Floating

Part 2: The House on Neibolt Street

"I-Is it o-ok i-i-if Rich-c-chie comes with u-u-us." Bill said. With his stutter it was hard to make out the words, but I could make out "Richie come with us". What choice did I have? Richie was already there sitting on his bike expecting me to say no and for me to tell him he would have to bike back home. I had never been this close to Richie before. He had very box-like glasses that covered up half his face. His hair was darker than mine and his eyes were bluer than mine.

"Ya that's fine."

"We can't ride long, we have to meet some people." Richie said in his best Shelley Berman impression. It was a horrible impression. I had seen Berman's stand up on TV once.

"Y-y-ya sorry abo-o-out that." Again Bill smiles. This one seemed more fake then the one last night, but I didn't give that a thought.

"I probably have to get home soon anyway, well after we ride anyway." Bill had the best looking bike out of all of us. HIs bike was a new model, a 1959 Jaguar Mark IV. He said he bought it for 24 dollars but I knew that was a lie. It was a new model and his family had a lot more money then mine did so he could buy better stuff. Richie was the first to start riding. We started riding down Witcham Street. This was the same street where Bill's younger brother, Georgie, was last seen and the street we lived on.

"HI HO SILVER ,AWAY" Bill yelled at the top of his lungs. It was the first time I had seen Bill not stutter. It felt weird and made me shudder.

"Do you always have to fucking say that?" Richie replied to Bill.

"I-i-it helps me to-o go fas-st-ster." Bill wasn't lying; he started going a lot faster than me and Richie.

"Wait the hell up, Bill." Bill started slowing down. I was the first out of us to spot Henry Bowers and his goons.

"Guys, there's Henry." I pointed down Witcham street.

"Ah shit Bill what do we do?" I thought it was kinda dumb to have Bill answer since he had a stutter but clearly Richie had a lot of trust in him.

"L-Lets go down this s-t-treet." I knew the street he was pointing to. Everyone knew this street. It was the street where the hobos and junkies lived. West Broadway used to be a busy street but after the big flood people left Derry. We learned about the flood during Derry history 101 in school. It was a boring class because most of Derry's history was lost after every flood.

We were all hesitant to go down the street. We had all heard stories. I didn't believe them but knew they could be true. We decided that we would rather take this chance then deal with Henry Bowers. We started riding, pedaling as fast as we could until we got to the end of Broadway. We caught our breath for a few seconds before crossing the street to the other end.

"Richie wh-what time is i-i-it?"

"Twelve thirty. We gotta go Bill." They both looked at me.

I shrugged and said, "I will be fine. See you guys some other time."

"Ya, right," Richie said laughing.

"Beep be-beep Ri-ichie." Bill once again looked at me and smiled; this one was different though, it might have been real. I wouldn't know. I never talked to them again. They waved goodbye and were off. I decided I would ride my bike down the street then back to my house. I knew the way as I had gone this way before. I started riding down Kansas street when I passed the Neibolt street church. I had gone in when we first moved here but never went back. I mostly never wanted to go back as the abandoned house near it always gave me the creeps. I had once seen a man crawl out from under the house and had never wanted to go near that place again. I decided today I would face those fears. I walked past the line that divided Kansas Street and Neibolt Street. I felt like I had gone invisible in that instance. It felt good but also scary. I wondered how fear and happiness could correspond in the same universe. I laughed at myself for getting so deep. Getting deep was for deep thinkers, which I am not. Having a short attention span doesn't help.