Grass Dyed Red | IT 2017

iii.

While Eddie watches, Bill and Richie raid his kitchen like feral animals, stuffing Capri Suns, a bag of marshmallows, whatever snacks they can find into their backpacks. "What if someone catches us?" Eddie asks causing Bill to sigh. "It's the public works. We're the public, aren't we?" One cabinet is full of pills of some kind. Ignoring that, the boys collect their things and head into the living room. On their way out the front door, mrs kaspbrak, an enormous 300-pound woman, is stuffed into a recliner. Muumuu. Moles. Curlers. Painting her nails as her eyes are glued to Donahue on their small Zenith TV. Maybe she won't notice them leave.

"Eddie-bears. Where you boys off to in such a
rush...?" She questions. The boys think of an excuse quickly after Eddie mutters to them 'Help please'. "Uh, just my b-backyard, Mrs. K. We got a new badminton set." She looks them over, assessing whether this is a lie.

"Okay, but sweetie don't go rolling around on the grass. Especially if it's just been cut. You know how your allergies can get." Eddie let's out a low sigh. "Yes, ma." Bill gives her a reassuring smile. "I'll take good care of him, Mrs. K." Just as the boys were going to walk out, she stops them once more. "Eddie? Aren't you forgetting something?" Eddie slumps. Knowing exactly what he's forgetting, he trudges over to his Mother. As the other boys watch, he kisses his Mother on the cheek, and she give him a smile.

"Want one from me too, Mrs. K?"
Bill chokes down laughter. Mrs. Kaspbrak shoots a look at Richie, and Eddie quickly whisper sorry to his mom while ushering the rest of them out of the house. "Knock it off, Rich." He says stating calm.

This is the Morlock Hole. A cement cylinder that sticks about four feet out of the ground. A drone. Somewhere deep within. They move beyond it to reveal, the barrens. A messy, untamed tract of land. Big and green and wild. The boys follow a trickle of water to its source, a large sewer drain pipe. Eddie paces at the entrance, and Stanley moves to join Richie further inside, scraping a branch against its grimy corrugated walls. Stanley turns to Eds and questions why he's standing at the entrance. "Aren't you coming in?"

"Uh-uh. It's gray water." Richie makes a confused face while Bill looks around in the water. "What the hell's gray water?" Richies asks while Eddie just looks past him. "Tell 'em Bill, what your Dad said." Bill is deeper in the long sewer pipe, which extends into pitch darkness. Beyond it though, you get a sense of someone there, someone scared.

"It's where all the wa-wa-wash water
and storm drain runoff goes." Eddie hits his hand on his head and shakes it, so he can drill it into Richies head. "It's sewer water. Piss and shit. I'm telling you guys you're splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee."
Richie dips his branch in the water and sniffs the tip. "Smells okay to me." Bill sees something in the muck and fishes it out. "Guys."

"Serious. Have you ever heard of a
staff infection?!" Bill speaks up a little louder than before, a small echo going throughout the tunnel. "Guys!" They all shut up and turn to Bill, pushing around a sneaker in the water. "Shit, don't tell me that's-" Stanley says thinking it's from one of the twins or Georgie. "No. Georgie wore galoshes. The twins both wore converse everyday it their only sneaker." He flips Richie the sneaker, and he nods to look inside. Richie flashes his key-ring light, and sees "D. CORCORAN" written on the sole in black marker. "Who's sneaker is it?"

Bill fishes it out with a branch, afraid to touch it. "Dorsey Corcoran." Richie says inspecting the dirty shoe Bill found in the water. "Shit. For real? Oh fuck. That totally freaks me out." Eddie says his eyes go back to their normal shape. "How do you think Dorsey feels?
Running around these woods with only one friggin' shoe." The others look at Richie in disbelief of that being what he's worried about.
"What if... what if he's still here?" They all lock eyes.

Richie picks up a stick and starts sloshing deeper into the dark pipe where the shoe was found. Eddie stays frozen. "Dorsey!?" Richie yells. "Really! Stop! We're gonna get in
trouble. Richie!" "What?" Richie says not getting what Eddie's going to, concluding the events from earlier. "My mom will have an aneurism if she finds out I was playing down here, I'm serious." He exclaims, while those two bicker and Stan observes, Bill can hear splashing sounds coming closer and closer from the sewer.