He Touched Me ~ Reddie (IT)

I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!

AN- there's a mix of stuff from the book and the movie in the chapter so if you haven't read the book/seen the movie you might think I'm clever and original (spoiler: I'm not)

TW- Descriptions of blood, and loose retelling of the fight in the sewer between It and the Losers

~

I wake in a bed that is not my own in arms that are thin and familiar.

Richie's house. Richie's bed. Richie's arms.

Richie.

The events of yesterday come flooding back to me like a bad dream. I shut my eyes again, hoping to fall back asleep, but I stay wide awake. I can't tell if it's from the horrible memories or Richie's obnoxiously loud snoring, though I have a hunch it might be a mix of the two. I slowly get out of bed, making sure not to wake him. He stirs a bit and rolls around, moving from a fetal position to starfish-ing and taking over the entire bed. If it were later in the day, I'd make a witty remark, but the sun is barely rising. I don't have to be on my A-game right now.

I sift through the junk stacked high on what I think was once a desk until a find a scrap of paper that looks like it once had algebra on it and a pencil without an eraser. I can't find an empty place to set the paper down and write on, so I move to the wall.

Dumbass,

I don't really feel like getting yelled at by my mom for not being there when she wakes up. Call me when you wake up, but make sure it's after noon. You probably won't be awake until at least then, but just in case. I've got to run to the pharmacy and get my pills and won't be home until then. Please please please don't call my house just so you can talk to my mom. It's embarrassing for everyone.

- Eddie

P. S. Thanks for last night.

P. P. S. If you tell anyone about what happened last night, you're dead to me.

I don't bother reading the note over before setting it in Richie's sock drawer where I know he'll see it as soon as he gets out of bed. (He claims to have cold feet in the morning so he puts on socks before he goes downstairs for breakfast. The only time he doesn't wear socks is when he's swimming, bathing, or in a mood. If Richie's in a mood that means something or someone seriously messed him up.)

Before I leave Richie's room, I glance back at him one last time. For such an awkward position to be sleeping in, he really does look a bit like an angel.

Only a bit.

Once I'm outside, I remember that I didn't bike here like I normally would have. Instead, I ran. No, I sprinted. It's a miracle I didn't have an asthma attack on the way here. Only now that I'm thinking about it do I realize how odd it is that during all of the insane events of yesterday, my asthma never kicked in.

Maybe it did and I just don't remember it in the heat of the moment.

I have to walk home now, and that doesn't sit right with me. Derry isn't exactly the safest place to be walking around when the sun is barely up and there's no one but the creeps and boys on their way home roaming the streets. Luckily, I make it home within half an hour and find that the door is still open from when I left it open last night. Hopefully no one unwanted snuck in and stole anything.