"Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday dear me! Happy Birthday to me!" Richie sang to himself as he blew out the candle on his cupcake he had bought at the local grocery store.
"And now I will watch that movie I bought!"
Richie talked to himself a lot lately since he had no one else to talk to. He grabbed the remote to his tv and flipped on to his bought movies. The newest one that he bought specifically for his 40th birthday was called The Black Rapids based on the book by Bill Denbrough. That Bill guy looked oddly familiar to Richie so he liked to pretend that maybe Bill was a friend and that they went on these movie adventures together. Richie liked this guy so much he had a special bookshelf with only books written by Mr.Denbrough.
Just a few minutes into the movie Richie had to pause it when something unexpected happened. His phone was ringing. Ever since his Mom passed away he never ever got birthday phone calls.
"Hello?" Richie said into the phone.
"Happy Birthday Rich, its me Mike Hanlon," The voice on the other line told him.
"Sorry I don't a Mike Hanlon but you know my name so you must be fan. Come to one of my shows and I can give you an autograph or some shit like that."
Richie was about to hang up but was interrupted by the voice.
"Richie I know you don't remember me but you need to remember this. You see that scar on your left hand? Well you made a blood oath 27 years ago to come back to Derry when I called and well I'm calling so you need to come."
Richie felt a shiver move up his spine. He somehow knew that this man wasn't lying and felt deep in his heart that he needed to go to Derry.
"Ok I'll come."
Mike sounded surprised as he croaked out, "You will?"
Richie and Mike talked and set up that Richie would drive to Derry tomorrow morning. Of course Richie then had to sort out all his plans with his manager to cover for him while he was gone. It truly was a stupid idea to leave the more he thought about it. He was leaving for how knows long when he could be making thousands of dollars showing off the Voices but Richie was drawn to the idea of going home at last. He thought that maybe just maybe he would be reunited with the mysterious person in his mind that he for some reason vowed to love forever. Whoever it was had to be amazing if Richie had made such a grand promise.
"Your kidding Rich! You have five shows just this weekend! We can't just cancel them all!" Richie manger shouted over the phone.
Richie knew he would angry but it was what had to be done.
"It's a big emergency! I'm sorry man!" Richie shouted back.
"Richie Richie Richie! Did you like drink to much booze and end up on a ship somewhere??"
Richie shook his head, of course thats what he thought! Cause all Richie could do was get drunk and make mistakes.
"No darling I would never do that! But I think its time to go! Kinky Briefcase, Sexual Account out!" Richie said in one of his comedic voices.
He heard his manger laughing a bit as he hung up on him and packed. 3 Hawaiian t-shirts, four white undershirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 5 pairs of socks and underwear, and 1 pair of sneakers.
The rest of the of Richie's birthday went by in blur as he binge watched all of Bill Denbrough's movies and even got halfway through one of the books. Richie tried to picture the faces of his old friends as he grew tired. He knew their was only one girl and one of them was overweight but that was it. He also had some vague memories of being bullied.
"I'm gonna get you four-eyed faggot!" An older mullet wearing boy would scream.
Richie would try to run while yelling, "I'm no fag, you asshole!!"
Of course the teachers would only hear Richie screaming those slurs and then he would be the one to get in trouble while those bullies would walk free still laughing about what had happened. Richie could picture the bullies ugly faces pointing and making fun of him while he sat defenseless. Adults seemed to never care when someone was being ridiculed. They seemed to not even notice. Richie had once dreamt that he would be this great father and stand up for his kids when they were bullied but year after year that dream slipped farther away.
Just as Richie closed his eyes he whispered out loud to no one at all, "Fuck grown ups."