Richie groaned as his phone alarm jerked him from his sleep. He slammed his hand over the small device, groaning as the light from the screen practically blinded him. He huffed as he sat up in bed, pushing his glasses onto his face. The last place he really wanted to go right then was school, but he knew he had to. His mom would kill him if he missed another day.

Richie reluctantly got up, making a face at the pile of dirty clothes on his floor. In his defense he was going to do laundry soon...even though he'd been saying that for weeks.

Richie climbed over the growing pile, trying to make way to his closet. He cringed as he saw an empty bag of chips on the floor. Okay yeah, he had to clean soon.

With much difficulty, he yanked his closet door open. That was almost empty too. Richie sighed again as he pushed himself inside, reaching around almost blindly for a clean shirt. He grinned as his fingers passed over a balled up piece of fabric. He pulled it out, frowning when he saw the pink material. He didn't recognize the shirt. It had palm trees on it and it seemed like the buttons had fallen off. He held it out, his eyebrows furrowing. It was definitely way too small for him and there was a really weird red stain on the front. Richie shook his head and went to throw it back into his closet when something fell out of the pocket and fluttered to the floor. He picked it up, frowning when he saw it was a strip of film, well pictures to be more exact. They were black and white and looked like they definitely came from a photo booth. He let his fingers ghost over the images. He recognized himself, his long choppy hair that hadn't changed that much and thick rimmed glasses. He looked about twelve in that picture, so it would have been five years ago. The strip was torn and wrinkled. His finger brushed over a short haired girl and a chubby boy. He couldn't remember their names. Next was a tall boy who was smiling innocently next to a dark skinned boy and a curly haired one with a button up shirt on. Richie stopped as he looked at the last picture of them all, he had his arm thrown around a small boy who was definitely wearing a fanny pack. Young Richie was grinning like everything in his life was perfect as the smaller boy was obviously trying to push him off. Richie felt something weird twist in his chest as he looked at the group of kids. He couldn't remember taking that picture, he couldn't remember the kids names, he couldn't remember why he was so happy.

He carefully folded the picture and tucked it the pocket of the jeans he pulled on. He couldn't remember having a group of friends like that. Now, all he had was Caden, but he'd met her his freshman year of high school. Richie didn't make friends easily, most people found him annoying, in fact that's how he and Caden became friends. Richie was in the lunch line trying to talk to the guy next to him who'd very rudely snapped back with "can you just stop?!" The girl in front of him turned around with a bored expression replying with "that's not what your mom said last night". It was friendship at first sexual mom joke.

When Richie got to school that day, he instantly found Caden. She was by her locker as usual, leaning against it. She had on ripped jeans that were way too big for her and a shirt that he was almost positive was his.

"Tozier what's up?"

"I need to show you something."

"If it's your wang I already told you small things scare-"

"It's not my dick! Come on, let's just go."

"Oh skipping first period! I'm down!"

Richie nodded as they went their usual way out the back of the school through the music wing. Richie dragged the brown haired girl against the brick wall in their spot. It was the only place where the concrete came out far enough so they didn't have to sit in the grass.

"You're freakin me out a little Rich," Caden said as she nudged his leg with her sneaker. "You're never serious, you okay?"

"Don't laugh okay?"

The girl stuck out her pinkie. "Swear it."

Richie hooked his finger around hers before pulling the crumbled photo out of his pocket. He handed it to her silently, that weird pit in his stomach returning.

He watched as Caden's expression contorted in confusion. "That's you right?"

Richie nodded which made her grin.

"Awe you were so cute! Look how small you were! Good to know that you still didn't know how to dress yourself back then!"

Richie scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Who are the other kids?"

"That's the problem. I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I can't remember. It's like, the whole time I was in Derry is just one big memory block and I can't- I don't even know their names Cae!"

"Did you ask your mom?"

"Yeah cause she's always home."

Caden cringed. "Sorry, didn't mean it like that."

"I know...I just-"

"You look so happy," Caden said softly as she reached over and squeezed his hand. It wasn't that Richie wasn't happy, it that...well okay maybe he wasn't happy. He wasn't as happy as he was in that picture.

"The boy you're torturing, maybe that was your best friend?" Caden suggested as she traced over the small boy with her finger. "You wonder what they look like now?"

Richie was about to say something when he felt like he was slammed in the brain by a memory so forceful he clenched his fists and shot up off the ground. "Eddie."

"What?"

"That was his name, Eddie." Richie slowly lowered himself back against the wall. "Eds."

