Stick With Me - Bill Denbrough

0.5

Ben lived in a small, slightly isolated area of town, with only a few terraces in it. Nina cycled after the others, though as soon as they arrived Ben dumped his bike and sprinted inside ahead of us. Stan was behind them a little as they entered, as he had put his kickstand down instead of just dumping his bike like the rest of them. Ben's room was the first room in the house. It was the first door on the left. They all entered one by one, looking around awkwardly. It was amazing, but also a little strange at the same time. He had tons of pictures and newspaper articles stuck up on the walls, with small post it notes attached to some of them. There were also bits of clothes and paper swamping the floor, so Nina just chose to avoid them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wow!" Richie gasped, as he and Eddie entered the room last, looking around.

"Cool, huh?" Ben said proudly.

"No," Richie sighed, shaking his head. "No, nothing cool. There's nothing cool."

Nina went over and stood beside Ben, Richie, Eddie and Stan, looking up at the articles with slight horror. Bill was by the desk, looking at some slides while Bev was looking at the other side of the room.

"Oh, this is cool, right here," Richie said, pointing at one. "Wait, no. No, it's not cool."

"What's that?" Stan asked, pointing at a particular piece of paper.

"Oh, that?" Ben asked. "That's the charter for Derry Township."

"Nerd alert," Richie teased, adjusting his glasses.

"No, actually, it's really interesting," said Ben. "Derry started out as a beaver trapping camp."

"Still is, am I right, guys?" Richie joked, holding his hand up and looking at Nina, Stan, Eddie and Bill. They all frowned, shaking their heads.

"Ninety-one people signed the charter that made Derry," Ben continued. "But later that winter, they all disappeared without a trace."

"The entire camp?" Eddie gasped.

"There were rumours of Indians, but no sign of an attack," Ben said. "Everybody just thought it was a plague or something. But it's like one day everybody just woke up and left. The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house."

As he said this, Nina looked at a hand drawn picture of a bunch of people signing a charter. In the back of the line, a strange looking figure stood, smiling deviously towards the artist. It felt almost as if it was staring into her soul. It only had a few human qualities about it, but that was it. Nina went pale, feeling as though she was going to be sick. She glanced over at the others for a split second before glancing back. When she did, the figure had disappeared from the picture without a trace.

"Jesus," Richie exclaimed. "We can get Derry on Unsolved Mysteries."

"Let's do that. You're brilliant," Eddie agreed.

"I might be," Richie said, without even a tiny trace of humbleness in his voice.

"Guys, s-shut up," Nina stammered, still staring at the picture peculiarly as if it had come to life.

"Jeez, Nina, you're starting to turn into Bill," Richie joked.

"No, no, I-I...I think I saw a clown..." she trailed off, still looking at the picture. Her eyes were glued to it. She swore she had seen something there that wasn't there now.

"What?" Eddie frowned, looking at the picture as well.

"It's fine," Nina said, shaking my head and looking away. "It doesn't matter."

"W-Where was the Well House?" Bill asked.

"I don't know," Ben shrugged. "Somewhere in town, I guess. Why?"

"Nothing," Bill sighed. They stayed at Ben's place for a little longer before all deciding to go home for the day, except for Richie, who went to the arcade.