.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
【 𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 】
x. return to the neibolt house
"SHIT! SHIT!" Verity cursed, furiously mashing the buttons of the arcade game.
The little pixelated men on the screen threw punches and kicks at each other as the girl swore, desperately trying to shove Richie out of the way as his character came close to beating hers.
"Given up yet, huh Summers?" He said, shoving her back, glasses slipping dangerously low on his nose.
Verity scoffed, pushing him so hard he almost fell over. "Eat shit, Tozier."
"So eloquent," Stan smiled crookedly.
With a triumphant cry, Richie sent Verity's game avatar sprawling, grinning widely as the words PLAYER ONE WINS! appeared on screen.
"Up for another game, madam?" Richie asked, winking at her.
Verity reached into her pocket, and sure enough, there were still a few coins lying at the bottom amongst the lint and gum wrappers.
"Yeah, but you can have a solo game first, I need to get another token."
She made her way across the patterned carpet, tacky from countless spilled sodas and buckets of popcorn accumulated over the years.
The coins went into the machine one after another, and with a dull metallic clunk, the token fell, glittering brightly, into Verity's hand.
"I'm gonna kick Richie's skinny little– what?" She said, turning around as Stan nudged her.
He nodded at the door. "Look,"
The door to the arcade swung open, and Bill Denbrough walked inside, his face pale and drawn.
"God, he looks like he's seen a ghost," Verity whispered. She looked at Stan, worry flitting across her face. "What if something happened.. you don't think–?"
They followed him over to where Richie was whaling on the Street Fighter machine, barely looking up as Bill spoke.
"Richie!"
"What d'you want? See that guy I'm hitting? I'm pretending it's you," Richie said rudely, nodding at the screen before them.
"I-It got Beverly," Bill said desperately, and Verity's heart almost stopped.
"Oh my God," she whispered.
Richie frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Bill looked at him in frustration. "It, Richie! It got Beverly."
Richie slowly turned to Bill, the cold look gone from his eyes. "Well.. we'd better round up the posse then, huh Billy Boy?"
◇
The four of them raced through the streets, the buildings and people around them passing in a blur of colour.
"So we need to call Mike, Ben, and Eddie," Verity said, her hair whipping around in the wind.
Stan nodded. "I've got some money, we can use the payphones near the laundromat."
They dropped their bikes to the ground, lining up to use the battered phones. Bill called Eddie, Richie called Ben, and Verity called Mike.
The girl's hands shook as she dialled the number, her mind whirling with questions.
We should have all been together, she thought. It couldn't have taken her if only we hadn't had that stupid fight!
The line clicked, and a second later someone spoke. "Hanlon farm, this is Leroy,"
Verity cleared her throat. "Hello sir, um, is Mike there?"
He grunted in assent, then shouted "Boy! Get down here, someone wants to speak to you!"
There was a scuffling noise as the phone was handed over, and then Mike's soft and familiar voice came through, apprehensive. "Hello..?"
"Mike, it's Verity. Sorry for calling out of the blue like this but," she lowered her voice. "It got Bev,"
He sucked in a breath, and Verity could picture him standing there, his face portraying the same shock hers had shown just minutes earlier.
"I'll be there," he said quietly, his tone firm. "Thank you, Verity."
Mike hung up, and she had just enough time to hear the end of Richie's conversation.
"–see ya there, Haystack!" He said cheerily, slamming the phone back so hard the machine rattled. He turned to see the others looking at him silently, their faces serious.
"What?"
Stan shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Nothing. C'mon,"
◇
They grabbed their bikes once more, and began the dreaded journey to Neibolt Street. While taking a shortcut down her and Stan's street, Verity stopped suddenly in front of her house, shoes scraping against the cracked asphalt.
Bill looked around at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Verity? Is everything a-alright?"
She nodded. "I think there's something in the garage I can use.. I'll be right back."
Before he could say anything, she was already sprinting up the drive and ducking under the garage door.
Come on, it's gotta be here somewhere!
She dug through piles of boxes, dusty car parts, old christmas decorations, until finally, she found it. Grinning in triumph, she quickly shoved it into her backpack before one of her parents could discover her theft.
She thought back to one day years ago, when Isaac was still a toddler. She had been about nine or ten at the time, and could clearly remember her father's words whenever they followed him into the garage.
Those words rang faintly in her ears as she cycled down the street, her bag a deal heavier than it had been before. Now remember, Verity, you're a big girl now and you're old enough to understand. Under absolutely no circumstances are you allowed to use the tools in here, not without my permission.
And now on she cycled, his warning still clear as a bell after all these years.
She turned a corner, travelling ever-closer, the space inbetween her and her darkest fears growing smaller.
Under no circumstances..
She scoffed, the wind whipping her words away as they left her mouth. "Fuck that shit,"
◇
The old house seemed even more foreboding than it had before, its crumbling facade seeming to grin menacingly at the group of kids before it.
Their bikes lay in the grass, and they looked at the house with a mix of fear and anticipation.
Bill pointed at their feet, where broken fragments of fencing lay, their edges jagged and dull with rust.
"Guys, spikes,"
They gathered anything they could, their faces grim. Eddie took off his fanny-pack, throwing it into the long grass.
Richie grabbed a dusty bottle, smashing it on the wooden porch. Fragments of glass littered the ground, and he was left holding the tip of the bottle.
"Well, so much for that," he sighed, tossing it away.
"Aren't you gonna bring something with you?" Ben frowned, looking at Verity's empty hands.
She nodded. "I brought something from home. Thought it'd be useful,"
"Um, Verity?" Stan asked, turning away from the others. "Before we go inside, I- well I wanted to give you something."
