richie strolled into the library, his phone held tightly in his hand as he scanned for any signs of ben or beverly. luckily, he didn't see anyone, immediately rushing towards the old lady who had shushed him multiple times the day before.
"excuse me, miss?" he asked somewhat politely. she turned around with the usual look of disgust on her old, wrinkly face. he recoiled slightly.
"yes?" she asked rather sharply, reminding richie of the old, purple monster from monsters inc. or was it green? he couldn't remember.
richie snapped back when he realized that he had been staring a few seconds too long. he fumbled with his phone, quickly typing in the number 1 four times. he opened the picture that he had taken of ben's book. "do you know where this book is?"
the lady's eyes squinted as she looked at the screen through her huge glasses, leaning her head back. she blinked, trying to see what the screen said. richie sighed in exasperation, waiting for her to read it.
her eyes flicked towards the screen and richie, eyes narrowing skeptically. "you want to learn about the history of derry?" she asked, licking her extremely chapped lips. richie's foot tapped impatiently on the hardwood floor, groaning.
"yes, lady! shesh," he pushed up his glasses and turned off his phone and pocketing it in his jeans. "can't a boy want to know more about the wonderful town of derry? is-is it against the rules to love and admire history-"
the lady waved him off, puckering her lips. "alright, shut your yammering, i'll get the book for you."
she left richie alone, going into the back room to look for the book. richie swung back and forth on his heels, chewing the inside of his cheek in pure boredom, feeling the rawness of his cheek against his tongue.
he was excited, and nervous, but mostly excited. eddie's last name. his past. his family. how he died! it was weird to even think about knowing these things about eddie.
the librarian soon returned, struggling to carry the large book in her older state. she placed it down on a table near richie and promptly walked away before richie could thank her. he slipped into the seat and opened up the book to the table of contents.
his bulged eyes scanned through the chapter names, each one weirder than the last. disappearances, mass murders, sewer troubles. . .
finally, his eyes caught a chapter title; three kids deaths in one week on same street.
he glanced around the room. it was almost empty other then a few older ladies gathered by a table. it was dead silent.
richie felt a weird tug at his stomach as if something bad would happen. he swallowed thickly, turning to the page.
the first page was an article about a boy named georgie denbrough, a six year old boy who was found in the sewers, missing an arm. they never caught the murderer. richie shivered, feeling as if something was watching him. it felt wrong, looking at the picture of the little boy and his family, all of them smiling brightly, unknown what would happen several months later.
richie checked the date and almost sighed in relief. 1988. the murderer would be dead by now.
he flipped the page and saw another boy, around his age, and a bathtub with police tape. Stanley Uris, thirteen years old, slit his wrist in the washroom of his house. the mother and father were downstairs. not even two days after the first death.
richie was on the last page of the chapter. the article was titled; third child death this week!
eddie kaspbrak, 13 years old, found poisoned in own home by mother. sonia kaspbrak was mental unstable after the death of husband and father, frank kaspbrak, who lost his battle with cancer. this caused sonia to become overprotective of eddie. after an argument with her son, she decided to poison her son by adding rat poison to eddie's daily pills. eddie struggled for about thirteen hours but without medial care, died. his body was found three days later, locked in his own closet. before the police could take her in, sonia killed herself.
the address read 29 neibolt street.
richie could barely read on, feeling the bile rise in his throat. he glanced at the picture of eddie kaspbrak in the bottom corner, smiling brightly with a polo shirt and pants way too short. also, a fucking fanny pack.
richie stared at the photo for a long time before quickly shutting the book, his chest heaving. the ladies in the corner shot him odd looks but richie abruptly stood, his chair squeaking against the hardwood floor sharply but he didn't care.
he could hear eddie's voice ringing in his ears, talking about his family. a loving mother who baked sweets. a dad who didn't care if he didn't like sports, only if he was being himself. parents who scolded him for getting in trouble and gave him money for ice cream trucks. maybe a sibling, probably older. a sister who liked to draw.
richie glanced down at the book, the one that would shatter all of eddie's dreams. how the fuck was he supposed to tell eddie that when he was alive, his life sucked? that his dad died and then his own mom murdered him in cold blood. watched him struggle to grasp onto life for thirteen long hours before his body just gave in?
richie shook his head, feeling weak but not caring. he couldn't tell eddie. he should, he deserved to know but not now. later. in a week, maybe two.
the boy pushed up his glasses, sighing softly before picking up the heavy book and pressing it against his chest. how was he supposed to ride his bike and carry this heavy ass book?
nonetheless, he trudged over to the librarian, who looked down at him through his glasses and said, "i need a library card. do i need to pay or can i just sign it out?"
YOU ARE READING
HAUNT✦reddie
Fanfiction❝ you're new to this, aren't you?❞ ❝ ...yeah.❞ where eddie's a ghost and sucks at his job
