"Ready?"
"Just count to three."
'''
Adelaide Flint could swear living in Derry was a nightmare, and the summer of '89 only proved that to be true. But maybe Derry isn't so bad. That was, after all, where he was...
From the movie franchise, IT (2017...
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~~~Georgie, Come Back!~~~
MARCH 1989.
It had been a few months since Georgie Denbrough had last been seen by Adelaide Flint and her best friend, Georgie's brother, Bill Denbrough. The day Georgie had left, he had never came home. His parents stayed up all night, worrying and worrying and worrying as to where little Georgie had gone to. Adelaide's father went over and he and Zack had gone out in search for the little boy together. Adelaide was told to stay over at the Denbrough's for the night and as usual, she stayed the night in Bill's room.
Usually, Bill would help Adelaide with an air bed and she would sleep on it while Bill stayed on his bed. That was the plan for that night as well except neither Bill nor Adelaide could so much as even take a nap. They were worried for Georgie, too. There was no way to tell when the two heard their fathers come home but it was definitely late at night, you could already consider it morning.
For the next few days, the police had done a search party for days but they had no luck. Bill wanted to help, so did Adelaide. But they were forbidden by their guardians. There were a lot of times when Bill had cried, whether he wanted to or not. And during all those times, Adelaide would sit, or stand, or lie down beside him and held him in her arms, crying silently.
After months of still missing Georgie, Zack and Sharon Denbrough had to officially presume him deceased. Bill was against it, he told Adelaide. He confided in her with how he thought his parents were giving up on Georgie. He told her how his parents often acted as though Georgie was dead when he's not dead. He's not dead! Bill would think. Georgie, come back! That'll show everyone you're still alive. I know you are, Georgie. Just come back, Georgie, come back!
As much as she loved Bill, she could feel in her bones, somehow, that Georgie was in fact, dead. But she could never tell him, no. Nevertheless, she listened to his every word, whether he was crying, or explaining, or ranting, or screaming, or complaining, or grieving...
She would listen, and she would assure him that she believed him. Because, she thought, who am I to truly say whether Georgie was dead or alive? Who am I to tell him that he's overreacting when he said his parents gave up on Georgie's search? Who am I to tell him that his parents had acted as though Bill, too had gone missing? Who am I to deny him when I, myself had no real knowledge of such things?
MAY 1989.
More months had passed and the spring air had adjusted itself well into the atmosphere of Derry. Except things were not as shiny as it always was. Since the disappearance of young Georgie Denbrough, more and more kids had gone missing. Some of them were found, their body parts, at least.
Young children, their age varying from as young as three years old to more than 15 years old, had been disappearing and dying. Most of them stayed missing, just as Georgie Denbrough had. When some of the body parts were found, it would only just be some part of someone, never a full body, never two parts of the same person.
Even after this long of missing Georgie, Bill still held his belief that his little brother was still alive. A huge part of Adelaide wished that Georgie was, but a bigger part of her convinced herself that he was no longer in the land of the living. In a way, she knew that the bigger part of her -the one that was convinced Georgie died-, was right.
She didn't know exactly how she knew but she knew. She just wished she didn't have to lie to Bill about it. No, not yet, she thought. Maybe not ever. Maybe I'll just let him grieve until he finally accepts it. I'm not abandoning him, am I? No, I'm still by his side, always. He'll know one day, he'll know.
School had started again after spring break and she noticed -well, anyone would notice it, actually- that Bill's stutters had gotten so much worse in school. She wasn't in the same grade as him so they hadn't shared any classes, but even when in the halls, or just talking to someone else, his stutters got worse.
Their friends had confirmed her suspicion that Bill's stutters really did worsen in their class when the teacher would call on him. The only time his stutters relaxed and was usual was when he was talking to Adelaide or their friends.
