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6.

SIX.

❝DERRY ISNT LIKE ANY
TOWN I'VE BEEN IN BEFORE.❞

After hours of swimming around and splashing everyone with the cold water, we decided it was time to get out.

Music played softly in the background creating a comfortable atmosphere between us all. All the boys either sat up on the rocks or stood while Beverly and I lay on light towels, still in our undergarments. We sunbathed in the refreshing air, drying ourselves off.

She whispered over to me. "Pst- Y/n,"
"Huh?"
"Turn over and lay on your stomach." Confused, I still agreed to do what she said. We both switched our positions to our stomach and as we did I noticed all the boys quickly averting their heads from us. They were totally staring. I look over to Bev and we just burst out into a fit of giggles. For some odd reason, I felt a burning sensation in my stomach at the thought that Richie was staring at me.

The sensation was stopped when I heard the boy that occupied my thoughts rummage through Ben's bag. "News flash Ben, school's out for summer," Glasses boy said with a weird voice. He took out a postcard from the schoolbag but Ben swiftly snatched it back, shoving it down into the bag.

Still ransacking the new kid's bag, he hauled out some type of binder or something like that. I noticed Richie's eyebrows furrowing when he opened it so I stood and sat alongside Richie and Stanley. "Hey, show me," I nosed. "What's with the history project?" Richie interrogated, holding the papers out wide so I could see.

There was a ton of newspapers surrounding Derry's murders, massacres and missing reports. Honestly, it was both weird and scary He closed the papers and handed them over to Bill.

"Oh. When I first moved here, I didn't have anyone to hang out with. So, I just started spending time in the library. Bill examined the newspapers, flicking through them all and reading each one.

"You went to the library? On purpose?"
"Oh, I wanna see." Beverly skipped over and sat beside Bill, leaning in to look at the binder.
"What's the black spot?" Ben started explaining about the research he did.

The group went silent and both Bill and Ben mentioned the fact Beverly cut her hair. "Y-Your hair . . " stated Bill.
"Your . . Your hair is beautiful, Beverly," Ben interjected. She sent a dazzling smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear and thanked Ben.

Tension was obvious between the two boys and the group fell silent. "Here, pass it." Richie pointed over to the binder that Bill held. He handed it over and once again Richie flipped through it. "Why's it all murders and missing kids?" The question sent shivers down my spine when I seen the titles for the pages.

Richie offered it to me but I passed it on to Stanley after already reading it over his shoulder. "Derry isn't like any town I've been in before." Everyone listened intently as Ben exposed the town for its truth. "They did a study once, turns out people die or disappear six times the national average.

We all looked around as Beverly asked, "You read that?"
"And that's just grown ups, kids are worse," he shook. "Way, way worse." The once cool and comfortable atmosphere quickly turned eerie and cold in the past few minutes. "I've got more stuff, if you wanna see it?" I looked down to Eddie who now sat on the rough ground. He shook his head rapidly, already frightened from Ben's studies, not wanting to see more.

After drying up and relaxing for a while, we all decided to head over to Ben's place to see more of the stories. We rode as a group down the neighbourhood as Ben led the way. He swerved in to a driveway and jumped off his bike, letting it crash to the ground. Everyone else repeated his actions as we all ran inside following him to his room.

Scattered all along the yellow walls was black and white photos. The photos stretched from missing posters to newspapers to old buildings and landscapes. Even drawings and projector slides lay out on his desk.

As Richie walked into the room, he let out a 'wow', marvelling at all history along his wall. "Cool, huh?" He stood with one arm leaning against the wall and the other on his hip. Strange. "No, nothing cool," Richie chided.
"Well, this is cool, right here," he looked over to me as I stood to the right of him. "Wait, no. No, it's not cool." I glared over to him as he made fun of Ben's analysis of the town.

"What's that?" Asked Stanley, pointing to a long piece of writing with a part circled in red. "Oh, that? That's the charter for Derry's Township," Ben replied. "Nerd alert," Richie commented, again trying to make at least one person laugh. "No, actually it's really interesting," Ben vouched. "Derry started as a beaver trapping camp."
"Still is, 'm I right boys?" Yet again, Richie joked as he held his hand up, looking for a high five but in return receiving glares. Ben continued explaining the story behind the charter. "Ninety-one people signed the charter that made Derry. But later that winter, they all disappeared without a trace."

A chilled, creepy atmosphere was present in the room. "The entire camp?" Eddie asked. "There were rumours of Indians, but no sign of an attack. Everybody just . . thought it was a plague or something but it's like, one day everybody just woke up and left. The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house." The well house? What's so significant about some well house.

"Jesus, we can get Derry on unsolved mysteries," Richie smiled, unfazed by Ben's words. The photos hung up on the wall had a ghostly feel just looking at them. Something strange happened in this town, and no one knows what. Stanley, Eddie, and Richie all started obnoxiously bickering as I observed the strange papers.

"Whuh-Where was the well house?" Asked Bill. He stood by Ben's desk, examining the photos slides he owned. "I don't know, somewhere in town, I guess." Ben replied. "Why?"
"Nothing," he whispered under his breath.

My head spun whenever I tried to wrap my brain around the fact that they all disappeared without anything left, nothing to show where they went or what happened. Everytime I thought about it, a shudder of fear travelled through my body. I could sense that something was wrong, terribly wrong.