Whumptober 2020|| Reddie

13. "Stay"

A/N: This whumpshot is about a school shooting. If this is a tough subject or triggering to you, please skip this one.
Also: I am not trying to romanticize or glorify school shootings, or make them seem anything less than terrifying. I know that this is a real thing that happens to real people, and I am not trying to be insensitive. Stay safe!

⚠️Trigger Warning: School shooting⚠️

When the alarm went off, Richie's first thought was that it was a drill. They had them often enough, so the sound of the mechanical voice repeating over and over that there was a lockdown did not send him into immediate panic. He was only a few steps away from the door, after all, he could get in quickly. It was probably just a drill. It was fine.

The sudden sound of two shots rang out, echoing down the hallway, making his blood run cold. Realization crashed over him like a tidal wave and in one split second, he knew that this wasn't a drill.

And then another thought stopped him in his tracks.

Eddie.

The smaller boy had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago and hadn't yet returned. Surely he was still there, paralyzed with fear.

The beat of the alarm pounded through his head, throwing off his thoughts. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office.

With that mantra beating in the background, he made up his mind.

As quietly as he could manage, Richie ran down the hall into the bathroom. He pulled open the door, letting it click softly shut behind him.

"Eds?" he hissed, eyes scanning the closed stalls. His ears strained to hear even the slightest noise.

"Richie?" a voice whispered from the furthest stall. Richie let out a small sigh of relief.

"It's me, Eds, it's me," he said, and Eddie's pale face stuck out the stall. Richie hurried in, pulling the boy into a hug.

"Thank god," he whispered, pressing his face into Eddie's soft hair. They quickly shut and locked the stall, huddling on top of the toilet.

Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office.

The sound of the door clicking open broke the silence. Eddie heaved with repressed sobs as they clutched each other.

Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office.

Bangs ensued as the clanging sounds of the other stall doors being thrown open reverberated across the bathroom towards them. Footsteps moved inevitably towards them, closer, closer, closer, closer-

Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office. Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation-

And then the door to their stall was kicked open, the lock broken in one fell swoop.

The silence lasted for perhaps a millisecond, but it seemed to stretch for eternity. They were standing in a long field, not a bathroom stall, and the noise came from far away, like they were underwater. A buzzing sound filled Richie's ears, and the space only seemed to grow. Richie did his best to shield Eddie as the shooter's eyes pierced into theirs. He was a teenage boy, nobody Richie recognized. Did it matter? Did it really matter in that moment, when they were being held at gunpoint?

And then he pulled the trigger.

Richie collided back to earth as a deafening bang rang out, a yell, falling, then-

He was shocked to find himself alive and unharmed, though back on the ground of a bathroom stall. A bathroom stall. Not a field. Then, he turned to the boy held in his arms.

The bullet had ricocheted off the wall, and it had hit Eddie right in the arm. "Stay down, stay," Richie whispered in his ear, feeling as though his heart would beat out of his chest. The shooter ran, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that Eddie was whimpering on the ground, and that blood was flowing from his arm, and that Eddie was in pain he was hurt help Eddie.

Richie sat up, immediately surveying Eddie's wound. The bullet didn't look as though it had hit any bones, but the injury was still nasty. Eddie whimpered, pressing his head into Richie's shoulder. "Stay."

"I'm not going anywhere," Richie promised, hugging Eddie inward. "Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you."

Eddie let out a small laugh that immediately turned into a groan of pain. The alarm still droned over the loudspeaker.

Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. There is an emergency situation in the main office.

They sat in a huddled mass on the floor, Richie trying fruitlessly to wrap Eddie's wound with toilet paper. They listened, helplessly, to the chaos outside.

Oh god what if Bev . . . ? Or Stan . . . ? Or Bill or Mike or Ben or-

Eddie cried out slightly. "Ow- fuck, Richie. My arm- my arm really fucking hurts. I don't know-" Richie was alarmed to see that Eddie's eyes were drooping slightly, and that- despite all the toilet paper they'd used as makeshift bandages- his arm was still bleeding profusely.

"Don't pass out." Richie cupped his hands around Eddie's face. "Hey. Look at me. You're not passing out. Stay. Stay." No god please don't let him if he goes unconscious what if-

(what if he never wakes up)

Eddie's breathing was slow and shallow, but to Richie's relief, he remained- for the most part- alert.

Finally, finally, the distant throbbing of sirens met his ears. Richie stood up shakily. "Eds . . . we need to get you outside."

Eddie nodded, setting his face in determination. Richie supported him, and they stumbled out the door and down the hallway, like two drunks at the end of a long night.

And it was over.

In a blur of motion and noises, of paramedics and frantic teachers and crying students, it was over.

The losers- who, thankfully, were unharmed, came and went, but Richie seemed glued to Eddie. Fuck, he rode in the ambulance with him, Eddie's mom hadn't arrived yet. One word, that was all it took for Richie to always remain at Eddie Kaspbrak's side.

"Stay."