Streddie: All I Need Is To Fix This Thing

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

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Everything was alright for Richie Tozier. Some might even say things were great. He had his best friends, and he had Stan. What else could he possibly need? The answer to that seemingly harmless question was nothing. He didn't need anything or anyone else in his life. There was only a slight problem with that. The problem was that there was something waiting for him at home. Something that would alter the direction his life was going.

Richie walked home that night whistling, replaying his and Stan's conversation from earlier over in his head. "Stan the man gets off a good one!" "Ow Stan how could you, I was just appreciating you." "Richie, are you sure you were appreciating me." "Yes. I love to appreciate works of art. That's why I looove to appreciate you" Stan had blushed as he flicked his forehead, ducking his head when Richie met his eyes. He turned onto his street knowing that if he wasn't home soon his father would pitch a fit. He turned his head and gave Richie one last smile as he continued to head down his street. "Goodnight, Rich." "Night Stan the man." Hearing the fondness in Stan's voice had made Richie blush as he ducked his head so that Stan wouldn't notice. When he looked up again Stan had vanished into the night air, and Richie continued his trek home, although he knew he never wanted to step foot into his own house again.

Richie would never say that he has the best home life, but he believed that he definitely didn't have the worst, between what Bill and Eddie put up with. Home could get bad sometimes, but he wasn't expecting to get the shit beat out of him the moment he stepped through that door. He opened the door slowly, wondering if his mother was still awake or if she had passed out. He absently wondered if today was another drunk day like most others. Then he tuned into his surroundings and heard his father yelling from the other room. His eardrums felt as if they had been blasted out as he heard what his father was screaming. "RICHARD TOZIER GET YOUR ASS IN HERE RIGHT NOW." Richie hurried to the other room, hoping that if he hurried his father wouldn't be quite as mad. Things tended to go awry when his father was angry. As soon as his foot hit the ground of the kitchen he felt the force of his parent's words. Always vile and abusive, but never quite bad enough to make Richie risk telling someone and making his father angry. The words were typical but after a few seconds of standing in the kitchen he felt a numbness hit his left cheek, and the force of whatever had just hit him made his world spin and his head snap to the right where he could see the entrance to the house still left open. He looked to his mother to see her cold, unseeing eyes and realized that she was the one who had hit him. He only had a second or two to process what had happened as he heard his father mutter weak as he felt an extreme force slam right into his stomach, causing his body to hurtle down to the floor. His father continued to land punches and kicks on Richie as his mother stood there watching them. Richie faintly registered that his father was speaking to him, thinking that he heard words such as fuck-up or loudmouth. Richie's father beat him until he was laying there, exhausted with blood spilling from his lips, his eyes unfocused as his father stood up from his crouched position. Richie felt and saw his father spit on him, then turn away to walk out the front door, and out of the house Richie thought could one day be home. This was the night Richie realized that would never be possible, and the longer he lay there the more he thought. He knew he wouldn't be able to change his father's mind, but he hoped that if he stopped talking so much, maybe the Losers wouldn't become as annoyed with Richie as his father was. That made Richie vow that he would never act in a way that could cause the Losers to leave. This night marked the turning point of Richie's life. The turning point that destroyed his confidence, and any fallacy Richie had that he could truly be himself, and still belong.

Richie turned up at school the next day seeming oddly quiet. When the losers asked why he just perked up, put on a facade, and started to make jokes that he hoped could soothe everybody's nerves. Within the first 5 minutes of speaking though, everybody turned to Richie at some point and said something that gave Richie reason to take the next actions that he did. For example, Stan looked at Richie's face annoyed, muttering as he turned away, "Shut up, Richie." Then it was sweet, sweet Bill, who didn't bother to look him in the eyes before speaking at him," S-seriously R-R-Richie. Shut your mouth." If the statement hadn't stung Richie to the core he would have been proud of Bill for not stuttering as he told him to shut up. There was also Ben who turned before quietly shaking his head, and muttering a  "Beep beep." Richie looked at Mike for support as Mike rolled his eyes and said, "Be quiet for once Richie." Richie hoped that if Mike had turned down his plea for help at least Eddie would recognize the sadness resting in his eyes. He seemed to have no such luck as he looked towards Eddie who glared and raised his voice."Beep beep asshole!" Even Bev, his best friend Bev, his partner in crime, and partner in sadness turned to him with annoyance glinting in her eye."Could you shut your damn mouth just once Tozier!" The issue is that Bev's words stung. Not just because it was Bev, but because there was an unspoken rule never to call Richie by his last name. They had established that rule after they learned that Bowers had shown up at the Tozier residence, and his parents had watched as Bowers and his gang dragged Richie away from the house, yelling insults and slurs as they carried him through the town in the late hours. Bowers had never called him Richie, always referring to him as 'Tozier', and after they had finished tormenting Richie they tossed him away like trash. The Losers found him in a town dumpster the next morning, dazed and confused as the group swore to never call him Tozier again since it brought back some of his worst memories.

Richie's face fell as the words of his should be friends sunk in, and Richie's ADHD addled brain started to rapid-fire, trying to come up with some sort of solution to allow the Losers to let him stay with them so that he wasn't alone. As answers to the question fired in his brain he grabbed one at random and deemed it the solution. If nobody in Richie's life wants him to talk, he would simply stop. He decided to part from the Losers with some last words so that he could get home before his father and refine his new idea in his bedroom as he cried. "Sorry guys... I guess I know when I'm not needed anymore."  Richie's whole body felt like a live wire that was sparking at the worst time. His eyes filled with tears he didn't intend to shed in front of his friends. After that Richie simply stood and turned to walk away. Stan looked to him sadly, regretting that he had snapped at him earlier. He stood up as though he was going to walk after him. "Richie..." Richie simply turned to meet their eyes silently, his beginning to flow with tears and saluted them before he turned back around and hurried off.

The losers waited for Richie before school every day for the next week. Then the week after that, and the week after that. He never showed up.

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Hi, if you're reading this again, welcome back! I'm working on updating all of the chapters to this book, then hopefully finishing it up too as I write the other book I will be publishing (It's not an IT book.) I hope you guys enjoy this just as much as you did at first, and I wish you a happy reading.