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The Five children rode down the streets of Derry. On this fine day, the sun was shining down on the them. Their bikes reflecting the sun into their eyes, that was part of the fun not being able to see. Being a child on Derry, being a child in the 80s there was always a sense that nothing bad could ever happen to them. That they were almost untouchable, so who cared if they couldn't see where they were riding and they crashed, nothing will happen. But, to these children they see the surface of it all, once they see what's deep in the depths of the town, that's when find out nothing is as safe as it seems.
Arriving into the main town Bill was riding in the front, followed by Richie, Hannah and Eddie and right in the back was Stan. Gliding through the streets like it was nothing, passing by houses and people, not obeying the laws of the road, but there were no cars to be seen.
"Hi-Ho, Sliver! Away!" Bill yells from the top of his lungs as the children pass the library, they looks from the old women entering the building, probably thinking 'what a rude bunch' and 'do they have any manners' and also 'Look, it's that dyke, wouldn't mind if she went missing'.
"Your old lady bike's too fast for us!" Richie yells to Bill as he flies ahead of the group.
"Rich, fucking peddle like you've never peddled before" Hannah yells to her best friend as they both start to peddle like their lives depended on it trying to catch up to big Bill.
But, it was no use, it was like Bill's bike was the fastest bike alive, it could almost out run the devil, and Richie's and Hannah's efforts were wasted by the time they had got to the sewer drain.
"Fucking hell Bill" Hannah states as she tries to catch her breath, standing next to her bike "Do you want my piece of shit?" Hannah smirks at the boy, Bill just rolls his eyes.
"Red, Bill's bike may be a grandma bike, but yours has died and has come back from the grave" Richie smiles at her, which earns a slap on his shoulder from the girl. Hannah's bike was a piece of junk to say the least, her uncle would never in a million years buy the girl a Bike, so after months of searching around she found one, laying in the tall grass in the junkyard. It was a yellow old bike, the paint was falling off, the handle bar could barely turn because of the rust, but with some help from the boys they were able to fix the piece of trash and get it to somewhat work. The bike suited what Hannah needed, a way to get around.
Eddie and Stan finally caught up to the group as they both tossed their bikes to the ground.
"Did you really have to ride so far ahead, you know if I went that fast, I could fall and break a bone, and my mom would end me" Eddie complained as he looked around the green area. They had stopped next to the sewer drain, but it was surrounded in shrubbery and was portions next to a creek. Bill, Richie and Hannah were starting to make their way towards the sewer and were already starting to smell and putrid, rotting that is sewer water.
"Argh fuck, it smells like Richie's mom after not showering for two days" Hannah states as she pulled up the collar of her shirt and held it over her nose to try and stop the smell from coming through.
"Shut the fuck up Red" Richie answered back copying her action looking into the tunnel "Fuck it's creepy"
"You can say that again" Hannah sighed as she let go of her shirt and though if she's going in she might as well get used to it.
"That's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy" Stan starts to point of all the trees in the area.
"Where?" Eddie asked starting to maybe feel itchy as he started to scratch his leg "Where's the poison ivy" the smaller boy looked around and where the taller one was pointing.
"Nowhere" Richie turns around to the two scared boys "Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley." Richie sighs as he continued to look into the tunnel.
"Eddie if I find poison ivy, I will be sure to save some for your mother" Hannah smirked at the boy. He looked at her with wide eyes of anger.
"Don't even fucking think about it Han" Eddie yelled at her at a million miles an hour, she laughed at his response as she entered the tunnel with Bill. Richie was right behind them.
"Okay but Richie, I'm starting to get itchy now" Eddie stated from the mouth of the tunnel watching the three daredevils enter, thinking he would never ever submit himself to that crazy shit.
"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Richie asks the boy, almost cutting him off, Hannah turns around waiting for something to happen, a big smile creeps onto her face as Bill continues deeper into the tunnel.
"Sometimes, yeah"
"Then you probably have crabs" Richie states back to him, like it was a fact, Hannah burst out laughing holding out her hand as Richie turned around with a big grin on his face as he hi-fived her.
