Chapter Text
He can feel the almost comforting weight of the rock as he picks it up, and the cool, rough surface feels oddly right in his hand. It means something; he knows that in the same way he knows his own name.
Richie then staggers forward, eyes wide and locked onto the towering shadow of the spider hanging over two of the others, Ben and Bev nowhere in sight. His empty hand forms a fist as anger floods his veins alongside the adrenaline that he's felt since he's stepped foot into the cistern. The recent memory of the three doors play in his head; the closet, his closet, and the pomeranian. Eddie's face, too.
He's already concluded that he hates that expression on his face.
"Hey, Fuckface!"
Seven faces turn to look at him, and he can feel Eddie standing behind him, and he's hissing, "What are you-" before he gets cut off. Bill and Mike's responses are also lost in the sound of Richie finishing the taunt.
"You want to play truth or dare?" He can feel the incredulous gazes of the other five losers, but he isn't backing down from this. He can't back down from this, not when he's too far in, and Pennywise is giving him a look that he interprets as: do it, I dare you. And getting him away from the others was imperative at the moment, any longer, and he doubted that they wouldn't lose another person.
"Here's a truth!" The loud steps of the monster get closer, and the anger just behind his skin simmers. "You're a Sloppy Bitch!"
The effect of the words is immediate, and it stops. But too late does Richie realize that the action meant trouble.
"Yipee ki yay motherfu-!"
The feeling of the rock in his hand disappears, and air rushes out of his lungs as white invades his vision, and in his winded state, the next fully conscious thought that passes through his head is when he realizes he's in the deadlights. Which, to be completely honest here, he had totally forgotten that was a card in its hand. That card had become one of those Uno cards that you kept in your pocket until the right turn, catching every other player off-guard.
The next absolutely needed thought is Fuck .
Then everything explodes .