dead in the water ( IT CH:2 ) DISCONTINUED

ooo. prologue

DEAD IN THE WATER
prologue

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After the dreadful summer of 1989, life in Derry had shifted for the Lucky 9; their little town felt suffocating and they were constantly looking over their shoulders for any sign of the monster that haunted their nightmares.

High school started before they could recover, and only added to the previously-ignored strain that had been put on their friendship; Richie, despite still being his goofy, dorky self, began smoking a lot more and toning down his jokes. Eddie was still trying his best to escape his mother's claws after being put on house arrest (again) after the 'fiasco' in the sewers.

Stan and Bill were both inside their own heads half of the time, still recovering from the shock; Mike barely came around town anymore, too busy with school and his new responsibilities at the farm; Beverly, just like she had announced the day the blood pact had been sealed, moved to Portland before the beginning of the school year, leaving her friends with the promise that she would write them as much as she could; Hannah moved in with the Johnstons a week after she was kicked out of her home by her parents, and she and Levi became true sisters.

Levi, always the one to put others before herself, tried to help her friends as much as she could—even ignoring her trauma and health, until Hannah and Mrs. Johnston intervened; and as for Ben, sweet, little Ben, he had taken to hiding in the Derry library once again.

One by one, the Losers' Club dissolved as they all either graduated and went away for college or moved away before the end of their high school years; with time, their memories faded into muddled pockets of time in their childhood.

But the dreadful feeling that they were running out of time never, ever left them.

_________

"Hey, Banana!" Levi exclaimed as she picked up the house phone, holding it between her head and her shoulder in order to finish pinning one last curler to her head. "How are you?"

"Eh, could be better," Hannah Jameson's slightly nasal voice came through from the other side of the receiver, followed by some rustling and a muffled sneeze. "I've caught the flu."

"Shit, man. That sucks." Levi crinkled her nose in distaste, absentmindedly twisting her high school class ring around her finger before she spoke once again. "Have you been taking any medicine?" A beat of silence gave her all the answers she needed. "Hannah! You're gonna have the freaking flu forever if you don't do that!"

"I know, I know!" Hannah groaned, sniffling some more before clearing her throat. "It's just...They taste yucky."

This made Levi laugh. "Han, you're forty-one, for God's sake! If you hate the taste so much, just plug your nose and drink it like a shot!"

"Oh, thanks for the idea, Einstein!" Hannah joined in on her best friend's laughter. "Hey, listen, um, I wanted to ask you if you'd be able to come up here for my birthday. Josie wanted me to confirm and you know how she gets when she's organizing things—"

"Han, calm down. Of course I can make it!" Levi exclaimed. "I mean, do you really think I'll miss your birthday? No way."

Suddenly, before Levi could add on to her sentence, the familiar beep that signaled there was a call on the other line began ringing in her ear, causing her to cringe slightly.