It Comes To Hawkins

What a Dinner.

"Michael! Richard! Nancy! Michael's friends! Dinner!"
"Coming!" A chorus of yells came up from the basement. Richie stifled a groan, rising from his position on his bed and took off his headphones connected to his Walkman. The sound of The Who fading from his ears. How were they all going to fit at the dinner table? Whatever. Richie stumbled to the door and opened it, the light flooded his room. Richie squinted and walked towards the dining table. He steeled himself for a dinner filled with forced conversations, though anything was better than no conversation where you didn't know if you existed and oh wait. There wasn't any dinner at all. Shaking his head, Richie came to the table filled to the brim with food. There were two tables pushed together for Mike's friends. He sat down in the nearest chair to him and leaned back. His stomach was grumbling, he didn't eat breakfast or lunch. After deciding how much he should eat, Dustin came tumbling up the stairs, next Lucas, quickly followed by Will, then Mike with a sour expression on his face, then Max, tugging El along with her, with a confused expression on her face. Richie forced his face into a blank expression while blocking out all conversation.
While everyone took their seats, Richie carefully took food from the table, aware of the other people needing food. About an eighth of his plate was filled when he started to eat and think about things other than Mike and his fucking soft expression filled with empathy. Yeah, he can't empathize with shit.
"Richard."
"What?" Richie's head snapped up from his plate. Karen looked at him expectantly and asked the question again.
"I heard you weren't in school today. You aren't allowed to just skip school like that. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"Thought you wouldn't care" Richie mumbled under his breath.
""What?" Karen looked confused. "Speak up, Richard."
"I. Thought. You. Wouldn't. Care." Richie started her dead in the eye and kept his facial expression blank. Frankly, it scared Karen to look at his his blank eyes and blank face. Dustin quietly ate his food while looking at Richie, almost knowing something was going to happen. El looked over at Richie as well, but almost too suddenly. She definitely knew something was happening, she could feel his power begin to build uncontrollably. Under the table, her hand sprayed outward, prepared to restrain Richie if she needed to.
"Don't take that tone with me or I'll-"
"You'll what? Huh? Hit me?" Richie snarled and pushed back his chair. God. Why the fuck did everyone want to know his fucking business?! First Mike then Karen!? Really!? Fuck them.
"Wh-what? Richard I would never- "
"Well go ahead then. Punish me for leaving fucking school when I have a fucking panic attack because another fucking kid was MURDERED AND I KNOW WHAT FUCKING DID IT!" A loud crack sounded throughout the house and Richie looked down to see both the tables had cracked in two. In that second, El had gotten up and pushed Richie away from everyone else, so he couldn't hurt them, her hands sprayed forth and blood was dripping from her nose. Richie waved his hand towards the attack, while flying through the air on instinct. He landed 15 feet away from the dinner table with a thud. His head smashed into the hardwood and the world spun around him. He heard a chorus of "Mike!"'s and a small groan coming from the dining room through a thick layer of fog. Chuckling, he reminded himself that no one came to get him to see if he was alright. Everything was the same. Nothing changed. Smiling to himself through bloodied teeth, Richie stumbled up and barked out a laugh before catching himself on the couch near him. The world was still spinning and dark spots were appearing in the corners of his vision. He had to get out. He had to leave. Blood was dripping down his face. When he was stumbling out of the living room, he caught a look at himself in the mirror. Richie screamed and fell, banging his head yet again on the floor, knocking him out cold with the image of him with blood painted like a smile on his cheeks and through his eyes. Dripping like tears. The worst part, was when he was laughing, when he could hear Pennywise take over and laugh with Richie.

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Sorry this was so short, but a lot happened and it felt like a good place to stop. I'll be publishing fanfiction soon though!! But anyways, how you feel about this chapter? Please comment, I'm always looking to improve. Be gentle with my sensitive soul, though.