"That's so not funny, Han, don't fucking encourage it" Eddie sighed not wanting to deal with this pair of idiots.
"If Eddie's mom had crabs, they would be fucking king of the crabs" Hannah stated which made Richie start cracking up.
"You know both you guys are real dickheads"
"Yeah, oh well, what can you do" Hannah smiles at him as she starts to walk deeper into the tunnel. She stepped into the water and screamed a little, all the boys turned their attentions to her, as she smiled at them. "It's cold" They all roll their eyes at her as Richie pushes up his glasses and starts to make his way over to her. When he had made it to her, he decided to poke her hip which made her jump and slap his shoulder calling him a 'dickhead'. Richie with a satisfied smile on his face turns around to see Eddie and Stan still standing at the entrance of the sewer mouth.
"Aren't you guys coming in?" Richie asks the kids. Eddie shakes his head as he stares at the musty water.
"It's greywater" he announces which confused everyone never hearing that term before.
"What the hell is Greywater?" Richie asked almost giving up on his friend, wondering what batshit crazy thing he was gonna say next to explain this idea of his.
"It's basically piss and shit. So I'm telling you, you guys splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee. So..." Eddie was cut off as he looked at Richie who had grabbed a stick that was submerged in the said greywater and began to sniff it. "Are you serious? What are you--" Eddie was again cut off by Richie.
"Doesn't smell like caca to me, Señor" Richie states in a poor Spanish accent, which Hannah laughs at only because of how shit it was. Richie waves the stick near Hannah as she begins to smell it for herself, it smelled fucking disgusting, it somewhat reminded her of her home.
"Hm yup" Hannah began
"What, what is it?" Eddie asked looking at the girl
"That was Thursday's night's shit, I can small the meatloaf" Hannah laughed, which she was then joined by Richie who hi-fived her. Eddie just sighs with Anger.
"Okay, I can smell that from here."
"It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face" Richie gestures with his hand.
"That would make sense, I mean I've seen your mother, no oral hygiene with that women" Hannah smiles at him, Eddie stares at her giving her 'shut the fuck up' eyes.
"Have you ever heard of a staph infection?" Eddie gestures holding his hand straight.
"Oh I'll show you a staph infection" Richie announces to the boy as he points his stick towards him. Hannah starts laughing loudly at the absurd nature of this whole argument. All the while Stan is standing right next to Eddie not making a sound, just judging them all as he rolls his eyes at his friends childish behaviour, which is why Hannah loved Stan, he was the one that always was an adult in situations, he knew from true right and wrong. He seemed to already be a man, and if Hannah needed advice on real world subjects she would always go to Stan for help, as he seemed to have answer for everything.
"This is so unsanitary. You're literally... This is literally like swimming inside of a toilet bowl right now" Eddie complains, Richie wasn't listening however as he jammed his stick into the greywater and fished out some garbage bag that is socked in the slimy substance and throws it towards Eddie. Eddie screams in terror as he jumps out of the way. Hannah and Richie before start howling with laughter from the boy's scream. "Are you two retarded?" Eddie yells at them, as Richie nudges Hannah's shoulder to get her attention as he starts to splash Eddie with the water, Hannah smiles at this devilish effort and joins in with him. Eddie continues to scream, making the two laugh even harder. "you two are the reason why we're in this position right now."
"Guys!" A voices comes from behind all the mayhem, They had forgotten about Bill in all this arguing, everyone turns around to see the leader standing there with a shoe in his hand. Hannah opens her mouth as she starts to make her way towards him.
"Shit. Don't tell me that's..." Stan begins to speak but was cut off by Bill.
"No" Bill said calmly, everyone sighed mentally, but that still left them on nerve as they had now found someone else's shoe. Hannah joined Bill and all she did was put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it slightly, giving the boy at least some comfort of knowing that someone was there for him. "G-Georgie wore galoshes." Richie had now joined the pair, holding his stick with a more firm grasp as he was starting to feel a worried sense in the air.
