A New Beginning

Chapter 3

       Richie leaned against the wall outside Eddie's room as him and his wife caught up. Eddie was berated with comments and questions that spewed out of Myra's mouth like a waterfall. Eddie was patient externally but was boiling like a kettle in his mind. He was bound to let out steam soon.
        "I knew you shouldn't have come here, Eddie. I told you it would be too dangerous! Now look at you!" Myra gestures at him wildly "You are full of stitches and almost died! Oh god, Eddie!"
       "You know what, Myra?" Eddie snapped, finally spilling over. "I'm glad I came back. Am I glad about what happened to me? Hell no! But am I glad I got to reunite and reminisce with my best friends? Yes!"
         "Well I'm glad you aren't happy about your current state! Look at you! Stuck in bed and in pain. How are you going to work again?"
         "I'll work from home, if I have to. At least I'll still be doing my job. You have to trust me that I have this all under control."
        "That's what you said before you left. Now look at you, Eddiebear. You're torn to shreds! What the hell were you doing here to get this mangled up?"
        "It's none of your business, Sweetheart-"
       "'None of my business'?!"
       "Yes! It none of your business!"
       "How can you almost dying be none of my business?!"
       "It's none of your business because I said it's none of your business! My time here in Derry is something that is my business. Just mine and my friend's business."
       "Just yours and your friends, huh?"
       "Yes. This is our hometown and we needed to settle some things. This was my fault. They aren't apart of any of this."
       "Sure they aren't. I talked with that friend of yours outside. He was all talk. Just shit talking me to your room. He doesn't seem like the best of friends."
       "Myra, I told you! They are not a part of this!" Eddie's voice began to raise as his throat reddened with anger.
       "They are! They are the ones who brought you here in the first place! They made you get torn up so badly!"
       "Leave!" Eddie shouted and pressed the help button, "Get the hell out of here! Don't talk about my friends like that!"
      Myra was shocked at the state of her husband. She had never seen the man so enraged. Every time they fought, it was banter or he made sure she was happy. He never shouted at her.
      "Get out!" He stated and Myra reverted back into the anger she just had.
      "I'm your wife, Eddie, and you want me to leave?" She furrowed her brows and crossed her arms.
      "Yes! Get out of my sight!" Eddie sounded exasperated at this point.
      He yearned for someone to come in and take her away. He was tired of the accusations. Tired of her remarks. His head was hurting beneath the pain meds.
      "If that's what you want." Myra muttered as a nurse walked in.
      "What seems to be the problem?" She asked as Myra brushed aside her to leave the room and storm down the hall.
     "Nothing," Eddie stated in a relieving sigh, "Nothing at all."
     "Alright, make sure to reset the button." The nurse nodded and left the room.
     Eddie fell back against the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. Finally, she was gone. Eddie felt so tired but relieved. The headache started to fade.
     "Well that was a cat fight," Richie stated, entering the room as Eddie turned his head to look at him.
      "Ah, you heard all of that?" Eddie ran a hand through his own hair, embarrassed by himself.
      "Me? No, I think the whole hospital heard it." Richie sat back in his spot, "You two were so loud, it makes me wonder what you guys are like on a Saturday night."
      Eddie groaned, "You're so disgusting."
      Richie chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.
      "Just don't take anything Myra said in offense. She knows nothing about you."
      "Eh, you get it all the time when you're famous. I've learned to take the heat."
      Eddie sighed. He still felt bad about what happened. "I'm sorry about the shouting. She just knows how to push all my buttons."
       "Nah, man, you're good. I mean, I'd get pissed if someone kept yelling at me about things I couldn't control or can't. It would make me feel like shit though."
       "Yeah," Eddie remarked and looked at his feet.
       "You know that's not what I'm talking about." Richie added and leaned over to him to look at him from over his glasses.
       "Oh really?" Eddie rose a corner of his furrowed brows to Richie.
       "Yeah, really." Richie day back up and adjusted his new glasses, "How did you know that you were going to get kabobbed by a Killer Spider Clown Alien? You didn't."
        He was right. Eddie's gaze fell from Richie as his mind wandered. It made its way back to that night.
        Fear. It was all fear. That whole night he was scared. Scared of IT's manipulations. Scared from past trauma reoccurring. Scared Bev and all the other would drown. Scared of the diseases from the blood and sewage filled waters. Scared they couldn't kill IT. Scared that Richie would...
      Eddie clenched his left hand and closed his eyes tight before he looked up to see Richie staring at his phone. He was afraid Richie would've died. He had almost let it happen and he couldn't do that again. He could never let his friend die.