Mesmerizing Mute ~ Richie Tozier

X ~ Trapped in Summer

"Oh, Hello Miss Montgomery. I'll get Bill," Mr. Denbrough sounded surprised at the girl's visit. She wouldn't be there if it were her choice, but she needed her skateboard after she had left it there the other day.

"Hello?" Bill questioned before completely opening the door to reveal Tate. "Oh, hey Tate," he didn't sound the least bit enthusiastic at her coming over, but she waved like she always would've.

"What's up?" he asked as if the group hadn't had a falling out just two days prior.

'I left my skateboard,' she explained. Bill understood and led her to the garage where Tate had nearly been murdered. She shuddered at the thought.

"Here," Bill said as he handed her the board.

'Thanks,' she motioned before grabbing the board and skating to Eddie's house for a visit.

"Miss Montgomery," Eddie's mother sighed as she answered the door, "the only one of Eddie's friends I can deal with at the moment. I swear your the only child besides Eddie with any piece of mind. Come in dear," she offered to Tate. Tate gladly stepped in to see Eddie taking his pills in the kitchen. She waved, as did he as the two greeted each other.

"How's everyone," Eddie asked, not sitting on his bed next to the girl.

'Nobody's hanging out today. I can't stay long today because Richie's coming over, but I think they just need time to relax. Bill punched Richie,' Tate informed him.

"He what?" he answered.

'Things were said,' she told him of the encounter, how she had wanted to help but couldn't, how everyone walked out on Bill and Bev.

"You and Richie are okay though, right?" Eddie questioned out of curiosity.

'Yeah. If I lost Richie-' Tate tried but couldn't even think of what we're to happen if she lost him. Richie, the insane, somehow kept her sane.

"Do you wanna sign my cast?" Eddie offered to get her mind off of it. Tate declined, knowing how the boy would be uninterested in having any kind of smudge marks on his arm for the next couple of months. They talked for about another 20 minutes before Tate had to step out.

'Bye Eddie,' Tate gestured before walking out of his house. She didn't know that that would be the last time she saw Eddie for a whole month, but then again she would have been preoccupied with Richie.

Tate was now spending her summer vacation in one of two ways- watching television or going on dates with Richie. Don't get her wrong, Tate loved going out with Richie, but sometimes it was better that he was her friend before he was her boyfriend.

The doorbell rang once before Tate sprinted over to answer it. Richie invited her to the diner for supper and she even put on her new skirt and everything for it. Tate quickly opened the door to see a smiling Richie, trying to pretend like his face wasn't completely bruised and bloodied.

"Hey darlin'" he said in a southern accent before wiggling his eyebrows. Usually this got a kick out of Tate, and she did smile, but underneath her furrowed eyebrows. Her toes were now pointed trying to give her a better view of the boy's face. "It's nothing-" Richie lied before taking a shocked breath in. Tate had pulled out a piece of glass from the cut underneath his eye.

'Bowers again?' she questioned.

"No- um-" Richie hesitated. Tate gave him a funny look, a concerned look. "My mom," he admitted before Tate's face went into a state of shock. "Just when she's drunk," Richie tried to calm Tate, but it didn't help. Just the fact that Richie wasn't safe at school made her uneasy, but at home too? Tate didn't know how to react, so she just pulled the boy into one of those hugs that Tate always longed for. Richie hugged back and the tears that he had tried to fight were now pouring into Tate's shoulder.

'I'll get some stuff,' Tate explained before walking upstairs. She grabbed everything she saw- tweezers, hydrogen peroxide, bandages. When she came down from the bathroom, she had seen that Richie made his way onto her couch after he had so many times after a Bowers encounter.

"Ready to play nurse?" Richie questioned goofily.

'Not funny,' Tate gestured trying to hold back a smile.

"What?" he asked back innocently.

'Promise- promise you won't keep things from me anymore,' Tate asked. Richie only nodded his head as an answer.

"Tate?" he asked asked as she turned her attention from her supplies back to Richie. "My fear isn't clowns, it's losing you," he admitted. Tate smiled at the thought. Richie was scared of losing her.

'I love you.'

"I love you too."

But today was a couch day. It was late August by now and Richie wanted to go to the arcade for the millionth time. Tate usually would've tagged along, but she figured they both could use a day to relax. She was planning on trying to get a tan today. The pool in her yard was looking amazing in the heat, but Tate never made it to the pool. She was about to get in when she realized she had forgotten a towel, and when she went back in the house to grab one, Tate was met yet again with the clown from her nightmares.

"Come with me Tate. You'll float too," the clown said calmly before quickly grabbing Tate and taking her to the sewers.

Tate was met with Beverly in- well- wherever it is that she was.

"I'm sorry," Tate whispered as Beverly pulled her into a sobbing hug.

"It's not your fault. You were scared. We all were," she defended. "We need to get out of here."

The two girls tried and tried again with every door they could find, but they were all locked. The room had a strange item in the middle, or should I say items. There was a pile of trash that had to be fifty feet tall, and from it fell a huge wooden board. From it shot fireworks making IT appear. At first, all it did was dance, until it had Beverly by the neck while Tate watched from a corner of the huge room. She ducked away in the corner, trying to shield herself from IT. Tate didn't know how to get out of this one.

Word Count - 1072

A/N - Sorry this chapter took so long- I had some writers block but I'm completely out of that state of mind and I'm super excited for the next few chapters.