possibilities ( it: chapter 2 )

THIRTEEN.

eileen could distinctly remember the day that she found out she was pregnant with her second child.

it was august sixteenth and her husband was feeding their daughter baby food. jade olivia tozier was seventeen months old and was the light of their lives.

"i think i'm pregnant." eileen said casually as she drained the pasta that she had been preparing for dinner. they were living in their small, two bedroom apartment which rested about six miles outside of the city of los angeles. 

richie tozier stopped his movements, placing the tiny pink spoon in the baby food cup. jade whined and extended out her tiny hands, wanting more.
"wait what?" richie furrowed his eyebrows.

eileen put the pot back on the stove and stared down at the penne shaped pasta as she realized she had made her confession. her and richie thought that one kid was more than enough, jade had been a difficult baby and their marriage had definitely been tested during the early months of her life. plus they wanted to get further in their careers before they even thought of having a second child.

"i missed my period, and i'm having some of the symptoms that i had with jay." eileen shrugged. after she took the pregnancy test, eileen found herself daydreaming about their perfect little family of four. she felt that she was ready for another baby.

richie wiped the excess food from around jade's mouth and picked her up out of her high chair. he placed the seventeen month old baby on his hip as he walked over towards his wife.
"but we used—"
"they're only so effective, rich, i looked it up." eileen stated.

richard tozier sighed, he saw that his wife had come to terms with it. he was beyond terrified of them repeating history. during the first couple of months of jade's life, she had colic. the crying and screaming of their newborn baby kept them awake most nights, and led to fights starting between them. their marriage was almost pushed to the breaking point, until jade finally grew out of her colic stage.

"say something please." eileen's blue eyes glanced up at her husband. richie looked from eileen to jade, his daughter had been the greatest thing to ever happen to him. the fact that she was a daddy's girl only made his heart swell more. the toddler cooed at her father, smiling cheerfully.

"are you sure we can do this?" richie looked down at his wife. eileen nodded and leaned up to press a kiss to his lips.
"as long as we have each other, we can do anything." she reassured.

–

the following may, the toziers welcomed their baby boy into the world. eileen remembered that two months prior, she and richie had gone to the beach for a much needed date and spent the day coming up with baby names.

"hi little reece." richie cooed down at his newborn son. reece tozier had come out with a head full of dark hair, much like his older sister. eileen rested in the hospital bed, smiling at the sight of her husband and their son. her pregnancy and labor with reece had been as stress free and easy going as it could go. in her opinion, they had never been happier.

"let me hold him, rich." eileen extended her arms out, and richie brought over the three hour old baby boy. he set him in eileen's arms and she looked down at her son.

her smile only widened and she felt her eyes fill with tears. she never would've thought she would have a son.
"hi baby boy," she whispered, lightly caressing his cheek with her index finger. reece was sleeping and he looked so peaceful in his swaddle. "we love you so much, and your sister is going to adore you. you two will be best friends, my love." eileen cooed.

richie tozier smiled at the two of them and pressed a kiss to eileen's forehead. reece tozier was the missing piece that their tiny family needed. richie was in awe over the fact that he had finally learned what it meant to have a loving, happy family.

—

eileen had no idea of where the clown could've taken her son, but that didn't stop her from scouring every inch of the lankman house for him. her nerves were running wild as she was running out of places to look.

she had given jade the task of calling richie to tell him that reece was missing and they need to find him.

"mom!" eileen heard the screams of her son, sounding as if they came from upstairs.
"reece!" eileen felt her heart drop as she darted up the stairs as fast as she could.

"reece, i'm coming baby!" she yelled out again, searching every room upstairs. there was no trace of her son anywhere. eileen stopped in the middle of the hallway, she needed to collect her thoughts. either the clown was playing tricks on her, or her son actually was somewhere in the house.

"mom help me!" reece screamed out again, and eileen knew it was coming from right above her. she glanced up, seeing their attic. the thirty-nine year old swiftly pulled on the string to release the stairs.

eileen's heart was beating approximately a mile a minute, she couldn't lose her youngest child, her only son. that wasn't even an option.
eileen climbed up the stairs rapidly to see pennywise with his arms wrapped around her son's throat, holding reece in a chokehold.

all of her memories from that summer rushed back to her and she grew terrified of what could happen within the next few minutes.

"pooooor eileen! she can't save her son just like she couldn't save stanley." pennywise taunted, not reacting as reece tozier tried to hit and kick his way out of the clown's arms.

"tha-that's not true. i helped stanley and i can save my son!" eileen's eyes subtly darted around for anything she could use to save reece. there was nothing to help her.

"stanley liked his bath, why didn't you enjoy yours?" pennywise teased again, letting out a laugh.

eileen felt her heart sink again, she knew she needed to outsmart him in order to rescue her son.
"because i'm not scared of you. nor is richie, or jade, or reece. you can't kill him because he isn't scared of you." eileen slowly stepped towards pennywise.

reece's brown eyes were filled with fear, contrary to the lies that his mom were spilling.
"is that true, reece?" pennywise feigned hurt, he knew that the eleven year old was deadly afraid of him.

reece tozier struggled to breathe, but he managed to piece his sentence out.
"i....i'm...not afraid of you.." reece wheezed out, pennywise's arm still firmly around his throat.

everything happened within a split second—jade tozier heard the bone chilling scream of her mother from upstairs.

rushing upstairs and scurrying up the old stairs to the attic, all of the color drained from jade's face as she saw her mother holding reece's body in her arms.

eileen tozier let out a sob as she embraced her son's lifeless body. jade glanced around, tears beginning to fill her eyes, the clown was nowhere to be found.

jade felt her bottom lip quiver as she began to cry, and her heart sank as she kneeled down next to her grieving mother. her younger brother was dead, the clown had killed her best friend.

jade and eileen tozier mourned the loss of the youngest member of their family and eileen couldn't help but to feel defeat wash over her. her bloodshot eyes glanced up towards her daughter.

"wh-what do i tell richie?"