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Mark Tuedin was reported missing at 9:34pm on the 27th of May, 1990 after failing to return home the previous night with his older brother Louis.
Hoping for the best, his mother telephoned the police only after he'd missed his Sunday night curfew, and it was those eighteen hours of wishful thinking and half-assed searching in which Louis did nothing but panic that really set Rosemary's freedom in stone. Although not said aloud, everyone knew Mark was gone for good.
In those eighteen hours, rain plummeted over the town in a sudden summer storm that flooded the streets of Derry. As Rosemary woke late on Sunday morning (having been given permission from her brother's to miss church), her ears where filled by the rain which hit the roof and ran down Jude's window panes. Despite her lack of knowledge of his whereabouts, Rosemary held little to no desperation to find where he presently resided. Before they'd moved, she could remembers days where she'd sat in the apartment surrounded by the wail of police cars with the plastic smell of smoked cocaine and sex drowning her as she slept on her ripped mattress. She lay in Jude's bed staring at the ceiling as the lucid early afternoon light lit the room through a sliver between Jude's navy curtains. His room distinctly smelt of tobacco and the smallest herbal plume of marijuana. But despite this, the familiarity of his natural odour helped her sleep that night when she found herself reviewing everything that had happened between herself and Patrick in the now flooded valley behind the Bowers residence.
After considering her options, she had placed the cement piece on Mark's deformed face and wrapped them both tightly in his jacket to minimize the amount of blood which would cover the valley floor. Collecting himself, Patrick shakily walked towards her and stood beside her as she tucked the sleeves into the material shell surrounding his skull. "Grab under his arms" Rosemary ordered quietly, moving to his feet.
They carried Mark down the valley, neither speaking as they moved until they reached the river that flowed at the end of the valley. The walk had taken less then five minutes, but Patrick felt as though the time had lasted only a moment. He stared at Rosemary as she begun picking up large stones from the bank and shoving them into Mark's pockets. "Take the laces of his shoes" Rosemary told him harshly, unwrapping the cement piece from around his head. The pair watched in silence as organ matter dribbled from the cement and hit the mess of his face with the consistency of melting slurpy.
"Have you done this before?" Patrick asked, fingering his lighter as he watched her shove the cement piece into his underwear aggressively.
She stopped, staring up at him in silent irritation. In the slivers of moonlight Rosemary looked ghostly, her eyes deep-set pits of ice in a poisoned shell. "Take the laces off his fucking shoes" Emphasizing every word, she slid the pocket knife from her back pocket and in a swift movement, cut through Mark's jacket. Patrick could only watch with a hypnotic attentiveness as she expertly moved the knife, slicing the jacket into strips and using these to bind his limp wrists. After taking the laces off his boots, she twisted them around his ankles.
They threw him into the river and just like that; he was gone to Rosemary, and he no longer existed to Patrick.
In their silence, Rosemary kicked at the plants that lined the bank, her flannel shirt slipping around her elbows. "What now?" Sparking his lighter, he ran his thumb tauntingly close to the flame. The reality of his situation felt unreal and disconnected. He didn't know or understand how he felt around Rosemary, whether he liked the feeling she made him feel or not he couldn't tell. Rosemary said nothing as she dipped her hands into the water, cleaning herself of blood. "Doll, what are you going to do?"
She didn't look back at him once as she went back to collect the torch.
Rosemary found opportunity on the first day of the last week of school. Opportunity for knowledge but even more so, opportunity for revenge. Henry Bowers didn't attend school on the Monday, undoubtably beaten to a pulp by his father whom was told about the party at his house following Turedin's disappearance. Rosemary was not one to forgive, and she hadn't forgiven Henry for what he tried to do on Saturday.
"Mr.Creedus?" In her final class of the day, she waited patiently at the teachers desk, who looked at her in slight surprise.
"Yes Rosemary?"
"I'm sorry I doubted you. I tried incredibly hard to motivate Bowers because I believed his desire to not be put through more Summer School would out way his natural instinct to dismiss school work" Mr.Creedus' eyes narrowed when he saw tears pool in her eyes.
"Why're you crying?"
"Frustration" She sniffled, putting her completed assignment down on his desk. "This entire assignment was completed by myself and no one else though I'm sure you'd be able to notice by hand-writing. I don't think it fair for Henry Bowers and myself to be equally graded when he did nothing within this assignment"
"Indeed...I'll see what I can do"
In other words, Rosemary had been blessed with an opportunity. Weeks prior, she had seen Henry's favour as something of importance, but the degradation he enforced upon her broke that desire to nothing. Rosemary and Henry where given separate grades in Social Studies, and only one of them had to continue this class in Summer School. She'd hit him where it hurt.
She was yet to speak to Patrick about Saturday, and Victor had skipped school as well. Henry found out about the grade the same day that Victor came back to school. Despite his numerous attempts at communication, Rosemary brushed Henry off every time and it was obviously beginning to frustrate him.
She wished more then anything that she could remember the face Henry made receiving his Social grade forever. His hands shook as his face went from as white as a bed sheet to redder then his father's old car. "Mr.Bowers, a word with me after class"
He was pissed, that much was evident. He begun trembling slightly before taking his knife from his pocket and beginning to stab and scratch images into the desk.
