𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮

xiii. Last Forever.

   

     ALL SEVEN of them ran over to their eighth Losers Club member, Richie kneeling in front of him with a smile on his face. "Hey, man, we got Pennywise, man," he said happily but Eddie didn't open his eyes or even respond. Richie put his hand to his cheek gently where his bandage was from where Bowers had stabbed him.

"Eddie?" He said and still. No response. They all realized then as Richie's hand slowly moved down. He was waiting. But they all realized, Eddie Kaspbrak was dead. Timothy looked down as Beverly looked away, pained from the thought. "Richie," she said softly as Timothy put a hand to Bill's shoulder, knowing how they were the original four, Bill, Stan, Richie and Eddie.

And half of them were dead now.

"He's gone..." Bill said and Richie turned to him. "He's alright, he's just hurt. We gotta get him out of here. He's hurt. Ben." He said for help but Beverly spoke, "Richie," she said softly. "No, he's okay. We gotta get him out of here, Bev..." He said, still sure that Eddie was okay and alive. Timothy supposed thinking that was better than thinking about the fact that Eddie was not okay and dead.

"Richie," Beverly repeated, softly sniffling and he sighed, looking down before turning to them. "What?" He said softly. "Honey, he's dead..." She said, sniffing. He turned away, "we have to go, come on, Rich," Timothy insisted.

But Richie still couldn't get up. "We gotta go." Bill agreed seeing as how the whole place was breaking down, collapsing. "Come on, buddy." David said as he tried to pull him up, but Richie didn't move, he was pulling Eddie to him and hugging him tightly. "Fuck," David whispered and Timothy grabbed his arms. "It's time to go! Let's go!"

"We can still help him! Guys, we can still help him!" Richie shouted as they pulled him up and Timothy and David were both grabbing him by the arms. "Guys, we can still help him!" Richie called out as they dragged him away from Eddie. It wasn't safe and he wouldn't leave without Eddie. Richie kept shouting to Eddie the whole time, climbing up the tunnel, he was quiet, running through the sewer tunnels, he was quiet not until they ran through the house and were finally outside, he turned to the house collapsing in on itself when he called out, "Eddie! Eddie!" But Ben and Mike both held him back. Timothy was standing with Bill, his arms around the shorter man.

"We can still help him! He's still in there!"

The group ended up at the quarry, walking up to the rail and standing in a line in front of it. There was a sign, NO JUMPING OR DIVING AT ANY TIME. They all stood there, Ben looking over at Beverly who looked away and climbed over the rail. They all took off their boots, then they all watched as Beverly ran past them but came to a stop.

"El..." She whispered and Ben joined her at her side, grabbing her hand. "It's okay..." He told her and then they ran off the cliff's edge together. In the water, the group washed themselves. David was standing near Mike and Timothy was scrubbing some blood off his arms that he had gotten from helping Richie carry Eddie through the passageway.

"You know, Eddie would've hated this, guys..." Ben spoke, breaking the silence as he looked over. "What? Cleaning ourselves in dirty water?" Bill asked and Timothy glanced over at him. "Yeah," Ben said with a small smile at him. "He'd be telling us we'll get streptococcal something." Beverly said, smiling and Bill chuckled, looking away.

"Yeah..." Mike nodded, looking at David. "But he would've made us laugh though." He looked to the others. "Oh, yeah," Beverly said with a smile. "He'd be looking out for us... the way he always was." Bill looked away then looked at Richie. "Isn't that right, Richie?" He asked and the man had a hand to his face. He let out a cry, surprising them but they all went to his side. Bill grabbed his free hand as Timothy was behind Bill, an arm around both of them and his forehead on Bill's shoulder as Mike and David both stood behind him.

Beverly and Ben were on the other side of him and they were all there, just comforting him as he cried. They were just... sitting or standing there in the water, holding Richie until he was okay and looked at all of them. "Thank you... I don't have my glasses on so I don't know who you people are, but thank you." He said to them and they all chuckled or cracked smiles at him.

"Screw you, Tozier," David laughs. "I legit can't find my glasses." Richie explained and Beverly looks up at him. "Are you serious?" She asked with furrowed brows. As they went for a search for the man's glasses, Timothy watched as Mike and David pretend to look for Richie's glasses but they got close to another another and grabbed each other's hands. He smiled faintly to himself before looking over at Bill who looked at him, "find anything?" He asked and Timothy shrugged slightly.

"No but I see a pair of kissable lips." He smirked and Bill just stared at him, smiling faintly. "Another time, Davidson, Richie's basically blind." He laughed and Timothy sighs. "Worth a try..."

The group walked together down the road, Mike was holding hands with David and Timothy was walking with an arm around Bill's shoulders. "Hey guys," Beverly said and they all stop to turn to her, "look." She showed them the palm of her hand which she then showed to Ben. Her scar. Their scars. The blood oath, the scars were gone.

"Nothing last forever..." Mike said and Timothy noticed the look in his eyes as he stared at David. It made Timothy so sick, but in a good way. In a fuck-you-guys-are-so-made-for-each-other way. He smiled and looked down at Bill.

 

  

  

  

   

   

  

  

   

   

   

authors note the scene where they're bickering all together didn't fit with the first book so i decided not to write it... 😳😳😳