"What are you smiling about?" Stanley stared at him. "She called you a dumbass."
Eddie's smile only grew bigger. "I know. Ali Sumner called me a dumbass."
***
in which ali sumner befriends a group of outcasts and finds herself harassed by ronald mcd...
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TWENTY-FOUR: Betty Ripsom
Words: 675 (including non-story related words such as these)
Author's Note: the dragging scene and bettys scream kinda scared me ngl ***
After debating whether or not to pursue the voice, the group of them finally gained enough courage to go up the stairs.
Some of the steps were missing and some were already sinking into the staircase so the losers tripped on some cracks but they were fine. Just scared of what awaited them at the top of the staircase, which was not a good way to be when you were inside a haunted house with a possible killer clown on the loose within its walls.
They made it to the second floor and looked around.
It was exactly like the first floor except there was a giant hole in the roof which provided them with a little more light.
In front of them was a hallway.
They exchanged nervous glances but they took deep breaths and walked towards it.
Eddie was practically shaking and Ali gave him a small comforting pat on the back.
"Hey." Her voice was gentle. She was as scared as he was but was determined not to show it. "It's okay. We'll be fine."
Eddie merely nodded, too frozen in fear to say anything.
The nice pat on the back did little to calm him down completely but at least he wasn't shaking anymore.
But the fear returned when they heard something else suddenly.
"Help...me..."
The losers snapped their heads to where the voice came from.
At the end of the hallway was a room. The door was wide open and to the losers' shock, there was a girl laying there.
They could only see her top half because the rest of her body was blocked by the doorway but she lay there, staring back at them.
The losers felt shivers down their spines when they recognized her face.
"Is that..." Ali began. "Betty..." Bill added. "Ripsom..." Richie finished.
The four of them stared at Betty, stunned.
Suddenly, she let out a piercing scream and the losers watched in horror as she was suddenly dragged away from the doorway. She disappeared, dragged to who-knows-where.
"Shit." Ali muttered and the four of them walked towards the room.
"Eddie..."
Eddie froze. He scanned around the hallway but saw nobody was there. Thinking he had just imagined it, he continued to follow his friends toward the room.
"Eddie..."
Eddie snapped back around. "Guys...guys, do you hear that?"
They ignored him, they were fixated on what they had just witnessed with Betty Ripsom.
Eddie tried to walk back to his friends but he was frozen. Frozen in fear.
He tried to shake that feeling off but he couldn't. Shivers climbed up his spines, and he felt as if a million eyes were watching him.
But after a bit, he snapped out of his trance and turned back around to find his friends.
They were already inside the room, investigating what had just happened. From the mystified looks on their faces, Eddie could tell that Betty Ripsom wasn't in the room anymore.
"She was just here..." Richie muttered, staring. "Where the fuck did she go?"
Ali looked around and noticed a rusty red stain on the floor. She realized it was a dried blood stain. She shuddered.
"I think we should hope we don't find out the answer to that question..."
Bill was quiet, observing. He was as scared as the others, but he was also oddly calm.
It's not real. It's not real.
These were the only thoughts that kept him from passing out from fear. It wasn't real. And he would keep telling himself that until the day he died.
Meanwhile, Eddie suddenly felt panic rising in him. He didn't know what it was, but something just told him he had to rush towards the others. Now.
"Guys!" Eddie called out, running towards them.
The others turned to look at him, alarmed by his sudden outburst, but before they could react, the door slammed shut, locking Eddie out and them in.
"Shit, Eddie?!"
Ali, Richie and Bill raced for the door. They pounded and pushed frantically but it wouldn't budge.
Eddie was still running toward them but then stopped when the floor in front of the door began to crumble and open up, revealing the lower floor.
"What the fuck?!" Eddie yelled, backing away.
Suddenly, he felt a hand curl its bony fingers around his shoulder. Eddie froze.
