"That's what Pennywise does right? It fucks with us!" Eddie Kaspbrak babbled, "Stanley's probably fine!"
It had taken minutes for the losers to regather themselves and to get Lyds off of the floor after the incident with the fortune cookies. None of them had truly felt fear like that since they fought Pennywise in the sewer basin, they could barely even remember the last time they felt such a way. It was all still so blurry. They didn't know what any of it meant but one thing they did know was that they had to get out of that restaurant, and so that was how the Losers Club found themselves marching arm in arm towards the exit, desperate to leave before another creature jumped out of someone's chow mein.
"But what if he's hurt? What if it got him?" His wife mumbled from beneath Mike's arm.
"Do you have Stan's number?" Bev asked, her eyes flickered between the pair.
"Here." Lyds immediately pulled her phone form her bag and handed it to Beverly. The desperation in her eyes was obvious, "Call him."
"Hey Richie!" A small voice called out and the seven remaining losers were each brought to a stop
"How did you know my name?" Rich spoke with suspicion, withdrawing his hands from his pockets.
"The fun is just beginning, right?"
"I-Is it a message?" Eddie leaned into Lyds but she quickly shushed him.
"Listen you think this is funny? Y-You think this is some sort of game? Well fuck you! Fuck-you!"
"The fun is just beginning? A line from your act dude, I'm a fan!"
Each of the losers let out a visible breath of relief, all except for Richie, for a moment each of them had been afraid that Pennywise himself had manifested into the likes of a small child, but instead it really was just a boy and the boy's parents stood angrily before the Tozier man.
"Are those your parents?" He mumbled
"Yeah..."
"Do you want a picture?"
"Are you okay?" The boy's dad asked
"I think I'm good."
"Come on."
"Excuse me?" Lyds spoke up, wrapping her arms around Richie's waist, "I'm so sorry my friend is off his meds."
"Lyds!" Eddie scalded seizing her wrist before they all stepped outside. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Saving your career so it doesn't look like you abuse small children."
"Saving my career by telling people I'm on drugs?"
"She tried her best." Eddie shrugged
"Guys!" Bill hissed, putting himself between Lyds and Richie, "If you hadn't noticed we have more p-p-press..."
"Bill... It's okay." The former Greystone girl wrapped her arms around him, she couldn't believe Derry had caused his stutter to come back and it physically pained her to even think how torn down it must have made him feel. "More pressing matters to deal with, right."
"How did she know what he was going to say?" Rich mumbled in Eddies ear.
"I think she can read minds. She's been doing it to me for years..."
It was quiet for a few moments as Lyds cradled Bill like a mother would her child and Beverly stood motionless, her hand fell to her side and Lydia's phone cluttered against the ground. It was in that moment that they all knew something was very wrong.
"Bev? What's wrong?" Ben spoke up, placing an arm around the woman he loved.
"Oh god..." The blonde woman tore herself away from Bill, her hands shook and she was blinded by her own tears, "It's Stanley isn't it?"
But Bev couldn't even bring herself to look at her friend, let alone speak.
"Bev fucking answer me! Is Stan okay? Please... he has to be okay-"
"He's missing."
"What do you mean missing?"
"Gone." She choked out, "He left all of his stuff, there was a full bathtub I-"
"Well where the fuck is he Bev? He can't have just disappeared?"
"Lyds, lay off of her would ya?" Ben narrowed his eyes "Just calm down."
"I'm sorry but my best friend is missing right now, and my son was with him, so don't tell me to calm down Ben!"
"Sebastian is fine. Stan's wife answered... She told me what happened and I could hear him crying. He's fine Lyds." Beverly spoke but there was nothing behind her eyes, she was numb.
"Fuck thank god!" Eddie outburst lowering himself to the ground, "Fuck Lyds!"
"But Stanley isn't... He can't-"
"Lyds." Richie reached a hand out towards her, "They're going to find him."
"Who, the police? No. If Pennywise got him then they won't find him, they won't find anything and there won't be anything left of him to bury, probably just his favourite shirt and an arm-"
"What happened to your dad won't happen to Stanley."
"You don't know that."
"What if Seb had been with him? Fuck, he could've gone missing too - I didn't want to leave him, but you!" Eds turned towards his wife, his voice cracked with anger, "You pushed me! S-She pushed me!"
"Eddie now isn't the time!"
"No! Now is the perfect time!"
"Guys stop it!"
"I was trying to do what was best for him!" Lyds yelled through a sob
"Stanley! Pennywise knew, he knew what happened to him before we did so he knows about our child too! Do you not understand that?"
"Can you guys shut the fuck up?"
"Guys it's okay, I have a plan!" Mike half smiled despite the situation
"I have a plan too, get the fuck out of dodge before this ends worse than one of Bill's books. Who's with me?" Richie raised his hand and Eddie immediately followed after.
"We made a promise to each other!"
