.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
【 𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 】
vii. the parade and the projector
AS SOON AS THE OTHER LOSERS SPOTTED VERITY cycling frantically towards them, they knew something was wrong.
She sped up the street, brakes screeching in protest as she stopped.
"Ver, are you okay? What happened?" Beverly asked, noticing how pale the other girl was.
Verity was close to tears. "It's gone, it just vanished-"
"It's alright, you're okay." Stan said, trying to soothe her. "Just take a minute, then maybe you can tell us what happened, okay?"
She nodded, taking a deep breath before telling the story.
"A while ago, I was looking through some photos I'd gotten developed and I sotted-" she lowered her voice. "the clown."
"Where was it?" Mike asked.
"In the trees, near the town hall. I thought maybe it was some weirdo in a costume, but look.." she reached into her bag, pulling out the photograph and showing it to them. "I looked at it again this morning and it's gone."
"Holy shit," Bill whispered.
They went quiet, and for a few moments the only sounds that could be heard were the music of the parade, and the muffled noise of Richie grappling with a tuba that he'd more than likely stolen from a kid in the marching-band.
"And do you think that the clown's what's mur- I mean," Ben looked apologetically at Bill. "What's causing the disappearances?"
"I think so, it can't just be a coincidence," Mike pointed at the countless "missing" posters that clung to the wall behind them.
"They said they found part of his hand, all chewed up near the standpipe," Stan said nervously, nodding at the poster that read Edward Corcoran.
"He asked to borrow a pencil once," Ben said, looking at the ground.
Bill pulled the poster back, revealing another - Betty Ripsom's. "It's like she's been for-forgotten," he muttered. "because Corcoran's missing."
"It's all bullshit, why can't they just get their fucking act together?" Verity said, her voice uncharacteristically bitter. "How many kids are gonna go missing or die before they realise there's something wrong!"
They stood in silence, watching as the tuba-player managed to take his instrument from Richie, eliciting a loud "What the fuck, dude?"
"What're you guys talking about?" Eddie asked, coming over to join them.
"What they always talk about," Richie said, then smilied as the other boy handed him an ice cream. "Thanks, Eds,"
"I actually think it will end," Ben said quietly. "For a little while, at least."
"What d'you mean?" Beverly asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"So I was going over all my Derry research, and I charted out all the big events; the ironworks explosion in 1908, the Bradley gang in '35, and the Black spot in '62. And now kids being..." He trailed off. "I realised, this stuff seems to happen-"
"Every twenty-seven years," Bill finished.
"C'mon, let's find somewhere to sit down," Richie said, trying to brighten the mood. "I don't know about you guys, but it's pretty tiring to carry around a huge d-"
"Beep beep, Richie!" Verity said quickly.
◇
"Okay, so let me get this straight," Eddie said. "It comes out from wherever to eat kids for like, a year? And then what, it just goes into hibernation?"
Stan leaned forward, nodding. "Maybe it's like- what're they called? Cicadas. Y'know, the bugs that come out once every seventeen years?"
"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," Mike said quietly, his voice barely audible with the noise coming from the fairground. "He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing, an evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry."
Stan looked doubtful. "But, that can't be true.. Can it?"
"I think so. I mean, we've all known there's something weird about Derry, right?" Verity asked, and the others nodded in return. "I just get a bad vibe, like there's something going on behind the scenes. Something that only the kids are aware of.." She trailed off.
"It can't be just one thing though, we all saw something different." Stan said, looking at his friends' faces.
"Maybe. Or maybe it knows what scares us most, and that's what we see." Mike said, and Verity was slightly awed at how calm he sounded.
Bill turned to her. "Y-You said you s-s-saw something apart from your brother?" He asked, and she nodded.
"Yeah. Our old neighbour," she looked at Stan. "Mrs. Andrews. I guess you could say she wasn't exactly friendly."
Stan scoffed. "That's putting it lightly. She was an old bitch."
"She always needed chores done, so my mom suggested I help her," Verity continued. "But my mom didn't know that she was pure evil. She used to do small things at first; she'd insult me and disguise it as trying to help me, y'know? Like, 'Don't eat that, Verity dear, you're a fat little thing already.' or, 'Oh dear, don't wear your hair pulled back like that, you're showing far too much of your face. Unfortunate little things like you shouldn't be on display.'" Her voice cracked, and Stan moved to put his arm around her. "After a while, it got worse. She'd pinch me where she knew the bruises wouldn't show, and when I had a growth spurt that summer she said 'My my, you've become quite lanky, dear. Perhaps you should stop that growing, or else you'll be far too tall. Boys don't like ugly, gangly girls.' I was only about eight or nine."
