ghosts & skeletons

richie makes some bad decisions.

[RICHIE]

october 12, 1991

what the hell had he done?

it was one thing to go to eddie's house in the middle of the night but getting into his bed and cuddling with him was completely different. why did he do that, it's like he wanted to sabotage himself. he could have been less obvious holding up a sign that said "YES, I HAVE A CRUSH ON EDDIE KASPBRAK" in the middle of a busy road.

he couldn't go on this way, the whole town would know after a short time. bowers already called him a queer (alongside many other gay slurs) but that was probably because he was just a bigot that just despised richie. stanley had been able to figure it out but he knew richie better than himself, so richie didn't worry about that. but what was preventing the other losers from adding two plus two and figuring it out?

there was nothing really, there is absolutely nothing, not with how richie acts around eddie. the only thing he can do is continue pretending that he likes girls and making jokes about fucking eddie's mom. yes, that will clearly hide his feelings towards eddie, no one will ever find out, right?

whatever was happening in richie's mind was about to make him spiral into an ocean of self-deprecating thoughts, but thankfully he had the attention span of a puppy and was suddenly extremely focused on eddie's arm, just because it had moved a bit to the side.

he needed to get out of there.

richie slowly got out of the bed and put his shoes on, wincing as he put his weight on his right ankle. it hurt a lot but he was just going to have to deal with it. he stood up gingerly and climbed out of the window but not before giving eddie a quick kiss on the forehead.

reaching the ground proved to be much more difficult than it was normally, but richie's ankle hurt too much to use. he sighed and accepted his fate, otherwise he would never reach his home.

cycling through derry at dawn felt surreal, birds were already chirping but everyone was sleeping comfortably in their beds, not having a reason to worry. richie practically flew past houses, without a care in the world, feeling free.

he was disappointed to reach his own home and tensed up immediately when he remembered that his father should still be there. when he saw that his father was passed out on the couch he relaxed, because there was no way in hell that he was going to wake up anytime soon.

richie thought it was nice to be able to relax in his room but he was still mad at stanley, who kept trying to go into the bedroom, which was still lined with salt so it was a futile task. richie wasn't in the mood to talk to him and still wasn't when he finally left to go to his job.

stanley, of course, knew that richie was going to come out some day so he had prepared something for him. he knew that it was the oldest trick in the book but for that same reason, richie wouldn't be aware of it until it was too late. and indeed, that was the case.

richie had opened the bedroom door, not giving it a second thought and was immediately drenched. "gODFUCKINGDAMMIT STANLEY YOU MOTHERFUCKER"

stanley just laughed at the sight of him and walked through a wall before richie tried to do something.

•

some time later, beverly marsh entered the shop near eddie's house to buy cigarettes. she was surprised to see richie sitting at the counter, clothes and hair wet, but the strangest thing of them all was that he was actually writing. he wrote with some type of passion, pouring all of his stupid and awful ideas onto the page.

beverly walked closer to him and saw that the notebook page was titled "how to get revenge at a ghost" but richie saw her look and snapped it shut before she could see the ideas he had written down. there was no need for her to know what richie was planning to do to stanley, or to find out that stanley was in fact a ghost.

"what the fuck are you doing rich? also, why are you so wet?"

"uh, nothing, just doodling, working is extremely boring. oh, and I'm wet because I fell into the river"

beverly raised an eyebrow, knowing that richie didn't just 'fall into rivers' without having ridiculous explanations. "sure. that's what happened. so, can I buy some cigarettes or are you going to tell me that I'm too young to buy them?"

richie decided that this was the best time to imitate someone. "oh no you can't, they're horrible for you, you don't want to be a smoker bev! do you know what those are going to do to your lungs? they're cancer sticks, I'm telling you beverly, you'll die before you get to college!"

beverly smiled for the first time that day, since richie had changed his voice to match eddie's high pitched one and the resemblance was uncanny. "hey, since we're talking about eddie-"

"we're actually not-"

"whatever, since we're talking about eddie, you're going to go to his house to change when your shift is over because I swear you're going to catch a cold. and don't think I won't wait here until you do"

richie grumbled at those words. "you're starting to sound like him now"

"am I? I didn't notice, I thought it was you talking exactly like him a few moments ago?" beverly knew how to annoy richie and it was working. she sat down in the stool next to him, lighting one of the cigarettes she had just bought, waiting for richie's shift to end.

luckily for her, it ended in less than 20 minutes, and since his clothes were still wet and it was cold outside, she escorted him over to eddie's house, which was just a block away. richie walked up the steps reluctantly and knocked the door while glaring at beverly.

beverly watched as eddie opened the door and his face practically light up when he saw richie.

"I'm back!" was all richie said and eddie rolled his eyes in fake annoyance.

"I can tell. now get inside quickly before you catch something, you idiot, walking around the streets all wet with how cold it is outside..."

his voice trailed off as he shut the door but beverly only smiled, laughing at the strange relationship those two had.

guitar funds: $194.00