REQUIEM ⠀(stanley uris.)

ONE.

it wasn't that natasha aberman wasn't aware of the derry curfew. every child in derry was aware of the curfew. it was one of those things that was forced upon children during the summer of '89, and considering her family's overprotective nature, natasha was bound to never forget it. seven o'clock. everyday.

except, natasha had forgotten her watch that day. so she set out on her bicycle without any safety whatsoever. her watch was hidden somewhere under her pile of clean clothes that she had procrastinated on putting away that morning. natasha wouldn't remember that until later, though.

natasha had gone out at five, and was expected to be home around half an hour before seven o'clock hit. she wasn't sure what would happen if she were out after seven, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what would happen. she was sure she didn't want to go missing like betty ripsom or veronica grogan.. or like the little denbrough boy had. natasha could name every kid that had gone missing. it's not that she was obsessed with the missing kids. the whole tone of it just intrigued her. that, and her brother would often mention their names when natasha went out on her own. she was sure that she had heard, "you don't want to go missing like betty ripsom had, right?" far too many times.

as she passed by the derry library, she had noticed that there weren't as many people walking in front of it as there usually were. in fact, the number of kids that weren't near the library was a bit unnerving. that was the moment that natasha had realized that she was gone past the curfew. she looked down at her watch, trying to find out what time it was. 

"fuck," she muttered to herself when she hadn't seen the watch placed on her wrist.

she quickly got resituated on her bike and started heading home as fast as her bike could take her. not as fast as the boy bill denbrough went on his bike, silver, but fast enough. her breathing got heavier as her pace quickened. she knew she wasn't used to pedaling this fast, and soon she'd either faint or crash onto the sidewalk. natasha didn't like either of those outcomes.

natasha found herself to be on the unlucky side at that moment, as instead of having a more swift break onto the sidewalk so she could sit for a bit, her bike rammed against the curb, denting one of the sides. natasha fell with it. once she regained the small bit of strength she had left, she stood up to examine herself.

"holy shit." her eyes widened as she looked at her elbows and knees which she knew would scab in the morning. her entire body felt like hell and she felt light headed, but at that moment, she didn't care. she just needed to get home before her parents filed a missing report.

she could barely see as the night sky dimmed her vision. she found herself stumbling until she tripped over something and fell. a few seconds after she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. a bit frightened, she turned around to confront the person, whom at the time she thought was the person who was murdering everyone. for a second she thought her biggest fear had come to life.

"what are you doing out past seven?" the person whispered in a hurried whisper.

"i didn't mean to be out this late." natasha responded, defense rising in her tone.

"it's- it's fine." the person said, and she saw them extend a hand. hesitantly, natasha took it and they helped her up. once she was closer, she could finally get a decent glimpse of the person who had helped her.

"you look familiar..." natasha thought out loud.

"stanley uris." he replied, extending his hand for a polite hand shake.

"oh, natasha aberman." she said, grasping his hand.

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and i thought i was never going to update this book.