**Say What You Mean Out Loud**

~ S I X ~

The Clubhouse

Grey Elliot squinted, looking up at the sun peeking through the trees.
It was a beautiful day in the woods, and Grey wore a big smile on her face.

She truly forgot what a cheerful person she used to be.
Before the proposals and the water spots on the ceilings. She was an extremely happy person.
Most of the time.

"The Barrens." Bev announced.
Ben was smiling too. "This is where we came."

Grey got the warm feeling of good memories here, she just had to remember them.
She looked at Stanley, who was smiling back at her.

"After the rock fight."
The rock fight! Of course!

Richie looked around, remembrance striking him too.
"The clubhouse!They smiled at Ben, who nodded.
"You built that for us!"
"Yah."

"Yah, the hatch has got t be around here someplace."
The losers started stomping on the ground, searching for the opening to their old meeting spot.

"How are you still so damn happy?" Stanley looked at the girl, nay, women.
He couldn't help the half-smile written across his face.

She shrugged and hopped off a fallen tree, stomping on the ground.
"I miss this, you know? All of us together again, I haven't been this happy since..."

She trailed off, recalling the phone call she go from her fiance last night.

"Where the hell are you?" Emmet shouted into the phone.
"I had to go back to my hometown, meet some old friends of mine."
"And you never thought to say anything to me"

She tapped her foot and glanced at herself in the hotel room mirror, feeling braver.
"You left just a few weeks ago without telling me."
"That was for work Greyson, I had a legitimate reason to leave so suddenly. You need to tell me before you decide to go play with your old friends."

"Emmet, I have a-"
"No! You are coming back home immediately." He barked.

Grey frowned angrily and gripped the phone tighter.
"No, Emmet. I'm not, I'm staying here."
"Excuse me? Don't make me come down there and find you myself!"

She pulled her engagement ring from her pocket an fiddled with it, kowin that Emmet didn't even know where her hometown was.
"Goodbye Emmet. I'm sorry."

She hung up the phone, wishing she had been strong enough to not apologize at the end.

Stanley stared at Grey with an unreadable expression, trying to figure out what she was thinking. They were ripped from their thoughts at the sound of Ben.

"Actually you know what? I think the door was more like... aroun-"
He fell through the thick leaves and branches, into the hollow earth underneath.

"Found it." Ben called out from down there.
Grey gasped and ran over, peeking down the hole.
"Ben?" She called down.

"I'm okay!" He yelled. "Come down!"
The losers climbed down the old rickety ladder, memories hitting them like trucks.

Grey looked around at the trash and nature debris, remembering the time they first went down there.

It had been relatively empty when Ben introduced them to the Barrens, the only thing occupying the space being a ladder and wooden pillars.

"What the dick is this?" Richie had asked them. "How'd you build it?"
Ben constructed the whole thing from a hole already in the ground, and then reinforced it.

They had decorations and accessories in no time, giving the clubhouse a homey feel.
Stanley had handed out shower caps to them all, to keep spiders from getting in their hair.

Grey had gotten a permanent marker and drew birds all over Stanley's cap.
They weren't very detailed birds, and when she wasn't there he always wore a different one, but he still loved it.

Eddie reached down between decade old boards and picked up the small rubber ball, holding it up for them to see.
Grey smiled and poked Stanley. "The one you broke with your face." She said.

They were picking up miscellaneous items, smiling fondly and whispering in amazement.
Grey started walking off to the darker corner, to see if she could find the idolized hammock.

A voice came from the darkness instead.
"Hey losers." The deep voice growled.

The adults' head whipped up, staring into the darkness.
Grey took a step back.
"Time to float."

Fear she didn't quite understand yet coursed through her as she stumbled back, being pulled by Stanley. Beverly quivered and Ben fell over a chair, scared by the demon in the darkness.

But as they were about to prep for defense, Richie Fucking Tozier emerged from the darkness, laughing like a lunatic.

The adults stared at him in disbelief, and Grey cracked the teeniest smile, most of her happiness being relief. She soon doubled over in laughter, actually reciprocating Richie's high-five this time.

"Dude!" Eddie groaned.
"Remember he used to say that shit?" Richie giggled.

Grey turned around to smile at Stanley, who shook his head and put her hand down, like he had done to Richie so many times in the past.

Richie made funny little comments about their ungodly tormentor while the others recovered from their near heart attacks.
"Are you going to be like the the entire time we're home?"

Richie shrugged. "Alright, just trying to add some levity to this shit. I'll go fuck myself."
Grey groaned and rolled her eyes. "Aw guys, it wouldn't be home without Richie's shitty jokes!"

Stanley was sorting through pails and containers, wiping dust and dirt off of them. He nodded.
"That was pretty good."

They all looked through the memorabilia for a minute longer, before Richie smiled.
"Alright Mike, what are we doing here?"

Mike stood up from his seat and uttered, "The ritual. Performing it, requires a sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?" Richie asked, pointing his thumb towards Eddie. "I nominate Eddie."

Eddie looked up from the rubber ball in his hands. "Wait, what?"
"Cause you're little, you'll fit on a barbecue."
Grey giggled and covered her mouth with her sleeve, trying to not interrupt Mike anymore.

"I'm like, 5' 9", average."
"Not that kind of sacrifice guys." Bill cut in. Did he already know whatever spooky shit Mike was talking about?"

"The past is buried, but you're gonna have to dig it up." Mike said gravely.
"Piece by piece. And these pieces, these artifacts, they are why we're here. That's what you'll sacrifice."

The looked at each other, realizing what that meant.
They were going to have to explore the town they used to call home, searching and rediscovering their past for something that was significant to them.
Something that really did mean something.

Grey crossed her arms and leaned against Stanley with a smirk on your face.
"Wow Mike that was really intense." She nodded, still smirking.
"How many times did you rehearse that speech?"