Before It Takes Us

Red Balloon

     The club sat in the kitchen. Only Ben and Bev were eating pancakes. Eddie and Richie were holding each other's hands, thinking about the half dream. Bill was staring out the window of the kitchen. Richie looked at Bev. "Why did you think pancakes was the solution to Stan's gruesome death?"

     "Richie!" Eddie hissed.

     "What?" He pushed Eddie. "It's not like you weren't thinking it."

     He crossed his arms. "Rich, we've got other things to be worrying about."

     "It was just a dream."

     "Who knows?! Stan's dead, we could all die in a matter of seconds! Whether it's because of this messed up town or It! We can't ever relax anymore." Eddie yelled at Richie.

     Richie coiled away from him, surprised by his braveness. Bev stopped eating. "I just thought Bill wanted to eat his favorite breakfast."

     "Not like he's eating much." Richie pointed to his full plate.

     "G-g-guys! I'm r-right h-h-h-"

     Ben finished for him. "Exactly. He's right here and he can have a normal conversation just like you two assholes."

     "What the hell did you just call Eds?!" Richie stepped towards Ben. "Who do you think you are, tub-o-guts?" He shoved his finger in front of Ben's face. "I'll shove something up your asshole and believe me it won't be my delicious dick!"

     Eddie grabbed Richie's arm and pulled him back. "Richie, stop!"

     "He called you an asshole!"

     "He called us assholes, and you're starting to act like one. Be the bigger person." Eddie said to him in a calming voice. He caressed his arm to calm him down.

     "W-w-will you g-guys SHUT THE HELL UP!"

     Richie turned to Bill. Eddie pulled him closer and held him away from Ben. Bev put her arm on Bill's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. He stood up and walked out of the house. "Bill!" Bev called after him.

     "He'll just go riding." Ben said, stopping her from following him. "He's careful on his bike."

    "Overstatement of the year, he goes crazy fast on that thing!" Bev replied.

     Richie walked out the front door and hopped on his bike. "C'mon, Eds. Let's go home."

     "Where exactly is 'home'?"

     "Wherever you are, but not here." He replied.

     Eddie shrugged and followed Richie out of the house.

     Richie hopped off his bike. The two of them were standing in front of the Tozier house. Eddie got off his bike behind him and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

     Richie looked down at Eddie. "You can't leave my sight. It is out there, and I need more time. I just need more time to show you how much I love you. Words will never be enough, Eds. I-"

     Eddie kissed him softly on his tiptoes. "You don't have to say it, I know." Richie smiled. "And It wont take us, we'll be together."

     "But Derry-"

     "Derry can suck my dick." Eddie said strongly.

     Richie stared at him, shocked that those words had came out of Eddie's beautiful mouth. "Thought that was my job." He whimpered.

     "Shut up." He pushed him and walked into the house. "Hey, Mrs. Tozier!"

     "Hey, Eddie! Staying over again?" She walked out from the kitchen with an oven mitt on.

     He nodded and bounced to the kitchen. "What are you making?"

     She turned to the oven and opened it for him to see. It was a batch of cookies. Eddie almost laughed at the irony of a fresh batch of warm chocolate chip cookies while one of their best friends had died and a killer shapeshifting clown was after them. "Cookies!"

     Eddie looked at Richie, a small smile on his face. "Delightful."

     Richie busted out laughing and held his stomach. Mrs. Tozier looked at the both of them, confused. This sent Eddie into a laughing fit and he gripped Richie's hand to help him stop laughing. She looked at their hands and he immediately let go. She pulled out the cookies and watched them carefully. "What's so funny?"

     "Inside joke." Richie said through laughs.

     Eddie grabbed a cookie and pulled Richie upstairs. He shut the door and turned to him. "I didn't mean to hold your hand."

     "Relax, she probably thought nothing of it."

     "But what if she did?! What if she knows and wants to kill us like Stan's dad? What if she prevents me from ever seeing you again? How will I live with that, huh? How, Richie?!"

     Richie bent over and kissed his forehead. "You should really calm down, even though you're cute when you're stressed and your nose squinches up like that."

      "Shut up, trashmouth." He plopped down onto Richie's bed. "I just want to sleep. Forget about everything."

     Richie looked out his window and saw a red balloon floating in the wind. "I don't think we'll do much sleeping." He pointed to the red balloon.

     Eddie groaned and wrapped his arms around Richie. "We can't ever get rid of It. He'll keep on praying on our weaknesses until we're dead. Why don't we just have one last night together? Cherish what we have before it's gone."

     "No, don't think like that, Eds." He held him tighter. "We will keep fighting It until It's gone, okay? I can't ever lose you. Especially to that monster." He kissed him. "Please."

     Eddie nodded and kissed him back. Their heartbeats were rapid and Eddie's hands moved up to Richie's curly hair. Richie pushed him onto the bed and kissed him harder. He moved down to his jaw and sucked lightly on his neck. He squealed and wrapped his legs around Richie's lean body. They heard the faint sound of footsteps and separated quickly, Richie on the bed and Eddie on the floor reading a comic. Mrs. Tozier opened the door and looked at them. "Want any more cookies?"

     "We're good." Richie answered with a smile.

     She nodded and closed the door. Eddie stared at the comic book. The pictures were moving. "Rich! Look!"

     Richie sat next to him and watched the pictures move. Gruesome scenes were played out, and an animation of Stan's death showed across the pages. Eddie felt hot tears spill from his eyes. The pages filled with red blood and it dripped out of the book. Eddie dropped the comic and ran to the other side of the room. Richie grabbed his hand. The blood poured onto the floor and It slowly crawled out from the book, it's orange pompom buttons oozing blood. Eddie screamed and everything went black.