"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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THIRTY: Not Scary
Words: 882 (including non-story related words such as these)
Author's Note: Boo. ***
"You're actually fucking with me right now, right?" Ali gasped in disbelief. She stuck her middle finger up at nothing and nobody in particular, just at the house. "You piece of shit clown! Fuck!"
"Ok, ok, ok. Maybe it is fucking with us." Richie was practically shaking but was trying to keep it under control. "And-and it thinks that we'll go for the opposite when really it's...wait, hold on, I had a point, I was getting somewhere, just...just wait a minute."
"Fuck." Ali repeated. She was about to lean against the wall, defeated, when she remembered where she was and instead settled on feeling defeated while standing.
Suddenly they heard a scream. It was different from all the other screams -which was an unbelievable amount of screams- they had heard that day. This was a familiar scream. They had heard this scream before.
It was a scream that belonged to someone they knew.
"Eddie." The three of them muttered.
Bill, Ali and Richie exchanged a look of worry before they all raced toward the door marked "Not Scary" and frantically swiped at the doorknob, trying to get it open.
They eventually did.
The three of them stared into it. It was dark and they couldn't see much.
"Where's my shoe?" They heard a familiar voice say from inside.
Ali felt a shiver travel down her spine when she realized just how familiar that voice was.
A string hung in front of their faces though. Bill pulled it. He instantly regretted doing so.
The three of them screamed at the sight.
Hanging above the floor of the room the door had opened to, was Betty Ripsom. Half her body, her legs, were gone. It was only her top half that was hanging there. Her hair was covering her face, which was soaked bloody, but they knew it was her. They knew.
She let out a scream to join theirs too.
Before anything else could happen, Bill slammed the door shut and the three of them backed away.
"Where the fuck were her legs?!" Richie screamed.
"I don't fucking know!" Ali screamed back.
She cupped her hands around her mouth, her eyes wide with shock while Richie looked about set to cry.
Bill placed a hand on both their shoulders.
"Look, it's just messing with you." Ali waited for a stutter in his words but none came. "It's not real. Remember that missing poster, Richie? That wasn't real and this isn't either. It's not real."
He looked just as scared as they were, probably was even more. But it was at that moment that Ali could really see the leadership in his eyes. She could see how truly strong he was. After all that had happened to him, he was still the one who was brave enough to lead them through the house, the one who was willing to set down his own mental sanity to help fix his friends'. He was the leader of the losers' club and Ali could see why now.
She nodded her head slowly and put her hands down, taking deep breaths. Richie was a little more reluctant and hesitant to ease up to Bill's calming but he did anyway.
Suddenly there was another scream. A scream that belonged to Eddie.
The fear in Ali's eyes was replaced by blazes of anger. That clown, that fucking clown.
She began to walk towards the door again to open it. Richie gulped.
When she swung the door open, the three of them were beyond relieved to see that it did not in fact lead to their former classmate's half body, but instead to a dimly-lit hallway that lead to another opening.
"Thank fuck!" Richie gasped.
"Where's Eddie?" Ali's eyes scanned the hallway, but couldn't find him.
"Help! Help!" His screams rang out and echoed throughout the hall.
That was enough to get Ali running towards the hallway.
Bill and Richie followed.
They ended up on the floor where Eddie had ended up.
"Eddie?" Ali looked around. "Ed-"
Ali's voice died in her throat. They found Eddie.
He was pinned against the wall and the clown was towering over him. He had a giant clawed hand around Eddie's neck.
Eddie was squirming and screaming for help in the clown's grasp, but he couldn't move to save his life. Quite literally.
"Eddie..." Ali repeated in disbelief.
It was a terrifying scene. It meaning the clown itself and the sight of the scene in front of her, Bill and Richie.
The clown turned its head to face the three of them.
"This isn't real enough for you, Billy?!" It said.
He sounded amused but almost...offended? Or was it wounded? Yes. Wounded. That's how it sounded when it said that.
Ali heard Bill let out a silent gasp of fear.
"It was real enough for Georgie!" The clown screeched, looking insanely mad in the eyes.
With that, the clown let go of Eddie and went for Bill, Richie and Ali.
It screamed demonically as it bolted towards the three of them in a jerky and alarming seed.
Richie and Bill let out a scream and Ali shut her eyes, bracing herself for awaiting doom.
