Bittersweet Tragedy | Reddie

1

The rain was pouring down on the late July afternoon, at this time of year in Derry, children would be outside playing around, but the normally busy streets were empty except for a paper boat floating down towards a drain.

Richie Tozier was standing looking out on the miserable weather from his window, today himself and Bill were supposed to go to the arcade but due to the day both boys weren't allowed to leave the house, not that Bills parent would even notice.

Richie made the decision to just go anyway, he grabbed one of his old jackets, it smelt like a hospital, it was probably because he hadn't washed it. Richie quietly locked the door and made his way over to his window, the window opened with a loud squeak, Richie flinched, frozen in place and listened to see if his parents were coming, but they never did.

The rain washed out the loud creak of the old window frame and at that moment Richie was happy that the living room was at the back of the house and not near the entrance of the house, otherwise they definitely would have heard him, he gathered himself and took the small leap from his window to the ground, almost slipping because of how wet the ground was.

He started walking away from his house, stuffing his hands in his pocket, the arcade wasn't that far from his house, he knew this because he spent most his summer going there when he had nothing else to do,

Bill called him an addict.

Richie called it a fiery passion.

While approaching the arcade he got a violent shiver down his spine, it might have been that he was starting to come down with something being soaked in the rain, but Richie had a bad feeling about going in for a second and he was right to think that as he spotted a familiar car but before he could figure out who it belonged to, the arcades door swung open allowing him hear the loud music from inside.

Quickly he hid behind a wall and rightly so because the Bowers gang walked out, minus Hockstetter, he had been missing since last summer along with Bills younger brother.

"Those games are fucking rigged!" Henry the groups psychotic leader shouted, his face was covered in discolored red blotches and was covered in sweat, he obviously took playing the games too seriously.

"Yeah right Henry, don't be a sore loser," Victor said,

Victor looked at Belch who tried to muffle his laughter with his large hand, Henry turned around quickly to glare at him and he quickly quieted down.

"Fuck you," Henry whispered to Victor,

Henry grabbed Victor by the collar pushing him up against the wall almost lifting him off the ground near where Richie was, he pulled out his pocket knife and pushed it up to Victors neck

"I am not a sore loser,"

Henry let him down and spat on him, Victors face was now pale, he always knew Henry had some anger issue but he didn't know they were that bad that he would threaten his life for a joke.

Richie, still being near the group, quietly snuck down an alleyway, luckily Henry hadn't seen him, last summer was the last time him and Henry had crossed paths and it didn't end well, that time Mike had pushed the psycho down a well, they thought he was dead, apparently he tried to kill his father before going after them but his father caught him and he ran away, to the sewers after them, he was sent to a juvenile center for troubled teens but Henry was more than troubled.

Quickly emerging on Center Street he quickened his pace to get as far away as possible,

The street was a lot busier than the small street in which the arcade was on, multiple cars passed him as he finally slowed down, Center Street was alway a bit busier than most other streets because it was closer to town center than the rest of the town.

He stopped in front of the Aladdin Theater, he let out a grin, they were playing I Was A Teenage Werewolf, the movie was really scary and he almost shit himself when he and Bill has saw the werewolf in the the house on Neibolt street, but now that it was all over it was all so bittersweet, he stared at his reflection in the frosty glass, looking at his appearance, he was drenched, his clothes stuck to his skin like glue and his glasses were covered in rain, he could barely see because of the small raindrops cascading down the glass.

He let out a content sigh thinking of good memories, if only Bill was with him maybe they could have watched it for old times sake.

Taking off his glasses he tried to wipe them down his glasses while sitting under the small shelter that sign provided him with, not that it done any good the glass was still covered in water but at least the rain wasn't getting all over them anymore.

He sat down on a step to try wait out the rain and let his mind drift.

1957

It was October, the sun was shining brightly, surprisingly it wasn't raining or very windy, Bill Denbrough was planning on going to see a new movie with one of his friends Richie Tozier,

Both boys had met the year prior and even though they were completely opposite from each other, they got along well, they both got bullied relentlessly by Henry Bowers, Bill because of his stutter and Richie because of his glasses, Bill thought that was a queer reason to bully someone but then again Henry would find anything to use as an insult against you if he tried hard enough.

Bill walked downstairs and heard his mother playing the piano, he made his way to the garage where he kept his bike, Silver.

Silver sped down the hill to get to the Aladdin Theater where he saw Richie waiting for him.

"What took you so long, Big Bill?" Richie asked in another one of his accents, something Bill found out he done a lot, Richie had a weird charm about him.

"Suh-sorry, I had to help George with his huh- homework,"

"You're such a good big brother Bill," Richie said sarcastically

Bill only punches his shoulder as they made they're way inside to purchase the tickets, while they were inside, a small timid boy came up behind them in the line, Bill had recognized him he was in his math class in school,

"Hhello, you're in m-my maths class a-aren't you?"

"Um yeah, I'm Eddie, Eddie Kaspbrack,"

"Bill Denbrough and tuh-this is Richie T-tozier,"

Richie waved slightly at him,

"Suh-so what movie are you w-watching?" Bill asked,

"Well my mum wants me to watch some childish movie but it's for toddlers so I just took some extra money to see if anything better is on," Eddie went to look in his fanny pack for his inhaler,

"What's that?" Richie asked, looking at Eddies fanny pack.

"Oh I have asthma so I like to keep my medicine on me, just in case" Eddie answered quickly.

Richie was about to make a remark but Bill sensed it coming and interrupted him,

"You said yuh-you were looking for a better movie do you muh-maybe want to watch one with u-us?"

"Really, you'd let me join you guys!" Eddie was genuinely surprised nobody ever made an attempt to befriend him or even invite him to anything, his mother was at fault she always acted like he was a little daisy at risk of being squashed.

She often kept things from him but he just assumed that was how she showed her love.

"Sure Eddie Spaghetti," Richie said before going off to buy some popcorn,

Eddie made a shocked face, Bill just turned and put his arm on his shoulder,

"Duh-don't worry he does that to me too,"