* have you seen this boy?

               he knows his lie won;t make him feel better, but unless he wants to be black and blue- maybe even in the same position as dorsey, he needs to stick to his parents story. “ he fell off a stepladder. my stepdaddy found him. he got his head hurt real bad, so he’s gonna die soon. that’s what the doctor said. ” ed was also pretty convinced that the doctors didn’t have a fucking clue what they were doing. nor the cops. no matter how obvious he was about his horrible life, nobody seemed to want to help. he shrugs his bony shoulders, “ that’s life. even if it ain’t fair. better dorsey dead than livin’ in derry any longer. town’s cursed. ” a morbid logic, but one that made sense in his young mind.

                he stares, it’s something he often catches himself with, but for now at least, he flicks his gaze away, shoving his hands in his pockets. “ huh. ” eddie asking what he was doing here makes his skin crawl, but he speaks steadily, as if his sentences were ones he spoke daily, flat and emotionless, “ my little brother is dyin’, so. i’m visitin’ whenever i can, in case he’s waitin’ for me to be with him when he dies. ” a morbid thought, ed glances backwards into his brothers room, before bowing his head downwards.

                he stares at her steadily, bruise ringed eyes squinted slightly as he takes the binder in his scab-knuckled grip, holding it against his chest for a moment. her offer to study together is rolled around in his mouth like a hard candy, chewed on contemplatively. he surveys betty a few moments longer, before shrugging, “ if ya can put up with my dumb ass, you can do whatever y’wan’, ripsom. i havn’ understood a word of what the teacher says for a whole month. ” unfortunately, he’s only been in for a week of that month.

               he sits alone, mostly- edward corcoran is bad news to his classmates, with his bruised knees, arms, and face, and his penchant for being absent. his bitter honesty drives those away, and his stupidity even more so. he taps a pencil on her table at the end of class, as students disperse for the end of the day. “ c’n i borrow your notes for the night ? i ain’t been in for the past few days, so... ”

                “ i don’t get it. what does it mean ? i just-... it don’t make sense. ”

                he exits dorsey’s hospital room on his own, holding his jacket in front of his chest. he barely has the wherewithal to catch himself as he nearly collides with another child. he knew that the other shared a name with him- eddie. “ hi. uh- wha’re you doin’ in the hospital ? ”

                 similar, in a vein. not every child in the neighborhood had a dead baby brother, but here were two boys who were the same. ed pats the back of bill’s hand, “ y’ever need anything, m’usually in the park. ” the only contrast is, while georgie wasn’t believed to be dead by bill, ed had seen dorsey before he died, sat at his bedside and held his hand as he left the earth.

                 “ nothin’ never lasts forever. ” he holds a broken toy in his small hands, careless shrug. he doesn’t smile.

                  “ so y’get it, then. ” it itches- he scratches at the still-healing skin of his bruise, a raccoon ring around his eye, flesh puffy and discoloured, “ ...cool. never met anyone like me before. ”

                                                   EDDIE  CORCORAN  WAS  DEAD ,  ALL  RIGHT .    i'll  make  it  to  the  light ,  and  that's  all  right .  bright  light ,  no  more  fright ,  up  all  night ,  what  a  sight ---

               HEADCANON. love  is  something  edward  corcoran  is  not  too  familiar  with,  since  the  passing  of  his  young  brother.  he  struggles  in  finding  someone  who  actually  cares,  considering  his  parents . . .  simply  don’t.  but  in  reality,  eddie  is . .  really,  really  lonely.  it’s  a  saddening  thought,  but  true.  his  openness  and  honesty  about  the  abuse  he  was  living  was  not  something  that  people  took  seriously  at  all,  and  the  lack  of  people  taking  it  seriously  is  what  lead  to  his  death.  while  eddie  himself  was  shown  as  a  compassionate,  ‘quiet’  and  loving  boy,  nobody  got  to  experience  it  because  he  was  probably  just  one  of  those  quiet  classmates  who  got  bad  grades  when  he  was  trying  his  best,  and  because  of  his  lack  of  academic  prowess,  he  faced  heinous  treatment,  but  never  lost  the  hold  of  a  cotton-soft  heart.

               he  pulls  now-bloodied  hand  away ,  and  sighs  at  length ,  sticking  his  leg  out  to  allow  the  other  boy  easier  access  to  it . “ i was  tryin’  to  make  it  stop  hurting . ”  he  insists ,  before  sighing ,  “ jus’  be  careful .  you  might  get  bloody . ”