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"be safe, kiddo!" andrew yelled as stephanie made her way out of the shop to meet her friends at the annual derry fourth of july celebration. "always am, andrew!" she called back as she walked out the door. after inserting her favorite tape into her beloved walkman that andrew had gotten for her last christmas, she slid her headphones over her ears and began her short journey to the ice cream shop that bill had told her they were all going to meet at. stephanie's heart began to race as she heard the yells of henry bowers from behind her. she kept her head down and quickened her pace, hoping to go unnoticed by the bowers gang. however, that didn't happen. she gasped as her headphones were suddenly ripped from her head and she was pushed up against the brick wall of the alley. "what's little girl cooper doing out here all by herself, hm?" she glared up at henry bowers as he spoke, smirking at her, "get away from me, bowers. andrew will kick your ass and you know it." she said to the older boy, knowing how much her brother hated henry and his gang. "yeah? i don't see him around here. i don't see your little boyfriend richie either. no one to save poor steph." stephanie struggled against him and spat in his face when she wasn't able to break free, causing henry to growl under his breath. "you're gonna regret that, you little bitch." he sneered before yanking the walkman out of her hand and dropping it on the ground, stomping his foot onto it, and smashing the device. she gasped and looked at the device on the ground, before raising her head back up to glare at the older boy. "fuck you, bowers." she said before raising her leg and kicking him directly in the crotch, making a run for it when the boy dropped to the ground in pain.
she ran down the sidewalk, shoving through the people and came to a halt as she reached her friends in the alley, breathing heavily as she rested her hands on her knees. "jesus christ, steph. did you just run a marathon or some shit?" she heard stan say, making her let out a breathless chuckle and shake her head. "no, no.. had to get away from.. bowers." she struggled to speak, coughing loudly and accepting the water bottle that beverly handed to her. "bowers? what happened? did he hurt you? stephanie, are you okay?" richie panicked, grabbing onto the girl's shoulders as she stood up straight again, handing bev her bottle. "richie, i'm fine. he didn't hurt me, broke the walkman andrew got for me, though." she said with a pout, making richie sigh in relief,. "i'm sorry, babe. i know something that'll cheer you up though!" he replied, letting a grin spread across his face as he pulled her away from the group and to the sidewalk. richie quickly rushed out to stop a kid from the marching band and take his baritone. stephanie was laughing as she watched richie try, and fail, to play the instrument. the kid tried taking the instrument back, richie pulling it from him, starting a tug-of-war game with the boy who eventually yanked it away. "what the fuck, dude?" he asked before him and stephanie walked back over to the group who were inspecting a missing child poster of eddie corcoran.
"what're you guys talking about?" eddie questioned as he handed richie one of the two ice cream cones in his hand, "what they always talk about." richie said, rolling his eyes. stephanie sighed, looking at the poster, "will it ever end?" she questioned with a frown. so many kids go missing, and it's as if the adults just don't care. she wondered what would happen if she went missing, andrew would look for her, right? "i actually think it will end, for a little while." ben spoke up, the rest of the group gave him questioning looks, waiting for him to continue. "i did some research and i charted out all of the big events. the ironworks explosion in 1908, the bradley gang in '35 and the black spot in '62 and now kids disappearing" he stopped and gave a sad look towards bill and stephanie, knowing both of their siblings had gone missing. stephanie gave him a small smile and took a deep breath, looking at richie graciously as he rubbed her back in comfort and offered for her to lick some of his ice cream, which she did. "this stuff seems to happen-" "every twenty-seven years" bill said at the same time as ben, causing the rest of the group to shiver.
they all relocated to a bench in the park, near the paul bunyan statue. stephanie leaned against richie's bike as he sat on it, leaning her head on his shoulder. "okay, let me get this straight. it comes out from wherever to eat kids for like a year? and then what? it just goes into hibernation?" eddie asked, trying to understand all this information. "maybe it's like, what do you call it? cicadas! those bugs that come out once every seventeen years?" stan added, trying to understand as well. "my grandfather thinks this town is cursed. he says that all bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. an evil thing. something that feeds off the souls of the people in derry." mike said, causing another shiver to run through stephanie's body. "but it can't be one thing, we all saw something different." stan commented but mike shook his head, "maybe. but maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see." "i saw a leper. he was like a walking infection." eddie said, cringing as he remembered how is chased him. "but, you didn't because it isn't real. none of this is. not eddie's leper, or bill seeing georgie. or the woman i keep seeing-" he was cut off by a comment from richie, "was she hot?" "no, richie! she's not hot! her face was all messed up!" stan snapped at his friend, making stephanie frown, feeling bad for the boy.
"none of this makes sense. they're all like bad dreams." stan continued. "no! I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?" mike responded, looking at the boy next to him. "what'd you see? you saw something too?" eddie asked, concern prominent in his voice. "yes. you guys know that burnt down house on harris avenue?" mike asked as the rest of the losers nodded, listening to his story. "i was inside when it burnt down. 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. when the fireman finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone. we're all afraid of something." he said, his hands shaking as he finished his story."you got that right." richie mumbled, turning to look at the clown performer on stage. stephanie turned to the boy, resting her hand on his thigh, "what are you afraid of?" he turned to look behind him, at a clown performing on stage. he turned back to the group, pushing up his glasses. "clowns."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
wowie, i've finally updated. school has been very busy. but, i'm back! i'm also currently working on a steve harrington book! i've got a lot of things figured out but i really cannot figure out a name. anyways, thank you for reading this book, i'm going to try to update more! - h
