blackbird • stanley uris

fourteen.

Fuck

"Look." Bill started after we set up the projecter in his garage. "Storm drain. That's were Georgie disappeared, there's the Ironworks, and the Black Spot. Everywhere IT happens it's-it's all connected by the sewers and they all meet up at the..."

"The well-house." Ben interjected. I moved over in my seat, closer to Stanley. His anger at me still there but not as prominent.

"You mean the house on Neibolt Street." Stanley said.

"You mean the creepy-ass house where all the junkies and hobos like to sleep?" Richie asked. Eddie suddenly grabbed his inhaler out his pocket, breathing heavily. I leaned forwards and gently rubbed circles on his back.

"I hate that place." Beverly mumbled to herself. "Always feels like it's watching me."

"That's where I saw IT. There I saw a clown." Eddie gasped, his breathing still heavy.

"Tha-tha-tha-that's where IT lives." Bill said. Beverly and I glanced at each other, fear evident in both our eyes.

"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there." I sighed, looking down. An old memory of when Greta dared me to go in played in my mind.

"Can we stop talking about this? I can barely breathe. It's summer. We're kids, I can barely breathe having a fucking asthma attack and fuck doing this." Eddie jumped up, standing in the way of the projector. He grabbed the edge of the map and ripped it off the walls, Richie giggling to himself in his seat.

"What the hell! Put the map back!" Bill snapped. The projector went blank and started flipping through family photos of the Denbroughs.

"What happened? What's going on?" Stanley asked. We all stayed frozen, nobody touched the projector but still it moved on its own.

"I don't know, look! Guys..." Mike stood up, trying to fix the machine.

"Georgie." Bill mumbled to himself as the slide changed to a photo from a wedding, zooming in on Georgie's innocent smiling face.

"Bill?" I asked as it flicked through the photos faster, continuously moving in on Georgie. We all stayed still, watching the photo as it moved away from Georgie and towards Mrs. Denbrough.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Richie screamed as Bill's mothers face contorted into It. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Eddie equally screamed back, the two boys holding each other close. We all backed away from It, Stanley pulling me behind him.

"Turn it off!" Beverly shrieked.

"Yes, Turn it off!" We all agreed. Bill stayed standing, watching the wall intently. Mike kicked the projector over and Stanley walked over to the wall.

"Run, Stanley!" I yelled as Pennywise lept out the photo, his grin wild and sinister. Pennywises giant form crawled through the garage and over to us all backing away to the door.

"Beverly!" I squealed as It reached over to grab her shaking form. Mike and Ben quickly ran over to the garage door and opened, blinding us all with sunlight.

"Thanks, Ben." Beverly nodded at Ben, patting his shoulder before walking over to Bill and hugging him tightly. I wandered over to Stanley's still stance, shocking still running through him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his check, his arms automatically wrapping around my waist.

"IT saw us. IT saw us and It knows where we are." Eddie cried, close to tears.

"IT always knew. So let's go." Bill pranced out the door, glancing at us all eagerly.

"Go? Go where?" Ben asked.

"Neibolt. That's where G-g-g-Georgie is." Bill answered.

"After that?" Stanley removed one arm from around me and pointed at the projector.

"Yeah, it's summer, we should be outside..." Richie argued.

"If you say it's summer one more f-f-f-fucking time." Bill paused slightly before turning around, grabbing his bike and cycling away.

"Bill? Wait!" I called after him, getting on my bicycle and following him.

"Bill! Bill, you can't go in there. This is crazy." I begged, dumping my bicycle, the others close behind.

"Look, you don't have to come in with me, but what happens when another Georgie goes missing, or another Betty or another Ed Corcoran or one of us? Are you just going to pretend it didn't happen like everyone else in this town? Because I can't. I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there, his clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals but he isn't. So walking into this house for me... it's easier that walking into my own." Bill ranted, not stuttering once.

"Wow." Richie stood there gobsmacked.

"What?" Ben asked.

"He didn't stutter once." I answered for him. We all started wandering in after Bill.

"Wait! Uhhh, shouldn't we have some people keep watch, just in case something bad happens?" Stanley asked, glancing around at us all.

"Wh-wh-wh-who wants to stay out here?" Bill questioned. Everyone but Beverly and I raised their hands.

"Fuck." Richie mumbled. I giggled at his reaction, walking up to Bill and linking arms with him.

A/N Short chapter but I must admit this, in my opinion, was the scariest part in the whole movie. Pennywise jumping out the photo scared the hell out of me. I was not expecting that.

Til next time,
- I x