It Comes To Hawkins

Moving to where?

Richie woke up to hushed voices and bright lights.

"What the fuck happened?" Richie mumbled, he tried to clutch his head but something was pulling on his wrists. "And why the fuck are these on me?!" Looking down, they were some sort of padded hand cuffs.

"Richie!" The Losers Club simultaneously yelled, at varying volume. Eddie was the loudest. Richie looked up to see everyone scramble to his hospital bed and stand around it. "Woah guys! You'd think I was fucking dying or some shit-"

"Shut up Richie! We were fucking worried about you." Eddie retorted.

"Yeah, Richie.." Beverly  started, "you shouldn't joke around with stuff like this..." She looked to the ground. "But I'm glad I have my smoking pal back." She joked with a smile, her head rising.

"Come on guys you know how bad that is for you? You could get popcorn lung! You know what that is? Its when your insides get covered in like cement or some shit cause of the smoke-" Eddie started ranting.

"Eddie- you can't get cement inside-" Stan argued.

"Oh yeah?!" Eddie wheezed. "My grandfather's friend got it and he like, died!"

"That dosen't mean-" Stan was cut off by the sound of the handcuffs rattling on the bed frame.

"Sh-Sh-Shit, s-s-sorry Ri-Ri-Richie. I m-meant to take those o-off when you w-wo-woke up." Bill said, coming through the pack of losers and pulling keys out of nowhere to unlock them.

"Woah where'd you get those from?!" Eddie asked, sounding obnoxious. But Richie loved it. Bill looked at him and said, "The n-nurse ga-ga-gave them to m-me for when R-Richie woke up be-because w-we were sleeping h-here."

"Wait- guys you slept he-" Richie was cut off.

"Oh guys, weren't we supposed to push a button when Richie woke up?" Mike remembered. A chorus of "Oh right!"'s and "Shit"'s were heard from the Losers Club as they scrambled to get to the button. Only Richie and Beverly said nothing, knowing that when they got here, the social worker would also come.

"But guys... What about.. You know.." Richie tried.

"What do you mean?" Ben questioned, as curious as ever and wondering why Richie didn't want the nurses to come and help him.

"Well...They're gonna take me away from you guys..Y'know. I mean, Bev lives in Portland now.. and I don't have any family here that dosen't..." Richie trailed off, knowing the unsaid words were reverberating around the room.

"Shit Richie.." Eddie whispered to the silent room.

"I can't fucking believe I'm gonna leave your mom, Eds." Richie broke the silence and a chorus of groans followed his joke. 

"Shut up fuckface- and don't call me Eds!"

"I'm gonna miss her so much. I mean, how is she even going to function without me? Let alone, have an orga-"

"SHUT UP RICHIE!" The Losers Club yelled simultaneously. Richie cracked a smile and Eddie huffed and crossed his arms in frustration as a pair of nurses walked into the room along with an older lady, in around her fifties, Richie would guess, with gray hair tied neatly into a bun and fancy pressed cardigan and dress pants. Richie could just about throw up. He knew from that moment on, he would despise her being.

"Hello Richie," said the devil herself, "my name is Alma Patterson , but you may call me Ms. Patterson. I am your social worker."

"What the fuck is up Karen?" Richie yelped when Eddie hit him halfway through his sentence. The she-devil smiled primly.

"Mr. Tozier, I will not tolerate any swearing in my presence. I have heard about your...Inclination to such language and I will not hear any of it."

"Well then I guess you should plug your ears." Richie stated calmly.

"Richie!!" Eddie whisper-yelled.

"Whaaat!?" Richie mimicked back. Eddie face palmed and turned to the social worker.

"I know you're going to take him away so...Just... Give us a chance to-" Eddie was interrupted.

"Say goodbye? Honey bear," The Losers Club cringed, thinking of Eddie's mother, "I won't be taking him today. I will be taking him to the train station tomorrow, to go to Hawkins, Indiana first thing in the morning. You will have plenty of time to say goodbye then."

"Wait WHAT?!" The hospital room was filled with outraged yells.

"He is going WHERE??"

"Thats like...like 20 hours away from us!!!"

"You can't do this!"

"Why is he going there??"

"What the FUCK!!!"

The now known as She-Devil explained, "He has an aunt, uncle and three cousins there who will gladly take him in. He very well can't stay here, therefore, he must be moved to Hawkins. It's a very safe town, do not worry. He will be fine there." She placated.

"Oh yeah, right, well, I'm not moving 20 hours away from the Losers Club!" Richie started to move forward only to be reminded of the injuries he sustained a couple days before. Now he thought of it, his throat was fucking killing him, god he should really stop talking. What was happening? Oh yeah, right. He is so not leaving his fucking family.

"The...Never mind. Yes, you are. End of discussion. Now!" She clapped. "I will see you tomorrow! Best get packing." With that, Alma Patterson left the room, changing everyone's lives as she went.

The Losers decided to have a sleepover at Bill's house to say goodbye, after Ms. Patterson left. About an hour later, Richie was let go from the clutches of the hospital and went to his house to pack his belongings, there were few. They all fit into one bag as he had only a handful of favorite shirts, some jeans, a walkman and the precious things The Losers gave him. Soon, but not soon enough for Richie, he left his too empty of a house and biked over to Bill's house to say goodbye and forget his troubles. The air was thick with grief when everyone started trickling in but it started lifting as the movie they had meticulously picked out started to play. Richie got himself snuggled up next to Eddie and watched as the scenes transitioned, snarfing up popcorn by the handful as he went. The night continued like every other sleepover and one by one, they all forgot Richie was leaving them and had fun together for what seemed like the last time they would all see each other..Or so they thought. Midnight came and they all started to drop like flies, Ben and Beverly stepped out into the kitchen in the middle of the second movie and came back around the end of the movie, both blushing but fell asleep soon after, cuddling. Stan and Bill fell asleep after the third movie, unknowingly clutching each others hand whilst they slept. Eddie fell asleep after the fourth movie and moved closer to Richie, who was deep in thought, not paying attention to the movies at all. After a while, he shut the T.V. off when his thoughts became too suffocating for there to be more noise than the screaming already in his head. He was going to leave his family. His Losers Club. How was he going to survive? His bad boy persona could only last him so long. He couldn't possibly open up to people- not when they didn't know who he was or what he's gone through

(or what monsters he's faced)

or what they couldn't say around him or...Richie took a deep breath, his lungs felt like bursting. He held it until it was too painful and let go. He had to get through this. He just...Had to. With that thought, Richie fell into a world of clowns, trains to nowhere, a girl with powers and a shaved head, and unmistakable fear. Richie fell asleep.