IMPULSE {Richie Tozier}

32

As soon as the boy had discovered their friend's disappearance, they were quick to jump into action.

Bill and Richie even made up, deciding that their friend's lives were far more important than their pathetic little feud. Richie apologized for being so rude about the whole ordeal, and Bill apologized for ruining everyone's summer. Which wasn't really true considering they all came closer than ever because of everything.

Shit went down faster than expected though. As soon as they started climbing down the wells, Henry Bowers showed up.

The boys were helpless when the older boy started beating on Mike. However, somehow, in some way, Mike made it out alive. Henry didn't. From there, they lost sight of Stan. So here they are now, desperately trying to find the boy.

"Stan!" Richie calls out loudly for the tenth time, his voice echoes and bounce off the walls. "Stan, please—"

"STAN?!"

Finally, the boy comes into sight. However, standing over the boy is a deformed woman that causes all the losers to come to a halt. They are frozen in fear, but as they inch closer, the figure inches away.

"Stan, holy shit!" Richie gasps, Eddie is the first to rush to the shaking boy.

Stan is shaking and crying, murmuring incoherent sentences all while Richie attempts to calm him down. The boy can't stop crying.

"You left me! You're not my friends! You made me come to this house—" sobs escape the curly headed boy's lips as he hugs tightly onto Richie.

"No! We would never leave you!" Richie insists, hugging him tightly. The rest of the losers join the hug.

Bill is quick to follow after the monster as it larks away.

"Where's bill?!" Ben calls, noticing the boy's disappearance. Everyone stands quickly, following Ben down the rest of the pipe. Stan reluctantly follow along, still shaken up.

As they emerge into an open chamber, they're met with the sight of a mountain of old toys and they eerie feeling of death.

"Bev...?" Ben calls lightly, noticing the girls dangling feet.

The rest of the boys turn their attention, to the girl floating above them. Even further above the strawberry blonde is even more bodies— or parts of bodies. They assume the limbs belong to previous victims of the clown.

"W-Where's Ivy?!" Richie asks with a tone of desperation. Panic overwhelms him as she is no where in sight. Not even in the air.

"We can look for her after we get Bev—"

"No!" Richie cuts Ben off, beginning to panic. "We have to look for her now! We have to!"

The losers were at a loss. Should they get Bev, or should they find Ivy?

"How about we split up?" Mike suggests.

Stan shakes his head immediately. Clearly, splitting up was not the way to handle situations. They were all at a cross roads. Ivy is no where to be seen, Bev could possibly be dead, and who knows where Bill could be.

"Fine," Richie utters, swallowing the lump in his throat, "we get Bev. Then, we find Bill. We have to all be together to get Ivy back, we'll need as much help as we can get." Eddie stares at him surprised. For once, Richie was being rational and not an incompetent asshole.

Quickly, the losers find a way to get Bev down.

Once she is down, they are met with a feeling of dread. She looked to be dead. Frozen in a state of terror.

"Wake up! Beverly, wake up!" Ben desperately begs, placing his hands on the girl's shoulders. The losers look away in sadness, upset that they didn't get to her sooner. Ben's crying is only making matters worse. "Please!," he desperately shouts.

Much to their surprise, Ben leans forward and plants a quick kiss to the girl's lips as an attempt to wake her.

Nothing happens.

An awkward silence falls over them.

Then, suddenly, the girl wakes with a long sharp breath. The boys look up with surprise, Ben smiles with relief.

"January embers?..." Bev whispers softly to Ben. He smiles with tears in his eyes.

"My heart burns there, too."

Meanwhile, Bill is having a bit of his own emotional war.

Georgie is stood there in front of him, and he feels a mixture of relief and pure sadness. As much as he wanted it to be real, he knew deep down that he wasn't. Georgie Denbrough is dead. He realized this when he failed to address their ship as she.

"I wanna go home!" Georgie cries desperately.

Bill sniffles, tightening his grip around the bolt gun. "I want so badly for you to come home. For all of us to be together again.."

"I love you, Billy.."

As Bill walks towards the smaller boy, the losers slowly appear behind him. They quietly observe the scene, feeling guilty for Bill. The clown would not stop taunting him. It's different now though. Bill will not fall for it.

"...I love you too...but you aren't Georgie." With that, he lifts the bolt gun to the boy's skull and pulls the trigger.

The small boy's face makes a look of despair before falling back onto the hard ground. A sobs shakes Bill's body as he is forced to stare at the image of his dead little brother. Bill isn't given the amount of emotional time to heal before the body starts stretching and shifting grossly. What once was his little brother is now the clown that has been ruining his summer.

"WHERE'S IVY YOU PIECE OF SHIT CLOWN?!" Richie screams, anger engulfing him.

The clown only grins in response.

"She was a threat," it mockingly says, "so I got rid of her."

Richie's heart drops. Everyone else's to.

"KILL IT!" Eddie cries, wanting everything to just end. Richie can't move. He can't think. He can't feel. Everything around him is a blur.

"Bill, kill it!" Bev shouts in agreement.

"It's not loaded..." Mike mumbles, realizing their situation.

"Kill it!" Stan urges, "shoot it, bill!"

"ITS NOT LOADED!" Mike tries yelling over the teens, but it's too late. Bill tries shooting the gun anyway, the only result being the loud clank of metal.

Is Ivy really dead?

Richie can't help to repeat the thought, ignoring the chaos around him.

The clown smirks. The losers go quiet.

It's body begins to shape and shift into purely terrifying angles. As he trudges towards the bunch, they all split. Except Bill, who falls back in a heap. The clown hovers over him, preparing to feast. It's teeth are instead met with the bolt gun that Bill has thrown up to shield him.

"LET HIM GO!" Bev shouts, ready to storm towards the entity.

"No!," it argues, "I'll take him! I'll take all of you."

Richie's head is spinning. She can't be dead, she just can't be. Tears are welling in his eyes, making it hard to see through his glasses.