It Comes To Hawkins

Hey, Auntie!

Richie woke up screaming, startling the other losers from where they were positioned in Bills room. Bev was the first to crawl over to Richie's writhing form in the midst of the chaos of all the losers waking up suddenly. Confused groans filled the already loud room when Bev finally pushed her sleeping bag off of herself.
"Richie?! Hun! It's okay, you're okay!!" Bev stumbled over to Richie and crouched down. "Honey? I'm going to touch you okay?" Bev slowly crept her hand to Richie's shoulder. He was still stirring and pleading for someone to stop. As soon as Bev's hand made contact, he let go a bloodcurdling scream and shoved Bev back into the couch behind her. Richie began to hit himself whilst crying. Richie was pounding on his thighs and head when Eddie realized what was happening. He moved as fast as he could and grabbed Richie by the wrists talking to him slowly.
" Its okay, Chee. You're okay. You're at bills house remember? You're safe. No one is trying to hurt you. You're safe. You're safe." Eddie repeated his mantra until Richie quieted down, taking deeper breaths than before.
"Eddie?" Richie sniffled.
"Yeah" Eddie let out a relieved sigh, "hey I'm right here."
"I'm so sorry" Tears formed in Richie's eyes, begging to fall to his rosy cheeks.
"It's okay" Eddie whispered while slowly hugging him, Richie melted into the contact before remembering what he did.
"Oh shit!! Bev! Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Richie's eyes started to tear up again when Beverly came over and reassured him everything was fine.
"It's okay, see, no bruises. I'm not hurt. It's okay." Bev showed him where it hurt most and she was right. No bruises or scratches. He wasn't like his parents.
"I didn't wanna.. I don't.. Jesus. Fuck. Sorry." Richie wipes away the tears. A watery smile appeared on his face as he tried to lighten the situation, realizing the other losers saw the whole thing. "I'm okay, it's just a nightmare. Sorry guys for waking you." A chorus of "no"'s and "are you sure?"'s came from the losers club to which Richie responded with, "yeah, it was just about me fucking Eddie's mom and damn! She was-"
"Shut up Trashmouth!"
"B-"
"Shut up about my mother already!!" Eddie fumed. Everyone laughed. The air was back to normal.
"What's for breakfast?" Richie wondered aloud. Bev jumped up and yelled, "RAID BILLS FRIDGE!!!!" The other losers all scrambled to the kitchen leaving Ben and Bill the only ones not in on the raid. Ben because he was too nice for that and Bill because it was his fridge.

Hours later, it was time for Richie to go to the station. The lighthearted mood quickly turned into a somber one as the losers piled into Bills car. Everyone was silent throughout the car ride except for the shitty radio station. Even Richie couldn't hold the conversation and keep everyone from falling into a melancholy mood. Everyone knew they were going to say goodbye to their lucky #7 in the losers club. They didn't know how they would survive without him at least being in the same state like Bev was.

When they finally arrived at the station, they had 20 minutes left to spare. "Well, this is my stop. I'll see ya on the other side!" Richie did his best impersonation on a cowboy, which got a few chuckles from Bev and Eddie. Mike couldn't stop his smile if he wanted to. Ben started sniffling and Richie turned to him and smothered him in a big hug. "Take care of my smoking pal alright?" He whispered into Ben's ear. His cheeks flushed as he nodded diligently. "We'll miss you" Ben choked out. Moving onto Bill, he hugged him as well and squeezed him extra tightly, even though his body protested every bit of it. "I'm gonna miss you Big Bill. I don't know what I'll do without you there to make fun of you and Stanley. Just get a room already!" Bill choked out a laugh. "I c-could say the same a-about you and E-Ed-Ed-eddie" he retorted and shoved him only to wince and mumble an apology because of Richie's injuries. Richie laughed. "Touché." Moving onto Mike, he engulfed him in another hug and said, "Fuck. I'm going to miss your warm hugs you loyal little fuck." Mike smiled.
"Me too." Richie pulled away with tears in his eyes. Only to be wiped away with "fuck you guys are so fucking sappy. You're turning me into fucking goo." Richie smiled as everyone laughed. Stan was next in the line of losers. "Fuck, Stanley. Don't know how I'm going to learn which birds are which now. Maybe I'll even forget how to use punctuation when I'm gone. Maybe I'll lose my sarcastic wit-"
"What sarcastic wit?"
"Opened myself up to that one didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did." Stan sniffled. "I'm going to miss you, Richie."
"I'm gonna miss you too, Stan the man." Richie pulled him into a hug because he was going to fucking miss his first friend. "Take care of Big Bill alright?" Feeling an embarrassed nod against him, Richie let out a sigh and pulled away.
Turning to Bev, he cried out, "Molly fucking Ringwald. How could I forget about you!"
"Shut up you asshole"
"Never"
"Fine. Just take care of yourself alright?"
"You got it hun"
Bev lightly punched his shoulder, smiled and said, "Then get the fuck outta here or we will keep you forever"
"Bye Bev." Richie turned to Eddie.
"Oh wait! Here. Swiped them off my dad. He hates this kind anyway." In Bev's hand was a pack of Marlboro's. Richie smiled. He knew this was her dad's favorite.
"You know me too fucking well, Marsh."
"Okay, bye for real this time."
Richie cracked a smile and turned to Eddie. His face softened when he saw Eddie's eyes fill with tears.
"We'll try to go down there but you know how it is with all our parents." That he did. The losers club had probably some of the worst luck with parents. Bills family neglected him after Georgies death almost as much as Richie's parents did. They didn't hit him like Richie's but it was almost somehow worse to not be acknowledged even if acknowledging him meant you got a couple more bruises and scars. Eddie's mom abused him but with medicine and forcing sickness on him. Munchenhausen by proxy he thinks was the name. Mike's grandfather wasn't kind to him- enough so that you wonder how Mike could be that nice all the time. But Beverly's dad was the worst. Thank god he is gone now and she is living with her aunt. He used to physically and sexually abuse her. But yeah, the losers club has sucky luck with parents.
"Yeah, I know. Id love to see you but it's okay if you can't. Anyway, I'll call you all when I'm there so you'll have my telephone...I'll miss you so fucking much Eds." Richie took his hand, both of them blushing slightly.
"Don't call me Ed's." It was almost a knee jerk reaction now but it brought a smile to both their lips.
A whistle sounded through the train station.
"Shit! Already? Okay fuck. Goodbye Ed's." Richie pulled Eddie tight against him in a bone crushing hug.
He sniffled, "I'm gonna miss you trashmouth."
"Not as much as I'll miss your mom, Ed's"
"Ugh!! Way to ruin a moment asshole!" Eddie shoved Richie lightly. Both of them grinned. "Bye losers!!" Richie shouted over the rustle and noise of the train station. A chorus of "Bye Richie!"'s were yelled and thrown into the cacophony of other people's shouts of goodbyes and hellos. Richie ran to his train, making it with very little time to spare. Lucky for him, not a lot of people were going to Hawkins (only one gangly teenager with scuffed converse and a black band t shirt and a prim fucking devil). After putting his sad excuse for luggage next to him on an empty seat, he found and met with Karen on the train. As he parted from the station, he waved goodbye to his family and sat down preparing for the worst 20 hours of his life.
                              -4 hours later-
Trains suck.
He can't get comfy and he has aches from his bruises. He can't smoke because it's a train and he hasn't smoked in FOREVER. His body is getting all antsy and he is getting cranky because of it. His voice fucking HURTS because of the use of it after almost being strangled to death. He can't speak so he can't annoy Karen which annoys him and all in all: TRAINS SUCK!

