FOURTY-THREE: You'll Float Too
Words: 1285 (including non-story related words such as these)
Author's Note: so because of my crippling writers block, this took way too long to write BUT thanks to a very amazing user Love_yourself_girlie, who gave me a really good idea on how to continue on with this plot, my writer mindset is back so just a special thanks to them and i hope you enjoyy this chapter!
***
Three was not the charm.
Instead of entering a path that lead him on the right way, Eddie had wounded up being met with a dead end.
"Shit!" Eddie yelled in anger.
Then in a burst of a fit of rage, he began to kick at the shelves and continued to scream.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"
His voice echoed and echoed into nothingness and his foot ached from kicking. His throat felt thinner than ever and he was growing more and more breathless than ever.
He looked around himself and began to laugh.
He laughed in an almost delirious manner. Laughter turned into hysterics and soon he was howling with mad laughter.
He slumped against the dead end shelf and slowly began to slide to the floor, still wheezing.
"You got me!" He called out to nobody in particular, still laughing madly. "You got me, you son of a bitch! Got me, you did! You got me!"
He looked around himself once more and began laughing even harder.
He had realized now that he was never going to make it out of this maze of drugstore shelves. That door with the 'EXIT' sign had probably been a hoax. Nothing but a joke.
Just like he was, he guessed. What a joke. Thinking he could actually beat a maze made by It. He must've been the biggest joke in the universe.
Look at me, biggest baby and biggest joke of all.
"Fuck you, you lunatic!" Eddie continued to laugh deliriously. His laughter echoed and the echo's laughter mingled with his. "You can come over and kill me now but I think you'd find it more entertaining if I died suffocating! Wouldn't ya?! Ya would, wouldn't ya, you sick freak!"
He continued to laugh until tears streamed down his face and he could feel his lungs and throat hurt physically.
"Piece of shit." He managed to wheeze out, feeling his head and eyes getting heavy. He leaned back and closed his eyes. "Yeah, I'll just die here, I guess. Fuck you."
He was growing drowsier and drowsier and he knew he was dying. Yup. He was dying alright.
He was still laughing though, a smile on his face.
Eddie imagine his funeral if his body was ever found. Creepy, it would be for sure. A smiling corpse in a coffin...
***
When the haze disappeared, Ali opened her eyes.
Tears poured down her face when she saw where she was.
She was back in the white void. That white, empty void.
'No!' Ali screamed out. 'No! No! No!'
She looked around and realized it wasn't that same white void she had been in earlier. Beverly wasn't there anymore and there were...clouds.
Yes, that's what they were. Clouds.
There were grey clouds surrounding her and she somehow felt higher. She didn't know what it was but she felt as if she were levitating. Hovering above and she was higher than ever.
'Take me back!' Ali demanded to nobody in particular but the void. 'Take me back right now!'
'But I can't take you back, Ali-Bee.' A voice replied.
It was the voice of It.
'Bullshit!' Ali screamed. 'Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! Take me the fuck back now! Right the fuck now!'
'I can't take you back, Ali-Bee.' It repeated. It was almost giggling like a child. 'I can't take you back until you float, Ali-Bee. You need to float. Float with us. All your friends are floating with us and even if they're not, you'll make new ones. We all float down here. Beverly floats too. Georgie floats. So do Ed Corcoran and Betty Ripsom. Patrick wants to say sorry to you and he wants to float with you too. Come. Float with us.'
Ali opened her mouth to say something but before she could, she noticed she could feel something. She could feel herself, somehow slipping away. Slipping out of her body.
Like her mind and soul were detaching it selves from her body.
She was going to float. Just like It had told her she would.
And she couldn't stop It.
Knowing nothing else to do, she urged all the control of herself she had left and screamed.
'Help!'
And she was floating.
***
Eddie's eyes fluttered open.
The scream of help echoed and bounced into his ears. Now he was sure it was Ali.
He sat up in a single motion and stood up, eyes wide open and alarmed.
"Ali?!" He yelled. No reply. "Ali! Where are you?! Are you okay?! Ali!"
Suddenly, a burst of anger and rage flew through his mind.
He stared at the shelves.
He ran towards one in full speed, his foot out and eyes closed.
He kicked at it with all his might. No pain came but when he opened his eyes, there was a big dent in the metal.
The sight of the dent only made him angrier though and he continued to kick and swing at it. He closed his eyes shut and continued to do so. It didn't even hurt him.
In his mind, he recited 'Not real. Not real. Not fucking real.'
Suddenly on his fifth kick, he kicked at nothing but air.
He almost lost his balance at this sudden disappearance of shelf and almost toppled to the ground.
He opened his eyes and was surprised but not shocked to see that he was back in the sewers. The maze was gone.
He began to run through the greywater until he slipped.
He stumbled and landed in the dirty sewage water.
His germaphobe instincts came back and he found himself gagging at the stench and sight.
"Eddie!" He heard a familiar voice.
He turned around and almost cried when he was met with Richie Tozier. Stanley Uris, Ben Hanscom and Mike Hanlon trailed behind him.
But the relief in his chest deflated when he didn't see Ali Sumner among the crew.
"Where's Ali?!" He yelled. "Is she not with you?!"
Richie ran towards him and Ben and Mike followed. Only Stan didn't move. He was staring at something above.
"We don't know." Mike said as calmly as he could as Richie helped Eddie to his feet. "Isn't she with you? What about Beverly and Bill? You haven't seen them."
"Unh-uh." Eddie shook his head frantically. "Where is she?"
"Guys..." Stanley said, his voice as quiet as a whisper.
"Now now, Stan." Richie said, fiddling wit hhis fingers nervously. "God-fucking-dammit. Why do we suck so much at this? Stay together. Only rule for fuck's sake..."
"Guys." Stanley repeated, his voice only slightly louder than before.
"Now now, Stan." Richie repeated too. "I mean, don't split up. That was all we needed to do. For fuck's sake. If I ever have to do this again, I sure as hell ain't doing it with you asshats."
"Yeah?" Eddie snapped. "Well, you're not too bright yourself, Trashmouth. Now will you quit blabbing? We gotta find Ali and Bev and Bill."
"Guys!" Stanley yelled finally.
"What?!" All four of them turned to look at Stanley.
Stan was staring at something above them with a frozen horror in his eyes.
"Look..."
Mike, Ben, Eddie and Richie looked.
They gasped.
Above them were Ali and Beverly.
And they were floating in the air.