WOUNDS ♚ henry bowers [it]

f o u r

"Fuck. I think it's great that we're helping the new kid, but we also need to think about our own safety." Eddie says. After Ben barged in on us at the Barrens, we all rode into town and behind some alley way- just in case Henry and his crew were still looking for Ben. "I mean, he's bleeding all over and you guys know there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now as we speak. I mean my mom's..." Eddie continued to ramble on, but we all just ignored him.

"Richie, Taylor, wait here. We need s-s-supplies." Bill told me and Richie. He, Stan, and Eddie then went off around the corner.

I looked down at Ben, sitting on a box, in pity. His clothes were ripped and all dirtied up with mud and blood splatters. He had a huge rip showing where Henry had taken a blade to Ben's skin and carved an 'H' in his stomach. I was pretty positive that Henry was going to put his whole name, but Ben must've escaped somehow. Ben's a big, chubby boy so I imagine he used that to his advantage to get away.

"Glad I got to meet you before you died." Richie spoke to Ben, and Ben just looked up at him, pain clearly written all over his face.

. . . . .

Ben and I sat there in the alleyway with Richie, listening to him make jokes to try and lighten up the scene. By the occasional groans and moans coming from Ben, it obviously wasn't working.

I decided to speak up, trying to save Ben's ears from Richie's exceeded fake laughter. "So... Henry was the one that did this to you, right?" I asked Ben. Every one of us expected it to be Henry and his goons, but Ben never actually did clarify it.

Ben nodded his head, "Yeah." Then he winced in pain.

"Don't look so shocked, Tay." Richie said from beside me, studying my face. "It's Henry for Christ's sake! He's the fucking spawn of Satan himself. It was only a matter of time before he did something like this."

Richie was right. It was only a matter of time before Henry did something like this. It still shocked me though, I had never heard of Henry actually cutting somebody; just threatening to cut them.

. . . . .

"Just suck the wound."

"I need to focus right now."

"You need to focus?"

"Yeah, can you go get me something?"

"Jesus."

I watched off to the side as Eddie tried to fix Ben up, and Richie bantered to him.

"Oh, what did you need?" Richie asked Eddie.

"Go get my bifocals, they're in my second fanny pack." Eddie orders, inspecting the huge 'H' sliced into Ben.

"Why do you have two fanny packs?" I asked, confused.

"I need to focus right now, it's a long story."

I looked over and saw that Bill had walked out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk. Cars and people passed by him, but he wasn't focused on that. A few seconds later, I saw what had his whole attention.

It was Beverly Marsh. Her strawberry-blonde hair bounced around her shoulders as she walked. Her and Bill said something to one another, then she turned toward the rest of us. Her faced scrunched up in confusion when she looked at Ben, "Ben from Soc?" She speed walked over to Ben, and kneeled down next to him.