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"Take everything but the Delicious Deals, guys. Our mom loves 'em," Eddie instructed as we piled drinks and snacks into our bags. I saw Mom glance at us.
I gently tugged on the hem of Bill's flannel. He turned to face me, leaving Stan's question to hang in the air. I pulled Bill aside.
"What if we get caught?" I whispered, looking up at him. He shook his head.
"W-we won't, Y/n. The sewers are public works. W-w-we're the public, aren't w-we?" Bill questioned as he flipped through the snacks in another cabinet. I sighed, tossing another water bottle into my bag.
"Hey, Eddie, are these birth control pills?" Richie asked, shaking a bottle of medication.
"Yeah, and I'm saving them for your sister," my brother replied. I scoffed, lightly punching Eddie in the upper arm. He shot me a playful glare.
"Eddie bear, N/n, where are you guys headed off to?" Mom asks, not taking her eyes off the TV. Collectively, we stopped trying to push each other out the door.
"J-just my backy-yard, Mrs. K. I got a new c-c-c-" Bill began, but his face heated up the way it always does when he gets stuck on a word.
"A new croquet set. Jeez, spit it out, B-B-B-Bill," Richie finished. I flashed Bill a sympathetic look. He looked embarrassed.
"Okay. Oh, and Eddie, just don't go rolling around in the grass, especially if it's just been cut. And Y/n, don't forget to watch out for oak leaves."
Once again, we started to push and shove through the doorway but were stopped by Mom. Stan sighed, clutching onto the straps of his backpack.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
Eddie scurried across the kitchen and into the living room, placing a quick kiss on Mom's cheek. I embarrassingly did the same. Mom chuckled.
"Do you want one from me, too, Mrs. K?" Richie asked from the doorway.
"Sorry, Mama," I said, practically shoving him out the door. He stumbled out onto the porch, laughing.
All of us rushed to our bikes that we piled in the front yard. Except for Stan's, which was up on it's kickstand and out of the way. We all begin to bike in the direction of the sewers, Bill leading the way. I reached over and turned on my portable radio, which I had duct taped to the handlebar of my bike. Stan begins to sing along to whatever is playing.
The others join. And, while it does sound horribly off-key, I'm enjoying myself. This is what summer was supposed to feel like. But, the feeling dissolved as we reached the opening to the sewers. Bill let his bike fall to the ground just near the entrance. We watched him take a step inside. Richie followed.
I attempted to follow the other two in, grabbing a flashlight out of my backpack, but Eddie pulled me back by the arm.
"Y/n, you don't know what's in that water," he says, making a face.
"It's just water," I told him, yanking my wrist from his grasp. He tried to protest but to no avail. I began to head in again but stopped a second time at Stan's voice.
"That's poison ivy, that's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy," he said, pointing at various plants that poked out of the ground.
"Where's the poison ivy?" Eddie squealed, frantically looking around the dirt.
"Nowhere! Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley," Richie said sarcastically, reaching down and grabbing a piece of wood that was sticking out of the water.
"Okay, well, I'm starting to get itchy and I'm pretty sure-" My brother began, but was interrupted yet again by Richie's loud mouth.
"Do you share a bathroom with your mother?" he questioned.
"Yeah, sometimes. Why?"
"Then you probably have crabs."
I scoff. "Richie, please, why are you so obsessed with my mother?"
I trudge through the circular entrance, cringing as the water seeps into my shoe. I flick on my flashlight. The wall seems to be covered in some gross sludge.
"Are you guys gonna come in or what?" I asked, turning around. I kept my flashlight on the wall, grimacing at the nasty things that had stuck to the surface.
"No! Hell no! That's grey water!" Eddie shouted. His voice reverberated through the tunnel.
"What the hell is grey water?" Richie asked.
"It's basically piss and shit," Eddie began, "So I'm just saying, you guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee." I exhaled sharply, shining my light into the tunnel. Bill was a few paces ahead, looking around intently.
Richie began to search the water with a stick, flinging miscellaneous pieces of trash. After a few seconds, he finally picked up an empty garbage bag.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Richie said nothing but sniffed the trash.
"Are you serious right now?" The boy was visibly unsettled by Richie. I shook my head, listening to them banter. Stan is watching the two, standing far enough away so he won't
"Doesn't smell like caca to me, senor," Richie said trying to fake an accent, tossing the bag down into the water. He followed up by waving the slimy-looking stick in his direction.
"Okay, I can smell that from here," Eddie replied. Stan, much like me, was just standing here. His eyes rolled multiple times. He huffed once or twice. I could tell he was annoyed at the bickering boys.
"It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face," Richie retorted.
"Have you ever heard of a staph infection?"
"I'll show you a staph infection," Richie yelled, still waving the stick at him. Eddie jumped back when the boy tossed another piece of sewer trash. Some sort of vines saved him from the disgusting plastic.
