Dear Diary ~ Reddie

{0} Prologue

Kindergarten (age 5)

It was the first day of kindergarten, and for Eddie Kaspbrak that meant that it was the first time that he would be away from his mother, Sonia.  In Eddie's short life, he has never once spent more than a few minutes away from his mother, never mind a few hours.  And to say he was excited was an understatement, a vast one at that.  For the past five years, Eddie has lived his life inside of his house, only ever leaving to go to the endless doctor appointments that Sonia would drag him to.  Every day he would look outside his bedroom window and admire the beautiful sky, and the large world in front of him.  And every so often, he would stare in awe at the kids playing outside in the mud and grass.  They would run and jump and laugh, and genuinely look happy to be alive; Eddie wanted that, oh god he wanted that so badly, but he would never get it.  Every day Eddie would ask his mother the same question, nearly begging to go outside to play, even just for a few minutes.  Sonia would always answer the same way, with the same fake smile.  She would say "it's too dangerous, you don't want to get sick now, do you Eddiebear?" and he would just nod and run back to his room every time.  Despite the constant refusal, he never gave up, keeping up that hope that one day he might be able to actually be a kid, and not a prisoner.

When Sonia finally told him that he was going to school, Eddie Kaspbrak was over the moon.  He was beyond happy to get away from his wretched excuse of a mother.  He loved her, and he always would but just wished to be normal for once in his life.  The day before his first day of school, Eddie could not stop smiling.  He wanted to do somersaults and handstands, he wanted to run and jump and scream, and he would have, too, if his mom didn't ingrain in his mind that he was so fragile.

The morning could not come fast enough.  Eddie couldn't sleep, no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't, because he was so excited to leave the house and actually get to see other kids his age.  After what felt like an eternity, Eddie's alarm clock went off.  It was 7:00 AM.  Immediately, the small boy jumped up out of bed and ran into Sonia's room jumping onto her bed with all of his force.  She woke up and stared at her young son, who had a goofy smile on his face.

"Be careful, Eddiebear.  You don't want to get hurt," she told the boy in front of her.  Eddie nodded and got up, with a sad look replacing the previous happy one.

"Mommy, I'm so excited for school!" Eddie exclaimed.  Despite her son's excitement, Sonia's face stayed stone cold.

"I know Eddie.  Let's go give you a bath."  Eddie wasn't allowed to give himself a bath because he could drown.  Or at least that's what Sonia always said when Eddie would ask.  Eddie headed to the bathroom and waited for his mother, who took her sweet time getting out of her bed.

Sonia had finally gotten Eddie cleaned and dressed by 7:40.  Eddie's backpack was already packed; it had been since the day he found out he was going to school.  They walked out of the front door of their crumbling house (after Eddie took his pills of course), and headed to Derry Elementary School in Sonia's grey mini van.  They got to the school exactly 22 minutes later.  Sonia parked the car and brought Eddie into the enormous building, holding his hand tightly.

After a few minutes of walking, the mother and son arrived at Eddie's classroom.  His teacher was Mrs. Byers, a nice lady with long dark brown hair and a warming smile.  When the two walked into the room, Mrs. Byers greeted them and told Eddie where his seat was going to be.  He nodded and tried to walk away from his mother, but was held back by her tight grip.

"Be careful Eddiebear, okay.  I don't want you getting hurt.  Remember, don't play with anything sharp, or big," Sonia began lecturing the young boy as he continued to nod and wait patiently for his mother to loosen her grip on his tiny hand.  Eventually she did so, and he ran over to his desk sitting down and smiling wide.  Sonia sighed and left the room, praying that her little Eddie was going to survive being away from her.