the untold 'dirty little secret.'

ch 3; clones and clowns.

Richie sat on his bed after a long sleep once passing out. He woke up, wiping his eyes that soon un-blurred, showing his mother and father staring at him with sympathetic eyes.

"Um, hi?" Richie said, sitting up.

"Hey, honey," Maggie said, and placed her hand on Richie's leg.

"We wanted to talk to you," Went looked Richie in the eye, and noticed the hurt. Noticed how broken his son looked.

Richie shivered a bit at the looks, and at his parent's words. What did they know?

"We found six empty bottles of alcohol on your bed, and you were throwing up like crazy before passing out," Maggie's voice cracked, remembering how horrible her son looked only a few hours ago. 

"Oh."

"Can you talk to us about it?" Went looked from his wife to Richie, who sat uncomfortably on his bed across from the two adults.

"Maybe.." he mumbled. "It's just, it's really hard without.. you know. Them. And- and what they said I-" he broke down into tears before he could even try and bite his tongue to prevent it.

Maggie hugged him and Went rubbed his back, soon joining in on the small group hug.

"I'm sorry, baby," she said, and he continued to cry into her shoulder, holding a fistful of her shirt around his white knuckles.

"Hey, calm down kiddo," Went said comfortingly, moving around he get a better hold on his son.

"I c-can't!" He managed to slip out, and the two adults exchanged looks. "It hurts, mama, it really hurts.."

"I know, I know," she whispered into his hair and he continued to sob. A few tears of her own slipped from her tired eyes.

He let himself melt into his parent's embrace, crying until he couldn't anymore. It was past midnight and Went and Maggie still sat in bed with their son, holding onto him as he eventually fell asleep in their grip.

Maggie repositioned the boy so he was more comfortable, kissed his forehead and left.

Went collected all of the empty bottles and took them out of the room with him. He closed the door gently, trying not to wake Richie.

The next morning came and Richie was bored out of his mind on his phone. He decided to look at his calls, counting how many he had from the losers.

He paused, sitting up quickly as he read 'Mikey my fav 🥵🫶'. At first, he thought it was just Mike calling him, but the text was white. Meaning he answered.

He began to internally freak out, and he heard thumping around in the bathroom in his room.

He paused, staring at the closed door with wide eyes. He turned off his phone and set it down, swallowing hard.

"H-hello?" he called out. No answer.

He wanted to ignore it, but it came again, this time louder. He jumped at the sound and picked up his phone, dialing his mother's number.

The phone rang and picked up, and he began to freak out, quietly.

"Mom! Mom I think there might be something in my bathroom, can you please come up here?" He basically whispered.

"Fuck off, faggot," he heard over the line.

"Wh-wha-what?" he almost yelled, freezing as his mouth gaped open.

"You heard me. Shut the fuck up. No wonder your friends hate you, you're just some pathetic little fag." She laughed, and he felt tears burn the back of his eyes until the laugh turned into an evil giggle.

His eyes popped out of his head at this point, and his mouth hung open wider than before.

"Penny-" he breathed out.

"Wise."

The bathroom door bust down with a loud grunt and Richie stared at it, flinching as he watched.

He dropped his phone, scooting back so his back touched the wall.

The clown appeared with a smile on his face in the doorframe.

"The dancing clown!" The clown giggled, it's smile immediately turning to a frown.

Richie was breathless. He didn't know what to believe. Was this just a nightmare? Was it real?

He slapped his face, only to realize all of it was actually happening. The clown only laughed hysterically at this action.

"Oh you silly boy!" It walked closer to Richie, who whimpered and cowered lightly. "You know, gay fags like you don't deserve a place in this world, isn't that right?"

Richie's eyebrows furrowed and he slammed his jaw shut.

"Sh-shut up."

"Your friends know your secret, Richie! Even Eddie! He thinks you're disgusting. Or maybe, I think so."

Richie gasped barely.

"You.. you were the one at the quarry.. you tricked m-me!" he yelped out, grabbing his phone once again and holding a tight grip on it.

"Oh I didn't trick you, Richie! I simply caused you to see things that weren't there! And you believed, ahah!" The clown broke into a laughter, that soon turned from a high wheeze to a low, evil growl.

It stepped closer, and Richie breathed out.

"Get the fuck away from me," he said, wishing Wentworth hadn't taken the bottles out. Those would've been quite helpful in this situation.

The clown only mocked Richie's fears, continuing to walk until it ran up to the boy with glasses and grabbed his jaw.

Pennywise smiled in an evil, sinister way, giggling a bit.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Richie yelped, squirming as Pennywise wrapped his other arm around Richie's torso to get him to stay in place. The arm extended, growing longer and longer as it slithered around Richie. He fought against it, but it was no use. "YOU FUCKING-"

"Hush now, Richard. I'm just doing you and everyone else a favor!" Pennywise said in It's high tone.

Almost as if it were planned, a knock on the door.

"Richie? It's Bev.. can I come in?"

Richie hadn't been more grateful to hear Bev's voice throughout his entire life that could've been ended if it weren't for her.

"HURRY! PLEASE HE-" his screams muffled suddenly due to Pennywise placing a violent hand over his mouth.

Richie looked down, scared, staring at the hand over his mouth.

"Shut your Trashmouth, no one wants to hear it."

"Rich? What's going on?" Beverly asked through the locked door, knocking again.

Pennywise pulled a needle and thread out of thin air, placing the needle on Richie's lips.

Richie screamed for help, and the loser's eyes widened.

They threw themselves at the door, trying to find a way to unlock it and help their friend.

The needle poked through Richie's upper lip and he let out an ear splitting scream of pain. The needle was soon harshly shot into his bottom lip and he burst into sobs, screaming at the top of his lungs, in hope someone would help.

The door broke down and the losers came rushing in.