Autophobia ♡ r.t

Epilogue

The group was sat in a large circle in the barrens, surrounded by tall grass as they listened to Beverly explain her experience.

"I can only remember certain parts but-" Beverly explained softly, pausing for a moment "I thought I was dead. That's what it felt like"

The group began to shift in a collective unease, looking around each other unsurely.

"I saw us, all of us together, back in the cistern but we were older, like our parents ages."

"W-w-w-what were we all doing there?" Bill asked, the first person to speak up since Beverly had started talking.

"I just remember how we felt, how scared we were" Beverly said, a knot seemingly tying itself in Caroline's stomach "I'll never forget that"

Bill stood suddenly from where he was sat, picking up a shard of glass from the floor as he did so.

"Swear it" he stated "S-s-swear if it isn't dead, if it ever comes back; we'll come back too"

The group all looked up at him uncertainly, not quite sure what to do or say.

Beverly was the first of them to stand, everyone else copying her actions soon after. Bill took this as a signal to begin.

He brought the glass into contact with his outstretched hand, dragging it across and causing a cut to form across his palm.

He moved onto Richie next, taking his hand and repeating the same action, causing Richie to wince, shaking his hand off.

Then he went to stand in front of Caroline, waiting expectantly for her to hold out her hand. She did so eventually, whining like a kicked puppy as he swiped the glass across her hand.

Richie reached over to her with his uncut hand, tapping her lightly on the shoulder in some strange attempt to comfort her.

They all watched as Bill repeated this process with each member of the group, although Riley was especially unwilling to let Bill permanently mutilate her hand, unsurprisingly enough.

Bill then returned to where he had been sitting previously, joining his hand with Beverly, signalling for everyone else to do the same.

So they did. Caroline held both Richie and Eddies hand, looking around at the friends surrounding her. Her friends. You'd never believe she had started off this summer almost completely alone and blissfully unaware of that psychotic demon clown.

They stood like that for a moment, before all collectively deciding to drop each others hands. Caroline tried her best to act natural, although her hand was still throbbing with the pain from her fresh cut.

"I gotta go" Stan announced, turning to Riley and giving her a hug before facing Bill again "I hate you"

Everyone panicked for a moment, unsure of how to react; until stans face broke out into a smile. Everyone began laughing together before Stan made his departure.

"I'll see you later"

"Bye Stan"

It didn't take long for more people to leave after Stan. First Eddie went, giving Caroline and Richie a tight hug before he left. Mike left not long after that.