              -16 fucking long ass hours later-

Richie got off with Karen, looking pissed as hell. Walking down the steps, he followed Karen aimlessly while she lectured him about staying with the other Karen (aunt) and her kids. Richie didn't bother listening cause that is way too much fucking work and Richie has been through quite enough for him to be lectured about how he should behave. When they get a rental car, they drive to his aunts house in utter silence. Richie wanted to tear his hair out. He remembers to be nice to his aunt because she is taking him in and he was already such a burden to people who didn't feed, clothe or care for him, that he can't imagine what type of a burden he will be to actual decent people. The car pulled to a stop in front of a cookie cutter house with a couple toys on the lawn. Richie remembered that they have a five year old. Hall... or molly... he can't remember. It didn't matter that much anyway, they would be introduced soon. He gets out with his bag in one hand and waits for Karen to ring the doorbell as she so wanted to. The door opened showing a lady looking strikingly similar to his mother with a kid on her hip.
"Richie! How wonderful to see you! Welcome, come in and excuse me for one moment while I get the other kids." She left and yelled for "Michael" and "Nancy". Two pairs of footsteps came down the hall and Richie was face to face with his lookalike. Holy shit does he look fucking similar. It was freaky. Karen Wheeler cleared her throat, waiting for her kids to introduce themselves.
"Nice to meet you I'm Nancy."
"Pleasure, Ms. Drew."
Nancy's facial expression turned into one of disgust. Richie just found a touchy spot. How wonderful! He gleefully thought.
"Nice to meet you I'm Mike. No one calls me Michael."
"Hi there Mikey"
"Don't call me th-" Mike was interrupted by his mother.
"Why don't you get the rest of Richie's things, Mike." She asked, though really it was more of a command.
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Tozier does not have any other items." Karen (the she-devil) explained, jumping back into the conversation. Looks of confusion and pity touched all of their faces (except for the devil's) and it made Richie want to gag.
"Is there anywhere I can put this?" Richie said, gesturing ah his bag. "It's getting heavy." That was a lie. It definitely was not. It was a medium sized duffel bags with only records, his Walkman and clothes.
"Right, Michael, would you please show Richie where his room is?" Karen looked pointedly at her son.
"Sure" mumbled Mike. "Uhh. This way."
"Thanks." Richie said sarcastically, he was already following him, not sure if he needed much more direction.
"Yeah. Okay, here it is. The bathroom is down the hall in the right. You'll find you're way around sooner or later... " Awkward silence ensued after his less than exemplary directions.  "What happened to you?" He said, gesturing to the black and purple bruises on his body. Man, was Mike stupid? Or just overly blunt? No, he must be stupid. Or innocent. But that's giving excuses.
"I fought off a killer clown with my bare hands." Richie deadpanned while internally wincing at his own comment that brought up too many harsh memories.
"Right.. well if you didn't want to tell me you could've just said-"
"Thanks. Been a real help. If you don't mind I'm going to take a nap. Sitting in one place for a while can really be exhausting." He smiled thinly and shut the door.
Fuck. He needed a smoke.