Eighteen

After a long afternoon of anticipation, the eleven of us waited until Bill's parents fell asleep before we snuck out to the house on Neibolt street. We had told Bill's parents that we were all sleeping over, and his parents had laid out air mattresses for us in Bill's garage.

"Do you kids need anything else?" Mrs. Denbrough asked, as she came in wearing a nightgown and put a plate of hot dogs and some more soda in the middle.

"No thanks Mum, we're good," Bill told her.

"Sleep well kids," Mrs. Denbrough said, bidding us goodnight.

"How long until they'll both be asleep?" Vic asked as soon as Mrs. Denbrough was out of earshot.

"Well, my dads already in bed and my mums in a nightgown, so I'm guessing not too long," Bill announced to us all.

"Are you guys sure this is a good idea?" Stan asked.

"Yeah, we don't know what's in that house," Eddie agreed.

"That's the whole point of us going in there," Mike told them.

"It's a cold night tonight," Belch pointed out.

"Fucking freezing for a Derry summer," Patrick agreed.

We were all still in our clothes for the day, mine consisting of shorts, converse and a pink crop top. I grabbed my coat and put it on, the others doing the same.

"I think we should all fill up on those hotdogs and drink as much soda as we can. It might be a long night," Eddie pointed out.

We all agreed, and the food and soda were gone in no time. We all downed a few cans of Mountain Dew as well as a few hotdogs plus dinner we had before, so we'd be good for the night.

"I think we should get going," Bill said.

"You think?" Asked Henry.

Bill nodded, opened the garage door and peered up at his parent's bedroom window. "They're asleep. The lights off."

The rest of us got up and we started making our way to Neibolt street, shivering, partly from nerves, partly from the spontaneous cold night. I guess the hottest part of the Summer was coming to an end since we were going into August.

The walk from Bill's house to Neibolt street was only about ten minutes, but by the time we got there, it felt like we had been walking for hours.

The house was even creepier at night. The rusty gate blew back and forth in the wind, almost coming off its hinges, making a consistently creepy squeaking sound. The wooden house creaked in the wind, and the whistle of the wind in the overgrown garden gave me chills.

"This isn't a good idea," said Eddie nervously.

"I'm starting to agree," Vic said timidly.

"Should we really be risking our lives like this?" Ben asked.

"You guys don't have to come with me," Bill said as he climbed the stairs up to the front porch.

"Of course we will," I said, following him. "Right guys?"

The nine of them stood there like they'd seen a ghost, which I prayed to god wasn't true. Henry walked up the stairs, followed by Mike, Ben, Belch, Patrick, and Stan. Vic, Eddie, and Richie stood on the path shivering.

"Come on, guys," Belch encouraged.

"I don't think I can," Vic mumbled.

"Don't do it for yourselves. Do it for all the kids that've gone missing. Do it for Belch's sister Tina, my brother Dallas. Do it for Georgie, do it for any of us who could go missing any time. Do it for me for god's sake. I go home, and all I see is that Dallas isn't there. His bedroom, his clothes, all his favorite food in the fridge... but he isn't. So walking into this house is easier than walking into my own," I pleaded emotionally, directing my words to Stan, Richie, and Eddie too.

"Prim, we know exactly how you feel," Belch said, patting me on the back and gesturing to Bill and himself. "We feel the exact same. Which is why we're walking into that house with you no matter what."

I gave them a smile and my little speech seemed to have worked on the others. The three of them climbed up the stairs and all eleven of us were in this together.

"I think we need some people to wait out here, just in case we don't come back out or something happens... or something," Richie said.

"You're r-right," Bill said. "Smart thinking, Richie. There's eleven of us so we c-can't make it even. F-five can stay outside. Rock paper scissors tournament."

It turned out that Bill, Eddie, Richie, Henry, Patrick and I were going inside, and Stan, Ben, Mike, Vic, and Belch were keeping watch.

Richie pushed open the large, old, oak door and it creaked loudly to reveal a run down room covered in cobwebs.

"I can smell It," Eddie complained.

"Well then don't breath through your mouth," Richie said.

"Why not?" Eddie asked curiously.

