Buttercup | r. tozier

↠ jasmine jeong

A Month Later

I was walking downstairs with Beverly. As we entered the kitchen area, we could see Eddie helping eomma cooking some pancakes and heard Bill and Richie talking with appa at the breakfast table. Stan and Mike were outside, exploring the garden.

“Yesterday, I heard two tacos sleeping in a bed,” appa said. “One suddenly turns to the other and says, “Taco dirty to...”

“My sausage,” Richie finished the line as he smirked.

“Hahaha, Richie, you got me there!” appa laughed. “Anyways, this is just a lame pun that dads like me make.”

“And it looks like Beverly and Jasmine are finally here,” Bill said, looking at the two of us.

I gave appa a short morning hug before I hugged Richie.

“How’s your sleep, buttercup?” Richie asked.

“Good,” I answered. “I slept like a baby.”

“Aegiya, everyone,” eomma called as she carried some plates of pancakes over to the table. “Breakfast is ready...wait, Hyeonsuk, aegiya?”

“Eomma,” I said, breaking off from Richie to hug her. “Did you cook pancakes? It smells so good.”

“Yes, and Eddie helped me with that,” eomma smiled. “He is such a sweet and helpful boy.”

“Thanks, Mrs. J,” Eddie shyly thanked her.

“Well, you guys can eat now, I’m going to get Stan and Mike,” Beverly said.

“A-Alright, Beverly,” Bill replied as his cheeks went pink.

After Beverly, Stan, and Mike had returned inside, we all ate the pancakes on each of our plates. While eating we also discussed a bit more of what happened last month.

“Can we not talk about this?” Stan asked. “That experience makes me so sick.”

“Alright, then what?” Richie retorted.

“I gotta tell you all something,” I told the others solemnly as I finished my breakfast. “Appa, eomma, I’ll be going to the garden, and guys, meet me at the garden.”

“Okay, aegiya,” eomma replied.

They all nodded and a few minutes later, they were finished their breakfast. Beverly led the other six outside to the backyard. As soon as they saw me by the blackberry hedge, we all gathered around and sat in a circle.

“I thought I was dead. That’s what it felt like. I saw us, saw us together, back in the cistern,” I said. “But we were older...I mean, our parents’ ages…”

“W-w-w-what were we all doing there?” Bill asked.

“I just remembered how we felt, how scared we were, I don’t think I can ever forget that,” I answered.

Then Bill stood up and picked up a fallen bramble twig nearby.

“Swear, swear if IT ever comes back, we’ll come back too,” Bill declared.

Agreeing to all that he said, both Beverly and I stood up before the others did the same. Bill then pricked his hand with one of the thorns on the branch before he did the same to Richie, Eddie, Mike, Stan, Ben, and Beverly.

When Bill was about to pierce the thorn onto my palm, I began to get nervous. I knew IT may be defeated for now, but I still felt a tight knot in my stomach whenever I did see blood. I looked around at everyone before I exhaled and closed my eyes.