Bill Denbrough waited patiently in the Derry town park for Beverly Marsh to arrive. The two of them had planned to hang out, to perhaps discuss how they would rekindle the friendships of the Loser's club. Once he'd waited for half an hour, Bill grew worrisome.
He rode towards Beverly's house.
Approaching the front door, he found the lock had been forced open and parts of the wood had been splintered. Bill immediately pushed past the half-opened door and into the house, looking for any sign of Bev.
He found the living room empty, with a table knocked over from when Beverly and her father had fought. The Denbrough boy's heart raced.
"Beverly?" He called out, hoping to receive an answer.
He made his way towards Beverly's room and stopped only when the Marsh's bathroom came into view. Bill stopped in his tracks, hardly able to move a muscle in his body. There, bleeding out on the tile floor, was Beverly's father.
Bill ran to Bev's room, hoping to find her alive and well, and was greeted by a terrible and murderous taunt written on the wall. Written in blood across Beverly's ceiling and walls was the phrase 'You die if you try'.
Bill began to hyperventilate, nearly crying right then and there. The clown had abducted Beverly. He needed to save her, he needed to end this once and for all.
"Beverly!" He screamed as he ran out of the Marsh house and to his bike out front. Bill rode his bike as fast as he could, nearly bailing twice, straight to the Derry town center.
The Denbrough boy stopped out front of the Derry arcade, where he knew Richie Tozier would be spending his afternoon. He dropped his bike and swung the doors open, finding Richie playing a Capcom game of Streetfighter.
"Richie!" Bill yelled as he ran towards the shorter boy.
"What do you want?" Richie scoffed, keeping his attention fixated on his game. "See that guy I'm hitting? I'm pretending it's you."
"I-I-IT got Beverly." Bill stuttered, still trying to catch his breath from all of his running and biking.
"What are you talking about?"
"IT, Richie!" Bill exclaimed, "IT got Beverly."
Richie took his hands off of the joysticks and thought for a moment. He turned towards his old friend and sighed.
Eddie Kaspbrak and Mia Bowers were sat at Eddie's kitchen table. It was a miracle that Mrs. Kaspbrak let Mia come in, but she was cunning and very persuasive. The two of them were eating bowls of cereal and drinking orange juice.
In other words, she put the charm on and made Mrs. Kaspbrak feel pretty for once.
"There, I think this fixes it." Mia smiled, putting the cap back on the red sharpie she'd been using. Mia had drawn a V over the S in the word Loser on Eddie's cast.
"Thanks, Mia," Eddie smiled back sadly, "you're a great... Friend."
The Kaspbrak telephone rang as the two friends smiled at one another. Eddie stood up from his seat and made his way towards the phone, picking it up with his only working arm.
"Hello?"
Eddie's expression immediately changed as he listened to the speaker on the line. Mia raised her eyebrows at him, hoping he would be able to explain who it was or what they wanted.
"Okay."
"Who is it, Eds?" Mia whispered.
"We'll meet you there," Eddie whispered into the receiver. "Yeah, I'm with Mia."
Eddie hung up the phone and made a firm eye contact with Mia, one that clearly showed his fear. Whoever had been on the phone had scared Eddie half to death.
"Let's go," Eddie held out his hand towards Mia and she took it, standing up. She didn't want to ask any more questions. Mia trusted Eddie, and whatever he had to do, she would do with him.
Eddie held firmly onto Mia's hand and the two of them approached the front door of the Kaspbrak home.
"And just where do you think you're off to?" Mrs. Kaspbrak suddenly appeared, blocking the two friends from leaving the house.
"Out with my friends."
"Sweetie, you can't go. You're getting over your sickness, remember?" She pushed on.
"My sickness? Okay... What sickness, mom?" Eddie's voice became harsh in tone. Mia squeezed his hand gently.
"Eddie..." She whispered in his ear.
Eddie pulled his hand out of Mia's aggressively and reached into his fanny pack. He pulled out his pills and held them up in the air.
"You know what these are?" Eddie glared at his mother, "They're gazebos!" Eddie threw his pills onto the floor, causing the lid to break and the medication to scatter across the room. "They're bullshit!"
Mrs. Kaspbrak stared down at the pills on the hardwood and frowned. She glared at her son.
"They help you, Eddie." She tried reasoning with him. "I had to protect you."
"Protect me?" Eddie angrily chuckled, "By lying to me, by keeping me locked inside of this hell-hole?" Eddie was fuming.
"It's this girl, isn't it? She's turning you against me..." Mrs. Kaspbrak pointed at Mia. Eddie stood in front of his friend, blocking her from his mother.
"No, mom. You did that yourself." Eddie spat, "I'm sorry but the only people that were trying to protect me were my friends. And you made me turn my back on them when I really needed them. So I'm going."
Eddie grabbed Mia's hand and forcefully moved his mother out of the way, pushing the front door open and running outside.
"Eddie! Eddie, no!" Mrs. Kaspbrak yelled, following the pair out into the front yard. "You get back here this instant! Eddie!"
"I'm sorry mom, I have to go save my friends!" Eddie yelled back as he climbed onto his bike. Mia jumped on the back and the two rode off down the street.
"Don't do this to me, Eddie!" Mrs. Kapbrak cried.
The Losers club reconvened at the corner of Turner Street and Neibolt Street. Each of them had their own bike, excluding Mia who was sat on the back of Eddie's.
When Stanley arrived on the scene, everyone went quiet. Mia refused to look at him, and only tightened her grip on Eddie's waist. She worried that if the two of them made eye contact, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from crying.
With Bill Denbrough at the head of the pack, the Losers club rode towards the Neibolt house. Mike, Richie, Eddie, Mia, Stanley, Ben, and Bill were terrified, but they were determined to save their friend.
Mike had brought along his bolt gun with multiple rounds. He was ready to kill.
The group dropped their bikes on the pavement outside the gate of the house. All except for Stanley, who, of course, used his kick-stand.
Bill confidently approached the front of the Neibolt house.
"Guys, spikes," Bill exclaimed, grabbing weapons for everyone.
Eddie unbuckled his fanny pack from his hips as the Losers made their way to the front steps. He threw the fanny pack away, giving up his medication and placebos once and for all.
Richie Tozier found an empty beer bottle in the tall grass and had a brilliant idea. He picked up the glass and smashed it against the house's front railing, hoping it would make an excellent weapon. The top of the bottle shattered completely down to a nub, making Richie's weapon laughable.
"Nice one, Rich." Mia giggled.
"Shut up, Mia." He whined in response, throwing the glass back into the tall grass from whence it came.
"Mia?" Stanley whispered to her, suddenly standing directly next to her. Over the past month he's grown in height, now towering over the Bowers girl more than usual.
Mia closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists, taking a deep breath in and out. She shook her head and didn't say a word.
Mia walked off towards Bill, at the front of the pack, and the group of seven entered the eery building. Bill took the lead, as usual, with Mia just steps behind him.
For the second time that summer, Bill Denbrough was on the hunt for the demonic clown. But this time, he was more than prepared.