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47

Thursday. July 9, 1987

Eddie watched his friend Mike who could barely hold himself, let alone speak to tell Eddie what had happened. Mike had been nearly hyperventilating on the grass when Eddie had passed in search of Richie. Richie.  He still had to find the obnoxious boy to tell him how he felt. If only Mike would calm down and talk to him. "Mike, please calm down. Tell me what happened," Eddie tried again.

"The clown," Mike finally spoke, his voice shaking. "I was walking down to the hiking trail, you know near the old cabin that the counselors used to store stuff in?" Eddie nodded, wishing for Mike to continue. 

"He told me we're all gonna die," Mike's eyes welled up with tears at this point and Eddie frowned, thinking he wasn't hearing correctly.  "He chased me and said, the kid is," Mike trailed off. Eddie was getting annoyed at this point. He shook Mike and demanded more information. 

"WHAT IS IT?" Eddie shouted in his face as the terrified boy recalled the events. 

"Dead! He said, Billy's brother is dead." Mike's head hung low. Eddie took a step back in disbelief, then two. "How could you say that?" Eddie questioned.

"Eddie, you think I'd make this up? That clown is going to kill us like he killed Georgie," Mike was speaking calmly now as tears rolled down his face. 

"Eddie?" Richie's melodic voice rang in his ears from behind the pair. Eddie sprung around and there was Richie with a worried look on his face. Eddie's heart skipped a beat. Was Richie worried about him? Richie wiped a bead of sweat from his upper lip, the summer sun being unkind to his porcelain skin. Eddie licked his lips, clearly forgetting about the traumatized Mike who was by his side. 

"What's going on? Mike, are you crying?" Richie's usual clown attitude was nowhere to be found and for once he seemed genuinely concerned about others. Richie approached the two, pushing his glasses up his face like one of those cliche dorky characters in a movie. He placed a hand on Mike's back and gave it a pat. Eddie was staring in awe at how caring his fake boyfriend could be. If circumstances weren't deadly, he'd want Richie to touch him that way too. Eddie explained how he'd found mike and told Richie what Pennywise had said to the poor boy when he was alone. What Eddie didn't understand was, why hadn't the clown just killed Mike then and there? Why hadn't the clown killed any of them but Georgie? Something didn't add up.

"So, we're all going to fucking die?" Richie shrugged, clearly getting his humor back. Eddie rolled his eyes at the boy's insincerity, but Mike wasn't crying anymore. 

"We need to warn the others," Mike said, suddenly sounding braver than he did a moment before.  

"No," Richie spoke bitterly, "no, fuck that. We're gonna kill him first. Y-Yeah, there's more of us than there is of him. We can take him if we all work together." Eddie knew these were serious matters, but hearing Richie talk this way on top of his newfound feelings made Eddie want to kiss him on the spot. He didn't kiss him, however. The three walked to Bill and Stanley's cabin to make the plan. 

As they approached, Billy Butcher was leaving through the front door with a hard look on his face. Inside, were strained voices and a sort of wailing. Eddie ran in first. Bill was on the floor crying and shouting angrily as Stan tried to wrap his lanky arms around him. Eddie ran over to Bill to hold him. 

"I'm sorry, Bill," Eddie spoke softly, "I'm so sorry."

Bill spent the next four hours in his cabin, crying, sitting, breathing. But never speaking. The gang filtered in and out of the cabin throughout the day. Finally, they all ended up back in Bill's cabin sitting in solemn silence. Richie was hung up on a plan to kill the monster that came into their lives that summer. He tried sharing his plan with the rest of his friends all day, though with news of camp shutting down with a murder and all, they were unwilling to listen.