WOUNDS ♚ henry bowers [it]

o n e

"Taylor, honey, Richie and Eddie are outside waiting for you!" I heard my mom call for me from downstairs.

I slip on a pair of white converse, lacing up the strings. "Okay, tell them I'll be down in a minute!" I take a quick look at myself in the mirror, checking my appearance. I was just wearing a light honey-mustard yellow, short sleeve shirt with some blue jean shorts that fit my thighs pretty well. Plain, I know. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled up my light brown, naturally wavy hair, before deciding I looked fine.

I grabbed my old, worn out backpack and started down the stairs. "Bye, mom." I told her then I swung open my front door, meeting two of my best friends, Eddie and Richie.

"Took ya long enough." Richie said, his eyes on me from behind his big rimmed glasses.

"Hurry, we have to go meet Bill." Eddie said from looking down in his fanny pack, putting his inhaler back into it. Both of them were settled on their bikes, parked on the gravel-way.

"Yeah, yeah, let me grab my bike."

. . . . .

The last day of school went by fast and it was officially, and finally, summer vacation. I meet up with Eddie, Bill, Richie, and Stan in the hallway, and we being to make our way towards the doors. The boys were saying something, but my mind seemed to drown them out. Actually, my mind had seemed to make everything around me disappear, because my eyes met his.

He was leaning against the wall across the hallway, staring straight back at me. Of course I know of the things he's done and said, but I just can't help it. Something inside me is drawn to him for some odd reason, and it's not like I can just make all my emotions suddenly go away.

He was the first to look away, which made me look away.

"Do you think they'll sign my yearbook?" Richie, jokingly, said as we passed the Bowers gang.

Eddie clears his throat, "Dear Richie... Sorry for taking a hot, steaming dump in your backpack last month. Have a good summer."

"Oh please, I'm pretty sure they'd be much more happier signing your death certificate." I chuckle out, and we open the doors to freedom. Richie scoffs and rolls his eyes.

No one knows about the way that I feel towards Henry. Not even the boys, or as we like to call ourselves, The Losers Club. I plan to keep it that way though, if the boys were to find out they'd most likely disown me or something, knowing how much they hate Henry. I don't blame them though, Henry has done some pretty fucked up stuff.

I've always wondered if Henry ever felt the same way towards me that I feel towards him, but then I remember all the times that he's pushed me and gave me hateful glances.

We make it to a trash can outside by the road and begin to empty out our backpacks in it. "Best feeling ever." Stan says.

"Yeah?" Richie starts, pushing the rim of his glasses up his nose. "Try tickling your pickle for the first time." A smirk grows on Richie's face.

"Ew, Richie. Shut up." I curl my lip up in disgust.

The boys start up a conversation about what we're gonna do tomorrow, but I zone them out when I look over and see Betty Ripsom's mom. "Guys," I call out and they all stop to look over at the woman standing with two policemen, her desperate and depressed eyes searching the crowd of kids tunneling out of the school.

"Does she really expect to see her coming out of the school?"

I was so busy watching the poor old woman that I didn't hear what the boys were saying, except for a few words about a ditch and Eddie's mom's underwear.

"She's not dead." I hear Bill's stern voice, bringing me back. "She's m-m-m-missing." His stutter shows itself.

"Sorry, Bill, she's missing." Eddie apologizes, and we begin to walk down the sidewalk together.

"The Barrens aren't that bad. Who doesn't love splashing around in shitty water?" Richie jokes, but then he's quickly grabbed by Henry, out of nowhere, and pushed back into Stan; both of them falling to the ground.

Patrick bends down and picks up Stan's kippah, "Nice frisbee, flamer." He throws it into a window of a bus driving by.

Belch then burps in Eddie's face, knowing how much Eddie hates germs, while Henry bumps shoulders with me and Bill, wedging in between the two of us."Losers." He mumbles on his way past us. The gang start on their way towards their car, but then Bill does the unexpected.

"You s-s-s-suck, Bowers."

"Shut up, Bill!" Eddie curses at Bill from under his breathe.

The gang stops in their tracks, and slowly turn around to face us. When they first turn around, Henry's eyes meet mine for a quick second before going to Bill's. "You s-s-s-say something, B-B-B-B-Billy?" Henry mocks Bill, him and his gang all smirking. "You got a free ride this year 'cause of your little brother." He stalks toward Bill. "Ride's over, Denbrough."

I could tell Henry was about to do something to Bill, but then a walkie-talkie sounded off and Henry stopped, looking up toward the street. I looked behind me to see Henry's dad, one of the police officers, take off his sunglasses and look at Henry. When I looked back, Henry had slightly backed off Bill, his eyes glancing down, looking almost... scared, but that was quickly gone and replaced with Henry's usual hateful eyes. "This summer, it's gonna be a hurt-train, for you and your faggot friends." Henry licks his hand and slaps it on Bill's face, moving it down Bill's cheek. Henry walks over to Belch and Patrick and they go towards their blue Firebird, meeting Victor over there.

Right before Henry get's into the car, he looks back real quick and our eyes meet for a few seconds, before he pulls away and hops in the convertible, driving off. Small butterflies erupt in my stomach, even though I wish they wouldn't.

"Wish he'd go missing."

"He's probably the one doing it."

I look down at the ground out of guilt. Even though the boys don't know, I still feel so bad for liking Henry. Why did I have to be the one person in the world to feel something towards Henry Bowers?