Chapter 18
At the hospital, Bill paced back and forth; wondering about what to do and waiting for the doctor to come and tell them about Eddie. Eddie laid on the bed, hooked up to a breathing tube, an iv in his arm, a new cast on his arm, a bandage on his head, and was still a bit dirty. Georgie laid next to him and held his hand, Ale was sitting on a chair in the far right corner and reading a magazine, Mike, Stanley, and Ben were sitting on separate chairs and trying hard to not look at Eddie, and Beverly stared at Eddie and Georgie somberly. She got up, approached them, and placed her hand on Georgie's shoulder.
"Don't worry Georgie, I know Eddie personally, and I know he's the strongest out of all of us." Beverly said comforting.
"I hope that's true." He said upset.
Bill stopped pacing and approached Beverly, Georgie, and Eddie. He stood next to Beverly and put his hand on Georgie's back.
"It's g-g-going to be alright, G-G-Georgie. Beverly's r-r-right, Eddie i-is strong." Bill comforted.
Georgie didn't respond. Bill couldn't bear looking at Eddie, he was in horrible shape, no wonder he, Stanley, Mike, and Ben couldn't look at him. Beverly looked over at Ale.
"Ale, in Eddie's case, how long will it take for him to wake up?" she asked.
"Well, even with a head injury, Eddie will still wake up, but it depends on when Pennywise released him." She explained.
"So, all night then?" Beverly asked.
"Yep. Well, if that's all, then I'll let you guys pay me tomorrow, toodaloo." Ale smiled.
She put the magazine back in the rack, got up, and headed for the door, but not before Stanley got up and got in front of Ale.
"Are you serious, you want to be paid now?! Look at Eddie, he looks horrible. He's your friend and you should…" he said enraged.
"Um mind you, he's your friend, not mine. The only reason I'm here is because you guys wanted my help to track him down and I found him, so, your welcome." Ale argued.
"Do you really not care? Do you not care that Eddie is in horrible condition? What if that was you in his place?" Stanley asked annoyed.
"Oh come on Stanley, I've survived worse injuries, this is nothing." Ale retorted.
"Oh yeah, like what? Broken ribs, chest, arms, legs, head damage, spine?! What possible injuries did you have that were worse than Eddies?!" Stanley asked enraged.
Fed up, Bill got in between Ale and Stanley and put his arms out in case of a fight.
"Alright you two, c-c-cut it o-out. There's no need for this." He said.
"Trust me Stanley, the injuries I got were way worse than what Eddie got." Ale sneered.
"Oh yeah, like what?" Stanley asked.
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Georgie shouted annoyed.
Everyone looked at Georgie; all shocked and their eyes wide.
"Look at Eddie, he looks horrible, and you guys are fighting. I know you two don't get along, but please stop." Georgie scolded.
Everyone was silent and after a few moments, Ale went back to her chair, got another magazine, and sat down, Stanley sat back down in his seat, and Bill went back to where he was. Georgie looked at Ale.
"Ale, I'm grateful you helped us find Eddie, but now we…" he begin.
Suddenly, a woman's gasp interrupted Georgie. Everyone looked over and saw Eddie's mother in the room; her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide, and she looked horrified. She went to the other side of the bed, kneeled down a bit and held Eddie's hand.
"Oh, my baby." She said.
Eddie's mother looked like she was about to cry, but when she saw Bill and his friends, her expression changed to rage. She got up and pointed her finger at Bill then to the others.
"You, you did this. You know delicate he is." She said enraged.
"Ms. K, I-I-I swear I can explain…" Bill begin.
"No, don't, don't try to blame anyone else, got it?" she said enraged.
"I was g-g-going to say that we f-f-found Eddie in the s-sewers. That's why he's d-d-dirty, but we don't know how he g-got the injuries." Bill continued.
"Oh god no, not the sewers, of all places; why didn't you guys find him sooner?!" Eddie's mother asked appalled.
"Ms. K, we couldn't find…" Beverly begin.
"And what the hell is she doing here?!" she demanded.
Ms. K pointed at Ale. Everyone looked and saw her still reading the magazine and looked like she didn't care.
"We needed her help to find Eddie and Ale's one of the best trackers we know." Beverly explained.
"So you brought this demon into the hospital?! It's bad enough that a dirty girl like you is around my son, but I don't want this bitch anywhere near him." Ms. K said annoyed.
"M-M-Ms. K, I s-s-swear…" Bill begin.
