Saying Goodbye – A Derry Fanfic
"Bev, stay with me, will you? Don't let me die alone."
She wants to lie, to tell him he's not dying, but she owes him more than that in his final moments.
"I'm here, Eddie," she says softly, brushing a speck of dirt off his cheek. "I won't leave you."
No one deserves to die alone, she thinks, even as her eyes glance over at Tom's lifeless body. Except maybe him.
Eddie notes her look. "Is that your husband?"
"Not anymore," Bev says with such loathing that Eddie wonders what she hasn't been telling them about her oh-so-happy marriage.
"A real prick, huh? But there must have been something that made you fall in love with him."
She shrugs. "He was charming and I was stupid."
His head moves in her lap as he shakes it. "For some reason, Bev, I don't see you ever being stupid."
"You're sweet," she says, "but c'mon. I married a man who was just like my old man, and if that isn't stupid I don't know what is."
"Don't feel bad. I married a gal who was just like my dear old mom."
"Do you regret it?"
He thinks about that briefly, then she feels his head move in her lap again. "No. Myra has her issues, but what she does is done out of love. My mother was all about the control."
Bev nods. "Tom was, too." She hesitates, then asks him, "Did you guys ever discuss having kids?"
"Uh, no. But at least I'm not gonna die a virgin."
"You wouldn't've anyway," she whispers, feeling sudden fresh tears on her cheeks.
Eddie's eyes widen. "Oh, man, I remember that now." He reaches up weakly to touch a strand of wet hair plastered to her cheek. "You were my first," he says, then his hand falls away and Eddie Kasprak dies with a small smile on his face.
Oh, Eddie, my love, you were my first, too, and I will never forget you.
She takes his head from her lap and buries it against her breasts, rocking him, and now a sound comes from her, a keening wail that none of the others, coming back to the chamber, will ever totally forget.
The End