More Than The Upside Down - An IT (2017) & Stranger Things Crossover

The Body

Bill

Bill and the others rushed to Eleven as Mike crouched beside her. He could see tears forming in her eyes and he couldn't help but feel a deep pang of care for his friend. Eleven was apologising to Mike now and Bill could tell she was one more word away from sobbing.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Mike asked gently.

"The gate. I opened it," Eleven mustered. "I'm the monster."

"No. No El, you're not the monster." Mike looked down at her with adoring eyes. "You saved me, do you hear me? You saved me."

The two pulled each other into a hug with Dustin joining in.

"Holy shit," Richie muttered with relief before reaching into the hug.

One by one, Bill, Stan, Cassie and Eddie all connected themselves to the hug as well. Bill's heart swelled with a warmth that was a mixture of hope and joy. He hadn't felt this happy and relieved in weeks. His fingertips tingled with the rush of adrenaline that had joined the warmth. These were people that loved him, cared for him. Bill swore to himself that he wouldn't let anybody harm them, ever again.

But this didn't last for long though. To the far side of his vision, Bill saw the body of a small boy lying to the far distance, non-responsive. He could instantly recognise the yellow raincoat and dark brown hair and his heart shattered in an instant.

"GEORGIE!" Bill screamed in agony, racing over to his brother's body.

He cradled the younger boy to his chest and began to sob horrifically. Releasing the buried feelings of pain, loss and hopelessness. Seeing Georgie's body made Bill sob so hysterically that he couldn't even breathe. Bill cried out his brother's name, hoping by some chance that this was all some sort of sick joke. That Georgie could still be alive.

He felt hands pull him away from the body and he struggled to escape their grasp.

"Let go of me!" He cried out. "Tha-Tha-That's G-G-Georgie!"

"Bill, you need to calm down, please. Think logically." Bill heard Eddie's voice break beside his shoulder.

Bill felt more tears began to fall out of his eyes as they grew more rapidly by the minute. "Th-Think logically? Th-Th-That's my f-f-fucking brother!"

Bill finally broke free before running back to Georgie's body as he continued to sob. Finally, an invisible force pulled him back and he couldn't move an inch. He looked to the side to see Eddie staring at him with a heavy tone of empathy in his eyes.

"Bill, that's not Georgie," Eddie began. "Look at his body."

He obeyed his friend and looked down to see the scratch marks that he had subconsciously created on Georgie's arms. Instead of more flesh or perhaps blood appearing beneath the broken skin, there was fluff. His eye's widened as shock sent his body numb, but he had to do something about this.

"L-L-Let me go," Bill ordered Eddie.

"Can I trust you?" Eddie replied.

Bill nodded and ran to the knife that Troy had discarded. He walked back to Georgie's body and cut a line along the arm. Fluff surfaced at the top of the "skin" and he stared at it.

"W-W-What the f-f-fu-" He began to say.

Before he could say anything else, the body was being dragged into the forest by something Bill couldn't see. He started to run after Georgie but was stopped once again, this time by Stan and Cassie.

"We need to stick together, just like you said yourself," Stan reasoned.

Cassie added onto Stan's statement, "We need to make sure that everyone else is alright as well."

Bill solemnly allowed them to drag him back out of the forest and towards Dustin's basement. As they walked, the sun decorated the sky with pinks, blues, reds, purples and yellows, as it began to set. Bill used this as a distraction from the distressing scene of Georgie's "body" but that didn't stop one thought repeating itself over and over in his head. Wherever the real Georgie is, I hope he can still experience as beautiful sunsets like these.