Walking Buddies // IT // Hiatus

nine

The two kids woke up to Mrs. Denborough knocking on the bedroom door.

"Oh, honey I didn't know you were in here." She looked at Bill who rubbed his eyes to wake himself up. He just nodded and she smiled.

"I made breakfast. Oh and a girl called looking for you Lacey, her name was Beverly I think."

"Did she say why?" Lacey asked with a yawn.

"Something about needing help at her apartment and to get there as quickly as possible, you too Billy." The boy's ears turned red with embarrassment as his mom said his silly nickname.

"Mom." He muttered. She gave a small smile and left the room.

"There's t-t-toothp-p-paste and a t-toothbrush in the bathroom. Let's eat and then we can g-g-go to your house to c-ch-Cha-change clothes." Lacey agreed and the two went into the kitchen to eat the delicious breakfast that Bill's mother had made.

Everyone met up on the end of the street leading to Beverly's apartment to ride there together.

"What took you guys so long?" Richie asked.

"B-b-breakfast." Bill replied.

"Together?" Stan asked. Bill nodded his head as Lacey looked down at the floor. She thought she was brave but the moment she realized that the clown could show her her fears. She lost it all.

"Let's go see Beverly." Lacey said quietly before pedaling on her bike and riding to her best friends house. They all made it to the building and Beverly ran down the stairs her firefly Red hair bouncing around her head.

"You made it. I-I need to show you something." Lacey immediately threw her bike on the ground as she noticed her best friends nervousness. She forgot all about what had happened to her and turned all her focus to her friend.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Lacey rushed to her side.

"What is it?"

"More than we saw at the quarry?" Richie asked loudly.

"Shut up Richie!" Eddie and Lacey turned to look at the boy.

"My dad will kill me if he finds out, I had boys in the apartment." She looked between everyone in the group.

"Then, we-we'll leave a look out."

"Richie, stay here." Lacey commanded.

"What?!" He shouted. "Woah woah woah woah woah! What if her dad comes back?"

"Do what you normally do! Start talking!" Stan grabbed Lacey's hand and they followed the rest of the group up the stairs.

She laughed as she heard Richie's voice, "It is a gift!"

Beverly and Bill were in front of Eddie, Ben, Stanley and Lacey throughout the walk into Beverly's apartment.

"In there." She whispered.

"What is it?" Stan asked from next to Lacey. Their hands still intertwined in one another's.

"You'll see." They all started making their way slowly to the door while listening to Eddie rant about how disgusting bathrooms are. Lacey tuned him out but kept her focus on the door in front of her.

It had Red light shining through it, almost illuminating the hallway.

"It'll be okay Bev." Lacey placed her free hand on her best friends shoulder. Bev's eyes pleading for help as they stared at each other.

Lacey squeezed Stan's hand as in a form of letting him know that she was going to let go. He nodded and was hit with the same cold feeling as before.

Lacey pushed in front of the group and opened the door wide.

Blood. All around the room was blood. On every inch of the room, there was blood. Lacey's eyes widened as she was met with the scene.

"You see it?" Beverly asked to everyone.

Lacey nodded her head and someone replied with a small 'yes.'

"What happened in here?"

"My dad couldn't see it. I thought I might be crazy." She said breathlessly.

"Well if you're crazy, then we're all crazy." Ben tried to lighten the mood but it didn't really help.

"We c-c-can't leave it like this." Bill held more confidence being the leader of the group.

Lacey knew he was right and took a step into the murder scene.

"Lace!" Eddie scolded her.

Lacey ignored him and started rummaging around in the cabinets trying to find tools to clean with.

She found gloves, buckets, rags and sponges and handed them off to everyone. "Well, let's get cleaning then."

Beverly mentally thanked her best friend and everyone started cleaning as best as they could, getting every area of blood off and out of the room.

Eddie ran out of the apartment as soon as he finished cleaning, not wanting to be near the dirty room.

Stan, Ben and Lacey picked up bags and the rest of the equipment to put them away.

Ben stopped making Lacey and Stanley turn back.

"You okay?" She asked.

He just nodded, "Ill catch up with you guys." She hesitantly walked away following Stanley out of the door. They rushed over to the garbage cans not wanting to get in the middle of Eddie and Richie's conversation.

"Hey Lace?" Stan's voice stopped the young female in her tracks.

"Yeah?" She turned around to face him.

He looked down at his shoes and back up at the girl. "I was just curious about..." he paused, "about why you were at Bills house."

Lacey sighed and walked to Stan, "something happened Stan. I don't know how to explain it to you, but something happened. I wasn't thinking when I was running. I just let my feet take me where they knew. I only realized I was at Bill's when I stopped and he called my name. Since it was beginning to get dark, he told me to stay the night."

Lacey grabbed Stan's hands and made him look at her. "There's nothing going on between he and I Okay?"

He gave a small grin, his eyes filling with hope again. Maybe he still had a chance with her after all.

"Okay?" She smiled lightly.

"Okay." He gave her one of his best smiles, so big she could see his dimples. This made her smile even more.

"Come on. We should go back to the group." She grabbed his hand and the two walked together to meet back with the other kids in the loser's club.