IT 2017 | Bill Denbrough

chapter five

"Thanks, guys, but you really shouldn't have done that. They'll be after you guys, too, now" Mike says.

"Oh, no no no. Bowers? He's always after us." I manage to get out a small laugh.

"I guess that's one t-t-thing we all have in common" Bill jokes.

"Yeah, Homeschool. Welcome to the losers club."

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"They say they found part of his hand all chewed up near the sewer pipe" Stan sighs.

We all stand around a poster of a new missing kid. Edward Corcoran's. The sounds of Instruments from the band played behind us. I guess everyone was in a celebratory mood, all except us.

"He asked to borrow a pencil once" Ben admitted.

I walked over to the poster and lifted it up. I saw Betty Ripsom's missing poster underneath. It's like she's been forgotten. I took a deep breath not being able to take my eyes off the poster.

"It's like she's been f-f-forgotten" Bill says exactly what I was thinking.

"Because C-Corcoran's missing"

"Is it ever gonna end?" Stan asks.

I look behind me to see Richie messing with some guys tuba. Then Eddie comes up with two ice cream cones, handing Richie one of them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asks licking his ice cream cone.

"What they always talk about" Richie rolls his eyes while licking his ice cream cone as well.

"I actually think it will end. For a little while, at least" Ben says.

"What do you mean?" I ask scrunching my eyebrows together.

"So I was going over all my Derry research and I tried all the big events. The Iron Works Explosion in 1908, the Bradley Gang in 35, and the Black Spot in 62. And now kids being... I realize this stuff keeps happening every 27 years." Ben explains not taking his eyes off mine.

"Fuck" I mutter while crossing my arms.

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"Okay so, let me get this straight. It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what? it just goes into hibernation?" Eddie questions.

"Maybe it's like... What do you call it? Cicadas." Stan shrugs.

"You know, the bugs that come out once every 17 years."

I sigh and look down. There's no way whatever it is, it's anything close to a cicada.

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed. He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing, that feeds off the people of Derry" Mike explains.

"But it can't be one thing. We all saw something different" Stan argues.

"Maybe. Or maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see" Mike sits up in his seat.

"I saw leper. He was like a walking infection." Eddie's breathing starts getting heavier.

"But you didn't, because it isn't real. None of this is. Not Eddie's leper, Bill sing Georgie, Lydia almost drowning, or the woman I keep seeing" Stan starts messing with the hem of his shirt. I think Stan is trying to convince himself more than us.

"She hot?" Richie raises both his eyebrows.

"No, Richie. She's not hot! Her face is all messed up. None of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams." Stan starts moving his hands through his hair. I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down.