Home (Reddie fanfic)

Chapter 1

Wednesday, September 9th, 1993, 8:25 am

It was cold.

Very cold.

It always was in Derry it has been for as long as everyone could remember.

Just a seemingly dull town on the outskirts of Bangor, Maine; there wasn't anything special to it. Unnoticed and forgotten, not many people even knew Derry existed, it kept to itself with its small narrow minded inhabitants, and uninteresting bouts of old gossip.
It wasn't so much about what Derry had, but more about what it lacked - the joy, the warmth and the homeliness of other towns is something you wouldn't catch in here.
No neighbourly spirit.
No family get togethers.
It was every man for himself, if you believed otherwise, it was bullshit.

Nothing changed with the times, and so, Derry remained, a cold town.

Eddie Kaspbrak, a short boy of 15, backpack and fanny pack strapped on tight, walked slowly along the empty streets, the only thing that could be heard at 8:25 in the morning, was the hard soles of his shoes, slapping against the pavement. He puffed out his cheeks, letting his warm breath flow out into the crisp, morning air, and watching as it turned into a smoky mist in front of him. Wisps of grey clouds had congregated in the sky sending down a soft drizzle onto those below, and Eddie pulled his dark green winter coat tighter around his body.

A raindrop landed on his neck, the shiver in his spine following along immediately, as well as the goosebumps and he found himself wishing that he'd brought an umbrella with him. Of course his mother had told him to, or more like tried to force one into his backpack, as she blabbered on about various illnesses, but he had managed to run out the door when she had turned around to grab his extra pills, hurrying away while her shouts echoed off of the silent houses that lined his street. But he would rather freeze than admit his mother was right, even if she had scared him with the horrors influenza could do to someone's immune system, clogging it up with mucus that would make you gag all day and night, but he didn't want to think about that right after breakfast.

And so, shivering slightly, he carried on walking, on his way to school. He didn't want to go to school, no one wants to go to school, a hellhole whose sole purpose was to numb your brain from boredom, split it open with confusion, and then obliterate it to smithereens with the stress that came with assignments and projects. No, no one in their sane mind would actually like that shit, Eddie thought as he kicked a stone to the curb. There wasn't anything in particular to look forward to either, no classes that Eddie liked, not even anything he was in the least good at, unless you counted being a human medical emergency kit, but that wasn't usually considered to be a skill.

His whole being just screamed untalented, he knew that of course, but tried to ignore it most of the time, he didn't need to his own thoughts to be chipping away at the self confidence that Henry Bowers had broken and stomped on. Multiple times. Henry bowers, arrogant prick, self-proclaimed ruler, and best of all, psychotic bully, don't we love a good villain to make this shithole that is Derry an even shitter shit hole. 

He made it his duty to terrorize the kids that couldn't stand up to him, and it was just Eddie's luck that he often fell victim to henry's antics. He had, one too many a time, ended up hiding behind the large tables in the abandoned janitor's office, where he had undoubtedly heard things, he wishes he could erase from his mind. He shuddered at the thought, too engrossed in the memories of those unwanted encounters that he didn't hear the yell of someone behind him, and seconds later was lying flat on his back, in a state of shock, at being knocked so harshly and as easily as a bowling pin.

"For fucks sake..." he heard a heavy someone groan from on top of his legs, "Why didn't you move out of the way dickhead ?"

The person who had so very rudely bumped into him, was now beginning to stand up, clumsily too, unfolding a pair of gangly legs and with his long arms brushing off the front of his jacket, that had been smeared with a bit of dirt. Eddie watched this man, no....boy incredulously from his place on the ground.