Chapter Text
Thermodynamics. Noun. Definition: “the branch of physical science that deals with the relations between heat and other forms of energy (such as mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy), and, by extension, of the relationships between all forms of energy.”
The definition was burned into Richie’s brain as he read over the papers he brought for his project. Well, it was supposed to be a group project, but a certain impromptu “study date” made it a duo, at least for today.
Not that he was mad. It was only a matter of time before someone in the group got some type of date, even if it was “just studying”. He was more annoyed that he was stuck doing the stuff that they had set out for Pete. ‘Destiny knocks but once’ or whatever.
He leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. They hardly got any work done after Pete left, him just staring at the pages and Ruth doodling in the notebook she brought. They were never the best at staying on track, usually it was Pete who helped them stay focused.
He could feel a migraine coming on, the bright lights of the library attacking his eyes. It was the worst time to get something like this. He turned to Ruth.
“Well I certainly don’t think we’re getting any work done today.”he frowned. They were supposed to knock out as much of it as they could so that they could have free time in class. So much for that.
“Yeah, not with Mr. Sweater on his little date.” She wiggled her eyebrows, using air quotations on the word ‘date’. “I bet they’re fucking right now, all hot and sweaty.” She ran her hands up her thighs.
“With Pete?” He asked, emphasizing Pete’s name. “I doubt she could even get close to him without him panicking and running out.“ he stood up and packed the things he brought into his book sack, ready to leave. They hadn’t been there long, maybe an hour, but he didn’t want to stay under those dumb bright lights any longer.
“Like that one monsters vs. aliens scene.” She suggested as she started packing up her own bag, a dinosaur covered navy backpack. He had gotten a small dinosaur keychain for her to put on there but she decided to display it in her room instead.
Richie laughed at that, and with his best Pete impression, he mimicked pushing Ruth into a car door. “Don’t RUSH me Katie! I’m just not ready.” He over exaggeratedly tucked a hair behind his ear at the ‘I’m just not ready’ part.
They both tried to conceal their laughter as they walked out of the library, not wanting to get yelled at (or very quietly scolded) for being too loud. The librarian had some type of problem with them, something about being too loud or whatever.
Despite not wanting to disturb the librarian, they both bumped into each other as they walked, trying to make the other lose their balance.
When they got outside, Richie looked up at the sky. It wasn’t that dark out, but clouds were blocking the sun, so it created a nice type of shade. Honestly, it was his favorite type of weather. Not bright enough to hurt his eyes and give him a sunburn, but not dark enough that he felt unsafe.
In a place like Hatchetfield, it was best to be cautious.
“Oh my goshhh.” Ruth practically groaned as she tugged at his elbow. He looked down and found that he had unknowingly reached under his sleeve and started scratching at his arm. It was an odd habit, he mostly did it without realizing. Luckily his nails were never sharp enough to break skin.
He shuddered at that. Getting hurt from high school bullies was enough for him, he didn’t need getting hurt without even knowing. Well, more than he already did.
“You’re gonna get scratches all over and it’s not even gonna be from anything freaky.” She fake pouted and pulled at his arm more, even when he removed his hand from under his sleeve.
“Well it’s not MY fault that I’m allergic to the sun. I get sun rashes from just standing outside for two seconds! For your information Ruth, those things itch. A lot.” He pouted, putting his hands on his hips. He wasn’t actually upset, this was just how most of their interactions went. They fake fought just for the fun of it.
Ruth copied his expression and pose, speaking in an exaggerated voice. “Well it’s not MY fault that YOU don’t know how to put on sunscreen and can’t stand being out of the pool for more than two seconds.”
They continued their fake complaining as they walked home, having to stop when Ruth almost pushed him into a ditch for saying that it ‘wasn’t his fault that dinosaurs got hit by a meteor, leading to an almost complete restart in evolution’. How they got to that point was something that Richie couldn’t explain.
Sadly, due to the silence, Richie didn’t have anything to distract him from the now very painful migraine he was having. His head hurt like hell, and it felt like there was a pressure pushing on the side of his forehead. He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. He would have gotten used to the pain by now, but his migraines would always sneak up on him, so he was never prepared. Turning to Ruth, he opened his eyes.
“This is my street, see you later.” He pointed to the street to the right of them, opposite from where they usually turned.
Ruth frowned, faking being upset. “Awe, we were just getting to the good part!”
“We’ve been silent for 5 minutes Ruth.”
“Ughhh, fineeee.” She pulled him into a tight hug. “Call me if anything freaky happens.”
“I’ll make sure you’re the first person I call if I get anything more than a handshake.” He halfway returned the hug, pulling away and starting to walk to his home.
Well, not HIS home. Usually he would just head right to his own place, but right now his parents were out of town to take care of some dying relative, a grandparent or something, which meant he was staying with family. Specifically his uncle.
Usually he would be fine, they would leave for a few days and he would stay home, but they’re going to be gone for a few months until they could get the relative into a nursing home. What kind of nursing home has a waiting list?
He didn’t mind his uncle, they would just exist separately whenever they saw each other. On the rare occasion that they had a family get together and Paul actually showed up, he would say hi to him once and hide in a corner or something while Paul awkwardly stood somewhere.
