Angel's End / reddie ghost au

Twenty - How Could You?

It was time.

The time Eddie had been dreading for months. It had finally arrived. Now time was about to take away another thing that Eddie loved. The only thing that he had that he loved left.

Dread owned Eddie's whole being, pushing against him like an invisible force, attempting to reverse Eddies steps back to the barrens. Dread was in his stomach locked up tight, nothing getting in or out. Dread set his face like cement, his teeth locked tight together.

How Eddie wished they could turn back time, drag the sun from the sky and inject amnesia into their minds, their time had come.

Despite Richie's best efforts at comforting the small boy, Eddie could not possibly grant Richie his blessing. He was going to miss him so much.

The sky had grown lighter and then dark again.

The boys left the barrens, not having to worry about drying off as their body's just fused through the water.

They'd spent the whole day there, enjoying the last of each other's company: gently kissing and holding each other, messing around and play fighting.

They were now walking down the main road. It was incredibly surreal.

The streets were now full of children in Halloween costumes making it hard to tell which were real people and which were the ghosts Eddie had seen earlier.

Some stood out like a sore thumb due to their gory wounds or clearly authentic old fashioned clothes, but some had Eddie really confused.

With every step Eddie took the numb feeling of dire crept over over him like an icy chill, freezing his brain. Being in this frozen state the small boy's mind offered him only one thought. It is was time. There is no avoiding it. Eddie felt like a cow being herded into a truck for the slaughter house, only the cow isn't about to loose it's life... never mind, the cow was loosing its life. Richie was Eddie's life. Richie was Eddie's reason for never giving up. He couldn't let him leave.

It was so strange. Surrounding the boys was happiness. Laughter. Memories being made... but for Eddie this felt like the end.

"Were- um... were here Ed's," Richie spoke up, a twinge of sadness in his own voice. He felt bad he couldn't put Eddie's mind at rest. Despite his best efforts, Eddie still doubted him.

Eddie looked up, his surroundings finally sinking in. They were standing outside a large navy blue building with tainted windows, a strong smell of alcohol coming from the door.
Several adults, some in costume, hung around outside, either sporting a beverage of some kind or a cigarette.

Eddie turned to Richie sadly.

Richie didn't know what to say except, "Eddie I have been waiting for this moment for years... every year that I have tried I have failed. But this time I know where he is and I know what to do,"

This made Eddie feel even more guilty. He knew he should be happy for Richie but he just couldn't.

"I know Rich... let's just get this over with."

The two boys headed inside.
The bar had hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them competing with the rock music that dominated the atmosphere. The crowd was mostly young, underage students from the university, Eddie assumed. Many of them wore revealing or particularly adult Halloween costumes also.
Eddie followed Richie through the crowd, not having to worry about bumping into people as they just went straight through them.

Eddie noticed that a large grin was appearing on Richie's face. He felt sad that Richie felt so excited about leaving him, but Eddie knew that's because Richie thought he would have the patience to wait.. Eddie felt doubtful.