Walking Buddies // IT // Hiatus

thirteen

The group headed to Bill's house to try and piece together everything that was happening. The Loser's Club was set on finding out everything that was happening in their town and most of them were dead set on trying to get it to stop forever.

Lacey walked in behind Beverly with Stanley trailing behind her. once everyone was inside Bill's Garage, Ben pulled the door shut and turned to everyone else. Lacey went over to Stan who had already sat down in the back away from the screen hanging down from the wall.

"You okay Stan?" She asked quietly not wanting to gain anyones attention but his.

The boy looked at the beautiful young girl in front of him, but didn't answer. It didn't take perfect eyesight to see the worry and fright in his eyes. He wasn't just worried about himself but for his friends and for the girl he's begun to fall in love with.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards her. "It's all going to be okay Stanley." She whispered to the boy. "I promise." He slightly pulled away from her and stared at her face. Her hair was pushed behind her ears and he could see the worry in her eyes just as she saw in his. He knew he had to be brave and stay strong for her but he didn't know if he could do it. He knew he would try.

The lights dimmed in the garage and everyone sat down behind the projector Bill had in the middle of the room. Stanley moved his chair closer to Lacey who smiled at him in response. He slightly held his hand out on his thigh in hope she would hold it. To his surprise, she did.

Lacey was pushed closer to Stanley by Richie who couldn't find anywhere else to sit. He looked at Lacey and gave her an apologetic look to which she rolled her eyes and smiled at. Richie was one of the most annoying people she had ever met but he was her friend and she cared more than anything for him. For all of them.

"Look. That's where G-G-G-Georgie disappeared." Bill pointed to a place on the map that was marked with an X inside a circle with the words Storm Drain written under it. "There's the Iron Works, and the Black Spot."

"Everywhere it happens, it's all connected by the sewers. And they all meet up at th-"

"The Well House!" Ben finished for him loudly.

"Its in the house on Nebalt Street." Stan said. Lacey tightened her grip on the boys hand. It gave him slight comfort but not enough. He gave her a small smile but she could tell he didn't mean it.

"You mean that creepy ass house where all the hobos and the junkies like to sleep?" Richie asked. Lacey noticed Eddie getting fidgety and he took a breath from his inhaler.

"I hate that place." Disgust clear in Beverly's voice. "It always feels like it's watching me."

"That's where I saw it." Eddie whispered. "Its where I saw the clown."

"Thats where It lives." Lacey spoke up. Eddie took another Inhale from his inhaler.

"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there."

"Can we stop talking about this?!" Eddie rose up from his seat and stood facing the rest of the group. "I can barely breathe! This is summer! We're kids! I can barely breathe! I'm having a fucking asthma attack! I'm not doing this!" Eddie turned around and ripped the map right off the wall of the garage.

"What the hell! Put the map back!" Bill demanded to Eddie. Eddie shook his head and made a noise signifying the word no. Just then the Projector started changing on its own getting everyones attention. They looked from the projector to Eddie, but not at the boy, at the images being projected on and behind him.

"What happened?" Bill asked.

"What's going on?" Stanley asked worriedly. His grip on Lacey's hand tightened but she didn't mind. She knew he was scared, she was scared too.

"I got it. hold on." Mike stood up and tried to fix it. "Guys." The images changed to multiple images of the same picture. It was Bill, Georgie and their parents. At first the picture kept zooming in on Georgie until it changed, it was now focusing on Bill's mother. Her hair flowing in the wind but blocking her face. The picture kept changing and the woman's hair fully covered her face until it wasn't her face anymore. It was the face of the Clown that was terrorizing the group of kids.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Richie was screaming at the top of his lungs. By then everyone was out of their seats and rushing to the opposite end of the room while keeping their eyes on the picture of the clown that seemed to be getting bigger and more real by the second.

The clown's face finally became clear with no hair blocking his view. He had a really big creepy smile on his face as he stared at each of the kids. Lacey ended up on the opposite end of the room as Stan but was side by side with Beverly. "Turn it off!" Both girls screamed.

Screams came from all sides of the room and no one could hear each other. Mike stepped up and kicked the entire thing over causing everyone to go quiet. Finally they had gotten him to go away.

Everyone tried to catch their breaths while the projector kept going. For a few seconds the screen was blank until the clown popped up again. It clicked a few more times until it stopped on one picture without the clown in it.

"Where did he go?" Lacey whispered. The girl spoke too soon because the Clown appeared right in front of them, but not in a picture. He was larger than he was before and everyone screamed and jumped back.

"Stanley!" The curly headed boy was in spitting distance of the clown and Lacey was afraid for his safety. Stanley ran off towards the boys and the clown headed to the two girls who were left unprotected. He crawled quickly with a grin on his face while both girls backed up into the wall. He stopped a meter away from the two girls and growled loudly. He reached his hand out to them and Lacey pulled Beverly behind her and shut her eyes tightly waiting for something, anything to happen.

Then a bright light lit up the room. Both girls opened their eyes and saw the clown was no where in sight. Lacey and Beverly let out sighs of relief before embracing each other while trying not to cry. The girls let go of each other and saw the boys staring at them.

Lacey slowly made her way over to them. She picked up the pace the second Stanley took a step closer to her and ran into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck and started crying as quietly as she could. Stan held her as close as he could to try and comfort her but he knew she was breaking.

They all were. They were scared for what could happen to them.

a/n ~ I'm sorry this took so long for me to write. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and I will continue to write as much as I possibly can for this book. Thank you all for voting and commenting it really means a lot to me!❤️