"Well let's unmake the promise!"
"Richie other people are going to die."
"Other people die every day man, we don't owe this town shit! Plus I just remembered I grew up here two fucking hours ago so I'm leaving! Fuck this!"
"Richie, please!" Lyds seized his wrist, "We can fix this!"
"What is there to fix Lyds? I'm getting the fuck out of this shit show of a town, and you should too. Get out of here, get your son, and get as far away as you can! Don't be fucking stupid okay?"
"I'm sorry guys I'm leaving too." Eddie sighed, his eyes didn't meet his wife's for a single moment. It seemed this wasn't a conversation that needed to be had.
"Eddie, no!"
"Listen, What? We stay, we die... I'm going to go back to the Inn, I'm going to pack my shit and I'm going to drive to my home, I'm sorry man, good luck!" The Kaspbrak man slapped a hand on Mike's shoulder before he climbed into the drivers seat of his car, shutting the door behind him.
"Eds, where are you going?" Lyds yelled once more, and even with the car doors locked Eddie could hear the scratch in his wife's voice that told him she was about to cry and just like so many other times, he was the one to crack.
Without a moments hesitance he threw the drivers side door open and pulled the woman inside and into his lap before he shut and locked the door behind them once more. Immediately he saw the tears in her eyes and panic began to set in.
"No, no, no." He mumbled, wiping frantically at her cheeks, "I'm sorry for yelling at you, hey, it's okay, you don't have to cry."
"You were right- what if?" she hiccupped, "Sebastian had gotten hurt or went missing-"
"But he didn't, he's okay. He's safer with Patricia than with us right now."
"And what about Stan?" Her eyes lay trained on her own shaking hands and Eddie instantly enveloped them in his own.
"Lydia look at me right now." He told her sternly, "Stop crying okay? Stan isn't dead, we don't know that, he's just missing okay? And missing means he might still be fine."
"I was the one who sent him away with Seb, if I hadn't made him go then he'd be okay-"
"And if you hadn't our son would probably be the missing one right now... You need to learn to forgive yourself L, what happened tonight was not your fault, okay? So stop fucking blaming yourself, because I don't think I can see you cry anymore without crying too." He pressed a quick kiss to both of her cheeks, one after the other, "And I'm sorry for yelling at you."
"It's okay. Thank you Eddie Spaghetti."
"You're welcome... and don't tell the others I let you call me that, it's only because you're sad." He whispered softly
"I pinky promise." The blonde woman sniffed, wiping away her tears, a kind smile painted itself onto her lips. Eddie too beamed up at Lyds and without hesitation he wrapped his pinky around her own, staring up into her eyes as if he would never get the chance again. In those few fleeting moments he could've sworn he saw her as the young girl she once was and he held her even closer, if that was possible. "I am so completely - fucking - in love with you."
***
"Okay you grab everything from the drawers, I'll get our stuff from the bathroom, okay?"
"Okay but do we really have to go? We still have unfinished business here Eds."
"Baby..." Eddie sighed, kissing her once more, "You know we can't stay here. It's like Richie said we don't owe this town anything."
"Maybe we don't, but I owe it to my dad and my aunt."
"Please L, I don't think I can stay in this town, the longer we're here the more I can feel myself losing it, I'm scared all the time and I- When that thing attacked you in the restaurant I just froze, you're my wife and I was too scared to help you... I just want to go back to our life with our perfect son where I can be the perfect husband-"
"You already are..." she leaned into his touch, the woman's head rested against his shoulder, "But I have to stay here Eds. I have to end this."
"Lyds-"
"Don't try to stop me."
"I am not leaving you here!"
"Please don't turn this into another fight. I can't do that again I... I just want to make things right for my family and for Stan."
"L they're going to be proud of you no matter what you do, wherever they are. Look, let's go back home, let things settle and if you still feel like you have unfinished business here we'll come back and we'll stay at my mom's old place for the weekend and we'll try again, okay?" He told her, "Please just come with me tonight, okay? I'm begging you. I can't be here baby, but I can't go home without you."
"Okay." She nodded softly, her forehead pressed against his, "I'll go with you."
"Okay. I'll carry our bags downstairs, you just sit here okay?"
"Alright." The blonde mumbled. And truly, it hurt Eddie more than anything to see his wife in such a way, so distraught, it always had done since they were kids but he knew that this time it was necessary. He couldn't fight off the images in his mind of her dying and himself being frozen to the spot, unable to save her, it terrified him out of his wits and that was how he knew he had to get her out of that town. They had to leave because Eddie knew, he never would have been able to save her.
"Hey, I love you. This is going to be good for us."
"I love you too..." Lyds whispered after Eddie had left the room, and after that she pulled her knees up to her chest and cried, for Stan, for her family, and for herself. She had to end It.
"Lyds! You should come down here!"
