Eddie whipped around to see a tall figure in all black and a ski mask standing just feet away from him. He screamed and fell off his chair, scrambling away to a corner as quickly as he could. The man in the room stood still, but Eddie could see his eyes widen from behind the ski mask.
"T-take whatever you want! Please don't come any closer!" Eddie shrieked, terrified.
His mom had always told him about rapists and murderers coming into houses of people who left their front doors unlocked. Of course it had to fucking happen when his psycho mom was gone. Now he was gonna get raped or killed and have to die knowing his mom was right.
"Woah, kid, I'm not here to hurt you," the man in the mask said, his voice muffled into his ski mask.
Eddie's breathing was rapid, his inhaler on the nightstand across the room. Dying of suffocation sounded like a better fate, because there was no fucking way he trusted someone who broke into his house. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, his vision fading to black.
"Kid? Oh my god, what the hell?" the man asked, kneeling next to Eddie, who laid gasping on the ground.
If he was able to talk in that moment, Eddie would've told the man to fuck off before he died. It would've been the perfect way to go out. He almost screamed in frustration when he saw the man catch sight of his inhaler and snatch it, forcing it into Eddie's mouth.
As soon as he could breathe again, Eddie slammed his feet into the man's leg, trying to escape again. He broke down into nervous tears when the man easily stopped him, grabbing both his legs with one of his hands, which looked to be bigger than both of Eddie's combined.
"No, no, don't cry, shh, it's okay," the man said, awkwardly patting Eddie's shoulder.
"P-please don't h-hurt me," Eddie stuttered out, choking on his sobs.
The man's eyes widened, and he pulled off his ski mask.
Eddie choked on his sobs again, but for a completely different reason. The man wasn't a man... he was actually a boy. A very handsome boy with black curly hair and huge brown eyes. His eyes got even bigger when he tugged a pair of glasses out of his pockets and put them on.
"I'm not going to hurt you, man. I was just... looking around?" he said uncertainly.
"You broke into my house to look around? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Eddie snapped, his fear fading to anger, realizing he may not be in danger.
"I'm sorry, it's just no one has ever lived in the mansion for nearly thirty years, so I just wanted to investigate," he mumbled, sounding embarrassed.
"How'd you get in?" Eddie asked, his eyes narrowed.
"The window..."
Eddie stared at him in disbelief. "Well, you need to leave. I'm not supposed to... you just need to leave," he said, pushing the boy toward his bedroom door.
"Look kid, I'm sorry I scared you, but you can't just kick me out!"
"I can and I will!" Eddie hissed, trying to push the other boy, who wouldn't budge.
"No offense, but you're really not that strong."
"Full offense, you're the most annoying person I've ever met which is saying a lot because I've never met anyone besides you!"
The boy looked confused and Eddie shut his mouth. He always felt like he talked too much. That had a lot to do with that whenever he did, it always ended up in a beating.
"My name's Richie," the boy, Richie said, looking down at Eddie.
Eddie looked up at him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, wondering why he wasn't getting hit. He blushed in embarrassment when he realized that no random person was going to beat him, especially one who he had just met.
