Chapter Text
Tiny rocks, dirt and filth were being pressed down Eddie’s bare feet. He didn’t know where he was going anymore, but all he knows is that he needs to get away and hide from her.
His legs were giving up on him, so he took a seat on the edge of a cliff and looked down at the body of water about a hundred feet underneath him. He suddenly realised that he was dirty. She didn’t like dirty.
He started scratching his arms, not because it was itchy, but because he hated himself for not being normal. For not having a normal life where he could live in peacefully.
The sun was burning brightly as he lifted his foot up, examined it, concentrated and began levitating the stones that was stuck on it with his mind. Eddie never understood why and how he had this extraordinary power. But he was thankful that it helped him escape from his own mother.
Still overly fascinated of the small stones that floated right in front of him, it didn’t last long as they fall off the cliff because he heard metal rattling, grass and pebbles being crunched, feet paddling and loud bickering.
“-ev’s place because she said her aunt’s -” a stern voice had said, but the sound of bells ringing continuously stopped him annoyingly, “Richie, shut the hell up, or I’ll push you down with that bike, even though it’s Bill’s.”
A chuckle escaped, “Exclude that last part and that may have had been what your mom -”
Eddie was now seen standing up with only an oversized shirt on as their talking abruptly stopped. There were two tall boys who had curly hair and a straight hair, a cute chubby boy who has his headphones around his neck, and a boy with ridiculously huge glasses on.
“Hey, are you okay?” the guy with headphones on asked. They were all staring at him, and it made him uncomfortable, so he began scratching his arms again.
“Are you l-l-lost?” the scrawny guy stuttered.
The boy lays his bike down and the others followed. He takes a step forward, Eddie takes a step back. He could feel the boy with glasses tilt his head, as if trying to understand him. Eddie looks down, sees an army of ants crawling near his feet, and so he tried to avoid them by tiptoeing backwards. On the last few steps, his foot felt nothing but air, whooshing carelessly beneath him.
---
Eddie was still confused of how this happened, and he has no idea what to do about it. He was sitting on a chair in Will’s - no, Bill’s - house, staring at the scene in front of him. Their chatter was loud but never clear.
The four teens took quick looks at him here and there, arguing and talking in between each glance. He still didn’t understand why he was there, they just asked questions and, poof - he’s being pulled into Bill’s house.
“Bev! Oh, thank fuck, you’re here.” The guy with glasses, Richie , said.
A girl with fiery red hair was leaning on the doorway with her arms crossed across her chest. “Is he the ‘emergency’ you guys are talking about?” she nods at Eddie.
“Oh, yes. Uh, we found him at The Quarry when we were supposed to - you know,” The chubby boy, Ben, shrugs, before continuing. “And, er, well, we took him...in?” Bev opened her mouth to speak , but Ben cut her off. “He was lost! I mean, at least, we assume so.” he fidgets with his shirt, finally takes his eyes off Bev and looks at Eddie.
Bev stops to think. Everyone else stops to look and wait for her to respond. She breaks into a smile.“Why are you only wearing a shirt?” she asks Eddie, walking towards him.
Eddie glances at Richie, who looked relieved when Bev asked about his clothes then looks at Eddie, who turns away as soon as he did.
It’s a long story, he wanted to say. But words weren’t as easy to speak anymore. So, he just stared at her.
She eyes him strangely, as if empathising with him mentally. “You guys...could you maybe grab some clothes that can possibly fit him?” Bev looks at the others, then Bill. “Bill?”
Bill says, “Let’s g-g-go.” he nods at his friends, telling them silently to follow him out, which they did.
“Richie, stay with us.” Bev demanded to the lanky boy, who was on his way out.
Richie raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t protest as he walks back in and stands next to Bill’s bed. “My name’s Beverly, by the way. What’s yours?” Beverly asks.
Eddie’s eyes kept switching back and forth from Beverly to Richie, hesitant to telling his name to them. Can they be trusted? He pushed this thought away, remembering the moment where Richie pulls him before he even fell off the cliff.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, and breathed out. “Eddie.” he whispered loud enough for them to hear, hoping he wouldn’t have to repeat himself.
“Okay, Eddie. ” Beverly beamed at him, showing her teeth. “Are you hungry?”
She didn’t let Eddie answer as she tells Richie to spill all the contents in his bag on the bed. Richie responded to her, something about a ‘condom’, and Eddie didn’t understand it. Richie picks up a square-shaped gum and tosses it to Beverly, who catches it swiftly, then one candy packet to himself and picked something orange up. He looks at Eddie, and offers it to him.
“Chocolate?” he asks, his hand out for Eddie.
Eddie stares at him, recognising how big Richie’s eyes are up-close because of the glasses magnifying them for some reason. And he thinks it’s odd, but he also thinks they were beautiful.
He couldn’t help himself but take the food and observe it, his hand brushing against the other boy’s on the process.
Reese’s | 2 Peanut Butter Cups
Eddie tears it open and it revealed biscuits that were covered in chocolate. It was a bit melted, but Eddie didn’t care. He was hungry, and nothing would stop him from eating it.
The door opened and showed the rest of the boys. Each of them carried something. “- just hope he likes it here.”
Eddie takes a bite out of the chocolate cup, savoring each taste. And he thinks, I love it.