It was a mutual understanding, and it even carried on when Richie stayed over. They would really only interact in the mornings when they were both getting ready to leave and sometimes at night when Paul would get home and Richie would remember that he needed food to live. It’s not his fault anime is so interesting and Paul’s guest bed is comfortable.
Richie walked into the small house (thank goodness for spare keys), making a quick detour to where Paul stored medicine. One Tylenol and one ibuprofen, a combo Paul swore by one time when he went looking for migraine medicine one night. He had to admit, it worked pretty well.
He stopped by the bathroom, opting to use sink water to take his medicine. Not the nicest tasting thing, but the waters Paul stored in his fridge had an odd taste. It was a different brand than what his family got.
He looked up, making the mistake of glancing in the mirror. It was him alright, acne scars and odd markings galore. His bad habit of picking at his skin never did anything good for him, and yet he continued nonetheless.
He sighed, taking in his features. Tired eyes, slightly red lip from him biting it unintentionally, pale skin, odd expressions. He really was the whole package, wasn’t he. Textbook definition of a loser.
He quickly left the bathroom before he could do any more looking, walking to ‘his room’.
He put his book sack down by the guest room door, making sure to not block his walking area. The room was pretty small, a nightstand and a twin sized bed on one wall and a desk on the other. Good enough for staying over, but probably too small to actually live in.
He quickly grabbed his headphones off of the nightstand and connected them to his phone, having a set playlist to listen to when he had migraines. It didn’t help with the migraine, but it sure did help with the fatass nap he was about to take.
He smiled at that. He could practically hear Grace reprimanding him for the use of curse words and Pete saying “Richie” in an exasperated tone in his head. There was only one person who truly appreciated him and his silly words.
Richie
About to take a fatass nap :}
Ruthzilla
YESSS
Sleeping naked? 🤨🤨🤨🤨
Richie
You know I never do
Ruthzilla
BOOOOO
I’ll see those man titties one day
Richie
That’s it I’m not texting you anymore
Ruthzilla
NOOO WAIT COME BACK
DONT LEAVE ME HERE
PLEASEEEE
ILL KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH PLATONICALLY IF YOU COME BACK
PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE
Richie put his phone on silent as it started getting flooded with messages from Ruth begging him to come back. He quietly snickered to himself before settling down in bed and closing his eyes, some Death Note OST song playing in his headphones.
.
..
…
Richie woke up blurry eyed and disoriented. Great.
Hey, at least the migraine was gone.
He looked over at the alarm clock he brought, 7:47 PM. Not too bad, he still had time for dinner before Paul got home.
Further adjusting to the room around him, he looked over to the desk on the other side of the room. He had a few things on there, honestly it wasn’t even half of what he had at home, just enough to keep him entertained.
He had his laptop, his Koro-Sensei and L figures he just couldn’t part with for more than two months, his camera-
Wait.
WAIT SHIT.
HE HAD TO FILM SOMETHING FOR ART CLASS.
TODAY.
He quickly got up and ran across the room, picking up his camera and rushing out the door in a panic, not paying attention to the dizziness he got from standing up too fast.
The project was probably easy to forget, with his migraine and Pete getting a date, but he still cursed at himself under his breath as he slipped on his shoes and grabbed his keys.
Paul would be home at nine, he would be back by then like he didn’t even leave. Good, he didn’t need questions about where he was and why. He liked his privacy too much for that.
He practically ran to the park, only stopping to catch his breath once he got to the gate, feeling like his lungs were going to shrivel up and die. He was not made for running, he noted.
Looking up, he surveyed the park. There was a couple sitting on the bench next to the swings, one dressed neatly and one with a looser style. He’s pretty sure he’s seen the neater one on the bus to Clivesdale before, maybe a few years ago?
The rest of the park was empty, which was an odd sight for him. He was used to seeing kids swinging on the swings or racing each other on the monkey bars. The few times that he would go to the park were in summer, so that could explain it.
Deciding that he was done with looking, he quickly made his way to the back of the park, there was a patch of woods there that stretched on pretty far, but all he needed was a good enough space with a tree.
See, he had the totally great and totally not annoying idea to get his reference for his piece on motion himself. He already had a plan for the drawing to be someone climbing a tree, and he wasn’t going to just let it go (well, unless Max was there, then he would just quietly walk away and think of something else). The problem was that he had completely forgotten about it all week, and they started Friday, aka tomorrow.
He looked around, spotting a small clearing with a pretty stable looking tree in front of it. Perfect.
Climbing trees wasn’t that hard, well at least to him. He had good enough muscles from swimming to be able to hold himself up, and despite his sweatiness, he had a pretty alright grip.
So, he set his camera down at an angle that would be good for capturing him climbing the tree he picked (and easy to draw), hit record, and started his venture up the tree.
It was fairly quick, he had picked one that had branches that were fairly good for climbing, at least in his opinion.
Once at the top, he found a good place to balance on and looked up at the sky.
It was beautiful. Stars scattered in nonsense patterns (he was never that interested in astronomy), showing off colors decorating the pitch black. Thank goodness for not living in a city, he wouldn’t be able to get a view like this if he did.
