the lies continue on

Chapter Six

I knew where I had to go to find my artifact. The only place that made sense for it to be was at Stan's house. It's where I spent most of that summer anyways. Pulling into that driveway felt wrong. Once he graduated high school and went off to college, his mom died and his dad fell into a depression. He never left the house though. It held too many memories that he couldn't just abandon. I can't imagine what he's going through with the recent news regarding Stan.

    I made my way to the front door and was hesitant before knocking. No one answer and I figured Mr. Uris mustn't have been home. I threw my hands in the pockets of my coat and started to head back to my car. I then heard the squeaking of an opening door. I turned back around to see Mr. Uris.

"Y/n?" He adjusted his glasses to get a better look at me.

"Hi, Mr. Uris." I offered my hand to shake his and he quickly pushed it aside to hug me. This wasn't what I was expecting, but it felt nice. As we parted I said "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm in town for a little bit and I thought I'd come visit."

    He nodded his head and lead me inside. Nothing about the house had changed and it made it even more perfect. The nostalgia and the memories were like another warm hug itself. He sat down on the couch and I took a seat on one of the opposing chairs. "Sorry about the mess. Haven't had many visitors in a while."

"It's fine, Mr. Uris."

"Please. You don't have to call me that. Donald is fine." He reminded me. I merely let out a small laugh. "So what are you in town for?"

I scoffed at the real reason that we were here before lying. "I guess you could call it a reunion of sorts."

"The Losers Club?" He smiled. "Stan loved that club."

"And we loved him."

We both fell silent for a moment, thinking about Stan. He broke the silence by saying,                 "Speaking of Stan, I actually have something to give you." His stood up from his seat and opened the nearby closet to receive a large box. I still wasn't sure what it was filled with until he set it down in front of me. I looked back between him and the box to ask if it was okay for me to look inside. "Go ahead." He nodded.   

    I opened it to find a sea of old tapes, but not just any old tapes. These were the tapes that Stan and I had recorded together over the course of our relationship. He had gotten and video camera for his birthday and from that day forward, he recorded our moments knowing I we wouldn't be around forever and...he was right. I picked up one of the tapes labeled, the quarry 8/14. I then picked up another one labeled, game night 7/22.

Mr. Uris scratched the back of his neck. "I've...uh...I've been watching them for the past day or so as a way of dealing with...everything."

I cut him off. "You don't have to explain it."

He sniffed and pulled himself back together. "You're more than welcome to take them home with you. I'm sure most of them mean a lot more in your hands than they do in mine. You're also welcome to watch a few here if you'd like. I was actually just about to make a pot of coffee."

I nodded my head and he headed into the kitchen. I grabbed the tape labeled, late night 8/2.

Song - "Mystery of Love [Instrumental] : Hannah Stater"

late night 1989 flashback :

    I laid on his bed reading aloud our newest find at the library. "'I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me–for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate.'" I then felt a pair of fingers trace images along my leg. "Stop it" I laughed at the tickling feeling, but he continued. I finally looked down at him to see him recording me. I hated being on camera and he knew that, but he found joy from it so I'd let it slide from time to time. I sat up and asked him, "How long have you been recording?"

"Just a few minutes" he smiled before kissing my lips.

quarry 1989 flashback :

    I stole the camera from him and began to record. He threw a fit saying he wanted to record me instead. "Give it back".

I laughed, "What? I'm giving the camera a much needed change of scenery."

"It's 'cause I'm shirtless, isn't it?" He grinned.

"Maybe" I teased.

"Horny as always" he said before kissing me.

I laughed at this. "You're one to talk."

He rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let's go swimming."

"No" I complained. "It's too cold right now"

He scoffed, "It's 97 degrees out."

"Yeah, but the water's probably freezing." He shot me a disappointed look. "How about you go swimming and I record you from up here?"

"No"

I stepped closer to him. "You sure about that?" I whispered in his ear before pushing him into the quarry. Once he resurfaced, I could hear him swearing at me from the bottom. "Love you too!" I shouted down to him before ending the recording and jumping in after him.

last gift 1989 flashback :

    Stanley sat me down on the floor and proceeded to hand me a gift. "What's this?" I asked.

"A gift" he explained.

I laughed, "But my birthday was last month."

"You know it doesn't have to be someone's birthday just to get them a gift, right?" He smiled and leaned his head in to say, "Now would be the time to say "thank you"".

"Thank you." I ripped open the rapping paper to reveal a new vinyl. There was no label on it or cover. I had no idea what it was.

"I just wanted one more dance before you leave."

"Stan..."

    I didn't want to leave, but my mom thought it would be best if I came home. It wasn't even up for discussion. I wasn't even sure if I'd ever see Derry again. In some cases, that was okay, but I didn't want to leave Stan. He took the record and put it on for me to finally realize what it was. He knew how badly I had wanted this record, but anytime we looked for it, it was always out of stock.

"Whom are you going to dance with?" He asked.

I replied, "With you, if you will ask me."

"Will you?" said he, offering his hand.

"Indeed I will. You have shown that you can dance, and you know we are not really so much brother and sister as to make it at all improper."

"Brother and sister! no, indeed."

    He then pulled me in close. As we danced around his room in the dim light, I realized just how much I was going to miss him. I knew I had plenty of life ahead of me, but no one would ever compare to Stanley.

Back to Present Day :

    I never even realized Stanley had recorded that moment. The camera was hidden, out of sight. To see that memory again brought tears to my eyes. He was too good for this world. I took the final tape out and packed it away in the box. I then took the box of tapes out to my car and headed back inside to say goodbye to Mr. Uris, but to my surprise the tape was still playing even though I had taken it out. What the hell? I took a step closer the tv to realize that Stan and I were frozen on the screen, but something had crawled out from under his bed. That something turned out to be the clown. I backed up in fear and tripped over the coffee table, landing on the floor. I watched as Pennywise snapped his bones back into place and made his way over to Stan.

"Don't touch him!" I yelled.

His grin grew big before saying, "But you already killed him, y/n."

"No!" I cried to myself as I saw him snap his neck.

I then felt a hand on my shoulder, I flinch back in fear not realizing it was only Mr. Uris. "Are you all right?"

"I...the tv..." I was at a loss for words after what I had just seen. "I...I'm sorry, Mr. Uris...I have to go." I wiped my tears and ran out to my car to drive back to the inn as quickly as possible.