Watch my World Burn in Your Eyes

Chapter One

8 years old

Iwas super excited that day. A new woman was moving in next door andshe had a son that was my age. It was hard for me to make new friendsbecause a lot of people considered me annoying at that age and in asmall place like Derry, there wasn't much potential for meeting newpeople. Hell even at my current age it wasn't abnormal for someone todescribe me as such. I had always been pretty loud and obnoxious.Overly handsy and always teasing people. At the age of 8 I only hadone friend and her name was Beverly Marsh. A really pretty girl withgorgeous red hair. She only grew more striking with age and it was nowonder why she had guys falling at her feet in high school, but wewill get to all that later.

Shewas a nice girl who was quick to tease me back and laugh at mysilliness, she wasn't like a lot of the other kids. She was prettycool for a girl I thought at that age. It was nice to have a friendbut Beverly had a very difficult home life that I didn't know aboutat the time that made us only really able to see each other atschool. I was hoping this new boy wouldn't mind my outgoingpersonality and would maybe decide to be my friend. He would liveright next door and it would be perfect!

That'swhat I thought at least until I met him. Eddie Kaspbrak, son of SoniaKaspbrak a woman so obsessed with germs and illness she'd put adoctor to shame. Her son happened to be no different as she had itinstilled in his head that he was a sick child. I remember that dayso clearly.

"Comeon Richie we are going to be late and you know how I like to make agood first impression." My mother nagged me as I struggled to tiemy shoes. I was so excited at the prospect of making a new friendthat my hands were shaking. "I'm sorry mama." I muttered after Ifinally managed get my dumb shoes tied. We made our way to theKaspbrak household. It was a nice house but all of the houses in thisneighborhood were pretty nice. We made our way up the stairs and mymom knocked on the door.

The woman who answered was rather large and not very pretty, Iremember thinking that many times about Sonia. My mom introduced usand the woman told us her name was Sonia before stepping aside toreveal a small boy. He was a few inches shorter than me, dressed in alight blue shirt and a pair of shorts with a fanny pack securedaround his waist. I didn't think much of it at that age but my firstthought about him was that he was very cute. "This is my son Eddie,he's a bit shy. When you two are playing be sure not to rough houseor really touch him in general. Kids carry so many germs and Iwouldn't want my little Eddie to get sick." I looked up at my momand saw an expression I couldn't really understand at that age but itwas quickly replaced by a stiff smile. "Of course I understand andso does Richie, dontcha Rich?"

I nod my head as we step into their home. Sonia politely asks us toremove our shoes and we abide. My mom and Sonia go into the kitchenwhile Eddie and I head into the living room. "You gonna say hi orsomething?" I ask the smaller boy as we both plop down on thefloor. His face flushes a little. "Hi." He speaks so softly it'salmost hard to hear him. I almost want to squeal it's so cute really."So Eds, got any toys or anything cool?" His face scrunches upand he glares at me. "Don't call me that it sounds stupid and I dohave toys but you can't play with them, you probably have germs allover you." Wow first of all rude! Second of all my dumb 8 year oldbrain did the only thing it knew how and made me do the first thing Icould to annoy him.

Iwrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. "Take my germsnerd." I laughed manically as I squeezed the squirming boy to mychest. H is screams of protest had both of our mothers rushing in atan instant. His mom immediately yanked the boy from my grasp. "Whatthe hell did I say earlier about putting your filthy hands on myEddie?" His mother screeched at me. That was when my own momstopped holding her tongue. "They're just kids Sonia this is whatthey do."

"Which is exactly why I usually don't allow my son to hangout withsuch rabble. You're son broke the one rule I laid out in all of 10minutes, you must be raising him pretty poorly."

  That's when my mother really lost it going as far as to strike Soniain the face. "Don't you dare talk about me or my son that way. Atleast I'm not making my child think that any contact with anything isgoing to give him the goddamn plague." She ended it on that note,grabbed my hand and drug me from the house. She spent the next hourcomplaining to my dad about what an insufferable woman Sonia was.Neither of us knew exactly how bad she was until later in our lives.Despite our first meeting going terribly, once I realized Eddie wouldbe going to the same school as me I refused to leave him alone. Ididn't bother when he was at his house because his mom made it prettyclear that she didn't want me anywhere near him, but at school he wasfree game and my overwhelming desire for another friend made mepester him constantly at school. So began our long love/hatefriendship.