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After swimming for a little longer in the water, they'd found their ways back up to the rocks and sat on rocks, drying off. Beverly was lying down, getting some sun as Richie (being Richie) checked her out, along with Ben.
Alice sat at the edge of the cliff, her feet dangling from the edge as she kicked them back and forth lightly. She was hoping her undergarments would dry up soon, so she could wear actual clothes.
Stan nudged Bill forward, into the direction of Alice and he slowly made his way over to her, sitting next to her.
The pair didn't say anything, just looked out at the view in front of them.
"You know, when I'd always hangout by myself before I became friends with you guys, I'd always come here to think. It's peaceful, and the view's magnificent." Alice finally broke the silence.
"I don't come h-here too often." Bill said, grabbing a tiny pebble and throwing it off of the cliff and into the water below them.
"I know, otherwise I'd have seen you more often. I think I've only seen you here one time." Alice said, rubbing her hands together before setting them in her lap.
"R-really?" Bill asked, looking over at the girl. Although her hair was messy and still wet, and she had a slight sunburn she still looked beautiful.
"Yeah, one time I'd gotten out of the house and made my way down here, you, Stan, Eddie and Richie were up here messing around," Alice explained. "I just turned around and went somewhere else, I didn't want to bother you guys at the time."
"When w-was this?" He asked, resting his hands to the sides of his legs.
"Eh, I think last summer? I don't know. It was hot enough to swim and be outside." Alice shrugged, copying his actions.
Their pinky fingers were barely touching.
"You p-probably could've hung out with us, yanno," Bill said, looking at their hands that were centimeters away from each other.
"I know, but I was nervous. I don't know why, I mean I know people like me and such, but like I've said before nobody's ever really asked me to hangout till you guys besides Henry. So it was different for me to not see you guys at school," Alice said, looking down at their hands also.
She felt her face heat up, but luckily it was already red from the sun.
"Well y-you have us now." Bill smiled down at the girl.
Before Alice could reply, Beverly had gotten their attention. "Guys, you need to come look at this! Ben has this book, and also wants to show us something." She waved them over with the weirdest look on her face.
Bill and Alice made their way over to the group, looking over everyone's shoulders. It had said something about all the disappearances, and Ben explained how it got his attention that the average is higher than anywhere else he's ever been and such.
After decided they'd follow Ben to his house, the group put on their dry clothes and shoes, hopping on their bikes to the short boys house. Alice was still riding on the back of Bill's bike, considering she didn't have hers so there was really no other choice unless she rode on the back of someone else's.
A few minutes of pedaling and they finally made it, dropping their bikes on his front lawn and making their way inside and up to his room. They were all amazed at how much was hung up on the walls, how much research he'd done and how often he looked at these things.
Alice zoned out, not really paying attention to what Ben and the others were saying. She made her way around the room, looking at the clippings but for some reason only thinking of one thing, and one thing only.
The clown.
She could hear it's voice again, loudly repeating her name in her head.
"Alice, come float. We all float down here." It'd said, causing her head to start to hurt.
"S-stop." She whispered to herself, slightly glad she was the only one now standing by the doorway, after making her way around the room.
Gripping onto the side panel of the door, she closed her eyes for a second then opened them.
"I could give you a balloon if you come!" The voice said, as if it was standing right behind her.
"N-no." She stuttered, starting to breath unevenly.
The voice continued taunting her about balloons and floating with everyone, and whatever it meant she finally had enough.
"JUST STOP!" She screamed, causing everyone in the room to look at her. She was shaking, her hands barely able to grip onto the door anymore from how bad it was. "I think I-I need air." She said, not moving from her spot.
"I'll take her," Stan said, noticing how Bill was torn between looking at the articles on the wall and helping Alice. He cared about Alice deeply, but he also cared for Georgie just as much, and still had lots of hope that he was still out there somewhere.
Stan walked over to Alice, gripping onto her arm tightly, but not enough to hurt her. He walked her outside and they sat on the porch, Alice gathering her thoughts.
"Was it the clown?" Stan asked. That was another reason he wanted to be the one to take her outside. They'd been the only two to actually see the clown, as far as the two knew. It was easier for her to talk about it to him, as it was for him to talk about it to her.
"Y-yeah I think so," She said. "It was the same voice. Mumbling my name, telling me we all float down here and offering me a balloon. But I couldn't even see it, it's in my head I think." Alice rested her head on her knees, rubbing her scalp with her hands.
Stan rubbed her back lightly, not knowing how to comfort her. He knew she would rather be in Bill's arms, and he wanted oh so bad to go get him but he also didn't want to leave her alone for even a second.
They sat in silence for a moment, until Bill finally made his way outside. "Thanks f-for getting her out h-here." Bill thanked Stan, who just nodded before leaving the two alone.
Bill sat next to Alice, who took him by surprise and wrapped her arms around his torso. This time, he was able to actually hug her back, and held her in his arms. Figuring she wouldn't really want to talk about it he tried to let the thought go, and just rested his head on top of hers.
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this was short and i'm sorry, but i still put a lot of thought into it! if you haven't noticed i'm trying my best to update every day!
lately i've been busy, and updating before i go to bed but hopefully i can write my updates more in the morning soon.
also, so i've decided with my friends we're going to be the losers club for halloween and i'm dressing up as eddie and i've never felt like more of a queen in my life :')