"No, you are all monsters, all of you, and Eddie's done with you, do you hear? Done, now get out of here!" she screamed.
The group were silent, unable to reply or know what to do. Suddenly, a chuckle broke the silence.
"Ms. K, can I talk to you?" Ale asked.
"Oh no you can't, you're the worst out of all of them. I don't want you near me or my son, so you get out and never come back." She said.
"Please Ms. K, it's very important." Ale said smiling.
Her smile looked like she had a sinister secret to tell. Ms. K, Bill, and his friends were disturbed by it; except Georgie, he was concerned. After a few moments, Ms. K expression changed from rage to a scared expression.
"Yeah, yeah, we can talk." She said.
Ms. K followed Ale out the room as Bill, Beverly, and Stanley were about to follow them, but stopped in their tracks.
"What is she up to?" Stanley asked annoyed.
"I have no idea." Bill answered.
Ale and Ms. K went into a private room. Ale stood in front of Ms. K and gave a sinister smile. Ms. K tried not to look at her.
"Lets agree Ms. K that we both are concerned about Eddie's wellbeing and safety." Ale begin.
"Yeah, like you even care." Ms. K said retorting.
"So lets just say that giving your son gazebos and lying about having asthma is not exactly my way of saying you're a great mother, wouldn't you agree?" Ale continued snickering.
Ms. K went ghost white.
"How, how did you…" she asked shaking.
"That's not important, and between you and me, I don't think Eddie will be happy to hear that you lied about him having asthma and giving him gazebos as his medicine. I wonder what he'll think when I tell him…" Ale said sinister.
"No No No, what do you want?" Ms. K asked nervously.
"Well, if you insist, you let Eddie still hang out with Bill and his friends and let me stick around for a bit. I have my own investigation and I need to ask Eddie a few questions, I promise not to hurt Eddie. In return, you leave the hospital for the night and come back tomorrow afternoon and I promise to keep my mouth shut, deal?" Ale said grinning.
"D-D…Deal." Ms. K accepted.
They shook hands and both left the room and went inside Eddie's room. Ale went back to the chair, grabbed the magazine, and sat back down. Ms. K was near the door.
"I'll come back tomorrow to see if Eddie wakes up. I trust I can place his protection in all of you?" she announced.
"Of course, M-M-Ms. K." Bill said.
"Good." she said.
Ms. K gave one last fearful glance at Ale, then headed for the door.
"I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully he'll be awake by then." she murmured.
Ms. K left the room and then, the doctor came in. Everyone either perked or stood up.
"What's the prognosis doctor?" Bill asked.
"Your friend will be fine. Because, he hit his head first, he sustained less injuries than one would have from a long fall." He said.
"What do you mean?" Beverly asked.
"Well, when you're knocked unconscious and you're falling, you can't sustain anymore injuries other than the ones you received before you hit your head." The doctor explained.
"So what caused the fall?" Beverly asked.
"Well, my guess is that he must've fell from a deep hole, probably from a well." The doctor guessed.
"The wellhouse." Bill thought.
"What about his arm?" Stanley asked.
"His arm will be fine. It'll take a few weeks for it to recover. I'm surprised it's not dislocated. Anyway, I'll let you guys be and come back later." The doctor said.
He left the room and everyone stared at Ale.
"What did you do?" Stanley asked.
"Me and Ms. K had a nice chat." Ale answered grinning.
"Hah, if I didn't know better, I would think that you had blackmailed Ms. K into allowing us to stay here and keep an eye on Eddie, even I know she would never do that unless something made her change her mind. So tell me, what's the secret you exploit?" Stanley asked unconvinced.
"Sorry Stanley, a promise is a promise, I won't tell a soul." Ale smiled; motioning that her lips were sealed.
Stanley glared at her, but said nothing. Bill signed.
"Okay, we'll have to s-s-spend the night here. Georgie, I'm g-g-going to go c-call mom and tell her we're s-s-spending the night h-here." He decided.
"That's fine, I have to go call my folks." Ben said.
"Me too." Mike said.
"Wait, who's going to tell Richie's parents that Richie's missing?" Stanley asked.
"I will, I have a c-c-cover story we c-can use to stall for t-t-time." Bill said.
"Okay." Stanley signed.
"Beverly?" Bill asked.
"Oh no, I'll stay here. My dad's out of town." she said.
"Ale?" Bill asked.
"My parents don't care." She said.
Bill didn't say anything. He followed Ben, Mike, and Stanley out of the room.