"The last good time always comes, and when you see the darkness creeping toward you, you hold what was bright and good. You hold for dear life."
⚠️VIOLENCE, GORE, IT SPOILERS, CURSING⚠️
⚠️IT and it's characters belong to Stephen King⚠️
"Alone. The most awful word in the English tone. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym." -Stephen King
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Tears rolled down my cheeks as I sat on the jagged sidewalk beside my bike. It was the evening after my first day of second grade, and I was riding my bike around. It was a cherry red bike that I named 'Kitty' after Anne Frank's diary, which my mom had read to me, or at least the parts that weren't too inappropriate.
Little did I know about two years later, 'Kitty' would be thrown into the river by Henry Bowers and his gang. I spent an hour attempting to get Kitty out, but it was wedged in between a rock and an inconveniently grown tree. With my fourth grader, underweight self, it was next to impossible to do by myself.
Anyways, this was before that whole fiasco. I had fallen off Kitty and scraped my elbow, and was now sitting on the pavement, sobbing.
I wasn't really crying because of my elbow though. No, I was crying because of something that had happened last night at my father's house. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I couldn't stop crying.
My first day in second grade, my first day and I made no friends, and now I was sitting on the pavement crying. Like a baby.
A boy who with brown hair and pretty eyes suddenly walked towards be and crouched next to me. "H-H-Hey, are yuh-yuh-you okay? Th-That was a p-p-pretty nasty f-fu-fall."
I nodded, wiping away tears. I choked down a sob. Once Greta Bowie pushed me off of the swings, and I started crying. She had called me a baby.
"Hey I'll b-b-be right b-back, okay?" The boy said, getting up and running into a nearby house.
After a few seconds he ran back out holding a small white box. He sat beside me and held his hand out. "C-Can I s-see your elbow?"
I gingerly placed my arm in the boy's hand, and he examined the scrape, and he used his free hand to open the box and grab out a cotton ball.
He set my arm down to pour some liquid on the cotton ball, and he grabbed my arm again, lightly dabbing the liquid on the scrape.
It stung a bit, and I flinched, but most of the tears had subsided already. The boy grabbed a square shaped bandage and carefully applied it to my elbow. "Thuh-Thuh-There! All done!" He gave a smile. "I'm Buh-Bill Denbrough, by the w-way."
I looked up to meet his eyes. "M...Marie Campbell." I sniffled, but tried my best to return a polite smile.
Suddenly a significantly younger looking boy ran towards 'Bill'. Three, maybe four? "Billy, dinner's ready!" He tugged on Bill's sleeve.
"A-Alright, tell mom I'll be there in a m-minute." Bill told the younger boy.
Before running back to the house, the boy turned to me. "I'm George, but friends call me Georgie!" He exclaimed. "If you're Billy's friend, you can be mine." He held out his hand.
I smiled again at the energetic boy. I shook his hand, then got up and picked up Kitty. "It's nice to meet both of you. Thanks for helping me, 'Billy'." I giggled a bit, using the nickname Georgie had called him.
Bill's face turned a bit red, and he laughed too. "I'll s-see you later!" He waved as he and Georgie ran up to their house.
The three of us hung out pretty often, up until around seventh grade, when George went missing...
October/1988, 5:00PM
"Georgie!" I cried out, rain thundering on the top of my slick pink umbrella. The police had officially declared Georgie missing earlier today.
When my mom told me, I didn't believe her. I screamed at her and ran outside. Here I am now, searching in the pouring rain for a child that the police themselves couldn't find.
"Georgie... Georgie where are you...?" I fell to my knees, my umbrella clattering to the asphalt beneath me. I clutched my hands so tightly that I felt my nails dig into my palms.
I heard a voice echoing from the sewers. A little boy's voice. "I'm not missing, I'm down here, Marie! Come float with us!"
My head flew up and shot towards the sewer. I shook my head. I... must be losing my mind...
I heard footsteps come from coming towards me, and I quickly wiped my tears away, my blood going cold.
"Marie," A deep voice spoke.
I winced and turned up slowly.
"Muh-Marie..! Are y-you o-oh-oh-okay?" Alas, I identified the voice as Bill's, although his stutter was far worse.
"I... No..." I sniffled. "How are you okay?"
A grim expression fell over his face, and for the first time I noticed that his eyes were red and puffy. "O-Oh-Okay? A-A-Are you s-suh-serious?" His voice shook. "F-F-For the l-luh-love of guh-god Marie..! M-M-My little b-b-buh-bu-brother was j-just declared m-m-m-m...m-missing..!" He crossed his arms.
"I-I-I'm the opposite of o-o-okay..!" Anger shown in Bill's eyes, while hurt reflected in mine.
"...Bill, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean that..." Tears collected in my eyes and my heart ached.
His glare didn't soften. "N-N-No. Yuh-Yuh-You're not e-even h-h-his f-family. You wouldn't g-get it..! Juh-Juh-Georgie is... w-w-was... muh-my best friend... N-Now he's.."
"Shut up!" I screamed. "We may not have been related but we.. We were family. I thought we were family too, Bill." My voice cracked. "But I guess I was wrong..!"
"M-M-M-Maybe you w-were wr-wruh-wrong." He said coldly and turned away, leaving me on the ground.
I waited for him to turn around, turn around and smile and explain that it was just a practical joke, but nothing came. Just cold, quiet... alone. Painfully alone.
