WHEEZY // an IT story

t w e n t y t w o

JUNE 13th, 1989

as the sun rose, richie heard the sound of birds chirping quietly outside. the dried tear stains on his face faintly burned. he sniffed and sat up. after a restless sleep on bill's hard wood floor, richie was anxious to start the day.
"bill?" richie said, hoping the other boy was awake. from the bed above, richie heard bill stir.
"what?" he called back, his voice soft from sleep.
"i'm just nervous. to go back into that house one day after we made it out," richie said. 
"don't be. we'll get him this time," bill reassured.

after the boys had gotten dressed and attempted to eat something, they hiked to each of the losers' houses, asking them to help get eddie. all of the losers answered one of two things-
"in the name of love," or
"for eddie."
so, the group of teens set off to save their friend once again.

much like eddie's, neibolt's door towered over richie in a way that made him feel small. bill muttered something unintelligible and pushed through the group to the front.
"we're not leaving without eddie," he said, crossing his arms.
"what if he's already dead?" stan asked.
"he's not," richie snapped back. together, the teens filed into the house.
"he took eddie down to the basement in the school, so maybe it's there," richie said.
"good idea, rich!" bev cheered.
"i would've never thought of that," bill stated.
"yeah. i think about this a lot," richie replied glumly.
"we'll get eddie back," mike consoled. richie nodded.
"where do you think the basement is?" stan asked. ben pointed to a flight of stairs.
"down there," he said, shuddering.

the descent down the stairs was living hell. as the losers went down each step, it slowly got darker. soon, it was pitch black.
"hold someone's hand in front of you and behind you! so no one gets lost!" bill called from the front of the line. the losers finally reached the bottom stair. "is everyone here? call out your names in order of the line!" bill instructed.
"richie,"
"stan,"
"beverly,"
"ben,"
"mike."
"okay everyone's here, right?" bill called.

"penny," it's voice mocked from the back of the line.
"run!" mike shouted.

richie held on tightly to bill's hand as he was pulled away from it. outside of his own head, he knew the other teens were screaming and feet were scuttling and it was howling, but all the noise sounded underwater. he blinked slowly. it was like he was in a state of calm. he couldn't feel his feet hitting the ground anymore. it almost seemed as if it was getting.. larger. yes, larger.

"what are we gonna do?!" stan shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.
"i don't know. stop screaming!" bill shouted back.
"how am i not supposed to scream?! we're lost in a crazy clown maze, richie's passed out, and eddie could be dead!" stan yelled back. richie didn't realize he had passed out. what he did realize was that he could see. there was light. he decided to let the other teens know he was awake. but, when he tried to make sounds, all that came out was a little murmur.
"guys! richie's awake!" beverly shouted, rushing over and kneeling down next to him. stan jogged over and knelt down next to beverly.
"you blacked out when we were running, so bill carried you," he said.
"we ended up.. here," ben added. richie looked around the large chamber. it was a huge, circular room, with a pile of things in the middle. the things seemed like toys and children's books. richie's eyes drifted up to the top of the room. it was illuminated by a bright white light, which seemed like the sun.
he realized that there were things hanging from the ceiling. the things, he realized, were children. he looked for ropes or strings to see what was keeping them up, but there was nothing. it was like they were floating. richie gasped and pointed to the ceiling. bill nodded.
"we know, creepy," he said. suddenly, it's voice echoed throughout the room.
"i've got your boy."