled at the boy a bit.
"Thing seem to be looking up, yeah?" Ben looked around at us. I looked at Bev to see that she was already looking at me— I knew Richie was doing the same.
"No," she said making eye contact with me, "seems like everything's shit to some of us." I felt my chest tighten.
"Yeah," I turned my attention to Richie, "a little quiet as well." I didn't know if he was referring to the quietness of my house or to the lack of speech that was given off by me.
"Well... what d-do you t-t-think, Arri?" I looked up at Bill. My heart rate increased and my thoughts fuzzed.
"My dad left!" I blurted it out like it had punched its way through my teeth. I didn't know why I said it like that.
"What?" Was heard like a chorus from all of them. I shook my head and shrugged as I tried to find some sort of words to describe the situation.
"He left and the last thing he took us was that he was gonna send the divorce papers." I saw Stan look at me with sympathy and Eddie twitch his nose in a funny way.
"How's your mom?" Ben asked, I just thought about the last few months. After our screaming fit from awhile ago we've actually been doing better. She's had to pick up a few extra shifts and I start my job next school year. My mom didn't want me to work, surprisingly, she said 'you need to focus on your studies'. I knew she wanted the best for me, we're repainting the living room and fixing the kitchen sink drain.
"She's actually happy about it." It made me smile to think about all of the improvements that were visible in my mother's life. Maybe my dad was just dead weight.
"And how are you?" Richie asked, it seemed as if he was always worried about me. Like I sat on some pedestal in his mind.
"I'm fine." I said looking at him. He put his hand on my knee and have it a reassuring squeeze, almost to make me think that he was actually here.
"I'm sorry." He said, I think this was the first time that I realized that his voice had gotten deeper and that he finally towered over me. His curls were prominent and had grown, his side burns were now cut really nice and he looked like a junior. I guess it made sense since we would be them soon— after this upcoming year.
"It's okay, I have six men in my life who would never leave me for anything," I said gesturing to the six male Losers, "and the best wife anyone could ask for." I said hugging Bev to death.
"We love you," She said when I let go.
"Yeah, you have the most incredible super power of any hero," mike started, "the ability of shutting up Richie."
"Shut it, homeschool before I pay a visit to that farm of your and have a feast." I hit Richie in his arm.
"Don't do that, because it's mean and you could get a tapeworm." I said making him roll his eyes and stick his tongue out.
"She's right about that tapeworm thing, they're parasites." Eddie visibly cringed in disgust.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna have to stop you two from hanging out, you're turning into the same person." Richie groaned, I laughed at him and then looked back at Eds.
"Awe, but look at this face isn't he just adorable." I cooed at the smaller boy. He laughed and pushed me off of him, making me fall into Mike. He laughed and rolled me off of him.
I was then picked up and thrown over Mike's shoulder. I squirmed and screamed to try and wiggle out of his grip. All of us Losers have grown a bit but out of all eight of us Mike was the strongest and the most built. That's what happens when you work on a farm.
Suddenly my feet were grabbed and Mike's grip slipped to my waist as someone else encased my arms. I liked to see Stan holding my feet, Mike holding the majority of my weight from my waist, and Richie holding my upper body. He kissed my temple and laughed at me, taking my glasses off of my face.
"Sorry, Love." He said before I was set free and flew through the air into the cool Quarry water. I arose to the top and looked at my laughing friends. I quickly swam back to the rocks and grabbed the back of Richie's collar to pull him into the water with me. One by one we all wound up in the water, it was like we were in the eighth grade again.
We had taken off our clothes and set them on the rocks to dry. Swimming in our undergarments seemed to be a running theme for the Losers Club.
"You still feel sad about your dad?" To joe asked as he swam towards me I nodded sheepishly with a smile, "that's alright." He said shrugging.
"Come to think about it," Stan spoke up, "this year has been really fucking awful." He said with a slight laugh. I thought about it and nodded, we all did it showed some sort of agreement.
"At least we fell together." Mike said. I looked at looked at all of us, I started to laugh at us hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Bill asked. I tried my hardest to calm down.
"We were kings," I said but laughed so I couldn't finish my sentence.
"Now we're patriots." Richie finished. I found it funny that everything could turn out so bad, but nothing felt bad, it felt relaxing and calm. Like everything was okay, maybe the Quarry had special powers?
"Everything's shit," I breathed and began to float on my back, "but I'm okay with it."
