It Comes To Hawkins

Little Erica Sinclair

Richie woke up with tear stains on his face. Cursing, he stumbled to the bathroom to wash himself off, taking a shower. Feeling better, he went back into his room and changed into fresh clothes. He really didn't want to deal with Karen right now. Not with what she did to him. With that thought he grabbed his cigarettes, lighter and backpack and leapt out of the window, beginning his long trek to the school. After about 10 minutes, a familiar car showed up. Richie looked at it for a second as it rolled nearer to him before it clicked in his mind. Steve. Walking up to it, Richie leaned in the window to find Steve with his perfect hair as always.
"Got a spare seat?" Richie talked through his cigarette.
"Not with that cigarette I do." Steve looked at it warningly. Perhaps a bit concern thrown into the mix there as well, though Richie couldn't fathom why. He certainly didn't fucking deserve it.
"I just lit this baby! Come on Steve!" Richie whined in one of his voices as he opened the car door and jumped in. Steve muffled a groan and told him to open the window. Richie did so and began to enjoy his ride, though a little on edge. After all, he had only met Steve once before. He seemed really nice but Richie wasn't going to trust him anytime soon. He hadn't had very good experiences with that.
"So... you fought a monster with a baseball bat too?" Steve tried to get him to open up. To which Richie chuckled slightly.
"I didn't know you remembered that."
"Course I do. You're my child now. I gotta remember what monsters you've faced. So what do we have? A childhood bully? A man eating monster with a starfish face?" Steve almost shuddered with the memory but tried to shake it off in fear of being noticed by Richie.
"More like a child eating shapeshifter." Richie answered, breathing out the smoke from his cigarette. Steve was weirded out but decided that he would go along with the prank. After all, the upside down was special and almost no one had faced monsters before. Therefore, Richie couldn't have.
"Name?"
"Pennywise the dancing clown. But my friends called him IT"
"It? What is it?"
"That's what we called him. It."
"That's not very original."
"Alright smartass. Why don't you try fighting something that changes its fucking form every time you meet it. What're you gonna call it?"
"Well I don't know, something other than the most used word in the English dictionary?"
"Listen fucker- oh shit. We're at school. Gotta go, smartass." Richie opened the car door while it was still driving and hopped out, cursing himself for revealing too much, as always. He is on his way to fucking trusting him. God damnit. Shouldering his light backpack (he didn't need to take notes- he always remembered everything anyway), he headed into the doors. The first thing he heard was everyone talking about, "That Sinclair kid." Richie's mind immediately went to Lucas. Slightly jogging to the place where Mikes friends always meet up he caught the tail end of a conversation and stumbled before catching himself on the lockers next to him. Looking back, he stopped and eavesdropped on the group gossiping about it.
"Yeah they found her in the woods near the sewer entrance. It was crazy."
Richie's heart skipped a beat.
"Like, half of her body was totally ripped off."
His legs almost gave out.
"It was insane!! No bear could have done that right?!? But we don't have any killers in Hawkins?!? Right?!?"
"Is this a repeat of last year?!?"
"With the mall?!? And all of the dead-"
"Pat. Stop."
"Wha-.. oh... sorry."
Richie barely made it to the bathroom before he threw up in the toilet, thankful that no one was there. He stood up, shaking. His hands trembled as he wiped away the sick from his face while he walked quickly, tripping over his feet and locked the bathroom door so no one could get in while he was having a nervous breakdown. It was here. It had to be. Her body was ripped in half. Just like Betty Ripsoms

(where's my shoe?)

and it was found near the SEWER ENTRANCE! The FUCKING SEWERS!!

(it's gray water!)

Pennywise has come to kill him.

IT knew his secret

(I know your secret! Your dirty little secret!)

and IT is going to kill him.

IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me. IT's found me.

Richie's world started to blur and shake. He couldn't get enough oxygen. Tears were flowing out of his eyes, he didn't even notice through the panic coursing through his veins. He could breathe. He was gasping. It felt like there wasn't any air he was taking in the he breathed. He was trying but everything was spinning. He was back at the lab. His heart beat was loud in his ears. Richie knew he was panicking. "Just crush the can!! Just crush it!! Eleven can do it! You can do it! Just crush-"

Hit

"the-"

Hit

"Fucking-"

Hit

"CAN!!!!"

The mirror was obliterated in front of Richie. Shards went everywhere. Richie stood panting, surrounded in glass. A perfect circle surrounded him on the floor. The tears stopped and Richie realized he was at school. Backing away, he ran out of the bathroom. It was 20 minutes into the next period but he didn't care. He needed to get out of the fucking school. He needed to get out of this fucking TOWN! He needed to see Eddie. And Bev. And Bill. And Mike. And Ben. And Stan. He needed to go back to Derry. He needed to be back in his abusive household. He needed to be ridiculed by his teachers for cheating on tests he didn't cheat on. He needed EVERYTHING TO BE FUCKING NORMAL!! Running out of the school, he sprinted downtown Hawkins, never noticing a pair of eyes following his every move, before slithering back into the darkness.

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Hey guys!! So sorry for not updating for a while but I had some stuff going on that drew me away from writing. Love y'all that stuck with me!! And everyone who read my story!! Thanks for all the support! ❤️