When the old and new life collide

A long-awaited reunion

The Losers miss Richie. With every day that passed, they missed him more and more. There are moments when they expected to hear a stupid joke or a cuss word, which made them groan annoyed, and fond at the same time as they said Beep Beep Richie. They missed the fact that he was full of energy when all of them were zombies. Always running around in circles around them, or biking in circles around them. Or babbling nonsense. But this was over. Eddie felt guilty the most. And he wonders how the others had forgiven him so fast. If he hadn't been so stupid to say what he has said then Richie wouldn't have gone home early and none of these would have happened.

Besides Eddie, Bev was the second one who felt more guilty. Even if she doesn't know him as long as Stan, Bill and Eddie, she's familiar with fucked up parents. She should have seen the sign. Should have seen that most of Richie's smiles were fake and all his jokes are just a poor cover to hide his true hurt self. She wonder if another family had taken him in. If she was happy. If his new family was better than his old one. 

The others had tried to replace the emptiness that Richie had left them by saying jokes instead of him. Richie jokes. But it was not the same. When they say it it was just cringe and they stopped immediately. And if that was not enough when they started high school, the bullies started saying things like "The little fairy had finally run away with other fags?" or " Did he leave in the fairyland, riding on a rainbow?" It made them angry and more than once one of them punched the bastards in their smug faces. It was either Stan or Bev. One time even Bill did it.

It was hard without Richie. And they all wondered if they would be able to see him again one day.

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"What if we leave on a road trip?" Bev asked one day from where she was lying on the hammock.

"B-But we didn't f-finished school yet," Bill said. "We still have a f-few m-more w-weeks"

Bev shrugged. "We finished all the exams. These few weeks would be weak. And we have all passing grades"

"What about money? And a car?" Mike asked. "None of us have a car or driving license.

"We fought a demon clown three years ago. And you would let a driving license stop you?"

"Bev is right," Ben said. "These years had been stressful and we need some relaxation. I think that I can ask for some money from my parents"

"Same here," Stan said. "And my father would let lend me his car if I told him that it's to be prepared for when I take the test for the driving license. By the time he would figure out we would be long gone"

"So. Are you in?" she asked with a smile and all of them nodded without hesitancy. Their parents would lend them some money If they convince them that it was for a school trip. And when they would run off, they would find a way to get more at that time. It was Friday now so they planned for all to leave on Sunday morning. It wasn't hard to convince their family of the school trip. And if they would find out, it would be too long. Yes, they would probably be in trouble when they would return home, but it would be whort it. Eddie's mom was the hardest to convince, which was no surprise. But Eddie had managed to bullshit her by telling her that the trip would be in a very safe environment. In the end, she had give in and handed him some money. Sunday morning around 7 in the morning the Losers climbed in Stan's car and left Derry.

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Their first destination had been Las Vegas. They even managed to get into the casinos with fake IDs. What stupid the people were there. In the beginning, they didn't know what to do there. But as they watched other people play, they got the hunch and started playing as well. There were people who looked at them suspiciously, but their suspicions turned into awe when they started to win. In the end, they had left the casino with more money than what they had when they left. They stayed there for a week. They rented a motel room with two beds and slept three in a bed. They went to the casino two more times and besides that, they visited the arcades and other attractions. Eat in restaurants and watched movies in the cinema.  But stayed away from clubs.