Lyds had never been more scared in her life than on the bike ride to the Neibolt House. Not even with her arms wrapped around Eddie and her head resting softly against his back as he pedalled did she feel safe.
Billie had always been the glue that held their little group of misfits together, he was the leader, he was the boy who knew all of her secrets and who was her best friend. Without him there, even with Eddie, and Stan, and Richie, the freckled girl felt as if she was in harms way already.
"You're shaking." Eddie whispered, his voice was almost lost in the wind.
"What if he's gone Eddie? What if we lose him?" Her lip quivered, "With all of the shit the clown's been making me see, I don't know what's real anymore. What if he really is dead and I still see him?"
"Bill's gonna be okay."
"What about us?" She asked, not exactly sure what she meant by it herself.
(If I see one high school musical reference I'm deleting my account 😂)
"I'm scared shitless if I'm honest with you Lyds." Eddie spoke, unsure if he was talking about the clown, or the obvious spark he'd felt between him and his best friend. "But we've got each other to keep us safe. We're a team, right?"
The young girl nodded, she meekly reached forwards and placed her hand over Eddie's which rested on the steering bars, "We always have been."
(AHhh I ship them so fucking much)
When the losers reached Neibolt Street, nobody spoke. All any of them could do was keep their eyes trained on the crack house where Bill was. Where that fucking clown was, no doubt waiting to kill them all.
"Please don't be dead Billie." Lyds mumbled
Thankfully, when the seven friends pulled up outside the Neibolt house, all of them throwing their bikes to the ground, even Stan. Bill was just walking up the porch steps, it looked like they'd arrived just in time.
"You're okay." Lyds whispered to nobody but herself the second she laid her eyes on her younger friend.
"Bill, you can't go in there! This is crazy!" Beverly called out to him
"Look, you don't have to come in with me. But what happens when another Georgie goes missing? Or another Betty? Or another Eddie Corcoran? Or another Mr Greystone? Or one of us? Are you just going to act like this isn't happening like everyone else in this town? Because I can't." Tears began to fall down his red cheeks, and all any of the losers wanted to do was walk over there and hug him.
"I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there. His clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals... So walking into this house, for me, it's easier than walking into my own."
Everyone watched in admiration as Bill turned to the battered and rotting door, and he prepared himself to go inside, with or without his friends.
"Wow." Richie said
"What?"
"He didn't stutter once."
"Bill wait!" Lyds was the first of her friends to step forwards, "This thing, whatever it is, it killed my Dad. I don't know how I know, but I do, I can feel it. It hurts to breathe without thinking about it, and I know you feel the same way. So I'm with you, all the way. If you wanna go in there and fight that thing, then so will I."
"Wow it must suck to be you Eddie." Richie snorted
"Why?"
"Because we all know if she's going in there then you are too."
"All of us are." Lyds shot Richie a glare, "That means your pasty ass too."
Richie rolled his eyes but still he smiled fondly at the short girl. With a sigh, he threw an arm around her small frame and together they followed Bill up the porch steps towards the unknown.
Everyone else seemed to follow too, all except for Stan. "Wait, uh... Shouldn't we have some people keep watch? You know just in case something bad happens?"
"Wh-Who wants to stay outside?"
One by one, everyone but Beverly and Lyds raised their hands. Each one of them was desperate not to go in there, but from the second Lyds turned and stared at Eddie's raised hand, he knew he was screwed.
Richie was right, of course he was right. If Lyds was going in there, then Eddie had to too. Quite frankly he cared too much to let her go.
"Fuck." Richie cussed.
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With a cry, the door was pushed open, letting daylight flood inside after what looked like years without it. The entire place was covered with cobwebs and dirt, and other stuff that Lydia couldn't quite identify, she didn't understand how all of the junkies and hobos could have stayed there for so long.
"I can't believe I pulled the short straw." Richie grumbled, "You guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks."
"Either way you'd still lose and end up here."
"Ouch, Lyds."
"Shut up Richie." Eddie said, "Can you smell that?"
"Don't breathe through your mouth."
"Why not?"
"Because then you're eating it."
Instantly, Eddie began to gag and pulled his inhaler out of his fanny pack, and despite the entire situation, Lyds still smiled at him.
"Are you okay?" She grabbed the side of his hand.
"I'm fine." He unintentionally slipped his fingers through her own, so they really were holding hands.
"Richie?" Billie's voice rang out, "What is it?"
