Ｓｔｕｔｔｅｒ [ｂｉｌｌ ｄｅｎｂｒｏｕｇｈ ｘ ｒｅａｄｅｒ]

Little Fires

(Same clothes)

The group looked somewhat shocked as I made my way over to them. Of course, I was guilty. I had just left my brother behind. I turned back only once to see her car fading away as she turned onto the street.

"Holy shit! [Y-n]!" Richie exclaimed, pointing at me. I just giggled, standing awkwardly among my friends.

"Well, we should probably get home," Ben mumbled, bending down to snatch his bike from the pile. We followed suit, grabbing up our bikes from various places in the overgrown front yard. Until Bill said something that he'd probably regret later.

"I saw th-the well. I know w-w-where it is, next time we'll be better p-prepared," he nodded, plastering a look determination onto his face.

"No!" Stan said, "No next time, Bill! You're insane," Stan said, his voice rising to nothing short of a yell. 

"Why? We all know that nobody else will do anything," Beverly said, waving her arms. There she goes again, trying to impress the stutter of the group. It was obvious to me that he liked her. I mean, who wouldn't?

"Eddie and [Y-n] were nearly killed! And look at this motherfucker, he's leaking hamburger helper!" Richie exclaimed, frantically pointing at Ben and I. He would be pointing at Eddie, but he wasn't here, and probably wouldn't be for a while.

"We can't just pretend it'll go away," Bev began again, "Ben, you said it yourself. It comes back every twenty seven years!" 

"Fine then. I'll be forty and far away from here. I thought you said you wanted to get out of here, too," Ben said, rolling his eyes at her.

"I wanna run towards something, not away," Bev nodded sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?" Richie questioned. Bev flipped him off, earning a scoff in return.

"Richie-" Stan mumbled, only to get cut off again.

"I'm just saying! Lets face the facts, real world. Georgie is dead! Stop trying to get us killed, too," Richie growled. I could tell that his words hurt Bill. I knew that he was upset, and angry, and heartbroken.

"Take it back! I k-k-know you're scared. We a-all are, but take it back!"

Bill's voice softened as he spoke. It cracked, like he might cry. But he shoved Richie. He nearly toppled over, had in not been for Stanley.

"Bill?" I asked. I had known him since we were so little. This wasn't like him.

Richie pushed him back. He retaliated with a punch right in the mouth. It hit him like a brick; he fell to the pavement.

"Guys, stop!" I tried. But nobody listened to me. They just kept arguing, lightly shoving and loudly cursing. I had no choice except to pull Bill back from Richie. We were all friends. But not now, I guess, because he shoved me to the asphalt street, just like he did with Richie.

"You're all a bunch of losers! You're all going to get yourselves killed!" Richie said, his voice rising to a scream that I'm sure could be heard from town. But this time, instead of just Bill, his message was for all of us.

"Stop! This is what it wants! It wants to divide us. We're together when we hurt it. That's why we're still alive!" Bev exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Well I plan to keep it that way," Richie called over his shoulder. He had begun to walk away, his bike rolling beside him.

I began to walk away, rolling my bike along beside me.

"N-not you, too," Bill squeaked out. I could tell he was ready to cry any second. Though I didn't want to break his heart, I really needed to get home. I needed to talk to my mom. I needed to apologize to Eddie.