gone boy. reddie

07| GONE BOY

"I would have died, I would have loved you all my life. You're losing your memory now."

-Ryan Star

(Losing Your Memory, Ryan Star)

"What do you th-think he's asking M-Mike?" Bill asked Stanley as they sat inside Richie's truck. Ever since their last encounter, the two had grown closer. A lot was changing. They sat closer together, usually leaving no space between them. The hugs they shared would be tighter than normal. Their handshakes always ended with them never letting go of the other's hand. The smiles they gave one another were brighter. The word friend wouldn't be used by either of them. Everything was changing.

"Hopefully it's useful," Stanley laughed. "Knowing Richie, he might be asking for porn or something." Bill smiled widely and let a small chuckle escape his lips. He nodded at the comment. The two of them sat in the truck silently. Every now and then Stan would quickly glance at Bill. He wanted to be better at sharing his thoughts and feelings. It was never something he did. "I know you told me you were down by the sewers because you wanted to find Georgie and Eddie, but why did you go by yourself? You could have asked me- it would have been less dangerous."

"Stanley," Bill sighed. "At f-first, I wasn't really looking for Georgie or Eddie," he confessed. "I w-wanted to see if I would go m-missing. I mean, not actually missing b-but I just wanted to see i-if someone would notice if I disappeared." Bill turned his head to the window before he began to rant. "Then I f-f-found Georgie's yellow raincoat and Eddie's in-inhaler and I realized how messed up I am. Eddie and G-Georgie actually disappeared and I go and hide out, hoping that m-my parents or anybody would notice that I'm g-gone. It's f-f-fucked up, Stan. I'm fucked up."

A frown approached Stanley's face. He didn't know how to respond to that.  He was scared that he would say the wrong thing. Stan didn't want to cause Bill any pain. He had enough of that. Instead of giving Bill an inspirational speech or smart advice, Stanley scooted closer to him. "Bill," he spoke quietly. His friend turned his head and made eye contact with him. "I would have noticed."

It went silent once again but neither of them cared. Bill gave Stan a sad smile before leaning his head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Stanley," he told him. "Th-that means everything to me."

Stan wrapped an arm around Bill's shoulder and brought him closer to him. It was a moment. It reminded them as to why everything was changing. Bill and Stan were no longer friends. They had crossed that line. There was something more waiting ahead and neither of them were prepared for it. They spent most of their lives being friends but this one moment changed it. Stan loved Bill and Bill loved Stan. Being friends with the one you love is never enough.

As they sat next to one another with Bill's head on Stanley's shoulder and Stan's arm around Bill, the both of them sat in dead silence while thinking about the other.

While Stan and Bill were having their moment, Richie was in Ben's bathroom in shock. "You know about the letters?" he asked Mike. "How do you know? 

"I found them," Mike admitted.

"Did you talk to Eddie about it-"

"I'm the one who put them on your doorstep," he told Richie. "Eddie wanted me to. I did it because he was mad at me for finding out. I was just trying to be nice, so I decided to put a clean sheet on his bed. Then I found all the letters under his mattress. After I read them, I didn't know what to do and before I could put them back Eddie came in."

"Wait," Richie paused. "Did you ask him to stay? Did you guys talk about his feelings?"

"Richie, I asked him to stay a thousand times," Mike confessed. "He kept saying he needed to be free and he made me promise not tell anyone. We even went down to the sewers and threw his inhaler away, he kept saying he didn't want it."

Richie began taking deep breaths. "Mike," he sighed out in relief. "I need to find him! I need to know what he felt. I need to know the main reason as to why he left. I need to know the message behind the letters. I need to know where he is." Richie wrapped his arms around Mike and gave him the biggest hug. Having Mike around was like finally finding an answer key to a test he didn't study for. "I need your help."

"Well, how much did you read?"

"I just finished the third one," Richie quickly answered. "I was about to start the fourth one... Mike, did he mean what he said in the third one? Was it really him saying bye to me?"

"Richie, he loved you," Mike spoke. "He only told me and Peter. I told him over and over again that he needed to tell you but he never did. But bye isn't bye. It's Eddie and it's you... it can't be goodbye."

"When's the last time you heard from him?" he asked. His voice was demanding but he just needed answers. He needed Eddie. He needed to know everything.

"Last night-"

"Last fucking night," Richie gasped. "You've been talking to him all this time. I haven't even gotten any sleep because I've been up worried about him."

"He called me from a phone booth. He just wanted to tell me that everything was okay and that he came up with his fake name," Mike said. "We talked for ten minutes but he said he had to go."

"I need to know where he is-"

"New York City," Mike answered. "The only reason he's there is because that's where you're gonna go after high school. He's waiting for you. So it isn't goodbye, it's him moving on from Derry- not you."

"So what do I do?" Richie questioned. "Wait till next year?"

"What's waiting going to do? You need to go- he's not coming back anytime soon. Maybe the problem with the both of you is that you're both waiting and not taking action," Mike suggested. "Do you know what can happen in a year?" Richie shrugged slowly at his question. "If you wait another year, Eddie won't be Eddie when you get there. He could find another Peter. Anything can happen in a year, Richie. Anything."

A/N: Hey, guys. This is the end of this chapter. There's still a lot of questions that need to be answered.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm going to be working on the next chapter tomorrow.

-I DID NOT EDIT THIS CHAPTER-
+ANY OTHER CHAPTER (OOPS)

Well, I hope you all have a good day and night.

xoxoxoxo