The Phone Calls ☏ || reddie

Pilot

Neibolt Street, Derry, Maine
Thursday May 18th 1983
6:32 pm

Edward Kaspbrak sat on his bed, looking at the photos in a picture book.

The phone on his dresser began to ring. It had never rung since they bought it. He had it for if his mother ever went out and needed to call him, but she was home right now, sitting in her chair in front of the television. And of course they had the home phone, but Sonia wouldn't let Eddie leave his room if no one was home.

He rolled off the bed, walking on his tiny knees, over to the old phone. "Hello?"

"Hi!" A child's voice spoke, he seemed excited. For what? Eddie didn't know.

"Who are you?" Eddie twirled the wire around in his fingers, daydreaming out the window as the sun set.

"My name is Richie! Richie Tozier! I live in Indiana, do you live here to?"

"No."

"Oh. Where do you live?"

"Maine. My name's Eddie Kaspbrak."

"Hi, Eddie. What's your number? I just pressed random buttons. But if I want to talk to you again, I have to write it down."

"Oh, um, my number is," Eddie told the little boy his phone number, pulling himself up to sit on his window sill.

"Did you know i'm hiding?"

"No."

"I'm hiding in my room. In my closet."

"Why?"

"My mommy told me to. She told my brother and sister too. Do you have a brother and sister, Eddie?"

"No."

"Oh. Well my mom told us to hide because my daddy is being mean."

"Mean?"

"Yeah, mean. He's mean a lot. Especially to my mommy."

"Why?"

"I don't know. My sister, Nancy, thinks it's because he might not love her anymore. But my brother, Mike, thinks it's because he's mad."

"Are they in your closest too?"

"No, they're in their own closets."

"I'm sorry your daddy is mean."

"It's okay. Is your daddy mean?"

"No. But my mommy can be mean sometimes."

"Does she hit you or your daddy?"

"No. She yells at my daddy, and she'll yell at me. Sometimes I have to leave."

"Where?"

"My friend's house. He's my neighbor. When my mommy yells at my daddy, she yells at me to go to Bill's."

"Oh. I'm sorry your mommy yells."

Eddie and Richie were quiet for a moment, since they were so so quiet, Eddie could hear the most quiet yells on Richie's end, till he heard the slamming of a door.

"Richie." Eddie heard, a quiet girls voice.

"Yes?"

"Dad left, you can come out now."

"Okay, one second." There was a sound, like Richie putting the phone down. "I'm getting out of my closet, Eddie."

"That's good."

"Yeah. My daddy left, so I can hang up now. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Richie."

"Goodbye, Eddie."

And that's what they did, every day.

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Hey! So, I hope you like this pilot chapter, I literally came up with this idea when I was on Pinterest and I saw that picture I used for the cover. Please comment what you would like to see happen, and I might take some ideas and like give a shout out.