"OH MY God." Ash breathed, looking up at her.
"Bev!" Mike said, running towards her, Ben on his heels.
"H-how is she in the air. . ." Richie asked, trailing off as Ash tugged him towards Bev, the rest of the group behind them.
"Guys." Eddie squeaked, and they all turned towards him to see him staring openmouthed at the celing, the beam of his flashlight shining into the air.
Ash looked up, and a cry escaped her mouth. "Are those-"
"The missing kids." Stan said shakily. "Floating."
They were all gazing blankly up at the sky, obviously dead, and a shiver went down Ash's spine.
Abby was up there.
Richie gripped her fingers tighter in his. "That's fucked up."
They all slowly walked towards Bev, and boosted Ben up so he could reach her.
He tugged her down, her cotton dress softly swaying in the breeze, until her feet were firmly planted onto the ground. Bev, however, didn't move.
"Bev! Beverly!" Ben said frantically. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head, and she wasn't moving. "What's wrong with her!? Why isn't she waking up!?"
Ash watched, feeling pain at the way Ben was reacting, and she felt Richie stiffen against her.
It was a couple of seconds later that she realized this was probably the way he had felt when he was down in the well and Bowers had cornered her, unable to do anything to help protect her.
Ben had now tried to hug her, and when she still hadn't moved, he pulled away.
Ash reached a hand forward to comfort him, feeling close to crying herself, when Ben's face became steely and the next thing she knew he had leaned in and kissed Beverly firmly on the lips.
"Oh, God, geez-" Ash said, wrinkling her nose, and she heard the rest of the Losers say, "Ew."
When he pulled away, Eddie let out a "Wow."
At first, nothing happened.
And then Beverly let out a gasp, her eyes becoming clear and focused, and the Losers all heaved sighs of relief.
Her eyes found Ben. "January embers."
He grinned hesitantly. "My heart burns there too."
They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Richie said, "Jesus fuck!"
He pulled Ash into a tight embrace and wrapped his other arm around the pair as they all hugged, their bond of friendship sealing itself into a unity unlike any other.
Bev broke apart, and looked around, her forehead creasing. "Where's Bill?"
Ash glanced up too, swiveling her head around, and Bev pulled away, starting to walk past the huge piles of toys and missing kid items in the center of the room.
The rest of the Losers followed, and Ash stopped in her tracks when she saw Bill standing a couple of paces in front of her.
In front of him was a kid who looked about 6, in a yellow rain slicker and clutching a paper boat in his hand; the other was a bloody stump.
Ash realized this was Georgie.
She glanced nervously at Richie, who had seemed to have realized the same thing and was looking at Bill apprehensively, who appeared not to notice anything but Georgie.
"What took you so long?" Georgie said pitifully, and Bill said in a quavery voice, "I was looking for you this whole time."
"I couldn't find my way outta here. He said I could have my boat back."
Ash saw Bill swallow. "Was she fast?"
Georgie looked up at him, teary-eyed. "I couldn't keep up with it."
Bill paused. "Sh-she, Georgie. You call boats she."
Georgie didn't seem to notice what Bill had corrected, and moved a couple of steps closer to Bill, who was trembling slightly. "Take me home, Billy. I wanna go home! I miss you- I wanna be with mom and dad!"
Bill's voice was thick when he spoke again. "I want more than anything for you to be home."
"I love you, Billy." Georgie said pitifully, and Bill gulped, a tear sliding down his face. "I love you too."
She felt Richie flinch beside her, and she opened her mouth, getting ready to tell Bill that it wasn't real when he jerked away from the boy and pulled out Mike's gun, holding it to Georgie's head.
"But you're not Georgie."
With a short snap the spear had pierced Georgie's forehead and he gave a shudder, falling back onto the ground.
Ash slowly took a step backwards as it started convulsing; Georgie's arm growing back into place and being so disgusting Ash wanted to vomit.
Appearing instead of Georgie on the ground was Pennywise the dancing clown.
"Oh, not this bitch again." Ash groaned, and Richie's hold tightened on her hand as Pennywise slowly sat up.
Bill reloaded the gun, and yanked it back up to face the clown, determination written all over his features when Mike said, "It's not loaded."
Bill didn't seem to hear him, and Mike said loudly, "HEY, IT'S NOT LOADED!"
Bill shot the clown in the forehead again, and it seized backwards, acting as though it had been hurt, a few pieces of its forehead floating up towards the ceiling.
And then, it's head had snapped back down and it had lunged at Bill, who blocked the blow by shoving his flashlight into its mouth.
"Get away from him!" Beverly shrieked, swinging at it and hitting it on the side of its head.
The clown looked dazed for a second before spotting Ash and leaping towards her, it's teeth bared.
"DON'T TOUCH MY SOON-TO-BE GIRLFRIEND, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Richie shouted at the top of his lungs and slammed into the clown's back, throwing him off balance.