The girl's expression softened, the worry in her eyes vanishing. "Oh, Stan you didn't have to get me anything–"
"No," he said, his voice gentle but firm. "I wanted to. Here," he handed her a small rectangular object.
It lay in Verity's palm, and she looked up at him, her voice barely a whisper. "A mixtape.. you made this for me?"
He nodded in that serious way of his, eyes fixed on hers. "I've been working on it for the past couple of weeks, but I felt I needed to give it to you before.. whatever happens in there. Maybe you could listen to it if we get out of here,"
"When we get out of here." She corrected, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Stan. Just remember that whatever happens in here, even if we don't make it out.. it'll always be us, okay? It always has been and it always will be, Agents Uris and Summers."
She hugged him suddenly, eyes closed tight. He blinked in surprise, then put his arms around her, comforted by how familiar it was, how unbelievably right it felt. They stood like that for a few moments, then broke apart, faces flushed.
They returned to the others, who were waiting anxiously at the porch.
Bill looked at his friends, a steely look of determination in his eyes. "Y-You guys ready?"
They nodded, and Richie said, "Come on then chaps, let's find Bev and beat the shit outta that clown."
"Amen," Verity muttered.
The door swung open and they crept inside, not noticing when Stan stayed behind them.
Eddie turned, pausing in his tracks. "Stan?"
"Stan, we all have to go," Bill said, looking at the other boy. "B-Beverly was right. If we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. But if we s-s-stick together, all of us," he paused. "We'll win, I promise."
Stan looked at the ground, then stepped over the threshold.
Verity took his hand. "C'mon,"
The floorboards creaked with every step, and rats could be heard scurrying in the shadows. They made their way to the basement, the chill air making Verity shiver.
"Hey Eddie," Richie said, nodding at the old well before them. "Got a quarter?"
The other boy shook his head. "I wouldn't want to make a wish in that fuckin' thing."
Bill shone his flashlight down the well, the light barely making a dent in the blackness below.
Ben leaned over the edge, his round face full of worry. "Beverly?"
"How the hell are we gonna get down there–?" Verity asked, her voice faltering as Mike held up a length of rope. "Oh Christ, this isn't gonna end well." she muttered worriedly.
Bill went first, and the others followed. Carefully, one by one, each of them shimmied down the rope and entered the small tunnel leading into the sewers. When it was Verity's turn, she edged down the rope slowly, clinging to it for dear life. Stan held his arm out to her, eyes full of reassurance.
He helped her into the tunnel."You okay?"
She let out a shaky laugh, eyes closed. "Yeah.. I thought I was going to fall,"
"You know I'd never let that happen, V. I've got you,"
She took hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Thanks, Agent."
"Mike, you coming down?" Eddie called, peering out of the tunnel.
"Yeah, I'm on my w–" he cut off, crying out in pain.
Panicking, the others scrambled to the edge of the tunnel, calling his name frantically.
"Mike, you okay?" Richie shouted, his voice bouncing off the stone walls.
There was a scuffling noise, then Henry Bowers appeared above them.
Verity's stomach flipped over, her face going pale. "Holy shit, is that..?"
Bowers' face was covered in blood, but that wasn't the most unsettling thing about him. There was a terrifying new light in his eyes, as though the thin thread connecting him to sanity had snapped.
He let out a low, bleating laugh, and Verity knew that his mind was broken beyond repair.
"Quick, get the rope!" Eddie screeched, but it was too late.
Laughing with manic glee, Henry grabbed the rope and pulled it up. Verity watched in horror as he moved out of view, knowing that the unhinged boy had something up his sleeve for Mike.
"You didn't listen to what I told you, did you?" Henry's voice carried down to them, his voice as soft and unsettling as the quiet before the storm.
"You should've stayed out of Derry. Your parents didn't, and look what happened to them. I still get sad every time I go by that pile of ashes," he paused, and Verity could picture his grin widening maliciously as he spoke, "sad that I couldn't have done it myself."
Mad with desperation, Verity and the others screamed Mike's name, scrabbling in vain to try and reach him.
"I s-shuh-should get up there," Bill said, moving to the edge of the tunnel.
"I–"
Richie shook him by the shoulder. "Are you insane? With what?"
Mike cried out again, and Verity heard something that turned her blood to ice; the dull metallic click of a gun's safety being pulled.
"Jesus fucking christ– he's going to shoot him!!" She said, her voice rising to a scream.
Stan's eyes widened. "I– I don't know what to do.. Verity what–"
He was cut off as Bowers screamed above them, his voice ragged with pain. With a furious yell, Mike knocked the bully over the crumbling edge of the well. He plummeted past them, his voice getting fainter and fainter, until all was silent.
"HOLY SHIT!" Richie exclaimed.
Mike's face appeared, shaken and sweaty. "I'm okay," he said, and Verity breathed a sigh of relief.
Something fell by them again, causing five worried faces to look up at Mike.
"Uh, Mike," Ben said nervously. "what was that?"
The other boy sighed in defeat. "The rest of the bullets.."
"Well, fuck," Eddie said faintly.
Mike slid the rope over the side. "I'm coming down, guys,"
A few seconds later, Mike was crouched beside his friends in the dark. Verity hugged him tightly, muttering that if he ever scared her like that again she would suffer heart failure.
Richie clapped him on the shoulder. "Knew you could do it champ!"
"Thanks, Rich,"
Verity turned to Stan, going to say something but stopping dead. The space where he had been sitting was now empty, and she felt dread flutter it's wings in her chest.
"Guys.. where's Stan?"
The others spun around, faces going pale.
"Where is he??" She asked again. "Did anyone see where he went?"
Bill shook his head. "Did anyone see– V-Verity, Verity wait!"
He called in vain, trying to stop her.
But she was already gone.