IT [2017] Richie Tozier

o n e

the bell rung causing her heart to jump out of her chest. not in fear, but excitement. the last day of school was over. summer was here finally. She quickly packed her things and left as soon as she could.

meet Delilah Matthews. 13 years of age and living in the town of Derry, Maine. Her family moved there when she was 3 years old. her family consisted of her mom, who works way too much and is barely home, her abusive, alcoholic father, her younger brother, Alfie and even younger sister, Josephine. the Matthews seemed normal, ordinary, and quite frankly boring. however, if you looked closely you'd spot the failed attempts to covers bruises over Delilah and her mom's bodies. her dad never hit Alfie or Josephine, Delilah assumed it was because of their young age. she was glad he didn't hurt them. she'd rather him hurt her than either one of her younger siblings.

she left out of the west entrance and noticed a few of her friends pouring the contents of their bags into the trash cans outside of school. Stanley Uris. Bill Denbrough. Eddie Kaspbrak. and finally, the one and only Richie Tozier.
"best feeling ever" Stan stated.
"oh yeah? try tickling you pickle for the first time" She overheard Richie causing her to smile to herself. She passed by, smiling and nodding at each of them in acknowledgment. she knew of the disappearance of bill's little brother Georgie, it had been a while but she knew he was still in pain she could see it on his face. his stutter has worsened since he'd gone missing. she used to be rather close with the boys until she met bev marsh.
now, bev marsh was a notorious bad girl, you'd say. rumours circulated the school constantly of all the guys she'd ever been with. in actual fact, she'd only ever kissed one guy. Bill, and in a school play in 3rd grade. Beverly and Delilah had been friends since the start of the grade. over last summer, with Georgie going missing, the losers club were too busy and she missed a lot of time with them. when they returned to school it wasn't the same, no way near.

Delilah wandered through the trees. she didn't often visit the barrens but she sometimes walked by the smelly sewer entrance for some peace and quiet. she heard twigs cracking and low voices. she peeped behind a tree to be met with the losers club members.

"what are you guys doing here?" she said, revealing herself, causing them to jump.

"oh hey Delilah, we're looking for Georgie" Eddie informed me. "w-w-w-we have th-th-think he may be h-h-here" bill said.
"wanna join?" Richie winked. "sure"the five children walked closer to the sewer entrance. "that's poison ivy... that's poison ivy aaaaaand that's position ivy" Stan spoke.
"what where's the poison ivy?" Eddie asked, panicking. "nowhere dipshits, not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stan!" Richie said. Bill, Richie and Delilah entered the sewer, but Eddie and Stan stayed behind. "okay I'm starting to get itchy now and I'm pretty sure this Is not-" Eddie got cut off.
"do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Richie asked, Delilah was unsure of the relevance, knowing richie it would be some crude, inappropriate joke about eddie's mom. "sometimes, yeah"
"then you probably have crabs"
"that is so not funny" Eddie whined.

"you're not coming in?" Delilah asked the two boys standing outside. "nu-uh, that's grey water" Eddie informed them. "what the hell is grey water?" She asked."it's basically piss and shit, so I'm just telling you- you guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee".
Richie grabbed a stick and dipped it into the water."so-what're you- are you serious?" Eddie questioned. "doesn't smell like caca to me señor" Richie said in his Spanish accent, causing delilah to laugh."okay well I can smell that from here so," Eddie rolled his eyes.

Delilah became uninterested in their conversation and zoned out, soon realising bill's distance from the rest she began to follow him. he bent down and fished out a shoe with a stick. "guys!" he got the attention of the others. "shit... don't tell me that's-" Delilah started. the white shoe would have seemed like a mundane object in any other situation but right now, it was something much more.
"Georgie wore galoshes" bill said, causing the boys and Delilah to breathe an internal sigh of relief that it wasn't the young boys' shoe.

"who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked. Richie shone his flashlight to reveal in deep, black marker the name of the owner.
"it's Betty Ripsom's" Richie said. Betty Ripsom had always intrigued Delilah. she had seen her round the halls of school and she practically went unnoticed. ironic how people didn't know her when she was around but when she went missing, everyone knew and talked about her. Delilah and Betty shared few, brief conversations, strictly on school premises. however, that didn't stop delilah's wonderment of what happened to the innocent girl. 
"oh shit, oh god, oh fuck. I don't like this" Eddie said with a worried look.
"how do you think Betty feels? running round these tunnels with only one frickin' shoe" Richie said, hopping slightly with a grin plastered on his face.
"come on guys, lighten up. you found it funny, right del?" Del was the nickname, basically everyone had called her at some point in her life. she liked it, she especially liked it when it came out of Richie's mouth. when he said it, her heart stopped for a second. she had gone so long without these boys, she didn't realise how much she actually had missed them.

"funny? yes, inappropriate? also yes." Delilah sassed back at Richie.
"damn." he said breathing out an airy laugh. "what if she's still here?" Stan asked despite knowing somewhere deep down, the likelihood of Betty being alive was low. "c'mon Eddie" Richie tried to persuade the boy to come in. Eddie didn't move an inch. "my mom will have an aneurism, okay, if she finds out were playing down here - I'm serious! Bill?" Eddie wasn't afraid of his mother, but he should be. Mrs Kasbrak was one of the most terrifying women in all of Derry. her only weakness was her precious little Eddie bear. she was overprotective and definitely sceptical of letting Eddie hang out with the boys and Delilah. but she let him. she saw some good in the boys and girl. that's probably not true actually.
"if I was Betty Ripsom, I'd want us to find me. g-g-g-Georgie too" bill sighed. "what if I don't wanna find em'? I mean, no offence bill but I don't wanna end up like G-" Eddie stopped himself, "I don't wanna go missing too" he hung his head a little. "he has a point" Stan said, agreeing with the smaller boy.
"you too?" bill asked, his face looked hurt, but his eyes showed his secret understanding. all he wanted was for his little brother to be home and safe. he didn't want to admit that Georgie was probably dead. "its summer! we're supposed to be having fun, this isn't fun, Bill, this is disgusting" Stan added, Richie just shrugged. "come on guys... I don't particularly want to go missing but... Georgie. if that was my little brother or sister, I'd do everything I could to find them" Delilah stated.
before anyone could reply, a loud SPLOSHING noise came from the river outside of the sewer, causing the five to jump. who else but the new kid. Ben Hanscom. looking like someone had tried to kill him.

"holy shit what happened to you?"

word count ~ 1292