"Whose sneaker is it?" Eddie questions trying to get a better look at the shoe from the mouth of the sewer. Bill shone his torch at the shoe before seeing a name written on the inside.
"It's Betty Ripsom's." Richie told everyone, and as he did everyone's hearts sank into their chests, knowing that Betty must of been in here or close near by.
"Oh, shit. Oh god. Oh, fuck!" Eddie exclaimed, running his hand through his hair.
"You read my mind Eds" Hannah said in a uneasy tone as she tighten her hair tie, no one liked the tension that was in the air. It almost wanted to make Hannah throw up.
"I don't like this." Eddie seemed to speak for everyone, as they all mentally agreed.
"How do you think Betty feels" Richie speaks up, as everyone turns his attention to him "Running around these tunnels with only one frickin' shoe?" Richie smirks as he hops on one foot trying to imitate what it would of looked like, making the greywater splash around,Everyone looked at the boy in disbelief widening how he could make a joke in this moment. Hannah placed her other hand on his shoulder, he turned to her as she just stared at him, he knew from the worried look in her eyes that it wasn't the right time for a joke, and he nodded towards her as he stood up straight.
"What if she's still here?" Stan asks the group, which again feels the air with a uneasy feel. Wondering if the missing girl was where they were, making them wonder what actually happened to her. Bill turns around and starts to walk further into the tunnel, Richie and Hannah look at each other not speaking a word as they nod to each other and start to follow Bill in.
"Eddie, come on!" Richie yells to his friend, wanting everyone to help with this mission that the leader had set upon them.
"My mom will have an aneurysm, if she finds out that we're playing down here. I'm serious" Eddie argues, trying to get out of the whole thing.
"This is way past your mother now Eddie" Hannah turned around to the boy not believing that he wouldn't help find a missing girl because of his mother.
"Bill?" Eddie calls to the boy, almost asking him what to do.
"If.... If I was Betty Ripsom, I would want us to find me. G-Georgie too" Bill stutters out, as everyone goes quiet, Hannah reaches out for Richie's hand and grasps it tightly, wanting some relief from all this, Richie expects her hand as he too needed to let out his emotions, not enjoying the serious tone of everything, this was where he felt most uncomfortable.
"What if I don't want to find them?" Eddie speaks up, looking at the side of the tunnel not wanting to make any eye contact with the rest of the group. Hannah stares at the boy in disbelief. "I mean, no offence Bill, but I don't want to end up like G-" before he could finish that sentence and say something he would regret, he changes his wording. Both Hannah and Richie turn to Bill who just looks sadden that if friend wouldn't even help him. "I don't want to go missing either" Eddie reasons, which Hannah could understand, but she just couldn't really believe what the boy was about to say to his own friend.
"He has a point" Stan speaks up from beside the scared boy.
"Y-You too?" Bill questions him.
"It's summer. We're supposed to be having fun" Stan tries to argue "This isn't fun". Bill turns to the pair standing next to him almost asking what they thought of this whole situation without even saying a word. Richie shrugs his shoulders, and Hannah just gives him an uneasy look, knowing she would still continue to follow him and help him, but wouldn't feel so right about it. "This is scary and disgusting" Stan was cut off by a giant splash of water behind Stan and Eddie. Everyone jumps from the sudden movement, Hannah holds onto Richie tighter not knowing what was happening, the three that were inside the tunnel quickly made their way to the mouth, seeing a boy, sitting there, soaked, out of breath and bleeding. Richie lets go of the girl as he steps more the towards the boy struggling boy.
"talk about scary and disgusting" Hannah speaks up not taking her eyes off the mystery boy.
"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Richie exclaims still holding his stick and Betty's shoe. The whole grouped stared at this kid, not knowing what had had happened to him, but most importantly, what to do with him.
gotta say, that part speech Eddie gives about not wanting to help find the missing kids always makes me upset, I know it's his character, but like come Eds, your best friends brother could be found. I mean he won't, but still.
Sorry this took so long to get out, I lost motivation for a short while.