𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 - 𝐫.𝐭𝐨𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫.

bloody bathroom

BLOODY BATHROOM

june 1989

When Dawn made friends, which wasn't often, she swore to always be there for them, no matter what. That's how she found herself biking along the streets of Derry next to Richie Tozier at 8 in the morning.

"Remind me again by we're going to Beverley's?" The young boy asked, still in his clothes from the previous day.

Dawn shrugged, her sunglasses giving her a dull expression. The bandana she tied on her head masked her messy curls she didn't have time to style that morning, the loose shirt and mom jeans she threw on last-second complimenting her figure perfectly. Richie couldn't help but steal glances at the young girl he had grown to admire.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," He blushed, facing the front and keeping is eyes on where they were headed.

They eventually met up with the other losers on the main road, greeting each other quickly before peddling to the apartment complex.

"She didn't say anything, she just said we need to hurry over," Stan bickered with Eddie, setting their bikes down on the grass as their redheaded friend ran to them.

"You made it. I- I need to show you something," Beverley smoke quickly, wiping her sweaty hands on her denim shorts.

"What is it?"

"More than we saw at the quarry?" Richie laughed.

"Shut up! Just shut up Richie."

Beverley sighed, "My dad will kill me if he finds out I had boys in the apartment."

"W-we'll leave a lookout," Bill replied quickly, always the quick thinker, "Richie s-s-stay-stay here."

Richie raised his arms in protest, watching everyone run up the several flights of stairs, "Woah Woah Woah, what if her dad comes back?"

"Do what you always do. Start talking," yelled Stan, following the group to the apartment.

"It is a gift!" The blind boy called out to no one, defeated.

.....

The green door stood ominously at the end of the short hallway, cracked open slightly. Beverly stopped in her tracks.

"In there."

"What is it?" Stan wondered aloud.

Beverley gulped, "You'll see."

Dawn stepped forward cautiously, looking back to see her friends following her tracks. They listened to Eddie ramble on about how bathrooms are the least sanitary places, covered in bacteria and fungi. Bill pushed the door lightly, swinging it open to reveal what looked like a normal room doused in paint. But they could smell the foul stink and the metallic taste intruded their tastebuds. The entire bathroom was covered in blood. Bright red blood.

"I knew it," Eddie gagged, turning around, hoping to unsee the sight before him,

"You see it too?" Beverley questioned the group.

"Bev, I think a blind man would be able to see this."

"Yes," Ben breathed.

The losers shot questions at Beverly while Dawn stepped onto the slippery tiles, her white converse squeaking on top of the blood, "We have to clean it."

Her bucket of water had turned a maroon color as she dipped the bloody cloth into it, scrubbing every drop of red off the yellow walls. Dawn had thought about helping Ben clean the floor but decided against it, being the only one with long pants on. The group of unlikely friends wiped down every lost inch of the room, refusing to leave until it was completely done. Eddie, Ben, Stan, and Dawn made the walk down the stairs to the dumpsters, throwing out black trash bags filled with paper towels, empty cleaning products, and rubber gloves while Bill and Bev finished cleaning.