"You remembered that?"

Richie nodded. "I wonder where he is, I wonder where they all are."

"You weren't that young, maybe twelve, it's weird that you can't remember."

"Derry was a weird place." Richie carefully took the picture back, putting it back in his pocket. In a weird way he felt protective over the picture, like it was his tie to his past.

"Weird like, the whole town got memory loss?" Caden huffed as she leaned back, grossing her legs over each other.

"Is it weird that I want to find them?"

"What if you guys don't talk for a reason?" Caden asked honestly as she handed him a pack of gummies from her bag. "What if your mom doesn't bring them up because something happened?"

"Well then, I want to know what happened."

Caden shrugged. "Fair enough. How will you find them? You have a first name that's about it."

Richie grinned as he pulled out his phone. "And we have about half an hour to kill before Walter comes running out here threatening to give us detention."

Caden grinned as she grabbed the phone from his hands. "And that Tozier, is why I tolerate you. Let's find Eddie."

"Mom?" Richie asked carefully as he came home from school. Caden and him searched for an hour, looking for anything on Eddie, but came up at a dead end every time. Eventually the chubby kinda perverted gym teacher came running out of the school, red faced and screaming at them to get back inside or face detention which cut their investigation short.

"Mom?" Richie called again as he dropped his bag in the living room and headed into the kitchen.

"Oh sorry I didn't hear you come in." The woman smiled softly as she looked up from her phone where she was sitting at the dining room table.

"It's okay." Richie sat down across from her hesitantly. It was weird, the woman who was right across the table felt the farthest from him.

"What's up honey?"

"Uh." Richie pulled the photo from his pocket and slid it over to her. "Do you remember my friends?"

Her face softened slightly. "You haven't mentioned them in a while."

"I don't remember them."

"You don't remember?"

Richie shook his head.

His mom carefully took the picture. "It's Eddie and Stan and Bill and Ben and Mike and Beverly."

"You remember?" Richie asked, shocked.

"You were with them almost everyday. When we moved from Derry you cried and cried and you didn't think I heard you, but it broke my heart."

Richie felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. She didn't actually care about him, it was a show, it was always a show. "What's Eddie's last name?"

"Kasprak."

"Thanks mom." Richie gave her a forced smile before standing up from the table, clutching his phone hard.

He immediately retreated to his room, typing Eddie Kasprak into the instagram search bar. He let out a breath when a promising lead popped up. He clicked on the page, cursing when it was private. He requested to follow the boy, stopping when recommended pages popped up. Bill Denbrough. He was in the picture too.

Richie carefully clicked on his profile, letting out a breath when something hit him. He remembered his face. His eyes mostly. Richie felt his stomach twist as he put his phone down against his chest. Something was so fucking off about the whole situation. It didn't add up, how did he seemingly forget the people who were his said best friends. How did he manage to not even remember the names of the kids his mom said he spent every day with. Richie picked up the picture again. Mike? His mom said one of them was named Mike.

"Hanlon!" Richie suddenly shouted as he sat up quickly. He tore down the hallway, throwing open the closet at the end of the hall. He shoved shoes and boots aside before pulling the phone book out from under the pile. He grinned as he practically sprinted back to his room, opening the book to the "H" section.

"Hanlon, Hanlon, Hanlon," Richie repeated like a prayer under his breath. It was almost as if he was afraid that the name would slip from his brain the second it left his mouth.

Richie let out an embarrassing cheer when he found the phone number. He fumbled with his phone, over excitedly punching the numbers into the keypad.

Richie's heart was pounding as the phone rang against his ear. Which each ring Richie felt it getting harder and harder to breathe.

"Hello?"

Richie let out a breath. "Uh h-hi."

"Who is this?"

"Richie Tozier."

There was silence on the other side of the line for a few moments. "Like Richie as in Trashmouth?"

"What?"

"Do you know who this is?"

"Mike right?"

"Yeah. Why are you calling me Richie."

Richie frowned at that. "Sorry if I'm bothering you I jus-"

"You're not bothering me, I'm asking you genuinely."

"I uh found a picture in my closet, of me and you I guess but I can't remember anything an-" Richie trailed off as his phone dinged. "Hold on." He pulled it away from his ear, his breath catching in his throat as he did.

Eddie Kasprak accepted your follow request!

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Hey guys, it's me yet again with another story. This one isn't finished yet so please be patient with updates but I promise I'll get it done :) I hope you guys enjoy this, as you may know Stephen King is my favorite author and I want to do his characters justice!