cynosure [it characters]

june 9th, 1989 [11]

bill woke up before stan. he looked over at his friend laying in his own bed, smiling at him fondly before sitting upright. he yawned, rubbing his eyes. stan stirred in his sleep, and eventually he woke up, too. "hey, s-sleeping buh-buh-beauty," bill joked, watching stan as he turned to his side, prepping up his head with his fist.

standing up, bill stretched himself out. afterwards, he fell right back onto his bed. stan giggled and got up himself, walking over to bill's bed. he leaned down, placing his hands on the bedding by either side of bill's head. the two didn't exchange words, instead only stared into each other's eyes as stan's face neared bill's. 

bill lifted his hands, cupping stan's cheeks as she pulled him downward. stan could feel bill's hot breath on his lips-

"guys!" someone exclaimed, bursting through the door. stan jumped off of bill, standing up stiff and clasping his hands together behind his back. it was mike. he furrowed his eyebrows, definitely seeing a whole lot of something, but decided not to comment on it. "guys, i have news...bad news." stan and bill exchanged looks, then focused on mike as he spoke.

meanwhile, eddie half-woke up, rubbing his eyes like normal until he realized something. he went stiff as he felt the pair of arms around him hug him closer. he opened his eyes and looked up, seeing it was-

"RICHIE ?" he exclaimed, leaning backwards out of his grasp. he fell back on the floor, scrambling to his feet. richie opened his eyes instantly, leaning up when he noticed eddie. "what the hell, richie? why was i-" he paused, looking around. "-i was in your bed ?"

richie nodded, standing up completely. "do you not remember, eds?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. eddie shook his head. "you were crying and wheezing because you ran here in the storm. that's really all i know," he shrugged, "but you wanted to hug me, and we-"

"slept in the same bed," eddie finished, closing his eyes as he rubbed his temples. he remembered now. he remembered that, and he remembered how that sick, vile teenager had turned into some...some creature, and that's what made him run to richie's cabin. eddie felt tears prickle in his eyes as he thought about her- about it - more. 

"hey, eds, are you okay?" richie frowned, "i understand why that's weird n' stuff, but i was just comforting you. no need to cry about it," he continued. eddie shook his head, taking a few steps forward towards richie. he wrapped his arms around his waist and pressed his ear to his chest. richie was confused; eddie clearly showed him earlier that he was not comfortable with the contact, but now he was hugging him? it made no sense. regardless, richie laced his arms around eddie and held him close.

he sniffled, "i'm sorry, richie, i'm being a dickwad." richie laughed lightly at eddie's choice of words. "i just...i worry too much and i know it's bad, but i can't help it-"

"hey, hey, no!" richie pulled his face away from eddie's hair, connecting their eyes. "it's okay, eddie, it really is. that's what makes you so chuckalicious," he smiled, and eddie let out a small giggle. richie pulled him back into his arms, and they stood like that for awhile.

until a frantic bill, stan, and mike all swing open the cabin door. eddie and richie jumped apart. the three boys that had just entered all had different facial expressions.

bill furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

stan laughed, "gay." richie narrowed his eyes at him, raising his hand to flip him off.

"guys, we have bad news," mike said sternly. the cabin grew quiet as tension began to build. "there was a power outage at the main building," he quickly informed. richie furrowed his eyebrows, shrugging.

"what the fuck does that have to do with anything-"

"there is no power, richie! we don't have electricity there at all! that's the one place we are supposed to have it!" stanley complained, sighing afterwards. richie still thought it was no big deal.

eddie thought for a moment before asking, "what caused it? the storm?" mike shrugged.

"i don't know. most likely. but when i stopped by this morning, i saw one of the telephones was burnt out. maybe the storm hit it or something?" richie shook his head.

"how the fuck does a storm his a phone inside, smartass?"

"i don't know phones, richie!" mike retorted.

they continued to bicker as eddie stayed completely silent. his thoughts began to swirl; the phone. the phone was burnt out. was it the phone he used last night? "which phone was it, mike?" eddie spoke up suddenly, causing the two boys to quit their argument.

"the middle one," mike said off the top of his head. eddie didn't have time to wonder why he had kept that information; he was already worrying about something else. that was the phone he had used to call his mommy last night. after he hung up, that twisted thing had appeared, and he ran off...what if that thing caused the burn-out? mike grew concerned as he watched eddie. "you okay, eddie?"

eddie looked up at mike, his gaze full of fear and confidence. he spoke slowly, everyone able to understand his words, 

"it burnt the phone."