𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 // 𝐈𝐓 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕

t w e l v e

i see it before bill does. the quick movement, a flash of yellow. i quickly remove my arms from stan and bills shoulder, suddenly strong enough to run. i run down the twists and turns of the sewers, and i hear bills panting close behind me. our feet splash in the water, sending droplets flying. georgie keeps running, and we keep following.

we arrive at an entrance. in the middle of the large room ahead of us was a pile of... stuff. old stuff, stacked on top of each other, soaring high. we walk further down the sewer until i spot something floating in the air, a few feet away from the pile. it was beverly.
"beverly!" bill shouts. her head tilts backwards, and her arms hand loosely by her sides. bill jumps up in attempt to grab onto her ankle, but he misses. i walk forward as bill runs up to an upturned chair. i stare at beverly, as she hangs in the air, eerily. bills head snaps up as the muffled sound of children's laughter fills the air. bill turns to look at me, before glancing up at bev.
"i'll come back for you, bev." he says to the girls limp body. we wander around the side of the pile, shining our torches around. we come to a cement hole, where a small trail of water flows into it, down into the darkness. behind the hole, stands georgie. i inhale a sharp breath, as my eyes drag down to his missing arm.
"georgie..." bill whimpers, as our pained brother begins to walk towards us.
"what took you so long?" georgie asks, his voice broken.
"we were looking for you this whole time." bill says, grabbing my hand. i clutch it, my shaking hand making both our hands shake.
"i couldn't find my way outta here." georgie cries. in his one arm, he has a firm grip on the paper boat bill made him. "it said i could have my boat back." bill laughs slightly.
"was she fast?" he asks, looking at georgia's face in absolute despair.
"i couldn't keep up with it." georgie mumbles. bill exhales.
"'she', georgie. you call boats 'she'." he replies.
"take me home, kitty kat." georgie says, turning to me. i shake my head. i hear the group crowd around us.
"i wanna go home, billy!" georgie begins to cry. "i miss you! i wanna be with mom and dad!"
"i want more than anything for you to be home, with m-mom and dad, and kat. i miss you so much." bill lets go of my hand, taking a step forward.
"i love you, billy. i love you, kitty kat." georgie whimpers.
"i love you too." bill and i say in unison. bill raises the gun up to georgie's forehead and i gasp, covering my mouth with my hands. georgie cries, tears rolling down his dirty face.
"but you're not georgie." bill finally says. he pulls the trigger, and georgie's body goes limp. he falls to the ground. i stare at him. nobody says anything. we all keep our eyes locked on georgie's dead body on the floor. i turn to face my friends, and i see bev standing with them. i open my mouth to say something, but a noise interrupts me.

i spin back around to see georgie's corpse shaking on the ground, an ugly sound coming out of his mouth. he begins to scream, as red pom poms grow out of his dark green wellies. a new arm begins to grow out of his stump, as his body still violently shivers on the ground. a growl leaks out of his throat, and his muddy clothes begin to turn into something else. he goes still, before his arms grow five sizes bigger. his legs do the same, and i realise that it's the clown. it sits up, its head drooping down. it rotates it's ankles so that it standing up.
"kill it bill! kill it!" eddie begins to scream. the clown turns its horrifying face towards us, and i watch in dread as the pupils of it's eyes roll from the back of its head. it grins it's grin, as the others scream at him to kill it. bill loads the gun, and raises it to the clowns forehead.
"hey! it's not loaded!" mike cries, but bill doesn't hear him.
"bill, it's not loade-" i start, but bill pulls the trigger. this sends the clown into hysterics, as it's face spasms. it throws its head back, shooting blood into the air. it screams, vigorously swinging its arms back and forth. it turns back us, and we all scram. i quickly dive behind richie. it jumps onto bill, and he attempts to defend himself with the metal gun. the clown takes the gun in his mouth, growling.
"leave him alone!" bev cries, and raises a spike up to the clowns head. it turns towards her, grabbing the spike and launching it to the side. mike runs forward, but the clown sends him backwards. he hits the pile with a harsh crack, and he falls to the floor. bill gets on the clowns back, puts the metal of the spike against the clowns neck. it spins around in circles. richie climbs on top of bill, cursing as he does so. stan and ben grab an arm each. the clown throws stan to the side, and he rolls into the wall.
"stan!" i yell, running over to him. i help him up, and he grabs my hand, interlocking our fingers. my hand seems to stop shaking slightly. the clown throws richie off his back, and bill follows him. it grabs bill by the neck, and pulls him close to his body.
"bill!" i cry, as the clown looks evilly at us. "let him go!" i shout at the clown. it shakes it head.
"no. i'll take him. i'll take all of you! and i'll feast on your flesh as i feed on your fear." it raises its index finger, and shakes it violently. "oooor... you'll just leave us be." it strokes bills face.
"i'll take him. only him. and then i will have my looonnnggg rest, and you will live to grow and thrive, and lead haaapppyyy lives, until old age takes you back to the weeds." the clown grumbles, and bill raises his face from its chest.
"leave. i'm the one who dragged you all into this, i'm s-s-s-o sorry." he says, his voice weak.
"s-s-s-sorry." the clown mimics bill, and laughs a gruff and old laugh.
"go!" bill pushes.
"guys! we can't." bev pleads. richie gets up, his eyes locked on bill and the clown.
"i told you, bill. i fucking told you. i don't wanna die. it's your fault." richie begins to walk towards the pile. "you punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a fucking crackhead house! and now," he pulls a baseball bat from out of the pile. "i'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown."

