.: I Wish, I Wish, I Wish ~:||:~ Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier :.

07

Eddie woke up to a high-pitched scream and the loud voice of none other than Richie Tozier himself.

He opened his eyes slowly, vision still rather blurry. He grinned sleepily upon spotting a certain curly-haired someone standing just a few feet away from him.

"Hey, Richie," he managed, but through his half-awake mouth it came out sounding more like 'Hey, Chee'.

There was a rumble of laughter from many voices as Eddie struggled to wake the rest of the way up. A pudgy hand grasped his shoulder, yanking him to his feet and that certainly did the job. His eyes flew the rest of the way opened as he jerked away from the hand with a gasp. Fully alert, he scanned the room, horrified to see Ben's mother, his own mother, Stan, Mike, and Ben all standing in the same room, but worst of all, so was Richie.

"Sorry, Eddie. We tried to get him to leave, but your mom showed up at the same time." Stan glared at Richie, who made a face and stuck out his tongue. Eddie was confused, and his adrenaline rush was wearing off, which meant he was starting to get tired again. His injured cheek had stopped throbbing, but upon touching it, he knew it should be left alone. He withdrew his hand with a hiss of pain, much to his mother's horror.

"Eddie Bear, you are hours late! What happened to your face? Come on, we need to get you out of here, straight away. These boys are nothing but trouble, I've been telling you that for years! This is why I tried to get you out last summer. All they ever do is get you hurt." She grabbed his wrist and started walking past a surprised, but apologetic Mrs. Hanscom. Eddie summed up all of his remaining courage, and put his foot down, yanking his arm away.

"No, Ma! I won't let you do that again. My face would still be covered in blood and I'd be laying in some alleyway if it weren't for Mike and Ben! They saved me. You never listen! Why do you think I didn't come home right away, huh?" Sonia was speechless, so Eddie took the opportunity to continue his angry rant.

"Because I knew you were just going to blame one of my friends!" He exploded. Eddie was shouting now. "All you ever do is blame stuff on other people! I wasn't just making stuff up when I said that my medicine is bullshit, because it is! They're fucking bullshit, and I only keep them because medicine or not, they really do help. Not because they alter my physical condition, but because you have forced these things on me for so long that I really do need them! Do you know how much of a fucking burden it is to be having a panic attack in school just because I forgot this stupid little plastic container of... what is it, fucking water?" Eddie ripped his aspirator out of his fanny pack and threw it on the ground. It went skittering across the floor to lay at her feet. He wished he hadn't done that. He wished he wasn't ignoring Richie, because he really wanted one of his hugs.

"I have to live with this because you ruined my chance at being a normal kid. Do you know why I'm so skinny and delicate, Ma? It's because of you. I'm not allowed to eat all the stuff other kids eat. I'm not allowed to play all the games other kids play. I can't be strong like them because I was never given the chance to do the things they did that made them strong!" Eddie felt hot tears tumbling down his cheeks as he started to cry. He must look insane, especially in front of Mrs. Hanscom. He stopped for a second to look at everyone else in the room. Stan looked like he was about to cry, too. Richie looked.. proud? Mike looked reassuring, and Ben just looked sympathetic.

"Whatever, Ma. Do what you want. At this point it's gonna be too hard to try and change anything, anyway." Eddie picked up his inhaler as he passed the giant woman, squeezing by her and out the door. He heard the hushed voice of his mother with Ben's, and the patter of footsteps running after him.

"Eddie?" The brunette didn't turn around, but he stopped walking a few steps away from the front door.

"What is it, Richie?" He turned his head, but didn't quite look over his shoulder. He would just cry harder if he looked at the boy's face. Eddie sniffled with a pathetic sob as he buried his face in his hands. There was a moment where nothing was heard except for his muffled cries.