Splendor//Bill Denbrough

T w e l v e

"A-a-are you fuh-fucking kidding me?"

Carn gives her husband a quizzical look as he fumes over the phone.

"I don't know. O-o-okay. I-I w-will. Love y-y-you too, Cl-Claire."

Bill hangs up. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he lets out a slow, tired sigh. The rest of the Losers, who were in the kitchen with them, are tactful enough to trickle our of the dining room.

Timidly, Carn reaches for his hands and asks what was wrong. But she practically knows what he is going to say.

"The b-b-boys nev-never got o-off the train. At l-least not in Nuh-New York."

She's frozen. Her feet are absolutely glued to the floor and chills crawl up and down her body.

They'll never give up, will they? Something they inherited from both parents. She's proud of them, but their lives creep closer and closer to peril.

Bill, on the other hand, can't stand still. He wraps shaking arms around his wife, fingers twitching and feet fidgeting. What would he do without his boys, his light? He couldn't let them die; he won't allow it. Whatever it takes to get them out of Derry, even if it comes to losing their trust, he'll do it. He'd much rather them not speak to him for a month or two than not have them in his life anymore.

Carn tries to speak, but no words come out of her agape mouth.

"Where d-d-do you th-think they are?"

She's still speechless, but a spoken answer is unnecessary. They're obviously on their way back to, if not already in, Derry.

"I'll call Jeremy," she finally croaks.

"Atticus," Bill replies.

Jer picks up first. From the faint noise of wheels and an engine, it's evident that they're on the train.

"Hello?"

"Hi, honey," Carn lets out a breath of relief when she hears Jeremy's sweet, silvery voice. "It's mom. I just need to know where you guys are."

"We're still on the train."

The answer is completely truthful.

"The train to where, baby? Your's was supposed to arrive an hour ago, and your sister didn't see you."

"We're taking another train," he says matter-of-factly.

"To New York?"

"Um... you're breaking up. The service is bad."

"Jer, wait-"

"Bye mom, love you."

The other line goes dead and Carn puts her face in her frigid hands. Bill gives up on calling Atticus because it keeps going straight to voicemail. Frustrated, he slams his phone on the table. Carn takes a minute to catch her breath, but then she confidently lifts her head. Usually she's the one who's quick to tears, but it's Bill with red, weepy eyes.

"You know what?" she stands on her tiptoes and wipes away his tears. "It's okay."

Bill stops crying for a second, trying to process what she just said.

"I-It is??"

"Yeah," she soothes him, holding his hands waffle style and kisses his fingers. "Because we're going to go Neibolt in just a few minutes, right? And Jeremy and Atticus still need to get back to Derry. After they get here, they'll need to get situated. And the first place they're going to go is Mike's, right? They know nothing about Neibolt. It won't get them because It'll be busy getting Its ass kicked by us."