"Because then you're eating it," Richie pointed out.

Eddie gagged and Henry, Richie, Patrick and I snickered.

"S-shush, you guys!" Bill whisper yelled.

Patrick walked into one of the other rooms and I heard him gasp.

"What?" I asked, walking into the room, the others following me.

Patrick was holding up a piece of crumpled paper, he turned it around to reveal a missing poster, featuring him.

"Do you think this house can tell the future? Is It planning to kidnap me?" Patrick fretted.

"Calm down," Bill said. "It's just trying to scare you, it's not real at all."

Patrick ripped the paper in half and walked out of the room.

"Hello?" Called a distressed voice from upstairs.

"Did you guys hear that?" Eddie asked.

"That was fucking creepy," Henry said.

"Shush!" Bill said, putting his finger to his lips.

"Help me!" Called the voice.

"Let's go," ushered Bill, gesturing to the stairs.

We slowly but surely walked up the creaky stairs, heading toward the voice.

I could hear heavy breathing and gasping as the six of us got to the landing. There was an open door, that's where the noises were coming from. 

I looked down and saw a disheveled Betty Ripson lying on the floor.

"Betty?" I asked.

"Is that you?" Questioned Richie.

Betty was suddenly pulled back, and the door slammed shut, scaring the shit out of me. I grabbed Henry's hand, after which he kept a tight grip on my hand with his.

We headed for the door. Patrick opened it and let it slam against the wall, revealing nothing but an empty room with a mattress on the floor.

"Where'd she go?" Asked Richie.

"GUYS!" I heard Eddie scream as the door to the bedroom slammed shut.

Bill immediately tried to open it but to no avail.

"Move!" Yelled Henry.

Henry began trying to break the door down. I heard Eddie's heavy footsteps as he ran down the hallway.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I heard Eddie scream.

"EDDIE, ARE YOU OKAY?" I shouted as I banged on the door in unison with Henry's kicks.

"HELP!" Eddie screamed.

"THE DOOR WON'T OPEN!" I yelled back.

"HURRY!" Eddie screamed.

"EDDIE!" I screamed.

"PRIM! HELP!" I heard Eddie cry from down the hall.

Eddie's P.O.V.

Prim's cries to me began to drown out as the floor began to break open, I ran as fast as I could down the hallway and the wooden floor behind me gave way as I passed it. I stopped at the top of the stairs, knowing full well I couldn't leave. I turned around to see if there was any way that I could get back to the others, but terror took me over as I felt a tap on my shoulder behind me.

"Hi, Eddie."

I turned around and saw the leper again. I screamed and darted around to the other hallway on the second floor. I fell through the floor as it gave way, onto a hard surface. Then I felt it the surface give way, and I fell down onto another hard surface. I then realized I was lying on a broken table that had given way when I fell on it. I groaned as I felt an overwhelming pain in my arm.

Richie's P.O.V.

"Richie," I heard a raspy voice call.

I turned around.

"Come here," called the voice again.

It came from a room leading off from the bedroom. I walked over out of curiosity. The room in question was filled with clowns. Not living clowns, toy clowns. Stuffed clowns, porcelain clowns, you name it, it was there. I quickly turned around to see a closed door and a creepy as fuck porcelain clown sitting in front of it. That definitely wasn't there before. I screamed as the lights in the room flashed on and off.

"Stupid clowns," I said quickly.

A white sheet fell off of what I assumed to be a cabinet or a table or something to the floor and revealed a coffin. The lid of the coffin began to creep open slowly, and what came out of it scared the living daylights out of me. It was It. I let out a blood-curdling scream and felt the floor give way.

I quickly recovered from the fall, which was probably only possible because I had fallen on top of Eddie.

Primrose's P.O.V.

We knew there was no point in trying to get through the bedroom door anymore, so one kick from Henry to the closet door that closed on Richie and we were in. We ran inside, but there was no floor in that room, and we all fell.

"Welcome to the club," greeted Richie.

"What the fuck h-happened?" Asked Bill.

"I think my arm's broken," Eddie said.

"Come here," I said to Eddie. I fixed him a sling with my jacket which would do for now as the others talked about what we would do next.

