sugarcoat it | bill denbrough

chapter seven: the sewers

"God, ew," I say.

"You guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee," Eddie glares. Richie holds up a stick that's been in the water to his nose.

"Rich what are you doing?" I ask.

"Yeah Neva, are you serious, Rich? Are you serious? What are you doing?"

"It doesn't smell like caca to me Señor," Richie says in a terrible Spanish accent.

"I can smell that from here," Eddie says.

"Smell what?" I ask, rolling my eyes, "just come in."

"I can smell it," Eddie insists.

"It's probably your breath wafting back into your face," Richie laughs.

"Uugh. Have you ever heard of a staph infection?" Eddie screeches.

"Oh, I'll show you a staph infection," Richie says.

"Oh my God this is so unsanitary. You're literally- This is literally like swimming inside a toilet bowl right now, I mean have you ever heard of listeria?" Eddie stammers, Richie leans down and picks up a wet rag from the dirty water, grinning, and thrusts it at Eddie.

"Nooohhh!" He screams, dodging so he isn't hit. "Are you serious? That's DISGUSTING! Are you retarded? I mean- you're the reason why we're in this position right now, cause you're-"

"Guys!" I exclaim, looking over to Bill, he's leaning over something in the water. Everyone becomes quiet and looks at him. "What is it, Bill?" I ask. He stands up, holding a single wet sneaker. Everyone goes quiet.

"Shit. Don't tell me that's..." Stan's voice trails off, like he's scared to say Georgie.

"G-G-Georgie wore galoshes."

"Well then who's sneaker is it?" Asks Richie.

"It's Betty Ripsom's," I say, pointing to the sharpie written B. Ripsom on the inside of the shoe.

"Shit. Oh God." Eddie says, "oh FUCK! I don't like this." He takes a puff off his inhaler and sits down.

"How do you think Betty feels? Running around these tunnels with one friggin shoe?!" Richie hops on one foot and giggles.

"Not the time Richieeee, " I say under my breath in an exasperated, singsongy way.

"What if she's still here?" Asks Stan, eyes glued on the white sneaker in Bill's hand.

"Oh, FUCK," Eddie says, out of breath.

"Ed it'll be okay," I walk over to him and touch his arm.

"Nothing about this is okay, Neva. NOTHING. I'm having a- I'm having a fucking asthma attack right now Nevada does this look okay!?" He yells.

"Jesus, Kasprack." Richie says.

"My mom would have an aneurism if she knew we were playing down here okay? I'm serious." Eddie sputters.

"C'mon guys," Bill gestures to the tunnel, wanting us to go further in with him.

"Yeah, let's look for Betty," I say.

"Are you kidding?" Stan asks angrily.

"Stan," I saw softly, pleading him to go along with Bill. Are they forgetting he lost his brother just a few months ago?

"You think we should keep going, Bill?" I ask softly.

"If I were Betty Ripsom, I'd want us to find her. G-G-Georgie, too."

"What if I don't wanna find her?" Asks Eddie, he's finally caught his breath.

"Eddie, really?" I ask.

"I mean, no offense Bill, but I don't wanna end up like Georgie," he finishes.

"Eddie are you kidding me? Why are you even here then?" I ask angrily, balling my fists and glaring at him. "Come on guys, just leave him there." I pivot and begin splashing deeper into the tunnel, Bill grabs my shoulder as I walk by him, stopping me.

"Nevie, it's fine," he says softly, and pauses. "I get it."

I look at Bill, my eyes full of tears, "it's not fine, I'm not fine, you're not fine, and Georgie isn't fine."

"Yeah?" Eddie says. "Well, I don't wanna go missing."

"Eddie!" I shout in exasperation, my voice echoing through the tunnels, I turn to Bill and he looks like he's about to cry.

"He has a point," Stan says, my stomach drops.

" Y-you too?" Bill asks, his voice full of disappointment. I put my arm around him and bury my face into his shoulder.

"It's summer," Stan continues, "we're supposed to be having fun. This isn't fun, this is scary and disgusting-"

Just then, we hear a crunching in the leaves. A boy comes tumbling down the slope, into the water. Ben, the new kid. He tries to stand up and that's when we all see he's covered in blood. He falls again.