Mesmerizing Mute ~ Richie Tozier

XIII ~ Blood Oath Goodbyes

Tate woke up in Richie's arms after the doctor had decided to take her I.V. out. The tips of Richie's fingers ran back and forth on Tate's back triggering the awful memories that had happened in the sewers. She saw herself being torn apart by IT causing her breathing to heavy and grab a bunch of Richie's shirt.

"Hey, hey, Tate?" he questioned in surprise at the newly awake girl. Richie got himself up and into a chair next to her bed.

'I can't breathe,' she signed to him. The tightness in her back cause by the eight sets of stitches made it difficult for her to breath any heavier than normal.

"Yes you can. Just breath," Richie told her. "You don't have to be scared. We killed IT. For good," he informed Tate giving her instant relief. So much, in fact, the scars on her back got smaller, and Tate felt it. Fear. That's what had controlled the size of her scars. Ever since that day, every time she passed Greta Keene or Henry Bowers' group her back would puff up, but it was the moments where Richie was there after some awful event that her back would return to it's small size.

"Tate! Great, so um, I'm gonna-" the doctor rambled on to the drowsy girl. She was going to be released tomorrow, and it couldn't have come any slower because it was going to be the last day of summer, but the Losers all came before she was released nonetheless. They were all to hang out by the train tracks before school had officially started again.

"I can only remember parts, but I thought I was dead," Beverly explained after being asked about what happened in the sewers. "That's what it felt like. I saw us, all of us back together in the cistern, but we were older, like our parents' ages," she went on.

"W- what were we all doing there?" Bill asked as everyone listened intently to her words.

"I just remember how we felt; how scared we were. I don't think I can ever forget that," Beverly shared. That's when Bill found a piece of glass, from a broken coke bottle, on the the ground. He picked it up and started talking.

"Swear. Swear that if IT isn't dead, if IT ever comes back, we'll come back too," Bill asked as the held the glass in his hand. Bev was the first to stand at his motion, followed by the rest of the Losers.

Bill started by cutting his own hand with the glass, then went around the circle starting with Richie, the Tate, and so on until he reached Bev. The Losers all reached out to hold each others bleeding hands. That was their blood oath. They were to come back if IT ever did, and they all planned on keeping that oath.

"I gotta go. I hate you," Stan joked after they had let go of each other. They laughed at his jest as he marched off. "I'll see you later."

They all left one by one, Richie and Tate being the only exception to the pattern.

"See you Bill," Richie offered before almost walking away with Tate.

"Later Richie."

"Tate," Beverly stopped the girl. That would be their last goodbye before Bev left for Portland. No words were exchanged between the two, just a hug that couldn't have lasted long enough.

"Bye Bev," she whispered before taking her place by Richie once again. That's where Tate belonged, right beside Richie.

"So, is you're dad gonna be home?"

Word Count = 602

A/N - I hoped you guys liked this book. Sorry for the short last chapter. I'll be releasing a bonus chapter in the next so keep an eye out for it. Thank you guys for reading! 💛💛