We stopped for a brief moment to discuss the events, which I allowed. My arm was in so much pain, but I really didn't care. "I saw the well. W-we know where It is, and-and next time we'll be better prepared." "No next time, Bill!" Stan yelled. I grunted in pain, as Richie wrapped his arm around my waist and scooted my close to him, rubbing my back. My arm felt like it was being ground into mush, my bones ached. "You're insane!" "Why?" Bev flung her arm a bit in frustration, "We know nobody else is going to do anything. Richie exploded, throwing his arm in anger and having the other arm around me, "Lyn and Eddie were nearly killed! Look at her arm, it's probably killing her! We shouldn't have stopped, she needs a cast! And look at this kid! He's leaking Hamburger Helper!" He gestured to Ben. "We can't pretend it's going to go away, Ben you said it yourself! This things comes back every twenty-seven years." Ben shook his head, "Fine! I'll be forty and far away from here!" He clutched his bleeding side. "I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town, too." "That's because I wanna run towards something, not away." "I'm sorry, who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?!" Beverly flipped Richie off. "Well some- sometimes," I grunted in between my sentence, "You have to run away or-" another grunt, "Or you'll get yourself k-killed." Bev looked at me with concern yet something like disgust and seriousness mixed in together. "Richie," Stan started, but Richie threw Stan's sentence out the window, "I'm just saying, let's face facts!" He scooted me closer to him again as I groaned in pain, "Real world! Georgie is dead. Stop trying to get us killed, too!" "Georgie isn't dead!" Richie had stepped forward, leaving me and my broken arm back. I grunted as Bill grabbed him by the shirt collar. "You couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself." Richie started to walk off towards, having left his bike back near the gate. I had started to follow, until Bill stopped him, shoving him. I stepped back, clutching my arm in pain. "T-t-t-take it back." Bill looked around, "You're scared, and w-we all are, but.. Take it back!" He shoved Richie back, almost bumping into me. "Watch it, you almost made me hit her!" Richie yelled out in frustration, shoving Bill back. Bill punched him this time, Richie's glasses cracking very loudly with the boy hitting the pavement beneath our feet. I couldn't do anything but squeal in surprise and hurt. Seeing Richie like this, it was difficult to help. Mike and Stan lifted him, then held him back from throwing punches at Bill. "You're just a bunch of losers! You're going to get yourselves killed!" Richie screamed, his voice cracking. Ben and Bev held Bill back from fighting him, and I stood there helplessly. "Stop!" Beverly screamed. Richie smacked Mike and Stan off him, and I shook where I stood. "This is what It wants, It wants to divide us! We were all together when we hurt it!" "Yeah, and we weren't that strong! Last I saw, Beverly, you stood back crying after you stabbed It!" I screamed. "My arm is broken and no one's doing anything but fighting! I'm waiting for someone to drive me to the hospital because my dad is at work and he doesn't even know I'm in this situation!" "But we were together, and that's why we're still alive!" "Yeah? Well, I plan to keep it that way. At least for Lyn." Richie grabbed my good arm and dragged my to his bike, pulling it up from the ground and balancing it. He helped me get on, then he himself got on. We started slowly drifting, waiting for the others who were on our side. Stan and Ben followed us, and we were off. Mike was following slowly behind, but surely.
Soon enough, the five of us were headed to the hospital. The other three boys agreed to come with me to help. I leaned my head against Richie's shoulder and talked loud enough for him to hear, "This hurts worse than burning in hell." "I'm trying to hurry, Lyn. I'm so sorry this happened." "No worry, I'll just tell my dad I fell out of a tree and you guys tried helping."
"Yup, snapped pretty bad." The doctor had finished x-raying my arm, and showed me the results. "We'll have you a cast in no time. Remember, six to eight weeks until it's off." "Can they stay in here with me? While I get the cast?" "First time breaking your arm?" I nodded. "Sure. Also, we'll contact your parent/guardian. Just give us their number." I nodded and blurted the number out while the doctor wrote it down. The four boys stood in the doorway and beside me.
It didn't take long, but it hurt like hell. I'd been crying most of the time since I broke my arm. Richie told me earlier that I'd been crying while we were still at the 'tree', yet I'd never noticed. Richie held onto my good hand the whole time, and the other boys just rubbed and patted my back. All of them were such sweeties. Once we were finished, the boys were eager to sign my cast. "Oh, me first! Me first!" Richie yelled, pushing past. He had taken a marker from the doctor's desk, a blue one. "Here, blue. One of her favorite colours!" Richie wrote on my cast. I winced, feeling slight pressure, but felt the cast being written on. Once he finished, he handed it to Stan. Then it went to Ben, then it went to Mike. I smiled and looked down at all of their signatures. (I tried I'm so sorry.)
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I smiled at the signatures and thanked the boys for signing it. I noticed a heart near Richie's signature, but shrugged it off. He had to have meant as a friend, right? I suddenly got a sick feeling in my stomach. I breathed slowly, trying to shake it, but it hardly worked.
