✓ 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐲 ━━ 𝗋𝖾𝖽𝖽𝗂𝖾.

x

eddie woke up freezing. he knew he wasn't in his normal bed just from the smell. it smelt like an old room...somewhere terrifying. he opened his eyes and stood up, realizing he had been asleep on the floor. it wasn't his room at all. it looked like a cellar. eddie furrowed his brows, looking around. "hello?" he asked aloud, coughing harshly in the process.

the floor was murky and molded and it smelt of rotting flesh around him. he covered his nose with his hand, grimacing. he walked around, not even remembering what happened last night. he knew he talked to richie, then fell asleep right after that.

"hello! mom?!" he called out. there was a slam at the wall, making him jump. then a small light appeared in front of him. a pair of eyes. not just any, he knew these big horrifyingly taunting eyes anywhere. "mom?" he cried, confused and lost. "what's going on? where am i?" he continued to ask, looking around. sonia watched as eddie laid his hands on the metal door in front of him.

"you've been bad, eddie-bear." she said with a frown. her tone was disappointing toward him. a worried look appeared on his face. "no i haven't. i've been good, i have." he tried to convince her.

"you haven't been taking your medicine." she said slowly, peering around the dark room he was in. it was true, he hasn't been taking it ever since sonia found out he's been hiding it. eddie stayed silent, he knew he couldn't argue about that. "you're sick, eddie." she muttered sternly, glaring at him.

"you need to take your meds." she handed him a pill bottle through the slit of the door. eddie only watched as the bottle rolled onto the floor. "i'm not taking those." he suddenly said, shaking his head.

"but you're sick-" eddie interrupted her. "i'm not sick!" he argued. sonia kept her glare, gritting her teeth at him. "if you don't take them, you'll die. you'll rot from the inside out." she taunted him, knowing eddie got scared easily. "no, i won't." he still fought. eddie stared at her for a moment, keeping his act up. sonia hummed and her eyes traveled behind her son for a split second.

she smiled. "alright." the window closed and she was gone. eddie let out a sigh, looking at the bottle full of pills on the floor. he looked away, stopping as he saw a faint shadow in the corner on the floor.

he walked closer, leaning forward to see what it was. much to his horror, it was a body. not just any body, though. it was like a walking disease. eddie cowered away in fear, shrieking and covering his eyes. it was like his mom said. the body had stringy hair and big disgusting eyes. it's skin was pale and rotted, which is probably what he smelt earlier.

eddie shook his head, shakily pulling his hands away from his eyes. he glanced at the pills on the floor and gave in, beginning to cry. he opened them and put three in his hand. he popped them in his mouth and dry swallowed them, looking around the room. i'm sick...i'm disgusting. he opened the bottle once more and poured some in his hand, swallowing them as he threw the bottle at the wall.

THREE HOURS LATER

eddie woke up coughing, holding his chest. he had looked around, sighing when he noticed he was still in that horrid room. he peeked toward the leper for a moment before looking away in disgust. he stood up when he heard talking from the door, his eyes widening. he walked over, pressing his ear to it to try to hear any familiar voices from the other side.

"will that be all for you?" a man asked. "yeah." a quieter voice responded. eddie furrowed his brows as he tried to make out the voices in his head. one was very deep and old while one sounded young.