the clown drops bill, and charges towards richie.
"welcome to the losers club, asshole!" richie yells, swinging the bat at the beast. he hits it on the head, and it stumbles back. mike attempts to hit it with a metal bar, but the clown opens its mouth wide, blackened hands reaching out and grabbing the bar. they grab at mike's face, bill hits the arms, and it turns towards bill. it's face morphs into the woman's, and it runs towards him. i pull stan to the side, before reaching behind me and picking up mikes discarded metal bar. i hit the clowns back, and it yells. it whips its head towards me, and in the blink of an eye, it's face mirrors mine. i take a step back, and raise my metal bar. it starts towards me. before i can hit it, stan violently whacks the clown round the head with a stick. the clown knocks mike to the ground, and his arms turn to insect ones. mike rolls along, as the clown repeatedly misses him.

ben runs up behind it, and stabs it in the back. blood spurts out, but the thing isn't dead. it turns its head towards ben, and shifts into a mummy-like creature. it wraps its bandages around bens head, pulling his closer and closer.  bill picks up a chain that was lying on the floor, and whips it down onto the clown. we all hit it with our weapons, and it falls to the floor. it turns into eddies leper, and decides to throw up black vomit all over him. eddie gags slightly, before scrambling up.
"my moms gonna kill you!" he screeches, before kicking it in the face. the clown rolls over, and looks up at bev. his face is somewhat normal, a man.
"hey bevvie. are you still my little-" before it could continue, bev shoves her spike down its throat. the face of the clown slowly grows back over the mans face, as it makes a choking sound. it spits out the metal bar, spraying saliva everywhere.
"holy shit!" i yell. the clown falls back onto its bum, and behinds to shuffle away from us. we close in, and it's back hits the cement hole. it cries out, its head shakes uncontrollably. it gasps for breath and stares at us. it begins to laugh.
"that's why you didn't kill beverly... 'cause s-s-s-she wasn't afraid." bill speaks up, stepping towards the clowns shaking body. it begins to cry.
"and we aren't either. not anymore. now you're the one whose afraid." bill says, glaring at the clown. "because you're gonna starve." the clown turns its head away from us, and throws itself into the hole. it's arms drape over the side, holding it up.
"he thrusts his hands against the post, and still insists he sees the ghost. he thrusts his hands against the p-p-p-post..." the clown mumbles, and stan hands bill a metal bar. as bill raises the bar to give one final hit on the clown, it slides down the hole further. its head begins to peel away, as it keeps its eyes locked on us.
"fear." was the last word the clown ever uttered to us. it fell down the hole, leaving pieces of its head floating in the air.
"i know what i'm doing for my summer experience essay." richie breathes. bill and bev hug, and i turn to stan. he wraps his arms around my waist, and i clamp mine around his neck. we stay like that for a few seconds, before pulling away.
"hey guys. guys! the kids are floating down..." eddie says, and i spin around to see the many missing kids, all floating down from their spot in the air. bill steps forwards. he walks towards a upturned baby pram, and drops his metal bar. he bends down and picks up a yellow coat.
georgie's coat. 
i shuffle up behind him, as he opens the coat and i see my fathers handwriting scrawled on the label. bill starts to cry, and i wrap my arms around him. the others join our hug, and we stay there for a while, just listening to bills sobs.