The Love Is Still There |Richie Tozier (2)

~5~ Stan's Fall, & Bev's Secret

Someone finally picked up the phone.

"Hello? Patty Uris speaking." came a shaky voice.

"Hi Mrs. Uris, I'm October Larson." I said, putting the phone on speaker for everyone to hear. They all crowded around me. "I'm sorry for calling, but I'm an old friend of your husbands...."

Patty started sniffling and crying, and I waited patiently. The best way to deal with someone who is obviously upset, is to not rush them to speak. But my stomach was twisting and turning as I heard Patty crying, wondering why she was so upset.

"You lied to us." I heard Eddie tell Mike. "And that's not okay!"

"Yeah, the first words out of your mouth should've been like hey man, wanna come get murdered in Derry?" Richie said. "Cuz then I could've said no."

I waved my hands at them to stop talking.

"Guys shush." Ben said, stepping closer to hear my phone.

"H-he passed." Patty said finally.

I froze, and gulped loudly. "When did it happen?" I choked out.

"Yesterday." she said. "It was horrible, the way he died."

I pressed a hand against my mouth to keep from crying while calling Patty. She was already in so much pain, she didn't need to hear me getting emotional too.

"His wrists." Patty said.

My mouth went dry. Wrists? Suicide?

"In the bathtub." Beverly whispered.

"In the bathtub." Patty continued.

I looked at Beverly. Did I hear her right?

"I'm sorry." Patty sounded like she was about to cry again. "I have to go."

"We're all very sorry Patty." I said softly. "Stan was a good man."

"Thank you." Patty whispered.

She hung up and I lowered my phone. I couldn't' believe it. Stanley. Stanley Uris. The mature one. The kind one. The adorable one. The one who I loved so dearly.

"Stanley." Eddie rubbed a hand against his face. "Pennywise knew. He knew before we did."

Beverly lit up a cigarette and took a puff.

"October?" Richie asked me. I hadn't moved a muscle. "October, I know how close you were with Stanley but-"

I screamed out and threw my phone on the ground, before collapsing against Richie in sobs. Richie held me as I cried.

"We have to stop IT." Mike clapped his hands. "I have a plan."

"I got a plan." Richie said, tightening his grip on me. "Getting the fuck out of here before this ends worse than one of Bill's books. Who's with me?"

I saw Eddie raise a hand, along with Richie.

"We made a promise to each other!" Mike cried.

"Well, let's unmake the promise!"

"There's other people that are going to die." Ben said.

"Other people die everyday man!" Richie said. "We don't owe this town shit! Plus I only remembered I grew up here like... two house ago. I'm fucking leaving. Fuck this."

He let go of me and started walking away, looking back at me to see what I'd do.

"I'm sorry Mike. I can't." I choked out. Eddie and I followed Richie, getting into our own cars.

"Eddie! October please wait!" Mike yelled.

We each started driving back to the Inn. I got out of my car and slammed the door, harder than necessary. I dragged my feet into the Inn and went up to my room. After a while, I heard the front door opened and close a few times. I walked down to see Ben and Beverly in the bar. Richie walked in with his bag on his shoulder. "Whatever you guys are talking about, let's make it happen fast we gotta go." Richie and I walked back out.

"Edwardo!" Richie called up. "Andale let's go!"

"You knew how Stanley died, you knew." I heard Ben say.

"What?" Richie and I walked back in.

"I can't do this." Beverly whispered, walking past us.

"She knew how Stanley was going to die?" Richie asked.

I threw down my bag and ran to Beverly. I grabbed her. "What do you mean you knew! If you knew why didn't you fucking tell us!"

Richie pried me off of her and Beverly walked away again.

"You can't just walk away from this!" Ben walked after her. Richie and I followed. Bev rang the bell at the front desk a few times.

"Did you know where he killed himself?" asked Ben.

Bev sighed and talked behind the counter to grab her keys.

"Come one just talk to me. Like we used to. How did you know?"

Beverly stopped and looked up at Ben. "Because I saw it. I've seen all of us die."

Richie and I looked at each other, before back at Beverly.

"Alright." Eddie grunted, carrying two huge bags down the stairs. "I just need to grab my toiletries bag and we can go." he stared at our faces. "What'd I miss?"

We decided to walk to the longue to finish our conversation. Beverly sat down while Ben went behind the bar to make himself a drink. Richie and I stood still and Eddie was pacing around.

"Okay, what do you mean that you've seen us all die?" asked Eddie.

"Yeah, I gotta be honest that's a pretty fucked up thing to just drop on somebody." I spat.

Beverly wiped her face. "Every night since Derry, I've been having these nightmares. People in pain. People dying."

"So what, you have nightmares!" Eddie cried. "I have nightmares. We all have nightmares. Doesn't mean they'll come true!"

"I've watched every single one of us this week...." Beverly started.

"Seen every single one of us w-what." Bill walked into the room. Mike was right behind him.

"To the place where Stanley wound up." Beverly said. "That's how we end."

"How come the rest of us aren't seeing this shit?" asked Richie. "What makes her so different?"

"Maybe because you're still a virgin." I whispered to him.

Richie rolled his eyes. "Asshole."

"The deadlights." Mike said suddenly.

"She was the only one of us to see the deadlights." I said.

"We were all touched by IT." Mike said. "Changed. Deep down, like an infection. Or a virus. A virus! You understand!" Mike looked at Eddie, who moved away and shook his head, not wanting to listen.

"This virus has been growing for twenty-seven years." Mike exclaimed. "This whole time, metastasizing. It just got to Stan first because-"

"He was the weakest." Richie said bluntly.

"Jesus Christ Rich." Bill sighed.

I punched his arm. "Shut the fuck up Tozier." Tears pooled in my eyes again.

"I was just saying what everyone else was thinking man." he said.

"I wasn't thinking it." I mumbled.

"What Beverly sees." Mike continued. "It will come to pass. It's what'll happen to all of us eventually. Unless we stop it."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Eddie asked, throwing his hands up.

"The Ritual of Chüd."