Control // It (2017) // Stanley Uris

Twenty-Three- "Beep-beep, Richie."

Bill aggressively pulled on the door handle, trying to do whatever he could to get to his friend on the other side.

"Eddie!" He screamed. "Open the door!"

"Eddie, please!" Mia joined in, banging on the wood.

"Richie..." A voice whispered, causing the Tozier boy to turn away from his friends.

"Are you okay?" Bill continued to try and contact Eddie.

"Eds, whats going on?" The Bowers girl began to cry.

Richie moved towards the source of the sounds and found an open door on the other side of the room. Through the open door was a room filled with objects, all covered in sheets.

"Hiya Richie!" The voice said as Eddie popped his head around the corner of a covered object.

"Eddie!" Richie spoke to himself, following Eddie into the room. "Eddie?" He whispered, trying to locate his friend.

He made his way into the dimly lit room and to where his friend had been, finding no trace of him.

"Eddie?" He spoke louder, hoping that his friend would show himself. "Where the fuck are you?"

Richie scanned the room, moving his head back and forth.

"We're not playing hide and seek, dipshit."

Bill and Mia gave up on the door, it was locked shut. They stopped their yelling and noticed a strange absence of sarcastic comments in the air around them. Richie wasn't in the room anymore.

Bill and Mia made eye contact, worried that Richie could be in trouble. Mia had tears rolling down her cheeks, staining her skin. Bill reached out and wipe the tears from her face lightly. Mia smiled at her friend.

"Richie?" Mia called out, moving quickly to the other side of the room. She found the open door and began to walk towards it. As Richie turned and made his way back to his friends, the door slammed all on its own.

"Richie!" Bill yelled, running at the door and pounding it with his fists.

"Bill! Bill come on, open the door!"

"Richie!"

"It won't open!"

"What's going on Richie?"

"I can't!"

"Open the door!"

Richie fumbled with the doorknob, trying to somehow get the lock to click into place. Behind him, the sound of sheets falling to the ground caught his attention. He paused and began to shake, not wanting to turn around. Slowly and hesitantly, he moved his body to face the covered objects.

"Oh, shit," He mumbled to himself as he processed the scene in front of him. The room was filled with statue upon statue of demonic looking clowns. Richie's worst fear came to life right in front of his face.

Hyperventilating, Richie spun on his heels to try and escape the room once more. In front of the door stood another clown toy, startling him and causing Richie to back up, further into the room. He screamed out in fear, falling into several of the statues.

His heart was beating nearly out of his chest, loud enough that the sound radiated through his ears. He reached out towards one of the clowns, trying to prove to himself that they were just statues. He tapped the clown's face with his fingers and sighed, finally able to slow his heart rate.

"Stupid clowns..." He sighed.

Richie turned towards the center of the room, and in front of his eyes, a sheet ripped off of another object and onto the floor. The object was a coffin. The lid slowly began to open.

Inside was the missing poster that Richie had seen of himself earlier that day. Written across the lid, in a blood-type liquid, was the word 'FOUND'.

"Oh, fuck."

Richie slowly approached the casket, breathing heavily. He didn't know what to expect, and he was terrified.

Inside the coffin, as would be normally expected, was a body. Though it was covered with a black sheet, the outline suggested that it may be roughly Richie's size.

The Tozier boy had had enough, and reached towards the body, ripping the sheet off. The body was more of a doll, smaller than a normal boy and made of porcelain. Maggots crawled in its eye sockets and mouth.

The doll was dressed up and structured to look exactly like the Tozier boy. He gagged at the sight. Richie slammed the top of the coffin closed, in an attempt to rid himself of this nightmare.

As soon as he slammed the top, it reopened and the demonic clown jumped out from the inside. Richie had never truly seen the clown in person, and he finally understood why all of his friends had been so afraid. IT was terrifying, clad in a renaissance costume and sporting a maniacle smile that made Richie's skin crawl.

"Ahh!" It screamed as it landed on top of the closed coffin. "Beep-beep, Richie." It smiled as it hovered over the small boy.

Richie stood wide-eyed, absolutely frozen in place. His heart felt like it had fallen out of his chest completely, and his lungs had shriveled into two raisins.

The clown reached out to grab the Tozier boy and opened it's mouth, screaming. Richie began to run towards the door, not knowing what else he could possibly do.

In the nick of time, Bill swung the door open, grabbing hold of Richie and pulling him through. Mia slammed the door in the clown's face.

"Let's get out of here!" Bill exclaimed, holding onto Richie's forearms. The smaller boy could hardly breathe, and bent over, struggling to get his heart rate down.

The sound of laughter filled the room and radiated from the mattress in the corner. Mia backed up into her friends, grabbing hold of Bill's hand. The two friends held onto each other tightly, unsure of how this encounter with the demon would truly end.

A head began to emerge from the inside of the mattress, and it was revealed to be Eddie's. His face was grey and moulded, and his hair fell over his forehead and partially over his eyes. It wasn't the real Eddie. It couldn't be. Mia emitted a high pitched scream.

"You wanna play loogie?" Eddie asked, then began to spill black liquid from his mouth. The liquid trailed all the way from the center of the mattress to the floor, and towards the three Losers.

"What is that!?" Mia breathlessly asked, backing up into Bill and pushing him back.

Eddie's eyes turned a vibrant red colour and he shook vigorously, emitting a terrifying and aggressive laugh. All at once, his head fell back into the mattress, and Eddie was gone.

Meanwhile, the real Eddie Kaspbrak finally awoke from his fainting spill. He sat up on the floor and scanned his surroundings, finding that he was completely alone. His right arm was aching and sore, and upon investigation, it was clearly broken.

Eddie cringed at the sight of his mangled arm and held back tears. He held his arm close to his body and tried to calm down, failing miserably. His breaths were short and shallow, definitely not the type of inhalation an asthamtic kid can live on.

Tears poured from the Kaspbrak boy's eyes and he sobbed. He was completely alone, broken, and a demon was out to get him. Definitely not an inviting scenario.

The sound of light tapping rang through the young boy's ears and he looked up. A hand was tapping the side of the refrigerator, clad in a white renaissance glove. IT was here.