Rosemary had thought she was safe, she made it to homeroom no problem, cleared her desk no problem. Heck, even Hockstetter left her alone. Rosemary was fine and content as she left school, her eyes quickly finding Gretta as she descended the stairs. Stood on the front lawns of the school, they quickly met in a tight embrace before Gretta looked at her in concern. "Bowers didn't do anything today, did he?" Rosemary had already informed her of Saturday nights antics.
"No, I ignored him" Gretta smiled before glancing back at the road. "Look..." Gretta solemnly nod towards the other side of the school entrance where two police cars and several officers waited with Penelope and Louis Tuedin. "I hear they're going to be enforcing a curfew because of Mark disappearing" Gretta scoffed, "He's probably just out at another girlfriend's house" Tapping her shoulder lightly, Gretta got closer and pointed at the police officers. "You see that man with the dark hair?" Following her finger, Rosemary glanced at the cars and nod quietly. "That's Henry Bowers father. You want someone to blame for why Henry's so..." Gretta looked at Rosemary weirdly, "...you know, messed up? I'd look straight at him"
"You think they'll find him?" The police funnily enough where yet to interview her as they where still looking for the druggie boys that Mark had supposedly disappeared with. Gretta shrugged, not wanting to admit that she didn't think they'd find him at all. "I hope for Louis's sake they do, I've been praying for Mark to return since I heard he went missing"
Gretta smiled at Rosemary, holding her hands loosely. "You're a blessing to this town, honestly" Glancing past Rosemary, her smile dropped and she grabbed Rosemary's hand tightly.
"Don't think you're going to be able to ignore Bowers for much longe-"
"ROSEMARY!" Henry ran down the stairs with Patrick close behind him, his eyes wide and maniacal as he saw her summer dress.
"This isn't going to end well" Rosemary muttered, turning to face him. Students around him jumped in shock or fear, either way moving as they didn't want to be caught in the cross-fire of whatever was about to happen.
"What the fuck is this?" He shoved his social studies report in her face and she glanced at the paper before looking at him, her face bare of emotions. A large bruise was weltering around his jaw and puffed right eye, his lip healing from being split in two separate places and his freckled tan shoulders where hued blue and a hideous mustard shade of bruising.
"That is your grade Henry"
"You told me you'd make sure I passed! I'm not going to fucking pass with a D minus!" Rosemary sighed, taking the paper from him as his shoulders heaved slightly. Henry was fuming, his nostrils flared like a raging bull.
"I said I'd make sure you pass if you did everything I said-" She smacked the paper on his chest and Henry stared at her in shock, "-and you didn't do anything I said Bowers" Henry grit his teeth, grabbing her wrist. Surrounding students begun to whisper, some wondering why Henry was so furious at such a sweet girl, others questioning whether they should call a teacher.
"You screwed me over!"
"You screwed yourself over Henry" He was silent, unable to comprehend how she could treat him so coldly as he stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. "Now let go"
Instead, he pulled her closer, his hands bunching around her collar as he pulled her inches from his face. Gretta and the sparse crowd watching from afar held their breathes, unsure of what was going to happen whilst Patrick hung behind Henry like a shadow with a delighted grin on his face. "I just lost a chunk of my summer because of you. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't break your fucking face you cunt" Rosemary smirked, challenging Henry as she leant forward slightly and whispered.
"Because I don't think you want daddy to turn that black eye into a pair"
She nod slightly behind him and Henry visibly paled, his mouth set in a line as he looked over his shoulder at his father, whom was staring straight at him. Very slowly, he let go of her collar and Gretta sighed in relief, thinking it was over.
At least it was until Rosemary brought her knee up and slammed it between Henry's legs.
A collective gasp was heard as Henry crumbled to his knees, harshly gasping for air as he grabbed his crotch. "Fuck!" Patrick and Gretta stepped away from Rosemary as she slowly lowered herself to crouch in front of him.
No one said anything. Abigail watched in shock from by the stairs, Louis was wondering what could illicit such a reaction and Eddie Kasprak wanted to applaud Rosemary from behind her where he stood with Bill Denbrough.
"You bitch" Henry grunted, spit spattering from his clenched teeth.
"That was for the party"
"I'm going to fucking destroy you Fennler" Attempting to move, Henry slumped forward slightly until pain emanated from his stomach. "You watch me win this game you two-faced fucker"
Rosemary scoffed, roughly grabbing Henry's chin so he could look at her as she smirked ever so slightly. "Game on Bowers" And with a slight shove of her hand, she stood and walked away. Gretta followed behind her, eyeing Henry warily as she struggled to process Rosemary's actions.
"Geez Rosemary...." Gretta followed behind her, glancing back at Henry and Patrick before she cleared her throat. "That was..." Rosemary looked at her and smiled as she slipped her arm into Gretta's tightening her grip slightly to cuddle Gretta's side as she smiled slightly. The action made Gretta smile herself, though she was still concerned for Rosemary's well being. "I've never seen you act that...intensely"
"You have no idea"
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