where we left off

7

The first three weeks of summer were a blur of warm nights and laughter,then it happened.

The Derry riots of 1993.

The Losers had been at Bev's aunt's apartment when it happened. Lily Marsh,Bev's aunt, had gone to a friend's house and Bev had invited the others round.

First they heard the shouting.

They could here loud chantings of slogans emanating from the streets below.

Then,as soon as the sun set,the screaming began.

Bev looked out the window anxiously and paced the room erratically,like a caged animal.
Eddie puffed on his inhaler again and again.
Then the seven teenagers heard a loud knocking at the door. Bev grabbed a baseball bat and looked through the peephole.
She opened the door and let in three kids around their age.

"Guys,this is Alex-" She pointed to a boy with thin features and wild blond hair, "-,that's Jo-" Bev gestured to a short guy with black hair and patchy skin, "-and that's Mohammed." She pointed to the third teen,who had glasses and dark skin.

"Alex,Jo,Mohammed;this is Ben,Mike,Richie,Eddie,Stan and Bill."

"Hi! I'm Beverly's downstairs neighbor and these are my friends." Jo gestured to the two others.

"Do you want something to drink?" Bill asked.

"What's it like outside?" Eddie questioned.

"Can I have some water,please? It's pretty scary out there,fire and broken glass and other crap." Mohammed said quietly.

"Alex and I will have water too,please."

Bill got them all some water and they proceeded to sit in awkward silence for about thirteen minutes until Richie asked:

"So why are people going crazy out there?"

"I don't really know. It might be a protest gone wrong about that dude who was released from prison?" Mohammed looked as clueless as the rest of them.

"What dude?" Eddie looked increasingly nervous.

"A guy who murdered his wife is going out on parole or something?" Jo replied.

"Gods almighty! This is like a really dodgy coming of age movie. Like,any second, Richie and Eddie will go and bang in a closet." Mike joked.

"Mmmh...That would pass the time. Though nothing can beat the sewer orgy." Richie mused.

Mohammed and Alex looked horrified.

"Oh shit,no! Don't worry. We never had a sewer orgy!" Bev glared at Richie.

"It's a joke. Bev made some joke six years ago about having an orgy,it's just an inside joke." Bill babbled.

"Chill,we have some pretty fucking mad inside jokes as well." Alex shook his head.

For the next two hours,they made conversation and laughed. Bev and Richie smoked on the balcony and Ben read an entire book.