Immediately the once Greystone woman wiped her tears from her eyes, just in case her husband were to actually come in, and pulled on one of his spare hoodies. She let the thick material hang from her small frame and made her way downstairs, however it seemed Lyds hadn't quite realised what she would be walking in on.
"What do you mean you saw Stanley die? He's missing! Just missing, not dead!"
"I saw what's going to happen to all of us, if we don't stop It that is... And Lyds, hers was the worst of all, oh god." Beverly choked out, seeming as if she was going to be sick any second.
"Baby." Eddie's eyes widened upon seeing the love of his life. He immediately took her in his arms, desperate to hide her from Beverly's words but still somehow he felt guilty because he had been the one who had called for her to come downstairs. If he hadn't then she wouldn't have heard so much.
"What's going to happen to me Bev?" She spoke from within the brunettes gasp.
"I can't tell you that Lyds, it wouldn't be right."
"We're best friends Bev, tell me what's going to happen."
"I can't, I've seen it happen to all of us, I just don't know how real any of this is."
"Don't you get it? None of this is real, what you saw is wrong, even if I do die, why does that mean that Stanley did? He's okay... H-He has to be."
"It's okay." The Kaspbrak man kissed his wife's forehead, before he pushed her behind him and his gaze fell on Beverly once more, "S-So what do you mean you've seen us all die?"
"I gotta be honest that's a fucked up thing to just drop on somebody." Richie narrowed his eyes
"Every night since Derry I've been having these nightmares, people in pain, people dying..."
"So you have nightmares? I have nightmares, Lyds wakes up screaming every night - people have nightmares! That doesn't mean that your visions are true!"
"I've watched every single one of us." Bev hesitated as tears began to burn her eyes, "I'm sorry L."
"Seen everyone of us, what?"Bill asked as he and Mike entered the room. God knows where they had been, but from the moment they stepped into the room Bill had known something was wrong, and all it took was Beverly's words and the glazed look in Lydia's eyes to tell him.
"Go to the place that Stanley wound up... That's how we end."
"How come the rest of us aren't seeing this shit? What makes her so different?"
Lydia Kaspbrak stood to her feet and the moment she did she felt a burning pain across her ribs, only alike with one thing she'd ever felt before. Silently, the woman bit her lip so hard it began to bleed, and she with quivering hands she raised her shirt. Her blood ran cold when she saw what was beneath, the scars on her torso from over 27 years ago, when she'd almost died at the hands of Pennywise in the Sewer Drain, were beginning to reopen. It wasn't possible.,
"Lyds?" Ben's eyes widened, "What was that-"
"The dead lights." Lyds spoke, dropping her shirt before her friends could notice. Her eyes met Ben's, "Bev was the only one who got caught in the dead lights that day."
"We were all touched by it, almost killed by it, we've all been changed, deep down, like an infection - some sort of virus! You understand Eddie?" Mike made a grab for the man but he quickly moved away, "That virus it's been brewing for twenty seven years, this whole time! It just got to Stan first because-"
"He's the weakest. That's why he's missing, or why he ran."
"Jesus Christ Rich!" Bill hissed upon seeing the look on the Blonde Woman's face.
"I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking."
Lyds grit her teeth, "Screw you Richie."
"Come on man!"
"What Beverly sees..." Mike cut in, "It will come to pass, it's what'll happen to all of us eventually unless we stop it."
"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Eddie threw out, "In case you haven't noticed some of us have got more to lose than others."
"The ritual of Chud." The tall man mumbled, "The chockapiwa, the first ones who fought It, they have a saying, all living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit."
"A tribal ritual? A-Are you fucking kidding me man? Alright there's gotta be another way, this comes back every twenty seven years? So we kick the can down the road and do it then!"
"When we're seventy years old asshole!" Eddie groaned
"None of us are going to make it another twenty seven years... the way it happens."
"If we don't get it this cycle then we die." Ben's eyes flickered to meet Lydia's before they settled on the thin line of blood on her shirt.
"Horribly."
"Yeah we don't need the horribly part."
"I didn't say it, she said it, not me!" Eds motioned at Bev
"Alright guys look I've seen what he's talking about a-and it's all true... It's the only way" Bill threw out, "If we want this ritual to work-"
"We have to remember." Lyds forced out, her hand pressed against her ribs. "We have to remember all of it."
"Let's do this." Bill nodded.
And one by one under the cover of the early morning sunrise the remaining losers made their way out of the door and headed for the woods.
"Lyds?" Eddie Kaspbrak turned to his wife, a mixture of fear and love flooded his expression and his hand found hers in a moment , "We're a team right?"
Lydia couldn't help but beam up at her husband after hearing his words, and she couldn't help but feel her heart thump in her chest after hearing those words after so many years. She'd almost forgotten what it had felt like, to belong.
"Always." She beamed, kissing the back of his hand, "It's you and me, now... Let's end this thing. For Stan."
"For your dad."