ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀɢʟᴏᴡ || ʀɪᴄʜɪᴇ ᴛᴏᴢɪᴇʀ

~ Placebos ~

With Richie eagerly shaking her body so that she'd wake, Elaine's eyes fluttered open for the second time. She hadn't realized who it was until he sighed relieved, fixing his glasses when he saw her eyes open. "Holy shit," He sighed, worry spread across his tired features. His mouth kept moving but she couldn't quite make out the words. Her ears popped, making it hard for her to comprehend the words coming from her husband's mouth.

"Are you okay?!" Richie asked worriedly, cupping her pail face. "Can you hear me?!" She shook her head, not paying much attention to herself but to the others around her. "Elaine?!" Noticing his wife's concerned eyes, Richie yelled, "Is everyone okay?!" They got up and readjusted, everyone yelling a different response back to the man. Cautiously helping his wife up, Richie watched Eddie pace in the distance.

"Did we do it?" He asked hoping for the best. Richie shrugged, running a hand through his greasy hair. "We put the tokens in the thing- It should've worked, right?" Unsure, Beverly pointed her flashlight towards one of the spikes, gasping when it landed on the face of a more than familiar clown. Pennywise. He had a large proud grin on his face, sending shivers down Elaine's spine.

She leaned back into Richie's arms, backing as far as she could away from it. "What the fuck!" Richie exclaimed, yanking Elaine behind his larger body. "Did it work, Mikey? Did it work?" It joked, crawling through the large spikes as it evilly licked his lips. "Tell them why your silly little ritual didn't work, tell them why it's all just..." Pennywise stopped, turning to look at Eddie. "What's the word, Eds?" Eddie shook his head, not believing what was happening. "Placebos." He finished, giggling.

Eddie growled, "Mike, what the fuck is he talking about?" "Oh, Mikey, you never showed them the fourth side, did you?" Pennywise kept laughing, rubbing his stomach. "Didn't want them to know what actually happened to the poor Shokopiwah? Yum, yum, yum, yum." Elaine gasped, feeling her stomach drop in realization. Pennywise had killed them all. The same ritual she and the losers had just completed had killed them all. Everything they'd just done, all she'd gone through these last few days, it'd all been for nothing.

Now, Elaine was going to die down here, along with the rest of them, for nothing. "Fuck, Mikey, you lied to us again?!" Bill yelled dispirited. With angry tears, Mike stood overwhelmed by both guilt and terror. He tried to defend his point, "No, no, but- they- they didn't believe! They didn't believe they could kill it! That's why it didn't work back then!" Gritting her teeth, anger pulsed through Elaine's bones. Mike had lied to them, and it was going to cost them their lives.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Mike?!" Richie yelled, stepping away from his wife. "We're all gonna die," He repeated to himself, stuck in his own head as everyone else continued to
panic. "We're all gonna die," Richie cried, tears he didn't even realize were there pouring from his eyes. Elaine attempted to soothe him, "Rich," She reached for his hand but he only backed himself further away. He yelled loudly, "Fuck!"

Bill went along with this, equally furious, "Fuck you, Mike!" "I needed something, anything, for us to remember. Anything for us to believe!" He assured but most scoffed, still panicking. When Pennywise laughed at the chaos surrounding him everything ceased. The silence was cut short when the deadlights flew out of the leather box for a second time, brightening up the once-dark room. Elaine had hardly even been able to glance up at them before she was pulled back into Richie's tight grasp.

He forced her head into his chest, hiding her eyes from the light while he shut his own tightly. From what Beverly had told Elaine, these weren't the same headlights she'd once seen. They were stronger, with a blue glow and clouds of bright white surrounding them. They were almost hard to focus on because of how fast they were moving. Elaine fought against Richie's hold, turning to look at the sight in front of her while still avoiding the light.

Pennywise was climbing through the spikes, growing bigger while his voice got even deeper. Unhealthily deeper, like the baby's cries from earlier. "For 27 years, I dreamt of you. I craved you. Oh, how I've missed you!" He grinned, transforming into something terrifying. He was no longer a clown but he resembled some sort of spider. Elaine gasped and Richie's eyes widened with fear, the two of them taking in Pennywise's new look. He had eight huge legs and very large claws at the end. Only his face and costume remained the same. Though, ten times bigger.

"Mike!" Elaine yelled, warning him about what was coming but Mike didn't budge, staying at the same spot. "Oh, I've been waiting for this very moment." The spider-looking thing snarled, running towards Mike. Yelling for him, Mike was too overwhelmed by his own guilt to even pay attention as he mumbled different words to himself. "I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry," He cried, apologizing for what he'd caused.

"Mike, get out of the way!" "You gotta move, Mikey!" They all alerted, but Pennywise was too fast. "Time to float." It chortled demonically, his large sharp claws ready to stab Mike at any moment. After realizing Pennywise was going for the kill, Bill sprung into action and almost immediately ran at his friend. Forgiving him, Bill pushed Mike out of the way just in time to save his life.

Raging because he hadn't been able to get Mike, Pennywise turned his attention toward the others and began to chase after them instead. His stomping made bits of the cave crash down, sending them tumbling toward the rest of the losers. Elaine shrunk covering herself as if it would protect her from the large pieces of stone falling above her. It hit the ground between the Losers, ultimately splitting them apart from each other. Elaine found herself back in Richie's arms, a common occurrence lately.

The couple scrambled away, pennywise clawing after them and Eddie. Richie bore quicker, pulling Elaine forward as Pennywise got closer. He eyed a cave in the distance, calculating something in his head before he pulled Elaine in front of himself. The three sought refuge behind a big rock, Richie murmuring something to Elaine as he caught his breath, "I'm sorry," "What are you talking about?" She questioned, watching him eye a cave from his spot behind the large boulder.

"Don't hate me," He smiled sadly grabbing his wife's and friend's wrist. "Richie, what are you-" Elaine started, but here they were running again. Pennywise hurried over, targeting Elaine since she was the slowest. Cursing at himself, Richie spoke quickly, "I'll come back for you, I swear." Furrowing her eyebrows, Richie didn't give Elaine any more answers. He withered, pushing her down into a smaller cave just in time to dodge Pennywise. "Richie!" Elaine screeched, falling into the small cave with a thud.

Her body bounced off different rocks, hitting her head multiple times on her way down. She finally met the hard firm ground, groaning as she looked up for an exit. "Son of a bitch!" Elaine attempted to climb back up the very steep hill of stones, quickly slipping back down. Upset by what Richie'd done to her, Elaine angrily kicked the floor, beginning to cry. She ran her hands shakily against her bruised body, feeling lumps forming here and there. "What the fuck, Richie?!" She screamed, plopping down on a rock out of hope. "I'm never going to get out of here,"