"Would you guys please shut up?" I said
I heard something in the distance. Intrigued, I sloshed through the water and passed Bill. He paid no mind. As I rounded the curve of the tunnel, I noticed something in the distance. I shined my flashlight down the tunnel. It flickered and went out. I hit it a few times, but it was dead.
I shut my eyes, trying to adjust them to how strangely dark it was down this side of the tunnel. When I opened them, a large red balloon was floating directly in front of me. I took a step back, frightened.
"Hey, guys..." I said, but none of them heard me. Richie and Eddie were still bickering. Stan had joined them. I swallowed.
Unexpectedly, the balloon popped. I let out a yelp, turning around to face the end of the tunnel I came from. I had walked farther down than I thought. I could just barely see the sunlight that seeped through the entrance.
"Y/n? Where are you?" Eddie called.
"Down here," I replied, trying to make my way back to the others. Someone shined a light on me. I looked up to see Richie standing at the corner. He lit the way back for me. Eddie's face turned from worry to relief to see that I came back.
"G-guys?"
We all turned to face Bill, who held a dirty white shoe in his hand. He shone the light onto it so we could all see. I took a step closer to him so I could see. This was weird... nothing positive could come out of finding a missing girls shoe drenched in sewer water.
"Don't tell me that's-" Stan began.
"G-G-Georgie wore galoshes," Bill interrupted.
"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked. His voice was quivering.
"B. Ripsom," I said, standing on my toes to see the tongue of the shoe. Bill let out a shaky breath.
"Oh shit, oh fuck. I don't like this!" Eddie said, taking hit after hit from his inhaler.
"How do you think Betty feels, running around in here with only one shoe?" Richie had started hopping on one foot, splashing water around. I side-stepped to dodge it, not wanting my jeans to get more soaked than they already were.
"What if she's still here?" Stan asked.
His question remained unanswered as we all looked at Bill.
"If I were B-B-Betty Ripsom, I'd want us to f-find her. G-G-Georgie, too," Bill said. His voice shook as if he was about to cry.
"But what if I don't want to find them?"
The words left Eddie's mouth and hit Bill like a truck. I noticed the way his face changed from hope to anger then finally, to sadness. "I mean, no offense, but I don't wanna end up like Geo-" he was about to say the sensitive subject of the younger brother's name, but stopped himself. Bill's expression fell. His eyes closed.
"I don't wanna go missing, either," Eddie said, though his mistake was not fixed. I shook my head in disbelief.
"Really, Eddie?" I said in defense. "How- how would you feel if I went missing? I know damn well that you would stop at nothing to find me," I huffed. He looked down.
I frowned as Stan mumbled, "He has a point."
I looked up at Bill. His eyes grew glossy.
"Y-y-you, too?" Bill's voice sounded hurt. Even I was taken aback. I thought Stan would be more supportive of the whole situation.
"It's summer, Bill!" Stan continued. "We're supposed to be having fun. But this isn't fun. It's scary and disgusting!" His voice was shaking.
I scanned the other boys' faces. For once, Richie didn't have a quick joke to crack. His lips were pressed in a thin line. I looked back up at Bill. A single tear traced down his cheek.
A loud splash broke the silence. All at once, we turned and looked to see who it was. It was the new kid. I couldn't remember his name, but he was in one of my classes.
"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Richie yelled. Between Stan, Eddie, and Bill bickering and now, he hadn't spoken. The kid made a sad attempt to stand up but cried out in pain. That's when I noticed the blood soaking through his shirt. I splashed out of the tunnel to reach him.
Bill followed me outside, where he helped me hike the kid up on Silver. The other boys reluctantly followed, jumping on their bikes.
"Look, I think it's great that we're helping the new kid, but we need to think about our own safety. I mean, he's bleeding all over you guys, and there's an AIDS pandemic going on right now! Me and Y/n's mom's friend in New York City got it by touching a dirty pole in the subway and a lot of AIDS blood got into her system through a hangnail. A hangnail!" Eddie rambled on.
"Jesus, Eddie, calm down!" I said, turning down the volume on the radio.
"Why can't you be more like your sister? She's nice and calm and you're over here being a complete spaz!" Stan yelled over his shoulder.
I slammed my bike brakes as we stopped in an alleyway between the pharmacy and another building. I tossed it on top of the other bikes and helped sit the boy down on a discarded milk crate.
"Glad I got to meet you before you died," Richie said, sticking out a hand for him to shake. He only shot back a glare. The rest of us ran inside.
We began scanning the shelves, grabbing things that looked like they'd be useful. Eddie grabbed a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and turned around.
"Why are we getting so much?" I asked.
"Because we need it! That kid out there looks like he's dying!" Eddie exclaimed, eyes widening.
"C-can we afford all t-this?" Bill questioned.
We all reached into our pockets. I pulled out two bucks. Bill and Stan came up with a dollar a piece. Eddie had a few quarters.
"Shit," Eddie mumbled.
