Strawberries and Cigarettes | Beverly Marsh

chapter nine

09 |Fourth Of July

"THEY SAID they found his hand all chewed up near the standpipe."

Vera's eyes widened, "That's horrible." She shudders, looking at the missing person sign.

"I've talked to him once. He asked to borrow a pencil." Ben mutters.

"It's like she's been f-forgotten bcause someone else is missing." Bill replied, raising Edward Corcoran's missing poster, revealing Betty Ripsom's smiling face.

A badly played tuba noises attracted Vera's attention, which made her turn her head to look, catching Richie's eyes.

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows as Richie stole the marching band's tuba, only for it to be ripped from his hands. "What the fuck dud?" The bespectacled boy shouted, raising his arms as he started walking towards the group.

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asked, licking his ice cream

"What they always talk about." Richie replied, taking the ice cream Eddie handed to him. The smaller boy walked towards Vera and handed her another one, which made the girl smile.

"I actually think it will end," Ben said, "For a little while, at least."

"What do you mean?" Beverly questioned.

"So I was going over all my Derry research and I charted out all the big events. The Ironworks explosion in 1908, the Bradley Gang in '35, and the Black Spot in '62. And now kids being..." Ben trailed off, "I realized this stuff seems to happen—"

"Every 27 years." Vera, Bill and Ben both said at the same time.

~~~

"Okay so let me get this straight. It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what? It just goes into hibernation?" Eddie asked, which made Vera shrug.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Maybe it's like... what do you call it? Cicadas." Stan replied, "The bugs that come out once every 17 years."

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," Mike started, "He said that all the bad things that happen in this town are because if one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry." He continued.

The group stayed silent for a while. "We'll I wouldn't be surprised if your grandfather turns out to be right. I mean, a clown? Really?" Vera commented.

"But it can't be one thing. We all saw something different." Stan replied. As the Mayfield girl turned to look at her curly haired friend, she felt a hand intertwining with hers.

Vera quickly looked Beverly, who's sitting next to her. The redhead avoided eye contact, but she kept her hand on the brunette.

Vera lightly blushed, squeezing Beverly's hand as she diverted her attention back to Stan.

"Or maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see." Mike suggests.

"I saw a leper. He was like a walking infection." Eddie voiced out as the group turned to look at him.

"But you didn't. Because it isn't real, none of this is. Not Eddie's leper, or Bill seeing Georgie, or the woman I keep seeing—"

"Is she hot?" Richie cut Stan off with a smirk, adjusting his glasses.

The Jew turned to look at him, frustration evident on his face, "No Richie! She's not hot! Her face is all messed up, none of this makes sense!" Stan angrily replied. "It's all like a bad dream!"

"I don't think so, I know the difference between a bad dream and real life," Mike replied, "You guys know that burnt down house on Harris Avenue? I was inside when it burnt down."

Vera quickly placed her free hand on Mike's shoulder, "You don't have to continue if you don't want to." She said softly, concern dripping in her voice.

Mike turned to the brunette with a small smile, "No, it's okay," He reassured, "Anyways, before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me. They were pushing and pounding on the door trying to get to me. But it was too hot. When the firefighters found them, the skin on their hands melted to the bone."

It was silence for a moment as Mike's eyes watered. Vera gently squeezed his shoulder to comfort him. No one knows what to say.

"We're all afraid of something."

"You got that right." Richie replied.

Eddie turned to look at him, "Why Rich? What are you afraid off?" He questioned.

Richie turned to look behind him as if he's in a trance, "Clowns."