possibilities ( it: chapter 2 )

FIFTEEN.

eileen tozier would do anything for her family, for richie, for jade, she would've done everything for reece. as she leaned against the car, she knew that protecting her daughter was her first priority.

"you call us when you land, do you understand? beth will be right there at the gate and you'll stay with her until your mom and i get back." richie pushed jade's long brown hair out of her face.

"okay...but how will i know that you guys are safe? h-how do i explain to bet—" jade was cut off by her father.
"you don't. we'll find a way to tell everyone when we get back. you need to go before you miss your flight, go tell your mom bye." richie rested his hand on jade's shoulder.

eileen had called her best friend to take over and care for jade while they dealt with derry troubles. she didn't explain much except for the fact that she urgently needed for beth to take care of her daughter.

beth goode met eileen when she was still eileen lankman, a 23-year-old temp at the publishing firm 'simpson and martin publishing.' beth was a first year editor with a heart of gold and a bright white smile. eileen would never admit this out loud, but when she brought richie to their company christmas party, she was scared that she would lose her fiancé to her newfound chestnut haired and hazel eyed friend.

beth knew that eileen and richie came with the baggage of bonded trauma from their childhood, she just didn't know what it was. when eileen said that she needed beth to take care of jade, beth said, without hesitation, "anything for my best friend."

eileen stepped towards her daughter and pulled her into the tightest hug, she kissed the top of her daughter's head. for once in her life, jade tozier hugged her mother back with just as much love and just as much intensity.
"i love you, mom." jade whispered, and eileen felt goosebumps run up her arms.

"i love you most." eileen whispered back and pulled out of the hug. jade glanced over at her dad before looked up into her mom's blue eyes that were identical to her's.

"please make reece proud. i'm rooting for you, mom," jade tried to ignore the tears that were welling up in her eyes at the thought of her brother. "women are strong as fuck...my dad taught me that." she gave one last glance at richie, who was texting on his phone.

"bill's asking where we are. jade, you gotta go. we love you." richie glanced up.
"love you guys too!" jade called out and began to depart from her parents.

"let's go, rich."

—

"jesus, what took you two so long?" eddie kaspbrak glanced at the couple walking in. eileen had allowed her mind to wander for two minutes and she hadn't thought of her loss, yet eddie's question brought her back.

beverly marsh watched carefully as eileen's big blue eyes softened, something had happened.
"nothing. it was just hard finding our artifacts." richie shrugged and took a seat, he held out his hand to motion for his wife to sit next to him.

eileen followed his suggestion and occupied the seat in between richie and ben. she didn't quite know how to explain their whereabouts—i had to watch my son die and then my husband and i had to bury his body in my parent's backyard? nothing sounded plausible, her life was an anomaly.

"what was your artifact?" beverly asked, resting a hand of eileen's knee. that was her attempt to subtly comfort eileen through whatever she was dealing with.
"um...mine was this necklace that stan got me. has an 's' charm on it, i always wore it when we were together." eileen looked down at it, her thumb brushing against the gold 's' as a small smile settled on her face.

richie raised an eyebrow and glanced over at his wife.
"i thought you lost that at camp." he proposed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"i thought so too but one of my camp friends said that she found it in the water before it sunk to the bottom. i guess i was just always meant to keep it forever." eileen spoke quietly.

as she spoke, eileen realized that she was meant to stay connected to derry forever. her life had been predetermined and that was the only explanation for all of this. richie noticed that eileen wasn't paying attention to mike and eddie tell the story of their encounter with henry bowers.

he wrapped his arm around her and gave her shoulder a squeeze, attempting to bring her back to reality.
"we have to do this for him, e." richie leaned over and whispered quietly.

beverly marsh's eyes didn't once leave richie and eileen's encounter, so she was the first one to notice the disgruntled eileen storm out of the room. her eyebrows furrowed and she shot up to follow behind eileen.

"bev, don't—" richie yelled out after beverly.

eileen didn't stop until she reached the bathroom, she didn't think that she had any more tears left but she was wrong yet again. her tears turned into sobs which snowballed into gasps for air.

shoving the door open, eileen rushed to the sink and turned on the faucet.
"eileen? e-eileen, are you okay? what's wrong?" beverly wasn't far behind her grieving friend.

eileen shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face and wiping her eyes with the scratchy brown paper towel that was in the bathroom's dispenser.
"i-its nothing. don't worry about it." eileen huffed out, throwing away the paper towel.

she reached her hands out under the cool running water, listening to beverly marsh's assumptions.
"is it richie? a-are you guys divorcing or something? you two seem off." beverly tilted her head.

eileen glanced over at beverly, turned off the faucet and shook her wet hands in the sink.
"what? no...why..why would you think that?" eileen grabbed two more paper towels.

her eyes were bloodshot again and her nose was tinted red from wiping it earlier.
beverly stepped forward, a look of confusion still on her face.

"you're all upset and you keep crying and richie...i mean he hasn't been himself. hasn't cracked a joke since you guys got here." beverly theorized.

eileen felt a frown settle on her face, she knew that she was hurt but she hadn't realized how their loss would affect richie too. he wouldn't have his son anymore, his youngest child was taken from him too. eileen took in a deep breath before spilling her guts to beverly.

"it killed reece. the clown took our boy away." saying out loud was more upsetting than she thought it'd be. beverly's eyes softened and filled with tears. she couldn't even imagine the hurt that richie and eileen had been feeling.

"oh my god eileen." beverly wrapped her arms around her longtime friend. something about getting comforted by someone who wasn't her husband broke eileen down just a little bit more.

she felt herself melt into beverly's arms, crying along with her friend.
"he was only eleven." eileen sniffled.

"i know that it hurts to hear this, but the only closure that you can find is banishing this...this monster to bring your son peace." beverly whispered.

eileen knew that in order for her to begin to accept reece's fate, she had to follow through with her task that she had came to derry to fulfill. she knew that she could only do it with her childhood friends by her side.

—
tying up some loose ends before
we finally get to the end,
what do you think is going to happennn?