cherry bomb ➵ Richie Tozier

thirty three

Three Years Later

♦︎ Richie ♦︎

She ruined everything.

As I packed up my brand new car and left this hellhole forever, I thought of nothing but her.

I couldn't even say her name without feeling pain everywhere.

I didn't know where she was or what she was doing, but she had probably moved on and was happy with someone else while I was still moping over her.

Everything in this damned town reminded me of her, and if I was going to get anywhere in life, I couldn't think about her.

As I drove past the city limits, I felt numb. I had become numb to the pain. Numb to everything.

My friends were all happily in love, and I was stuck with this bullshit.

That's all it was.

Bullshit.

My damn heart was stuck on a girl I'd never see again.

As I drove out of Maine and towards New York, I saw a mop of curly blonde hair, my eyes snapping into focus on the girl.

It wasn't her.

Of course it wasn't her.

She ruined everything for me, and all I could do was move on.

So I headed to New York to make a name of myself doing the one thing I was good at:

making jokes out of serious situations.

I would have never guessed what my future would hold.

I would have never guessed I'd see her again.

Right back where I'd seen her the first time.

But that was years away.