The Love Is Still There |Richie Tozier (2)

~16~ Eddie

The house around us began to crumble. But Richie and I didn't care.

"He's just hurt!" I said. "He's fine."

Richie nodded. "Yeah, we have to get him out of here."

"October..... Richie." Beverly said, tears in her eyes. 

"What?" asked Richie.

"I'm sorry but..... he's dead."

"No. Fuck off Beverly!" I cried. "He's not dead."

Richie's face crumbled as he realized the truth. But I couldn't.

"October. October I know how you always felt about him but..... this isn't something you can fix this time." Ben said sadly. 

"Guys, we have to go." Beverly said softly. "Come on."

Richie and I pulled Eddie's body close to us, hugging him as Bill tried to get us to go up. I kissed Eddie's cold cheek. "I love you Eddie Bear. You were the best brother in the world."

Richie and I couldn't let go. The other Loser's forcefully pulled us off. The whole house started breaking apart. The layer was completely destroyed. 

"We have to take his body with us!" I cried. "Please!"

Bill grabbed Richie and Ben grabbed me, and they dragged us out. I tried kicking free, but Ben wouldn't budge.

We ran out of the house, me still limping hard. We burst out into the bright sky and we watched as the house fell into the ground. 

"Wait!" I cried. 

"EDDIE!" Richie screamed. 

Ben and Mike held onto us. The house was completely destroyed now. Ben was right. There really was nothing I could do.

I stopped fighting and just leaned back against Ben, crying my eyes out. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head. Soon, Richie stopped fighting too and we all just stared at the fallen house. 

"The Quarry." Richie said. 

"What?" asked Bev.

"I want to go to the quarry."

And so, we went to the quarry. Richie took my hand and everyone walked in silence. Derry didn't feel like Derry anymore. Not without Eddie or Stan by my side.

At the quarry, There was a fence and a sign that said 'No jumping or diving.'

Beverly stepped over it and jumped into the water. We all followed, taking off our shoes. I jumped over the cliff and fell into the cold icy water. Looking up, the other guys started jumping in one by one. We swam in silence, until we reached a shallow area. Richie sat on a rock and I was in the water next to him. Richie took my elbow and helped my wash off the blood I had there, from a scrape I didn't even notice I had. I took Richie's glasses and washed them in the water, before handing it back to him.

Leaning my head against Richie's arm, I thought about Eddie and Stan. I thought about Eddie making a big deal over any tiny cut we got. About Stan worrying if a bush was poison ivy or not. I thought about how even though they were the most nervous boys of the group, if I ever got in a fight with someone at school they'd be two of the first people by my side to help. 

"You know what?" Ben said through my thoughts. "Eddie would've hated this guys."

"What, cleaning ourselves with dirty water." Bill laughed slightly. 

Ben gave a small smile. "Yeah."

"He'd be telling us we'd get streptococcal or something." Beverly spoke.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, but it would have made us laugh though."

Beverly nodded. "OH yeah."

"He'd be looking out for us." Bill said.

"He always was." I choked out. 

Richie and I started to cry. I wrapped my arms around Richie's waist. The two us of loosing our best friend was just too hard on us. The Loser's came over and hugged us and held us. Richie and I cried in silence as they held us. Once Richie and I calmed down, we looked at the Loser's.

"Thank you." I said.

"I don't have my glasses on so I don't know who you people are but thank you." Richie said.

We couldn't help but laugh.

"Wait no, I really actually can't find my glasses." he said.

"Are you serious?"  asked Beverly.

"I literally gave them to you two minutes ago." I shook my head, pulling away to look for his glasses. 

"Are they here somewhere?" asked Bill, diving underwater.

We dove after him. Ben ended up fining Richie's glasses, and I also suspected that he and Bev have something going on between them now. I smiled at that. After we left the quarry, we started walking back to the inn. As I adjusted my shirt, I noticed something different about my hand. 

"Hey, hey look." I said.

The others came closer. 

"What's up?" asked Ben.

"No scar." I showed them my palm.

They all looked at their hands too. They're scars were also gone. 

"Nothing lasts forever." whispered Mike.

We all looked up at ta window of the shop in front of us. Instead of us being in the reflection, we saw the younger versions of ourselves. From twenty-seven years ago. We were holding our bikes, and Eddie and Stan were standing on either side of me. I subconsciously looked beside me, but they weren't there. Richie squeezed my shoulder. 

Young Eddie looked at himself. "I can't go home like this guys. My mom will kill me."

Richie looked at Eddie. "Dud, you've been gone for nearly twenty-four hours now."

"Richie shush, don't stress him out even more." I scolded. "But your face is definitely on a milk carton by now Ed's."

"Oh fuck you." Eddie shook his head.

"Also, that puke smells worse than your moms slippers." Richie laughed.

"Oh shut up Richie."  Beverly said.

"First of all, my moms slippers smell like potpourri. Asshole." Eddie said, as we started walking our bikes. 

"No, they don't." replied Stan.

"Yes they do! And how would you know what my moms slippers smell like?"

I looked at Stan. "Wait, Eddie's mom is seeing you behind my back?!"

Richie laughed and Eddie shoved me. 

"Can we just keep it quite please." pleaded Mike. 

"Potpourri is literally a French word, meaning rotten pot." Ben said.

Now, we all snapped back into reality, the reflection of us as kids disappearing, taking Eddie and Stan along with it. We continued walking to the inn, Richie reached out and taking my hand as we walked in silence.