Cynophobia I Stanley Uris

chapter nine

"I can only remember parts, but, I thought I was dead. That's what it felt like." Beverly informed her friends, who were sitting together in a circle near the river. "I saw us, all of us together back in the cistern, but we were older, like, our parents' ages."

"Am I still handsome as an adult?" Richie asked, putting his hands under his face.

"You grow into your looks." Bev replied, causing Richie to laugh.

"What the fuck does that mean?" He wondered, as the group chuckled.

Beside DJ, Stan leaned forward and looked at Beverly, "What about me?"

For a moment the redhead looked uncertain, but the she met Stan's eyes and responded, so DJ thought she had imagined it.

"Like now," Beverly told him. "But taller."

Stan smiled contently, while DJ kissed his cheek quickly.

"Can't wait to see that." She muttered to him, while Richie jokingly cheered them on.

The mood turned serious again, when Bill asked, "Wh-What were we all doing here?"

"I just remember how we felt. How scared we were. I don't think I can ever forget that." Bev replied quietly.

Suddenly, Bill stood up with a shard of glass in his hand, "Swear it. S-Swear if It isn't dead, if It ever comes back, we'll come back, too."

His friends pondered this and then quickly stood up one by one. Bill held out his left hand and made an incision in it using the piece of glass, before approaching Richie and cutting into his left hand. Richie cringed from the pain and shook his hand as Bill did the same thing with Eddie, who looked away. Richie patted his shoulder with his non-bloody hand in comfort. DJ watched attentively, when Bill went over to Mike, who groaned as Bill cut into his skin. Next was DJ, who clenched her jaw, but showed no other reaction. Stanley closed his eyes and grit his teeth in pain once it was his turn. Ben let out a quick grunt in pain, and then finally, Bill moved over to Beverly, who acted as if she didn't feel a thing.

Bill stepped away, chose his place in between Richie and Beverly, and held out his right hand. Beverly placed her left hand in it. Ben took Beverly's right hand, then extended his right to Stanley, who took it with his left hand, and grabbed DJ's hand with his other one. She quickly took Mike's left hand with her right. Mike held hands with Eddie, who cringed as he felt the blood. After that he took Richie's left hand. And finally, Richie took Bill's hand. The eight of them held hands for a few seconds, then let go simultaneously.

"We gotta go," Stanley spoke up, putting his arm around DJ's shoulder.

"I hate you." He told his friends, who seemed stung by his remark, especially Bill.

He looked down at the ground as if accepting it, before Stan's face broke into a smile, indicating that he was just joking. Eddie, DJ and Richie laughed first, before the others joined in.

"We'll see you later, losers." DJ told their friends, grinning brightly.

"Have f-fun on your date, you t-two!"

The couple walked away from their friends, his arm wrapped around her shoulder and hers around his waist. She instinctively inched even closer to him, while he rubbed her shoulder.

"Do you think we'll actually be back in twenty-seven years?" Stanley wondered thoughtfully, causing DJ to shrug.

"I don't know, Stan. I just know that if we'll come back we're going to win again. We've done it once, we can do it again. Our friendship is stronger than fear."

"Jesus," Stan muttered, kissing her head. "I hope we'll be married by then."

DJ blushed at his words, a laugh escaping her lips, "And hey, if we aren't, we'll just get back together then, right?"

She slowly stopped walking, facing him with a smile. Her boyfriend nodded at her words and he was so convinced that DJ just had to kiss him.