Richie ran his fingers through the cold water and cringed. He had forgotten how painful it was to press on those strings for a long time. The boy picked up the instrument and placed it delicately back into its worn out case. The bangles on his wrist crashed together, creating a short melody of jingles. They had been a gift from Eddie the first Christmas they had known each other. Richie never took them off, ever. He feared losing them.
The room was silent, which would've been a good thing if Richie was feeling tired or on the edge of giving up, but he wasn't. Eddie had sparked something back into him, a spirit. The world outside seemed full of colour again, like when he was a young boy with lots of friends and a great family. Richie had become accustom to the quiet lifestyle, he usually enjoyed it, but after that moment... there felt like there was more.
"Thanks... For what you did do, even though it wasn't a lot, assholes," Richie scoffed. Nobody could hear him, not even the people he was addressing it to... His parents. They had been a great family, two hardworking parents with an intelligent son. His grandparents were perfect too, always giving gifts... feeding him... everything was great... Until his father did something. The police had caught him with highly illegal drugs and had arrested him. After that, his mom stared sleeping around with other men and drinking. Neither of them were around enough to give a shit about their own son, who they once loved...
But he tried to remember the good times. Granted, there were very few. Once when he was ten, they had gone out to the town god knows how many miles away... The good things only happened for an hour before his parents left him off on his own somewhere so they could go and drink at the bar like usual.
Each time they went out, his parents promised it would be different. "We'll stick around this time kid we promise," and for some reason... Richie believed them. He wanted to feel loved, even if it meant lying to himself. That's why he did it... Lying gave him the feeling of comfort. But, it started to hurt him. The times with Eddie were the times when he really felt cared for, loved too... He owed him everything.
The sun had gone down hours ago. Richie had been laying there for ages, trying to stretch to the deepest corners of his mind and scavenge out any good memories he could. They all led to the ones with Eddie though. He slipped on his trainers and stood on his windowsill. The soil beneath, dry and cracked hey somehow soft and fluffy... He took a leap and landed on his feet. He knew where he was going. It was just a matter of how it would turn out...