"Is this not real enough for you, Bill?" Asked a shaky voice. "I'm not real enough for ya?"

We all fell silent and turned around. There was It.

"Holy shit," mumbled Richie.

"I was real enough for Georgie!" It said, looking at Bill. "And Dallas," It said, turning around to look at me.

It got up and charged right at Eddie, so I improvised, grabbed a knife from one of the kitchen draws and speared that clown right through the head. We all ran in front of Eddie, which was the best option seeing we had no way to get out of the house. The others ran in, having heard the commotion, and joined us.

Bill's P.O.V.

Between all the screaming and swearing coming from my friends, the clown slipped away behind a door, and I followed. Turns out the door lead to the basement, and by the time I got there, the only thing I saw was the clown shrinking into some kind of hole in the floor.

I had no desire right now to follow it down there, so I went back to the others.

We all ran as fast as we could out of that house and back to Bill's. When we got to Bill's house, the light on the front porch was on and Eddie's mum was talking to my parents. Shit.

Primrose's P.O.V.

"You!" Screamed Eddie's mum, turning around and gesturing to the group of us. "You did this to him! You know how delicate he is."

Mrs. Kaspbrak pulled Eddie by the neck and over to her car.

"We were attacked, M-M-Mrs K," Bill told her.

"Don't!" snapped Mrs. Kaspbrak as she sat Eddie down in the passenger seat. "Don't try and blame anyone else."

Eddie looked at us through the window with tears in his eyes.

Mrs. Kaspbrak threw my coat off of Eddie's arm, causing him to wince in pain, and threw it on the ground. I picked it up and as Mrs Kaspbrak dropped her keys I tried to pick them up but she pushed me back.

"I've heard about you, Miss Connor. And I don't want a dirty girl like you touching or hanging around with my son," Mrs. Kaspbrak said, her face almost touching mine.

"Just shut up, you have no idea what you're talking about," snapped Henry.

Mrs. Kaspbrak's eyes darted over to Henry.

"And who might you be?" Mrs. Kaspbrak asked.

"Henry Bowers," Henry said.

Mrs. Kaspbrak turned her nose up at us.

"Don't come near any of us ever again," Patrick warned. 

"Mrs. K-," Began Richie, before he was cut off by Mrs. Kaspbrak.

"No! You're all monsters!" Mrs. Kaspbrak yelled. "All of you, and Eddie is done with you. Is that clear? Done!"

Mrs. Kaspbrak gave us the evilest glare that she could muster and stormed off, slamming the car door behind her as she sat her humongous ass down and drove off aggressively, tires screeching. 

"I saw the well," Bill started. "W-w-we know where it is now, and-and-and next time we'll be better prepared."

"No!" Shouted Stan. "No next time, Bill. You're crazy!"

"But we all know no one else is gonna do anything," Belch said.

"Eddie was nearly killed!" Richie pointed out.

"We can't just forget about it. It'll come back," I said.

"Fine! Cool! I'll be forty and far away from here," Richie said happily. "I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town?"

"Because I wanna run towards something," I told him. "Not away."

"Let's face facts! Georgie is dead. So is Dallas, Tina, and every other kid who seems to be 'missing'," Richie said in air quotes. "Stop tryna get us killed too."

"Georgie is not dead!" Yelled Bill.

"You couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself," Richie said, attempting to walk off Before Bill stopped him.

"No! t-t-take it back!" Cried Bill. "You're scared, we all are, but take it back!"

Bill pushed Richie and Richie pushed Bill back, earning a punch from Bill.

Henry and Vic held Richie back.

"You're just a bunch of Losers!" Screamed Richie. "Fuck off!"

"Bill," I scolded as I pulled him back.

"Richie, stop!" Yelled Vic.

"You're just a bunch of losers and you'll get yourselves killed tryna catch this STUPID MOTHERFUCKING CLOWN!" Richie said.

We were all silent as Stan, Ben, Mike, and Richie got on their bikes and rode away, leaving Henry, Bill, Belch, Vic and I.

"I'll see you guys later," I said solemnly as I rode off.

I heard a few of them say my name, but I just kept riding until I couldn't hear them anymore.