"Jesus," Bev said quietly.
"She died that winter, but even after she was gone I was still terrified of her. I had nightmares where she'd come back to get me, and that's exactly what happened when I saw her again that day."
"Why didn't you say anything? To me, or your parents? I could've done something, Ver." Stan said sadly.
She shrugged. "I didn't think my parents would believe me. And it didn't seem that bad at the time, I just got used to it." After a few moments of silence, she looked around at the others. "So, what did you guys see?" She asked, desperate to shift the attention to someone else.
"I.. I saw a leper," Eddie said, rushing over the words. "He was- he was like a walking infection."
"But you didn't," Stan countered. "Because it isn't real. None of this is. Not Eddie's leper, or Bill seeing Georgie. Or- or the woman I keep seeing.."
"Is she hot?" Richie asked, smirking slightly.
Stan looked at him in disbelief. "No Richie, she's not hot! Her face is all messed up... None of this makes any sense!" His voice faltered. "They're all like bad dreams."
"I know what I saw. I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?" Mike said.
"You saw something too?" Eddie asked.
Verity looked at him, her interest piqued. "What'd you see, Mike?"
"You guys know that burned down house, on Curtis Avenue?" He swallowed, a far-off look in his eyes, obviously reliving the story tied to the old house. "I was inside when it burned down. Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me,"
At his words, the group fell silent. Spellbound by the tale being relayed before them.
"They were pushing and pounding on the door, trying to get to me.. but it was too hot. By the time the firemen found me, the skin on their hands had.. melted down to the bone." His voice was barely a whisper. "We're all afraid of something."
"You got that right," Richie said, shifting uncomfortably on the bench.
Eddie looked at him curiously. "Why, Rich? What're you afraid of?"
"Clowns."
"My apologies, mister Tozier," Verity murmured. "But I do believe you're royally fucked."
◇
Bill had told the other losers about his dad's old collection of maps, explaining that they could be used to their advantage. And so with the details of Mike's story still in their minds, they made the journey to the Denbrough residence.
"M-my puh-parents are out," Bill said as they discarded their bikes on the lawn. "I don't s-s-see much of them anyways."
Upon hearing this, Verity realised with a pang of sadness that Georgie's disappearance had probably changed Bill's family for the worst. Stan had mentioned to her before that the boy's parents barely spoke to him anymore, instead going about their lives shrouded in their grief.
"More food for us I guess," Richie grinned, making a beeline for the kitchen.
As the others raided the fridge, Bill told them he needed to set up some things in the garage. "Take whatever y-you want, but don't tuh-touch the poptarts," He said, pointing at the box on the shelf. "They're Georgie's."
"Hey, uh, Verity?" Stan sat beside her on the counter, smiling slightly as he watched Richie try to cram as many twinkies as he could into his mouth. "Do you want to- um, I mean," he stammered.
"Jesus Stanley, you could give old Billy a run for his money!" Richie said thickly, spraying crumbs all over the table.
"Be quiet, Richie!" The other boy shot back.
"That's what your mom was saying last night,"
"Beep beep!" Eddie called from across the kitchen.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" Verity asked, trying hard not to laugh.
"I was wondering, d'you want to come to my bar mitzvah?" He asked, a deep blush colouring his cheeks.
Before she could open her mouth, he added "You don't have to say yes, it's okay if you don't want to."
"Stan, it's okay! I was going to say yes," She assured him. "I'd love to go."
He blinked. "Wait, really?"
"Of course, you dumbass. How could I miss my favourite Jew's big day?"
"Ver, I'm the only Jewish person you're friends with."
She grinned. "And?"
They all looked up as Bill returned to the kitchen. "Guys, i-it's all ready," he said, motioning for them to follow him.
"Sorry Bill, but you might have to buy a new box o' these bad boys," Richie said, stuffing the twinkie wrappers in the garbage. "Much appreciated, guvnor. Very delicious if ah do say so meself," he added in a painfully bad British accent.
"C'mon, Richie." Eddie said, taking his friend by the arm and leading him after the others.
◇
"Wow, this stuff is pretty cool," Ben said shyly, admiring the maps in front of them.
"T-thanks, Ben." Bill said as he adjusted the projector. "I think it's ready."
"Whatcha got for us, Billy boy?" Richie asked, plonking himself down on a chair.
Bill told them that the map, plus the slides, would show them the complete layout of Derry. They settled around the projector, and Verity hoped the dark would conceal her smile as Stan placed himself beside her.
"Look," Bill pointed to the map, the spot labelled storm drain. "It's where Juh-Juh-Georgie disappeared. There's the Ironworks, and the Black Spot. Everywhere it happens, it's connected by the sewers, and they all meet up at the-"
"The well house," Ben said, showing them the spot where the red lines met.