Huh, he didn’t know there was a full moon tonight, neat.
He reached into his pocket for his phone, frowning when he realized he didn’t bring it. Right, it was still on the nightstand. His headphones were probably on the floor, they never stayed on when he fell asleep, sadly.
He sighed, it really was a nice view. It’s not like he went outside often, and that wasn’t even because he was comfortable at home. Well, he was, kind of, but he was just afraid of anything happening. What if Max saw him having fun somewhere and decided to put a stop to it? What if he got lost and couldn’t find a way back?
If he did get lost, would anyone look for him? Pete and Ruth were nice friends, yeah, but did they care enough about him to even look for him? His parents weren’t home, and Paul would probably just assume he was hiding in his room or something. How long before he finds the silence suspicious and looks in, finding the room had been empty for days?
The thought made his heart drop and his body shiver, picturing himself dead somewhere while everyone just went on with their lives.
Deciding that he had been thinking for too long, and disappointed that he couldn’t get a picture of the sky, Richie carefully made his may back down on the ground.
He dusted off his shorts, about to turn and get his camera when-
Snap
He turned towards the direction of the sound. Nothing, just a few bushes and trees. He looked for any sign of movement, maybe a bird or squirrel, but there was nothing.
Now, Richie didn’t know much about the woods, but what he did know is that they were not supposed to be silent. Or still. Wasn’t there wind today? He could have sworn he felt a breeze earlier. Yeah, the trees could have blocked it, but he wasn’t far from the park. There should have been at least something.
“Hel-hello?” He asked, trying to get at least some response. His heart was practically beating out of his chest and his stomach was so twisted it could have been a morally grey anime villain obsessed with the protagonist in a dangerously unhealthy way. Or something like that.
Snap
Richie turned, the sound seeming closer now. He couldn’t see much, no matter how bright the moon was. But what he could see was two lights just past some bushes.
Two very golden, round lights.
“This- this isn’t funny.” He backed up further, tucking his hands in between his arms and torso. He wanted nothing more than to curl into himself and have whatever this was just walk away.
The lights moved closer, and slowly, a figure appeared from behind the bushes. It seemed somewhat grey in color, besides from the white of its teeth. It had pointy ears and a somewhat square nose.
A wolf.
Not just any wolf. A giant one. And judging by what little he could see, a giant wolf with very sharp teeth.
Those sharp teeth were currently being shown to him, the wolf emitting a low growl while stalking further.
Richie froze. He couldn’t handle this. What was he, some nerd with an anime obsession? He doesn’t confront problems, he runs away from them! He’s done that all of high school, why not do that now?
Right, running away, he could do that, couldn’t he?
He took slow, shallow breaths as he forced his legs to move, inching backwards. If he could get to his camera he could get it and run. Right, easy, just slow and steady-
Snap
That wasn’t the wolf
Shit
The wolf lunged at him, Richie couldn’t even try to run away before he was tackled down to the ground, letting out a quick yelp as his back hit a sharp rock, puncturing skin.
Then, pain shot through his left shoulder, he could vaguely make out the wolf tearing into his flesh.
He’s had a lot of pain before.
Sixth grade, he had terrible knee pain, waking up crying some days. Turns out he had something called overpronation, something where his feet rolled inwards as he walked, causing pain to rise in his ankles and knees. He got special shoes to help correct it, and the pain went away.
Freshman year, he experienced his first true beating from Max. Bruised eye and bloody nose, some bruises on his ribs and arms. Apparently he had talked back or something, his mind wasn’t too clear on the details. He got ice packs, meds, and bandaids. The pain went away.
But there was nothing to make this pain go away. Nothing to stop the wolf from using his body as a midnight snack like some messed up Red Riding Hood story. Except this time, the wolf wasn’t swallowing him whole, it was digging into his body using its teeth.
Hot tears rolled down his face. Someone was screaming. Who was screaming? Was it him? He could barely register the pain in his throat if that was the case. He could vaguely feel dampness next to his shoulder, was it blood? Most likely.
There was fur in one of his hands, right hand. Was he trying to fight it off? He didn’t even know. If he was, it was pointless, it was much bigger and stronger than he ever would be.
Then, the wolf’s head shot up. It stayed like that for a second, like it was watching something, before running away. Leaving Richie there to bleed.
Well, not before tearing a long mark down his chest using its claws. Thanks.
There wasn’t screaming anymore, but the tears still remained. He could make out someone yelling. It wasn’t him. It was a girl’s voice. He could also make out sobs, that was probably him.
He couldn’t get a word in, something, anything to respond to the yelling. His legs hurt, his body hurt. He wanted to go home. Not Paul’s house, home. With his anime poster covered walls and trinket covered shelves. Maybe he could curl up in bed with that tiger plushie Ruth got him that was currently sitting next to his Miku plush. Yeah, he would do that and take a long nap, that sounds nice.
He saw something above him, covering the moon in pink, and a hand was on his face.
That was all he saw before he passed out, covered in blood, sweat, and tears.
And maybe just a bit of stray strands of fur.