Don't You Dare || Richie Tozier

Divided

"you know how delicate he is!" mrs. k said as she pulled eddie away by his good hand.

"we were attacked," addison said as she limped forward.

"says the girl with the crackhead sister!" eddie's mom said.  addison stopped in her tracks and felt everyone look at her.  the woman dropped her keys on the sidewalk and beverly bent down to get them.

"back!" she barked at the girl like she was speaking to a dog.  mrs. k grabbed her keys and started at beverly.  

"oh i've heard of you, ms. marsh," she started," and i don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son."

"mrs. k, i s-" billy was cut off.

"NO! all of you are monsters!" she exclaimed, pointing at each one of them.  the woman got in the car and started to drive.  the kids went into the street and watched the car drive away.

"i saw the well," billy said when the car was out of view. 

"w-we know w-where it is a-a-and next time we'll be b-better prepared," he said with hope.

"no! no next time bill!" stanley yelled.  "you're insane!"

"why?" beverly asked. "we all know no one else is gonna do anything!"

"eddie was nearly killed! a piece of addison's leg is literally handing from a thread! And look at this motherfucker, he's leaking hamburger helper!" richie yelled.

"we can't pretend it's going to go away.  ben, you said it yourself it comes back every twenty seven years," beverly tried to reason.

"fine," ben said.  "i'll be forty and far away here! i thought you wanted to get out of this town, too." 

"because i want to run towards something, not away," she explained.

"i'm sorry, who invited molly ringwald into the group?" richie asked.

beverly flipped him off.

"richie!  that's not fair, she saved our fucking lives back there," addison said.

"so your agreeing with them?" richie asked.  addison stopped leaning on richie and turned towards him

"all i'm saying is that beverly is one of us and that she has gone through the same things that we have.  but if you want my opinion, I don't think that we can face IT alone," addison argued.

"this is crazy! all of you are fucking crazy!" richie screamed.

"richie," stanley started.

"i'm just saying let's face facts, real world!  georgie is dead! stop trying to get us killed!" richie said as he walked away.  bill stopped him.

"georgie is not dead!" billy said.

"you couldn't save him but you can still save yourself," richie said, pushing billy out of the way.

"t-t-take it back! y-your scared and we all are but take it back!" billy screamed as he pushed richie.  richie pushed billy and billy punched him in to face, sending richie to the floor.  mike and stanley grabbed richie and held him back while ben held billy back.

"STOP IT!" addison screamed as she limped in between them.  "THIS IS FUCKING INSANE.  LOOK AT YOU PEOPLE.  IT IS TEARING YOU APART!"

"this is what it wants.  IT wants to divide us!  we were all together when we hurt it.  that's why were still alive!" beverly said.

"yeah? well i plan to keep it that way!" richie said as he walked away.

"richie..." addison called. he ignored her and rode off.  stanley, ben, and and mike left after him, leaving beverly, addison, and billy.

"addison, you can't ride home," billy pointed out.

"it's fine i'll make it home," she shook it off, trying not to cry.

"no i-i-it's not," he said," you can sit on your bike and we can push you to m-my house, it's closer.  you c-can stay over." 

beverly looked down at her watch and cringed.

"I actually have to go," she said.  

"okay, see you later," billy said.  beverly rode off, leaving the two in the middle of the street.  billy helped addison to her bike.

"okay, w-wait here and i'll get my bike," he said.  he grabbed his bike and the two started for his house.

after about ten minutes, the two pulled up at his house.  he helped her off of her bike and the slowly walked to his front step, avoiding the garage.  they stepped inside and she was greeted by the familiar smell of the denbrough house.  

addison and billy had been really good friends in kindergarten but slowly drifted away, until now.  the two went up the stairs and into his room.  billy walked her to the bed and he sat on the floor.  she looked around his room and weakly smiled. 

"w-what?" he asked as he grabbed a chair.  he put it in front of and she propped her leg up.

"it's exactly the same," she said.  "actually, that desk was over there." she pointed to a wall.  billy smiled.  

"we need to fix your leg," he motioned to her leg.  she looked down at it for the first time.  the sleeve of her shirt was stuck to her leg from dried blood.

"we need to get that off," he started.  he grabbed a pair of scissors from his desk.  he held them and slowly cut it off.  he put the sleeve in the trash, revealing the cut up leg.  

"we should do this in the bathroom, billy," addison suggested.  he agreed and helped her to the bathroom.  he sat her on the edge of the tub so her leg was in the bath.

"can you get me the supplies you stole?" she asked.  the boy nodded and went to the cabinet under the sink.  he grabbed all of them and put them next to her.  she tried to turn on the water but fell, billy barely caught her. 

"whoa," he said as he helped her back up.  after an hour, she and billy had successfully cleaned and dressed her cut. 

billy walked her back to his room and she decided to call her mom.  she told the her that she would be staying at billy's house and her mom agreed.

as he walked her to the bed, he tripped over the chair leg and they fell onto the bed.

"I-i'm s-so sorry," he stuttered from on top of her.

"it's fine, don't worry about it," addison said as billy got off of her.

richie sat in his room, trying to forget about what just happened.  he was shaking as he laid on his bed.

you're a fucking idiot, he thought.  you left her.  you fucking left her.  she was hurt and she needed you.  you rode away like a coward.

the boy tried to close his eyes but he kept seeing the clown.  he kept seeing the missing poster,  he kept seeing IT grabbing addison.  after only a few minutes, he got up and left his house.  richie rode to addison's house and ran to her front door.  he knocked a few times but no one answered.  he walked to the side of the house where her window was and called her name.  there was no response.

"Addison!  i know your mad at me and i deserve it.  i was a complete asshole! i get that you don't want to talk to me, but i just want you to know that i'm sorry!  i'm sorry, addison!  you're the most amazing person ever and i left you when you needed my help.  i'm sorry!" he yelled.  richie waited for the window to open like in the movies but it never happened.  

richie wasn't destined to get a happy ending.

song of the chapter:  call out my name by the weekend

WORD COUNT: 1267