𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙, richie tozier

xii. ( an encounter )

MURDERED!

STELLA WAS IN her room, a towel tightly wrapped around her body as she roamed her drawers for something to wear for the day. she was planning on maybe going on a walk or something like that as she did enjoy the weather yesterday and knew that it wouldn't stay like that forever.

her door burst open, causing her to jump and nearly drop her towel. in the doorway stood richie, smiling wide at the sight of her practically naked.

"what the fuck, richard! who even let you in?" stella started yelling at the boy who was still standing in her doorway. "your dad let me in, stupid." richie said, his smile remaining on his face as he walked into her room.

"well then leave! and wait— my dad is here?" she asks. he grew a little confused to her question. "yeah." he answered.

"oh. i wasn't expecting him. anyway, get out!"

STELLA AND RICHIE were just now walking into bill's garage, both of them late because of the incident and the fact that stella wasn't even planning on coming. richie had somehow managed to convince her to go saying there was something for her there.

"why are we here out of all places?" stella asked but richie didn't answer. "you know what, why did i even agree to this?" richie rolls his eyes. "because I said so." he shrugs.

everyone was looking at them with confusion all over their faces. they didn't expect for stella to actually come, but they wanted to at least try.

"hey guys, guess what?" richie says, way too energetic for stella's liking. she had no idea how he could be so hyper at a time like this.

"what?" ben asked, genuinely wanting to know what he was so happy about, along with the rest of the group. "i saw stella naked!" he beamed at the fact that his prayers had been answered.

their faces were full of amazement and confusion. why would she be naked in front of him and how would he even get her naked?

"he walked in on me, but i did have a towel!" stella made sure to tell them before they got any ideas. "yeah but you almost dropped it and—"

"hey, richie! would you be a sweetheart and kindly fuck off?" stella asked as nicely as she could muster. "oh, i'll do whatever you say as long as you drop it completely next time—"

"okay then, back to what we were originally here for. which was?" she interrupts him. they all look over at each other in hesitation.

"yeah so about that..."

"T-THIS IS WHERE g-g-georgie went missing," bill says while he pointed to a storm drain on the map. "t-then there's the ironworks, the b-blackspot... i-it all leads u-up to the—"

bill was pointing to various spots on the map, making stella confused. she hadn't ever really heard of these kind of things but it seemed important to them so she stayed and kind of listened. she zoned in and out of the conversation and didn't really say much during it.

"—wellhouse!" ben completed his sentence for him, seeing where all of the mass killings in derrylead up to. bill nodded as stella stared at her shoes, repeatedly asking herself why she was here and unfortunately coming up with no answer at all. she was clueless to what they were trying to get at, maybe to try and track this clown down?

she had no idea, but she didn't like the sound of finding the clown and trying to stop it. look at the girl, she was tough and all but against a shape shifting clown that had been killing people ever since derry was founded— or maybe even before that? she didn't stand a chance against it.

"that's the house on neibolt." stan says, shivering at the thought of it. "you mean that house that all of the hobos and junkies sleep in?" richie asked, half jokingly and half seriously.

"t-t-that's where I saw it," eddie stammered, stumbling over his words and quickly pulling out his inhaler to use it. "thats w-where it lives..." bill says. "i can't imagine anything wanting to live in a place like that." stan practically shuttered.

"can we stop talking about this?" eddie pleaded as he jumped up from his spot and turned towards the group. "i-i-it's summer and i can barely breathe- i'm about to have a fucking asthma attack!"

as eddie was rambling, the girl didn't even flinch nor did she lift her head to see what was going on. she couldn't hear anything, not even the panicking boy right in front of her.

"i'm not doing this!" eddie says and rips the map off of the wall. "e-eddie, put it back!" bill demanded but eddie vigorously started to shake his head no. "uh uh, no way." he refused.

"p-put it back!"

the projector suddenly started to show pictures of bill and his family, but stella was too deep in her thoughts to notice. she seemed to have forgotten where she even was at the time and wasn't aware of the peculiar things going on around her.

eddie was sure to back away as the pace quickened on the photos, moving rapidly. stella, unfortunately, didn't do anything or move. she was still staring at the ground. she had no idea that this was happening.

then it stopped on a certain picture and began zooming in on mrs. denbrough. her hair was covering her face, not letting the group see it yet. it slowly started to reveal what was under it as if the one picture was actually moving. it showed the clown, smiling devilishly back at them.

the only thing to be heard was the projector rapidly clicking as it uncovered even more of the face and screams saying for someone- anyone, to turn it off. mike eventually ran up to the projected and knocked it over, causing everything to stop and for the screen to go black. stella still sat where she was, oblivious to the thing that had just occurred.

as the group, excluding stella, was huddled in the corner of the garage the clown popped out of the wall, only this time way bigger and scarier.

that was when they finally noticed that stella hadn't moved an inch and didn't even look up from the ground.

"stella!" richie shouted for the girl, causing her head to shoot up. she was confused at first, but that confusion quickly turned into fear as she saw the clown deathly close to her.

her breath hitched in her throat and she didn't dare to say anything without permission. "what, cat got your tongue? you're usually always talking, what's wrong now?" the clown teased her, its grin making her angry.

she panicked, so she said the first thing that came to mind to prove it wrong. "i'm sorry but your forehead is really big." she admits, shutting her eyes tightly in fear.

it grabbed her by the leg, making her fall of of the chair she was sitting on and started to drag her closer.

"fuck! i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to say it i swear—" stella began rambling on with a bunch of apologies and saying she didn't mean to say anything offensive.

tears were all over her face and she kept repeating the same words over and over again. the clown ignored her apologies and instead opened its mouth, revealing its many rows of sharp teeth to the girl.

she was struggling and was kicking all over the place trying to get away from it. this was it, she was going to die all because she opened her big mouth and decided to talk. "i'm sorry! it's beautiful, i swear!"

it got closer and closer to her, ready to feast upon her...

until it all went black.