derry, maine | it imagines ✔️

18. taken - bill denbrough

Requested?:
Yes: [✔️] ; by @Shannon1300
No: []

Song?: No

"Th-thanks for st-st-staying over," Bill smiled weakly as he let his friend, Shannon, in. She shook her head, meaning that it was no big deal. She knew how hard everything this year had been for Bill, losing Georgie, so when the stuttering boy asked if she could stay the night, she couldn't say no. She followed Bill into the kitchen, where his mother sat at the dinner table. "M-mom, Sh-Shannon is sl-sleeping here t-t-tonight, is that oh-okay?"

Mrs. Denbrough looked up from her book, and smiled at the brown-haired girl standing next to her son. "Of course, it is," the woman answered. "You're always welcome here."

"Thank you," Shannon responded, hands holding a bag and pillow. Shannon and Bill had grown up together, since they were babies. Their mothers were good friends, and their sleepovers at each other's houses were not uncommon. "That means a lot."

Bill spoke up once more. "C-can she j-just sl-sl-sleep in my r-room?" he asked nervously. The last time Shannon had stayed the night as Bill's was a week before Georgie went missing. She usually slept in the younger boy's room, while the two brothers slept in the same bed. It wasn't the same anymore.

Mrs. Denbrough gave her son a pitied look. Sighing, the woman replied, "Alright." Bill let out a breath, but she continued, pointing a finger at the boy, "No funny business, young man."

"Mom!" he exclaimed, cheeks tinting bright red, while Shannon's did the same. The woman apologized and sent the two kids on their way upstairs.

Their sleepover commenced as usual. They ate pizza and lots of junk food, they talked nonstop about the craziest things, and Bill even drew a picture of Shannon's face turned to the side. "If you make me look like a clown, I will end you, Denbrough," the girl laughed, knowing her friend would never do that.

"I'm n-not," Bill chuckled, shading in her brown eyes with a colored pencil. "I oh-only add-added devil h-horns and f-few f-f-fangs." The girl shot up from her sitting position and looked over the boy's shoulder.

The drawing was a perfect resemblance of her face. Sleek brown hair that looked to flow down her head and brown eyes that seemed to light up off the page. "It's great!" she smiled, making the boy blush, and mumble a 'thank you'.

"Knock, knock," said Mrs. Denbrough as she walked into her son's room. "It's getting kinda late. You should probably get some sleep." They nodded, knowing that it wasn't a suggestion.

After they got changed, separately of course, they settled in for the night, which was Bill in his bed, and Shannon in a sleeping bag on the floor, much to Bill's dislike. The girl fell into a deep sleep, but she woke up from her dream which ended with a red balloon popping. "Bill?" she whispered, sitting up. "Bill?"

Standing up, she saw that Bill wasn't in his bed. She had though he had gone to the bathroom, but she heard the basement door open. "What the hell is he doing?" she wondered aloud. She walked out of the room, seeing Georgie's turtle toy laying in pieces on the floor. She quietly stepped down the stairs, before peeking in to the doorway of the basement.

"YOU'LL FLOAT TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT TOO! YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!" an almost demonic voice started screeching and Shannon saw Bill, not moving with a frightened expression on his face.

She jumped down a few stairs. "Bill! Move!" she cried as soon as she saw a gray-colored Georgie crumbling and a creepy clown with crazed eyes emerging from the water that had appeared on the floor. The clown ran towards Bill, who stumbled to get up the steps to Shannon, but whatever it was grabbed his leg. "NO!"

The lights went out, and a quiet yet scary voice whispered, "You're next."

Shannon breathed heavily when they flickered back on, to a clean basement with no water, Georgie, or clown. She darted up the stairs and slammed the door closed. Racing to the phone, she dialed Richie Tozier, her other friend. "Pick up the damn phone!" she started crying while gripping it desperately. "Fuck this!" It was too late at night, and she couldn't wait until morning. She would get Bill, on her own.

Shannon had gone through a phase where she was obsessed with Derry's history. The clown had come up from water, and Georgie had gone missing near the sewers, so she thought that was her best bet. The Neibolt house. It was built over the old wellhouse, which connected all the sewers.

Grabbing a flashlight from the Denbrough's garage, she snuck out of the house, backpack on her shoulders and a determined look on her face. The walk to the creepy Neibolt house didn't take very long, only a few minutes. Standing outside the house in pitch blackness, she took a deep breath. "I can do this," she motivated herself.

Shannon walked up the porch and slid in through the creaky and rotting door. Cobwebs covered the walls and furniture that had been abandoned with the house. She heard the rustling of rats on the floor, or what she hoped was rats. The flashlight gave a dull beam, not helping her much at all.

She noticed a door, likely leading to the basement, but she heard a loud sob come from upstairs. "Bill," she whispered, voice laced with a hopeful tone. "Please." She tip-toed up the winding staircase, which led to a hallway with several doors. She shivered in fear, knowing whatever that clown thing was could be right behind her, and she wouldn't even know it.

"Hello?" a weak voice called, coming from a left-hand door behind her. It was a boy's voice, and Shannon recognized it immediately. "Please, help."

She ran to the door, pushing it open, and then she gasped. Bill rocked back and forth on a dirty blanket, tears streaming down his face. "Oh my God!" she cried. He looked up and his eyes filled with joy, until his face contorted into a fearful one. "What?" Shannon turned around and was met with the demonic clown, face to face. "Shitting hell!" she shouted, stumbling backwards toward Bill.

"You thought you could save him?" the clown asked, taunting her, while his eyes went somewhat crossed. "You thought you could protect him? You thought you could beat me? Did you Shannon?" Shannon's mouth fell agape, and she began to rummage through her backpack. "You thought you could stop me, didn't you? Well, you were wrong, weren't you? You will float, Shannon. We all float eventually." The clown stepped closer to them, leaning toward their faces with a wide mouth that began to open with one full of fangs.

"Not today, you psycho bitch!" Shannon yelled, before jamming her scissors into the clown's eye. He stumbled backwards, allowing Shannon to grab Bill's hand and tug him up. They raced from the room with a screaming clown behind them.

They ran out of the house and towards Bill's. When they finally got back, they were heaving in deep breaths and panting. "You cuh-came to s-s-save me," Bill whispered after catching his breath.

Shannon gave him a surprised look. "Of course, I did," she answered. "What kind of friend would I be if I let a demonic clown kidnap you?" She scrunched her eyebrows. "That's a sentence I thought I'd never say."

Bill smiled. "Let's guh-get back to buh-buh-bed." Shannon nodded, and they snuck back up to Bill's room. The boy moved his sketchbook off one of the pillows, and motioned for her to climb in. Neither of them wanted to be alone. It was a silent and mutual agreement.

"Goodnight, Bill," Shannon whispered, turning to face him. He did the same and looked her in the eyes. He didn't reply, instead he kissed her on the forehead, causing the girl to blush. "What was that for?" Bill shrugged, but never answered.

The two fell asleep, and eventually, Bill's arm was around Shannon's waist. When Mrs. Denbrough walked in the next morning to wake them up, boy, was she shocked. Not mad, though. She hadn't seen Bill so happy and peaceful since Georgie went missing. She didn't wake them up. She let them sleep until they woke up on their own. She didn't want to ruin that moment. The moment where she knew Bill cold be happy again. With Shannon.