A Few Weeks Later
I walked over to the counter, where I could see Mr. Keene stocking products as usual. I put my casted arm on the counter when he began to ask me.
"Things on the retails, Eddie?"
"Ya," I replied before Mr. Keene went on to do his business.
My eyes then peered over to none other than Greta. She was reading a magazine, and strangely, there was the late Patrick Hocksetter there. Not long, her eyes were also staring at mine, putting down the magazine from her face.
"I saw you, Eddie."
I paused from looking at her.
"Your cast. No signatures or anything?" Greta asked with her usual demeanor. "So sad."
"I didn't mind if I didn't get any," I replied as if it doesn't matter anyways.
Greta looked away before she went on to say, "You know it's all bullshit, right?"
I was confused by those words.
"What is?"
"Your medication. They are placebos," Greta said.
"What is a placebo?" I asked.
"Placebo means bullshit," she replied before resuming on skimming through the magazine. "Just like I said."
Seconds later, Mr. Keene returned and showed me the medications I planned on buying.
"Okay, here we are, Mr. Kaspbrak. Take it for your mom."
I was about to walk to the door when I could hear Greta.
"I'll sign it for you."
I immediately turned to her, elated at the fact that she would sign for me out of all other people.
Greta took a marker from the front desk. She then signed on my cast and from her look, I could tell it must not be a good compliment. My mind went blank when the sound of the door rang inwards.
At first it seemed like another customer coming in, but when I heard a gentle voice, I realized that voice must belong to someone familiar.
"Eddie."
And I knew it must be Jaz. Before Greta took out a gum out of her mouth and put it on my cast, Jaz came towards me at the counter with her crutches.
"It's good to..." Jaz said when Greta shifted her gaze at the raven-haired girl.
"You weed, why are you here anyways?" Greta asked Jaz before she sneered at me. "Is this prude your girlfriend?"
"No, no way..." I hesitantly said.
"We are good friends, Greta," Jaz politely pointed out.
"Friends?" Greta said, seemingly not believing us. "Ah, nonsense." She then put the chewed gum onto my cast and winked at me before she left us, leaving me with millions of things running in my mind.
Jaz and I were about to come out of the pharmacy when we saw an empty bench nearby two shelves. Her hands held my good arm as she slowly sat at the bench. I too went to sit beside her after I helped her leaning her crutches by the window.
After we got ourselves comfortable, I saw Jaz blankly staring at the bold letters on my cast. The way she eyed my wounded arm made me flustered.
"Wait, that must be Greta's signature, is it?" she asked with curiosity.
I didn't know what to say, and the only things I managed to say came out in stutters.
"Uh-uh-huh...w-w-why?"
"Eddie..." Jaz called me before she took out a red pen and wrote something like a 'V,' replacing the 'S' on my arm cast.
"Do you feel better now, Eddie?" she asked me with a kind smile.
"Yeah, thanks, Jaz," I thanked her, feeling my cheeks slowly burning up.
"Your welcome, Eddie," Jaz said with a soothing voice.
We remained quiet for half a minute before I took a deep breath and came closer to Jaz's side.
"Jaz, I got a secret to tell you," I whispered fast into her ear.
"What is it, Eddie?" Jaz asked as her concerned eyes met mine.
"Uh, I like you...," I blurted out a few words before I stopped out of embarrassment.
"Oh..." Jasmine responded when a slim woman carrying gauzes and antiseptics approached us. "Uh, eomma is here."
"Aegiya, we are... Oh, hey there young man!" the lady I assumed to be her mom exclaimed. From her tender smile, she was apparently happy to meet me.
"Oh, hey, and you must be Jaz's mom?" I questioned as I returned a weak grin at the woman.
The lady nodded before she went on to introduce herself, "I am Jasmine's mom, but you can call me Mrs. J. What's your name, young man?"
"My name's Eddie, and both of us are good friends," I replied.
"Oh, I see. My dear Jasmine had told me a lot about you, yet strangely I never got to meet you until now," Mrs. J said before she looked at my bandaged arm. "Oh my goodness, what happened to your arm?"
I held back for a while, worrying that she might not believe me or even laugh at me, although her eyes told me otherwise.
"I was with Jaz and the others when a demonic clown attacked us," I told Mrs. J as I shivered a bit. "Luckily, we all made it alive, but I broke my arm from that fight."
"Eomma, IT is indeed real. Appa had been right all along when he explained to me about the nightmares I had," Jaz answered, affirming the clown's existence.
Mrs. J's expression grew from surprise to worry. While she was speechless from the shock, she gingerly embraced us two in a warm and tight hug before a single tear fell from her eyes.
Thinking of it, no one, except for my friends, had ever believed in me, my fears, or my encounter with IT. It was surprisingly a relief for me to have someone who did indeed believe in me, even though I never met her in person before.
After breaking off the hug, I made eye contact with Mrs. J to tell her something.
"I gotta tell you something, Mrs. J. Promise to me that you will not laugh at me for this."
"Yeah, what is it, Eddie?" she asked.
I took a huff from my inhaler before I started speaking.
"Do you know staph infection? My mom has always been warning me that if I don't eat my pills for today, I will get sick, and she told me if I get sick, I will die."
"Eddie, let me ask you something. Do you ever forget your pills and you don't get sick from it?" Mrs. J challenged.
I thought about it for a second before I remembered the day I forgot to eat my pills. It was during an elementary camping trip. I thought it was fun and got so carried away by it that I forgot my medications. Surprisingly, I made it out not sick, but it surely scared the hell out of me.
"Mrs. J, I did, and I did not get sick..."
Mrs. J's face began to soften and said, "See, Eddie. I know it's hard, but it is not impossible. Sure pills do prevent you from getting sick, but none of them can beat the power of a good laugh."
I chuckled quietly at her statement, making the day less miserable on my part.
Mrs. J then helped out Jaz standing with her crutches.
"It's really good to see you again, Eddie," Jaz said.
"We are going now." Mrs. J waved as she went to the door with Jaz. "I hope I'll get to see you again."
With that, both Jaz and her mom were gone. However, deep inside my heart, I began to doubt the things my mom has said to me my whole life. Unlike mom, Mrs. J was warm and friendly from the way she spoke to me. It was as though that itself was better than the best antidepressant.