hard times»»beverly marsh

late night searching»2

unedited

sorry that this chapter is so short :)

i sit in the wheeler's basement, sitting at the table they use to play dungeons and dragons.

i look through my bag one more time, making sure i have everything i need.

"why is henry bowers in your basement?" i hear beverly whisper.

i look up to see the small search party eye balling henry's scarred back as he sleeps on the couch.

"no reason!" i snap, pulling the blanket over up to his shoulders.

"hey it's okay, no need to get defensive" bev raises her hands.

then something grabbed at my arm causing me to gasp and look down.

"where are you going?" henry mumbles.

"just out" i reply "no need to worry"

"stay safe" he grumbles "and take this"

he tries to hand me his knife "henry no-"

"I know youre not sleeping at your friend's place, I know that you're going to look for will, take it" he cuts me off swiftly.

"okay" I nod, slipping it into my pocket.

"will I see you back here or at school?" henry questions.

"probably at school" I reply "tell victor that i'll meet him before class by my locker"

"will do" he then looks towards my friends "if even a hair on her head is gone I will make your lives a living hell"

all my friends quickly nod and continue to pull me out of the basement just as henry lays down again.

we sneak out of the house, passing by richie's room on the way out.

we finally make it outside unnoticed, the moon hanging high in the sky.

"why is henry bowers in Richie and mike's basement?" lucas exclaims.

"what's with henry's back?" beverly looks towards me.

"guys, sto-" dustin is cut off by el.

"bad men hurt him." el glares at the ground.

I nod gently "bad man. he hurt henry.......a-and me. but we can stay safe" I look at all my friends "together, we'll stay safe"

"together, we'll stop the bad men; but for all of us to stop the bad men we need all of our members, so lets go find will" mike flicks on his torch as we start walking through the forest.

I keep the fingers of my right hand clutched around henry's knife in my pocket, left hand gripping onto my torch as it helps light our path.

I feel a small drop fall on my cheek, I look up and flash my torch through the trees. it couldn't be rain.

"jade, whats up?" beverly turns around.

"I felt something drop on my cheek" I say.

"could be rain" lucas replies.

"no, its too sticky to be rain" I say quietly, grip tightening around the knife in my pocket.

mike steps forward flashing his torch through the trees as we stand quietly and scan the area above us.

we then hear a low growl come from the trees above us, we all look up and I notice a dark blob rush through the trees.

"what the shit?!" dustin yells.

"guys! we should run" beverly calls out.

"no! we gotta see what it is" mike says continuing to chase it through the forest and we follow.

"mike! where are we going?!" i exclaim loudly, chasing after him.

"just follow me" he turns his head towards us for a split second before turning away again, still running.

mike then stops abruptly causing me to run straight into his back, the rest of the party tripping over themselves and falling to the floor as mike and i stand there wide eyed.

in front of us is a man in a white lab coat, the black blob standing by his feet, four legs holding it off of the ground, saliva seeping through the gaps of it's teeth which are stuck in what looks like an un-blossomed flower, it has no eyes from what i can see.

as soon as we see it they dissapear.

"please tell me you guys just seen that" mike turns, looking at our fallen friends.

"seen what?" beverly huffs, getting up with the help of el.

a chorus of 'i didnt see anything' and 'no's' fill the air.

"really? no one seen it?" mike gapes at us.

"i seen it" i reply causing mike to let a relieved sigh slip.

"so im not going insane?" he looks towards me.

i shake my head.

"you may not be going insane yet but we will if w stay out in the middle of the forest at midnight in the rain" lucas looks at us.

"my house is the closest, we can stay there" dustin grins at us with a toothless smile.

we all nod, the rest of the part ridding the rest of the mud from their clothes as i light our path through the forest.

"what about henry?" beverly asks, i look back at her.

"what do you mean?" i squint through the rain.

"wont he be worried when he sees that you're not in the basement tomorrow?" she continues.

"its alright, he knows that i have his knife" i say, holding it out.

"holy shit" dustin looks at it from next to lucas.

i shove it back in my pocket.