"No way," Verity breathed.
Stan looked at them nervously. "It's in the house on Neibolt Street,"
"You mean that creepy-ass house where all the junkies and hobos like to sleep?" Richie asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
Eddie took a puff of his aspirator, gasping for air.
"I hate that place," Beverly said quietly. "It always feels like it's watching me."
"That's where I saw it, that's where I saw the clown." Eddie said weakly.
"Th-th-that's where It lives," Bill whispered, causing Eddie to take another shaking breath with the aspirator.
"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there," Stan said shakily.
"Can we stop talking about this?" Eddie said, getting out of his seat. "I can barely breathe, this is summer, we're kids, I can barely breathe, I'm about to have a fucking asthma attack! I'm not doing this!" He ripped the map from the wall, almost hysterical.
"What the hell? Put the map back!" Bill protested.
Eddie shook his head vehemently, not saying a word.
Suddenly, of its own accord, the projector began to run through the slides. The others looked at Bill in confusion, but his hands hadn't touched the machine.
"Bill, what–?" Verity asked, frowning.
The images cast on the wall showed Bill's family on vacation, the smiling faces completely unaware of the sadness that would befall them when Georgie would go missing.
Mike tried to turn it off, but the slides kept going, gaining speed.
"I can't.." he said, checking for a fault in the projector.
"Georgie.." Bill said quietly, his brother's face grinning happily in front of them.
The slides went faster and faster, flipping onwards as the losers stared in an odd mix of fear and wonder.
The focus shifted, zooming in on Bill's mother. Her hair seemed to blow in the wind with each click of the slides, swirling around and obscuring her face. Then it parted, revealing an all too familiar face pale with greasepaint, a leering red mouth, and yellow eyes. The clown.
Eddie began to scream, and his friends followed suit. "HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK?!" He screeched, scrambling away from the image.
Richie's eyes bugged out of his head, huge behind his glasses. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"
"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Eddie roared back.
Verity was frozen with fear as the chaos unfolded around her, staring fearfully at the projection. "That's the one I saw!" She said, voice rising with panic. "How the hell is it here?"
"Turn it off!" Bev said, coming to her senses.
Mike kicked at the projector, knocking it to the ground with a clatter. The picture was still cast on the wall, but the clown was gone.
"Thank God," Verity said, shoulders sagging with relief.
Mike pointed to the wall. "Wait,"
The projector resumed the slideshow, its lights flickering on their terrified faces.
Click. The clown reappeared, only now it's face was a grotesque blur.
For a few tense moments, the only sounds in the room were the click of the slides, and their own ragged breathing. Click. The clown had vanished again.
"It's playing with us," Verity murmured.
The lights flickered off, and when they came back on, the kids went into fully-fledged panic. The clown, now grown disturbingly big, was crawling out of the projection. It bared it's teeth at them, grinning wider at the losers' terrified screams.
Stan grabbed Verity's hand, pulling her out of her seat and towards the door. Her heart pounded almost painfully in her chest, and she couldn't tell why.
The creature scuttled closer, trapping Beverly in the corner of the room. It reached for her, snarling, almost touching her when–
Light flooded the room as the garage door was thrown open, and they were shocked to see that It had vanished.
"Is everyone okay?" Mike gasped.
Verity looked down, noticing that her hand was still held tightly in Stan's.
"I-I think so," she said uncertainly.
Beverly moved wordlessly, going to Bill and wrapping him in a hug.
"It saw us," Eddie said. "It saw us, and it knows where we are!"
"It always did," Bill said, cutting through them and grabbing his bike. "S-s-so let's go."
"Go? Go where?" Ben asked, his brow furrowed.
"Neibolt. That's where Juh-Juh-Georgie is."
"After that?" Stan said, eliciting nods of agreement from the others.
"Yeah, it's summer," Richie agreed. "We should be outside–"
"If you say it's summer one more f-fucking time," Bill interrupted.
"Bill, c'mon," Verity said gently. "We want to help as much as you do, but what're we gonna do when we get to Neibolt? We're just kids."
The boy shook his head, stubbornly mounting his bike without another word.
"Bill! Wait!" Bev called, but he was already gone.
"What the everloving fuck are we gonna do now?" Richie asked, turning to his friends.
Mike said nothing, instead grabbing his bike and wheeling it after Bill. "C'mon," he said, motioning for the others to follow him.
"You're all crazy," Eddie muttered, but got his bike too.
Richie grinned. "Aw, but you love it! Don't ya, Eddie Spaghetti?"
"Fucking moron," the other boy muttered, smiling weakly.