OPHIDIOPHOBIA - IT

EIGHT

Running past the beaten bike, Belch Huggin's car, and the large bushes, the first thing Alexa saw was Bowers grabbing his crotch, rather aggressively might she add. Looking down from the sight, she saw a dark-skinned boy, Mike, on the ground in front of the Losers. 

The next thing confused Alexa though. 

Ben screamed out some war call and threw a rock at Bower's forehead.

"Fuck!" Bowers stumbled on impact and looked bewildered Ben did that.

There was just silence for a couple of seconds, the only noise being Ben's heavy breathing. Then, Beverly threw a rock at Bowers. After that, it was a domino effect, Belch started to throw stones and soon Bower's other goon did too. 

"ROCK WAR" Richie shrieked out, immediately getting hit in the head with a rock. All Alexa did was gawk at the scene in front of her. 

Alexa will proudly say she isn't brave, a coward even. She wasn't ashamed, that's just how she was. She enjoyed staying indoors and didn't feel the need to always look for an adventure. She liked to live life with as little risk as possible. So while she watched her friends throw literal rocks, she didn't know if she should join in.

She watched her friends fall to the ground and get back up like it was nothing, must have been the adrenaline. 

None of her friends noticed her absence in the war, well except Ben. He turned around and noticed the girl, he saw her just staring at the scene in front of them. 

He looked at her for a moment before he got hit with a rock, he remembered the situation they were in, immediately retaliating.

Even if she wasn't afraid to admit she wasn't the bravest, she still felt bad for not helping her friends in this "war". Her sensitivity always got the better of her, and she felt like she was somehow abandoning her friends, even if they were handling the situation well.

By the time she zoned back into the situation in front of her, she saw Henry on the ground, slowly picking himself up, looking disoriented. But in the end, he just lay there, exhausted. His friends had already run off and it was honestly kinda sad to see him like that.

The Losers just stared at him in silence, and then one by one they started to leave. Once Alexa saw the Loser turn, she stopped herself from running out and just walked with them.

In the background, she could hear Richie yell "Go blow your dad you mullet-wearing asshole!" She could imagine him making a certain hand gesture and that got her to smile for a moment.

Picking their bikes up, Beverly asked Mike if he had any serious injuries that they could potentially fix, but he thankfully was okay. Biking over to one of the many large fields in Maine and dropping their bikes, Mike shares his gratitude with the group. "Thank guys, but you shouldn't have done that." 

"They'll be after you guys too now." He expresses his concern for the group. But Richie makes a good rebuttal, "Oh, no Bowers? He's always after us." Mike looks back at him,  Richie giving him a somewhat reassuring smile.

Adding on, Bill says, "I guess that's one th-th-thing we all have in common."

"Yeah, homeschool. Welcome to The Loser's Club!"

Arriving at the town square where the Fourth of July fair was, the group is flashed with bright colors and loud noises. While Bill, Beverly, Mike, Ben, and Stan were over at Eddie Corcoran's missing poster, Richie was wrestling a band member for his trumpet.

No one knew where Eddie and Alexa went though, they saw something and looked at each other and ran off. 

Finally, they came back, with ice cream. "What are you guys talking about?" Alexa asked, then took a toothless bite out of her ice cream. 

Before anyone could answer though, Richie interrupted, "What they always talk about." He grabbed the ice cream that Eddie handed to him.

"I actually think it will end." Ben glanced at Beverly, continuing their previous conversation. "For a little while at least."

She looked back at him, "What do you mean?"

"So I was going over all my Derry Chart research and I charted all the big events. The Iron Explosion in 1908, the Bradley Gang in '35, and the Black Spot in '62, and now kids being.." He paused, "I realized this stuff seems to happen," he took another pause,

"Every 27 years"

"Every 27 years"

Bill had caught on to what Ben was saying.

Looking around the group, all Alexa could say was, 

"Oh shit."

The group migrated out of the alleyway and found themselves at the park where the Fourth of July celebration was happening.

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Eddie started, wanting a recap of all the shit Ben just told them. "It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what? It just goes into hibernation?

"Maybe it's like... what do you call them? Cicadas. You know, the bugs that come out every 17 years."

"Ew, that's a type of bug?" Alexa muttered, directing it to no one.

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," Mike announced, giving his input. "He says all the bad things that happen in this town are because of 1 thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry.

"Wait," The group looked towards the tanned girl, "It can't be 1 thing, we all saw something different."

Mike looked at her, "Maybe." 

"Or maybe It knows what scares us most and that's what we see."

"I...I saw a leper" Eddie murmured. "He was like a walking infection."

Looking up at him, Stan argued back, "But you didn't. Because it isn't real."

"None of this is," Everyone turned to look at the curly-haired boy. "Not Eddie's leper, or Bill seeing Georgie, or... or the woman I keep seeing." He looked down at his feet. 

"She hot?" 

Everyone looked at Richie with the usual face they always gave him, displeased. 

Stan looked up and snapped, "No Richie! She's not hot. Her face is all messed up and none of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams."

"I don't think so, I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?"

That got Eddie's attention, "You saw something too?"

"Yes"

"Do you guys know that burned-down house on Harris Avenue?"

Alexa saw how the conversation was going.

"I was inside when it burned down." He paused. "Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me. They were pushing and pounding on the door, trying to get to me." He paused again, "But it was too hot. When the firemen finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone."

"Oh lord." Alexa clutched her cross necklace and shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't even imagine how Mike was feeling.

"We're all afraid of something." 

"Got that right." Richie turned behind him to where the park's stage was.

"Why Rich, what are you afraid of?" Eddie watched Richie.

He turned back, "Clowns"

The group's conversation turned to figuring out everyone's fears and their origins. The group became closer that hour.