The Losers all gathered around it, lashing out at it with various objects, and then in a moment of distraction it latched itself onto Bill's arm, pulling him down as he struggled, its arm tight around his throat.
"Let him go!" Beverly said fiercely, and the clown snapped, "No! I'll take him- I'll take all of you and feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear."
He raised a finger, wagging slightly. "Orrrrr. . .you'll just leave us be. I'll take him- only him- and I will have my long rest. And you will all live to grow and thrive and lead haaappy lives until old age take you back to the weeds."
The clown was enjoying the struggle of the others, and Ash narrowed her eyebrows at him, her eyes meeting Bill's.
"Leave!" He said hoarsely. "I'm the one who dragged you all into this- I'm s-s-so sorry."
They all stared at him, and he said again, "Go!"
Ash licked her lips, feeling tears prick her eyes as Bev said, "You guys, we can't!"
All of them were silent, and Bill said again, "I'm s-so sorry."
Ash looked at Richie, who's face had hardened as he looked at his best friend. Ash's eyes widened as she hoped to God he wouldn't do what his expression pointed all the signs too.
Richie looked down, seeming to way his words before looking back up at Bill, anger blazing in his eyes as he said in a low voice, "I told you, Bill. I fucking told you. I don't want to die."
His hand slipped from Ash's, who stared at him, her mouth open just slightly. No.
"It's your fault." Richie glared at him, and before Bill could speak, he had started listing things off his fingers.
"You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water-"
He half glanced at Ash, and continued, "You almost got her fucking killed, all for your own personal goddamn obsession- you dragged me to a fucking crackhead house!"
The clown glared at him, but Richie took no notice.
He took a step towards the pile. "And now-"
Pulling off a very large baseball bat he turned to face the clown, his gaze fierce. "I'm going to have to kill this fucking clown."
Ash's eyes lit up, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Thank God.
Her excitement was short-lived however as the clown shoved Bill away and charged towards Richie, who bellowed, "WELCOME TO THE LOSERS CLUB, ASSHOLE!" And hit the clown straight across the face.
It continued in a rage, trying with all its might to scare the other Losers who one by one took it on, destroying each and every one of their fears.
Then finally, it reached Ash and slowly morphed into Richie, who smirked at her.
"You're so fucking annoying." He sneered, and her hand trembled, a hammer clutched in her fist.
"ASH, HIT IT!" She faintly heard Richie's voice yell, and other Richie shook his head.
"You think I give a shit about you? You're so fucking stupid. I hate you. I fucking hate you."
"No." Ash said slowly. "I– hate– you!"
And then, she had slammed its face in with the hammer and it staggered away from her, groaning.
It backed away from them, its body twitching uncontrollably as it fell against the well.
Bill stepped towards it. "That's why you didn't kill Beverly. 'Cause sh-she wasn't afraid. And we aren't either. Not anymore."
The clown looked up at them, and Bill said sharply, "Now you're the one that's afraid. Because you're going to starve."
"Yeah, mother fucking fucker, we win." Ash spat, hating the clown with every inch of her body.
She grabbed a metal pole, not daring to look at Richie since her fear, and passed it to Stan, who handed it to Bill.
The clown flipped itself over the edge of the well, hanging by the edge, and said over and over again, "He thrusts his firsts against the post and still insists he sees the ghost."
Bill took a step forwards, the pole clenched tightly in his hands.
The skin on the clown's forehead started to slowly peel away, and it whispered, "Fear."
And then, as Bill was getting ready to swing, it dropped into the sewer below, and it was gone.
They stared at the well, all at loss for what to say, so thankful the clown was gone.
Richie broke the silence. "I know what I'm doing for my summer experience essay."
Ash rolled her eyes, not answering him, and heard Eddie say, "Guys. Look. The kids are floating down."
She looked up, seeing the bodies slowly falling to the earth, and then turned to see Bill, who had noticed something in the huge pile.
Her stomach sent a jolt through her as she realized it was Georgie's jacket.
They watched as he sank to his knees and wrapped it into his hands, his head bowed, and Ash took a hesitant step towards him, crouching down next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders.
He leaned into her, and she felt tears falling thick and fast down her face as she realized Abby was somewhere up there too.
A few seconds later, she felt arms wrap around her shaking body, and realized it was Richie.
The rest of the group all crowded around them, mourning with them at the losses they had been through.
Ash felt Richie bury his face into the crook of her neck, squeezing her tightly, and she felt the unspoken question about her fear in his touch.
But she didn't want to answer it. Not yet.
And so instead, she rested her cheek in his hair, letting him hold her, as the bodies of Abby Roth and Georgie Denbrough were finally put to rest.
next chapter. i'm freaking out about it. v & c.
ps. my bday is in like 25 minutes !!