tag, you're it again. r.tozier. act ll.

epilogue | we're losers, and we always will be!

TAG, YOU'RE IT AGAIN!

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"I KNOW IT might not seem like it, but this isn't a suicide not."

Bill sighed, opening the folded paper as he began to read it, his reading glasses on.

"You're probably wondering why I did what I did." Stanley sat at his table, writing the same eighth letter. "It's because I knew I was scared to go back."

Richie drove up to the kissing bridge, Sydney quietly sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

"And if we weren't together, with all of us alive, not united, I knew we'd all die."

Richie climbed out the car, Sydney following from behind him. He had his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, his swollen eyes stuck on something as he walked to the wooden fence on the bridge.

"So, I made the only logical move; I took myself off the board."

Bill looked away from the paper, tears forming in his eyes as took off his reading glasses, not wanting to read the letter anymore.

"Did it work? Well, if you're reading this, you know the answer."

Richie sniffed as he finally stood in front of the fence on the bridge, and Sydney furrowed her eyebrows as she continued to follow him.

"I lived my whole life afraid."

Richie then crouched in front of the fence, Sydney now standing behind him as she saw what he was looking at.

"Afraid of what would come next. Afraid of what I might leave behind,"

Richie suddenly pulled a pocket knife out of his jacket pocket, making tears form in Sydney's eyes, for she knew what he was going to do.

"Don't. Be who you wanna be."

A sad smile broke on Richie's face as he softly cried, re - carving his and Arianna's initials into the fence, and Sydney softly smiled at the initials, for she never knew that the two had carved them in as smitten teenagers.

R+A.

"Be proud."

"Sleep okay?" Ben asked Beverly, handing her a glass as they both sat on a boat.

"Yeah," she answered, smiling at the man, "I had a beautiful dream." She hadn't had a beautiful dream in a long, long time.

"Find someone worth holding onto."

Richie sighed as he opened his front door, not making eye contact with Arianna's mother, who held Noah at the moment, as Riley lay in her crib. A confused look spread onto her face as Sydney followed Richie inside of the house, and Richie dropped his suitcase on the floor, not moving as he hung his head down.

"And if you find someone worth holding onto, never, ever let them go."

Mike smiled to himself as he sat in his car, opened his book, where a picture fell out of it. He grabbed it and held it up, only to see it was photobooth pictures of all the losers as young teenagers. He chuckled at it, sadly smiling at it as he looked at all of them; Stanley, Eddie, Arianna, Richie, Mike, Ben, Beverly, Sydney and Bill. They all looked so happy.

"Follow your own path. Where ever that takes you."

Young Arianna rode her new bike along the empty streets of Derry with all of her friends, laughing as Richie told one of his lame jokes again.

"Think of this letter as a promise."

Young Arianna looked at all of her friends in happiness, for they all looked so happy. They all looked so grown up. So mature.

"A promise I'm asking you to make."

Young Arianna glanced over at Richie, who winked at her as she smiled at him, shaking her head.

"To me. To each other. See, the thing about being a loser, is you don't have anything to lose."

Young Arianna smiled to herself, so very grateful for her family.

"So be true. Be brave."

Richie stormed up to the office, Sydney following behind him as she pleaded for him to stop.

"Stand. Believe."

"Hey!" Richie called out to the man walking in front of him, who happened to be Sydney's boss, Mr. Thompson. The man confusingly turned around, only for Richie to grab him and punch him in the face.

"Richie!" Sydney ran up to him, trying to pull the angry, taller, glasses - wearing man away. She didn't want Richie getting into trouble. Earlier that day, Richie had asked her what was happening, for he knew she was sad. She had broke and told him about everything - including her boss.

"And, don't ever forget. We're losers."

As the caverns started falling apart, Arianna weakly looked around, knowing she and Eddie were to be crushed at any second. But, she only weakly wrapped an arm around him, planting a kiss on his head, and she leaned her head on top of his, the light leaving her eyes as she closed them, and the last thought that trailed off in her mind, was Richie, Sydney, Riley, Noah, Eddie, Stanley, Ben, Mike, Beverly, Bill, and Kaitlyn.

"And we always will be."

(Slowed)
You are my sunshine,
my only sunshine!
You make me happy when skies are gray!
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you!
Please don't take my sunshine away!

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THE END.