Richie was walking through the woods on the way to the quarry when he heard footsteps approaching. He whirled around to see Henry Bowers running after him.
Richie braced himself for what was about to happen. Henry ran over to Richie and tackled him, he began to throw punches but Richie only deflected them.
Richie gave him a good punch, hearing a cracking sound. He pushed Henry off and ran to the quarry as fast as he could.
***
Eddie, Stan, bill, Mike, ben and Beverly were impatiently waiting for Richie.
"He's never late!" eddie explained, his voice full of worry.
"Eddie, calm down he'll be here." Mike reassured him. As eddie opened his mouth to speak, there was a crunching sound.
Richie appeared, covered in blood. Eddie quickly stood up from the rock he had been sitting on. "Oh my god. Richie what happened?"
He pushed his glasses up and gasped for air.
"Fucking" pant "Bowers."
The losers heard the distinct shouts of henry Bowers. Richie ran to the cliff but before he jumped, he made sure to take Eddie with him. H grabbed the short boys arm and jumped.
Eddie screamed as his body hit the water with a loud splash. Soon every loser was in the water, resurfacing for air. Stan coughed up water as he tried to find his words, "why did we have to jump." He choked.
Richie took his glasses off and rubbed the water from his eyes, "bitch cant swim." He laughed while the others stared in awe before bursting into fits of laughter.
Henry Bowers couldn't swim.
It was getting late but the kids gathered wood and made a fire. Bill pulled Richie aside.
"When we were u-up on the c-cliff..." he paused, " you t-took eddie with you." Richie nodded, not fully understanding. "Why?"
Richie didn't know why. He just felt like he needed to protect the small boy.
He shrugged. "I don't know... I just want to make sure he's safe."
Bill nodded and stayed silent. He didn't ask anymore questions, he already knew the answers. Eddie liked Richie and Richie liked Eddie.
That's all the answers he needed.