The two friends turned to where Billie and Richie stood, with a look on his face that could only be described as pure terror, Richie held up a crinkled sheet of paper.
"It says I'm missing." His voice shook
"You're not missing Richie."
"That's my shirt! That's my hair! That's my face! That's my name! That's my age! That's the date! That's the date!
"Richie, calm down!"
"I'm gonna go missing! I'm gonna go missing! Holy fuck!"
That was the moment it occurred to Lyds, that unlike her and the rest of their friends, Richie had never encountered the clown or even come remotely close to it. It was all she could think about when he began to scream and cry, she remembered feeling the exact same way when she thought Eddie had died right before her very eyes.
"Richie! You're not missing!" The older girl suddenly grabbed his hand with her free one, "You're right here, you're with us Rich."
"It's not real Richie." Bill told him, "It's playing tricks on you."
With a nod, the brown haired boy fell against Lyds body and he didn't cry, he didn't even move. He just leaned into her shoulder, seeking some kind of comfort in his friend. And the entire time Eddie still didn't let go of her hand.
"It's okay Rich." She whispered, "You're here."
Before anything else could be said, a noise that sounded as if someone was calling out to them echoed across the entire house. The four friends immediately stopped what they were doing and stared up at the ceiling.
"Hello?"
Silently, they all walked towards the staircase. And the noises grew louder.
"Help me, please!"
With each step up the stairs, it seemed as if the noises in the house were growing louder and louder until they were almost unbearable, but then again it could've been the voices in their heads telling them turn around and run.
When they finally reached the second floor of the house, the first thing they saw was the outline of a girl lay across the ground behind a doorway. They could only see the top half of her body, but the second the young girl turned her head they knew exactly who she was.
"Betty?" Bill asked
"Ripsom?" Richie added
Before any of the group could reach out to help her, she was suddenly dragged across the ground and out of sight. A blood curling scream escaped her throat.
"W-We're a team, right Lyds?" Eddie gulped
"We're a team Eds." She squeezed his hand
And then they let each other go, when really they should've held on tighter.
Before the young girl knew it, she found herself stood beside Richie and Billie in the room where Betty should've been. The room where they had just seen her, she was supposed to be there.
"She was just here. Where the fuck did she go?
"Yeah, it's almost like she wasn't here in the first place. It's like..." that was the moment it all clicked in Lydia's mind, "It wasn't real. It tricked us! It's a fucking trap!"
Quickly, Lyds spun on her heel to regain Eddie's hand in her time of need, only instead she saw the door swing shut behind them, with her best friend on the other side.
"No!" She screamed, and threw herself against the door, "Eddie! Fuck, Eddie! No!"
"Guys!" Eddie yelled on the other side of the door, "What the fuck?"
"Eddie! Open the door! Come on!" She pleaded
It was only when Eddie didn't reply that Lyds noticed how quiet the room had fallen, and when she turned around she knew exactly why.
The blonde girl was no longer in the same room as Richie and Billie, she was in a different one altogether.
"What the fuck?"
It was dark, too dark to see, but suddenly the lights flickered on and she was met with an ungodly sight.
Lay side by side on the ground, both covered in dirt and blood, was Eddie and Mr Greystone.
Her dad was missing his arm, the same arm that they'd found inside the car wreck, and he was missing a sizeable chunk from both his right leg and his stomach. His once ocean blue eyes had become a milky colour, and his skin had almost rotted away.
Whereas Eddie looked as he always did, his brown hair was combed back perfectly, and the freckles that Lyds loved dearly were still scattered across his cheeks.
But his eyes, the same eyes that the young girl found herself getting lost in, were just like her father's, a milky white colour. Lifeless.
"No..." her body shook
It was ironic really, in a moment like that all she wanted to do was be held by Eddie, not hold his corpse in her arms.
"You bastard!" She yelled, "You took them! You killed them both!"
Her body shook with sobs and brokenly, she fell to to her knees in between the two people she had cared about most. Dead.
"They were all I cared about you! You killed them! You killed them..."
Slowly, both her Father and Eddie's bodies began to float towards the ceiling, all Lydia could do was watch with tears in her eyes.
"No. You killed them, you killed them, you killed them..." she repeated over and over again.
"And now!" An upbeat voice spoke form behind her, its hands grasped her shoulders, and without having to look Lyds knew exactly what was behind her.
"You can join them Lyds! You'll float too!"