⚠️Abuse, Mentions of Physical Abuse and Emotional Abuse⚠️
Hey, should someone see if Richie's up," asked Mike, who had everyone's attention in the room. "Yea, I'll go ch-ch-check," stuttered Bill, and he walked up the stairs.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he walked to Richie and Eddie's door, and knocked lightly. "Rich, you in there? Y-Y-You ok?" He opened the door, checking to see if he was in there. He wasn't. Richie was nowhere to be found.
Richie sat in the back of the bus, looking out of the window. It was going to take a little over 2 days to get back to Maine, and he wasn't excited. He had already prepared on what he was going to say to his parents. He was gonna apologize, and say that he was no longer into guys. Except he was. But sometimes you have to put yourself last, and other people's wants and needs first. He soon fell asleep, a single tear slipping from his eyes with his slumber.
"Um, g-g-guys," Bill called. Everyone went up the stairs and stood in the doorway with Bill. "What is it," Eddie asked. "He's, um, n-n-not here." Eddie shoved past everyone to look in the room. And Bill was right. He was no where to be found. He searched everywhere, and eventually found the letter. He quickly picked up the piece of paper and scanned it, reading it about 4 times. Tears brimmed in his eyes, and sadness overcame his whole body. "What does it say," Beverly asked anxiously. "He went back to Derry," Eddie whispered, his voice filled with utter fear. "What do you mean he went back to Derry," Stan said angrily. "He left. He said that we shouldn't worry about him any longer. That we should be truly happy. That's why he left. To cause less problems." Guilt filled the room, and they all thought about how they treated Richie. And it was true. They did baby him a little, and were more worried about him than the others. "Well, we need to go stop him," Beverly said, trying to get everybody to come with. "Bev, I would say we could, but we need money for that. And we barely have any," Mike complied. "This is for a better use," Ben muttered as he walked off to his room. He came back with a 2 wads of cash in his hand. "Jesus Ben, how much is that," Eddie said in shock. Ben shrugged. "I don't really know. 900, maybe a thousand dollars?" Everyone's eyes went wide. "How long have you had this?" "Two years. But this is for a good use. Richie's more important than college." Everyone sighed, but Ben reassured that he was completely fine with it. "So, we going to get Richie back," Eddie asked with a bit of hope. "Yes, Eddie. We are."
The bus stopped, and that jolted Richie awake. "Derry, Maine!" Richie sighed sadly, and got up. He had his backpack on, his phone in his pocket, and walked out the bus. He looked around, remembering the landscape as agriculture of Derry. He found his street, and walked down it.
He now stood in front of his beaten down house, tears streaming down his face. He wiped them, and sniffled. He knocked on the door, and his drunken mother answered it. "Richie!" She pulled him into the house, and shut the door. She hugged him, pulled back, and slapped him. "What the hell were you thinking?! Running away from us?!" Richie looked down. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. But I'm not into boys, anymore. I don't wanna-" Richie swallowed hard. "I don't wanna be a faggot." His mother faked smiled and rolled her eyes. She punched him in the cheek, causing some blood to come out his mouth. "Fine. Whatever. Go in your room." He nodded and walked up his old stairs, looking at the dirty blood stains. He opened his door, and his room was the same as before. He sighed, sat on his bed, and cried a whole god damn river.
Everyone ran to their rooms and quickly began packing, as they needed to find Richie as soon as possible. Once everyone was packed, they hopped in the van. Mike in the driver seat, Bill and Stan comforting Eddie in the front row, Ben and Beverly in the second, their luggage in the third. "Let's go," Mike said as he pressed the key in, and pressed his foot against the gas pedal.
They stated their journey back down to Derry, and they were all kind of nervous. Would their parents be looking for them? Would they run into Henry and his goons? Were the police looking for them? A million thoughts ran threw their heads, completely ignoring that Richie was being emotionally abused by his mother.
As the day progressed, Richie's emotional health got worse. His mom threw awful slurs to him, along with a couple punches and kicks. Richie was currently sitting in the bathroom, cleaning a cut on his cheek that he got after his mom threw a glass bottle on him. He sniffled as he pressed the alcohol absorbed cotton ball to the huge cut in his right cheek. "Jesus," he muttered as the alcohol stung. He continued to look after the cut, not wanting to get an infection. "Richard!" He walked out the bathroom and walked down the stairs. "Yes, mom?" She got up out of the recliner and stood in front of him. She ran her finger down the cut, causing Richie to wince in pain. "You know, I don't think that you were thinking when you came back," she said, very simply and quietly. "Your father is home. He just parked. And, by the way, you better be ready. You are about to be ruined." She walked away, leaving a very scared and broken Richie frozen in place. The front door opened, and revealed the one and only -
Wentworth Tozier.
