there's a patch of snow on the ground

[januaryember]

"Hey- it's Bev. Leave it!"

Comments

[januaryember]

[Beverly nods with each name mentioned, repeating it softly. It hadn't been long since she'd left Derry. How could she be forgetting all of this? They'd been together all summer, gone through things she didn't think she could ever forget.

And yet...]

There were others- Richie, Ben, you, me, Bill-- [She doesn't like this. No way, no how. She bites down on her lower lip, wracking her brain.] Stan.

Someone else, too. I think he was... [He was soft and warm.] Black?

[clussy]

(Eddie hadn't left Derry at all. Not until Deerington, anyway. It had been just....just yesterday, hadn't it? Since he had seen all of them. He bobs his head along with every name she says too, like each nod would help clear the fog from his head.)

Stan. Christ! How could I forget- (Stan had been one of his best buds forever. Someone else though.

Bev was right. Soft, warm. Kind. Kinder than any of them, maybe even, and someone who probably suffered all kinds of shit they couldn't begin to understand.)

Mike. (The name falls from his mouth with a soft whisper. His eyes were beginning to sting again.)

How the hell could we forget them, Bev? (There was a crackle of fear in his voice. That wasn't normal, was it? Was it because of this town?)

[januaryember]

Stan. [She repeats the name firmly, adding it to her list: Stan, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie.] Mike.

[She pushes her hair out of her eyes, taking a seat on what was going to be her bed.] Fuck- I don't know. I could never forget any of it, no matter how much I tried, but... [She shakes her head.]

We'll just have to remind ourselves if we start to forget: Stan, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie, Mike.