tag, you're it. r.tozier. act l.

❝that's not how the story goes!❞

( behind the fake smiles and deeper into their scars! )

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RICHIE TOZIER!
(THE BOY WHO DOESN'T
QUITE KNOW WHAT HOME IS!)

Richie Tozier was most certainly the most humorous (and annoying) kid in the small, homey, town of Derry. But, what nobody knew, was that every day, after he bid his goodbyes to his small group of friends, he would walk home, and his once goofy smile would turn upside down when stepping foot into his house.

There was the time that, after his father got fired from his job, he started drinking, and that was the time he slapped his wife across the face. Richie, only six years old at the time, had been watching. Poor, innocent young boy got angry as his father's hand roughly came into contact with his mother's cheek. As a son, his immediate reaction was to protect his mother.

Richie's little fists pounded against his father's stomach, unfortunately, doing no harm. Richie's squeaky voice yelled angry things towards his drunken father. That went on for not even ten seconds, before his father grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him harshly to the ground.

As a teenager, Richie still remembered how painful it felt when his small skull hit the wooden floor. Besides, later on, Richie experienced pains from his father that were far, much worse.

Then, at age eight, the sexual acts started. His mother was so depressed, due to the fact that her husband was still hurting her in harsh ways. Instead of leaving the horrid man, she started drinking, and that lead up to the first time she touched her son.

It was a rainy evening, and his mother had just taken a beating from his father, which occurred daily. Unfortunately, she decided to take it out on her son. Richie, not knowing what would happen next, quietly went downstairs, afraid he was going to wake his father.

He spotted his mother on the couch, half drunk. That meant the bitch knew what she was about to do to her innocent son. Richie still remembered his mother's exact words, that he tried so hardly to forget about. Her rasp voice slurred the words, "Richie, baby, come here. I'm gonna show you something.

Poor little boy, not knowing what was going to happen, smiled and walked up to his mother. "What is it, mommy?" He excitedly asked. But, oh, he would soon find out that he shouldn't have been so excited to see his mother.

Yes, that bitch knew what she was doing to her son. He knew what she did weekly wasn't right, and everytime she did those awful things, it haunted him.

Of course, we all want to pick Richie up and take him to a world where he can never be hurt again, but, I'm sad to say that it's not possible.

Because that's not how the story goes.

As the abuse and sexual acts continued, he met his best friends; his family. Eddie, Bill and Stanley. He quickly put on a smile and started making jokes, which they didn't find funny. Maybe it's the fact that he wanted attention; wanted to be loved.

But, what he didn't know, was that he'd meet a girl who'd change everything.

-

ARIANNA TAYLOR!
(THE GIRL WHO
DROWNS IN HER OWN TEARS!)

Arianna Taylor. Sure, she's just like everyone else, but doesn't everyone else have their own sob story?

She was born on May 1st, 1975, in Texas. But on that day she was born, she was birthed out the womb, conjoined to her unidentical twin, Sydney Taylor. On the hip. Random, right?

That was probably one of the reasons why the girls were so close, doing everything together, sticking up for each and just being there for each other at the end of the day.

After a couple of surgeries their parents were able to pay for, they were finally separated. The unidentical twins promised each other they'd never tell a soul about the day they were born, and they made their parents swear on it, too.

"Promise," the brunette had told her twin, "promise that you won't ever, ever, ever, ever tell a soul. Ever."

Sydney nodded. "I promise. I won't." She locked pinkies with Ari.

Those were the only humorous lines of this introduction before it will get much, much worse. Because, that's not how the story goes.

The two were very close, and they hardly ever fought. They stuck with each other when their parents would fight, which was a constant thing in the Taylor house.

The girls would climb into the same bed and hold hands as they heard their parents screaming into each other's faces. Each time, one of them would cry, and the other would comfort her. It was hard not to.

There was a time, as they all sat at the dinner table, their parents were arguing, and their father got so angry, he punched his wife in the cheek, leaving the twins horrified.

The girls didn't understand why their mother wouldn't leave him, for they were taught that if a boy hit you, he'd do it again no matter how many times he apologized. The girls desperately tried to persuade her into divorcing him, but their mother wanted to stay.

Because their parents constantly fought, the twins promised to be there for each other, and they've never fought, afraid that they'd end up like their parents - although Ari always found herself arguing with her father when it came to certain things.

Ari and Syd were deathly afraid of their father, for he was always the creepy type; stroking their hair and trying to make moves on them, so they stayed away from him whenever they could.

Ari wasn't the type of girl to dream about a boy, or to have a boyfriend. Maybe it was the fact that her father was super, super overprotective when it came to boys, or maybe it was the fact that she never got along with boys.

She has thought about boys, and talked about it with Sydney, but the topic never interested the girl.

But on May 30th, 1989, that would all change, when she meets a boy with dark, curly hair and thick glasses.

--

If you love stories that have happy endings, then this story is not for you. This is the story of how two star-crossed teenagers found each other at the right time, in need of love.

But, if you don't want terrible endings, I'm deeply sorry to say that this story ends in only that. That's not how the story goes.

The story of a girl and boy who find each other at the right time. Both with similary terrible home lives, but different circumstances.

Maybe that was one of the many reasons he was attracted to the beautiful brunette, because, since their lives were so different, they were so yet the same.

Because it was the nerdy trashmouth and gorgeous brunette against the world, and it always would be that way, whether their adventures were good or bad.

And, this, my friends, is how their love story began.

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