"Wait, we have an account here, Eds," I said, pointing at the front counter. Mr. Keene was ringing someone up.
"Are you crazy? If Mom finds out that we bought all of this stuff for ourselves, we'll spend the rest of the weekend getting x-rayed," Eddie said. His tone seemed impatient.
"It was just a suggestion," I mumbled, kicking a water bottle cap on the floor.
The four of us looked up, ready to leave the pharmacy. Beverly Marsh stood at the end of the aisle, a box in her hand. She quickly put it behind her back.
"You o-okay?" Bill asked. She nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What's wrong with you?"
"None of your business," Stan said, eyeing her. I nudged him with my elbow.
"There's a guy outside that looks like someone killed him," Eddie commented. I scratched the back of my neck.
"We can't afford all this, though," I shrugged, opening my hand to show her our thrown-together allowance.
"I think I can help," she said, flashing us a wink.
We watched as she walked to the counter where Mr. Keene was sitting. We couldn't hear what she was saying, but he seemed very interested in the conversation. He handed Beverly his glasses, a creepy smile present on his face.
♧
I wandered away from Eddie, who was waiting at the desk to grab his prescription. Mr. Keene wasn't there. I headed back to all the stationery, looking at neat little erasers and such.
I turned around when I heard someone coming down the aisle. I expected it to be Eddie coming to get me so we could leave. But it was the pharmacist.
"Hey," he said, reaching out a hand. I inched away.
"I like your necklace. Can I see it?" Mr. Keene continued. I shook my head, taking another step back. I backed into a display of postcards. This distracted him. He grunted, bending down to pick up the cards. I turned and ran to my brother.
"Y/n? What's wrong?" He asked, looking behind me. He saw the scene in the aisle.
♧
As Beverly handed the glasses back, she knocked over the cigarette display. Mr. Keene pressed that it was no big deal and vanished behind the counter. Beverly slipped a pack into her pocket and turned, nodding her head to the door. We ran outside, dropping a box of gauze along the way.
Eddie fell to his knees on the pavement, dropping all of the stolen supplies. Bill, Stan, and I also let the supplies fall to the ground. Eddie hastily picked up various things and lifted the hem of Ben's shirt up so he could see the marks. A bloody H was carved into his skin. It must be the work of Henry.
"Oh, God..." Stan breathed, looking away. He began to pace back and forth between us all, dodging the messy pile of bikes as he walked.
"Suck the wound!" Richie yelled.
"I need to focus, Richie!" Eddie yelled back, shifting his spot on the pavement.
"You need to focus?" Richie questioned, laughing.
"Yeah, dipshit. Go get my bifocals. They're in my second fanny pack," my brother replied, tearing open a box full of alcohol wipes.
"Why do you have two fanny packs?" Richie asked, picking the other one up. He looked at me. I shrugged; I didn't know, either.
"Ben from Soc?"
I turned around to see Beverly appear from the doors of the pharmacy. She had a plastic bag in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in the other.
"You have to soak the wound before you apply the bandage! It's 101!" Richie continued. Eddie shook his head, trying to concentrate on the task in front of him. I glanced at the other two boys, who were nervously staring at Beverly.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Eddie said, picking up another box.
"Are you okay? That looks like it hurts," Beverly noted, stepping to my side.
"Oh no, I'm good. I just fell," Ben said. He was trying to play it cool. It was completely obvious he was head over heels for her.
"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers," Richie said, throwing his arms in the air. Stan gave him a look. Beverly creased her brows. She looked confused. I shook my head.
"Richie now isn't the time. Please just let Eddie concentrate," I said, glaring. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. Eddie flashed me a pleading look as he tried to wipe dried blood from Ben's stomach.
"Whatever," Richie commented. No one said anything after that. We all watched as Eddie finished patching up Ben's wound. Beverly took a step back out onto the sidewalk.
"I'll catch you guys later," she said, turning the corner. Each of us did an awkward wave. Save for Bill, who ran to catch up to her.
"W-wait!" he said. I frowned. I guess we'd be seeing her around more often. Bill disappeared around the corner. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I looked down at my feet. No one spoke. Eddie stood up, dusting himself off.
"What'd she do?" Ben asked, looking at us curiously, attempting to stand up.
"More like who'd she do," Eddie corrected. I sighed. I didn't believe the rumors. Richie laughed.
"Yeah, I heard the list is longer than my wang," he commented, smirking. Stan rolled his eyes in mild disgust.
"Guys, you know that probably isn't true," I said, trying to change the subject. I mean, sure, I wasn't the biggest fan of Beverly, but I still wanted to be nice. Ben nodded his head in agreement.
Bill finally stepped back into the alleyway. I looked at him sadly. Never had I seen him look at someone so... thoughtfully. He scanned the area; all the trash from the medical supplies fluttering around in the breeze, the bloody napkins all over the place. We were a walking crime scene.
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