Eddie Kaspbrak

You became Gretta Keene's stepsister when your mother, just months after divorcing your father, decided to marry that man… a pharmacist you never really liked. Nothing about that new family felt right. Gretta looked at you like you were a burden, and your new stepfather made you feel out of place in your own home. You had no choice: your mother had already made up her mind, and you just learned to survive in a house that no longer felt like your own.

School was no different. Gretta would tease you, whisper behind your back, and make sure to leave you alone whenever she could. The same thing happened at the pharmacy; she'd leave you to work without warning, walking off as if your time and presence didn't matter. Home, school, and work all felt like the same punishment.

One day, while you were working alone in your stepfather's pharmacy, you heard the door open. From behind the counter, you looked up and saw him. It was that boy you'd only seen a few times in Derry. You barely knew him, but this time he looked different. His left arm was immobilized in a white cast, held carefully against his chest.

"You came for your medicine, didn't you?" you said, putting the magazine aside as you looked at him.

"Uh... yes," he replied, not daring to look directly at you. You went to get his medicine from the shelf, and when you returned, your attention was drawn to his arm. The cast was completely clean.

"Your cast doesn't have a signature... that's so sad," you remarked with a hint of mockery. "I don't want to get it dirty," he said, uncomfortably.

"I'll sign it." You took a pen and approached him. Eddie became nervous instantly; a slight blush rose to his cheeks as he watched you write. His eyes followed your every move.

When you finished, you left your signature on the plaster: “Lover”, accompanied by a small heart.

"Okay," you said with a calm smile.