▌Chapter 9 ─ Stick Together ▌

      ━━━━━ IT WAS NOW August, Holly had kept in touch with Richie, but the majority of the summer she spent with Prudence, Beverly and Bill. Holly was currently out with her father and Prudence, they were heading back home.

Once the two were back at Holly's house, they were going to meet up with Bill and Beverly. They arrived at the house, the two brunette's exited out of the car and went to their bikes.

"Please be safe." Nicholas called out to his daughter and Prudence, who in all fairness was like a second daughter to him.

"We will dad."

The two rode their bikes out of the driveway heading towards the meeting ground in which Bill had told them to meet. The two were the first to arrive, and shortly after they had arrived Bill had made it to them.

The three exchanged looks with each other as they awaited for Beverly to show up. Bill looked at his watch and at that moment Holly knew that she was late. Bill took off, Holly and Prudence following behind him.

When they arrived at Beverly's apartment the three climbed off their bikes and let them fall to the ground. The three then walked up the steps to her apartment. Prudence and Holly stuck close together.

Holly looked around searching for her other friend. "Beverly?" Bill questioned as the three walked down the hallway.

Soon they came to a stop, Holly turned slightly looking at the bathroom where a few months ago blood had coated every inch of it. They walked closer towards the bathroom, upon getting closer they saw Beverly's father on the floor blood surrounding his head.

In an instant Holly pulled back as the memories of her mother's death popped back into her head. Prudence turned back around looking at her friend.

"Hey, Holly it's okay. That's not your mom. It's just Beverly's dad and from the looks of it Beverly was trying to protect herself." Prudence said, hoping it would calm her friend down.

Holly breathed in and exhaled soon after. "I'm okay. I'm okay." Holly told her and Bill who had his eyes on her. The three proceeded to walk forward into Beverly's room. When they entered, blood was on the wall.

'You die if you try.'

"Oh, no." Holly breathed out as the three backed up out of her room.

"Beverly!" Bill shouted, running out of the apartment. Prudence and Holly followed behind him, heading to find their other friends.

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Holly and Prudence ran behind Bill who ran towards the arcade where they knew Richie would be. Bill was the first to enter followed by Holly and Prudence.

"Richie." Bill called out.

"What do you want?" He asked briefly looking back at the three. "See that guy I'm hitting? I'm pretending it's you."

"I-It got Beverly." Bill informed him.

"What are you talking about?"

"It, Richie. It got Beverly."

Richie stopped playing the game and turned towards Bill, Holly, and Prudence. Soon after Bill made a phone call to the rest of their friends telling them what had happened and where they needed to meet.

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Holly rode her bike with the rest of her friends as they headed towards the house to save Beverly's life, and stop It. Holly brought her bike to a stop and dropped it to the ground. She followed behind Bill the two entering the yard together.

"Guys, spikes." Bill said, pulling his backpack off and grabbing some spikes.

Holly watched Richie pick up a glass bottle and proceed to break it however it didn't quite work like he thought it would. Everyone looked up at him not entirely sure why he had done it in the first place. After that they proceeded to move up the steps of the old house.

Holly was next to Bill when he opened the door. He had a flashlight in his hand, memories of what happened in the house prior to now flowed back into her mind and suddenly Holly didn't want to be there. But Bill grabbed a hold of her hand and gave her a comforting squeeze to let her know it would be okay.

"Stan?" Ben called out, causing everyone to look back outside.

"Stan, we all have to go. B-B-Beverly was right. If we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. But if we stick together, all of us, we'll win. I promise." Bill said, hoping it would give him enough courage.

Eventually he did walk into the house, everyone proceeded to move forward heading to the kitchen and down the steps that lead to the well. Holly stepped off the steps and followed behind Bill staring at the well.

"Hey, Eddie, you got a quarter?" Richie questioned.

"I wouldn't want to make a wish in that fucking thing." Eddie replied.

"Me either." Holly said, as she looked down the well.

"Beverly?" Ben called out, his voice echoing down the well.

"How are we supposed to get down there?" Mike asked.

Bill and Holly turned around looking for something that they could use. Their eyes landed on rope. They worked together to get the rope tied up to a chain that was above them.

"All right. Come on."

Mike shook the rope to make sure it was secure enough for them to use. Bill climbed up onto the well, he was the first to start to climb down. Once he started to climb down Eddie went next. Mike brought the rope closer to him while Holly helped him up onto the well. After Eddie started to move down Richie went up next.

Soon thereafter Prudence climbed onto the well and started to climb down it. Stanley went down, and after he had gotten some distance Violet made her way down leaving only Holly and Mike.

"Go ahead." Mike said, as he held onto the gun.

She nodded her head and went to lean forward, however the brunette was pulled back from the well and thrown to the floor. She watched Mike get hit with a pole by none other than Bowers. Mike was then thrown back towards Holly who looked at him. She could hear the other calling up to the both of them.

They both watched Bowers pull the rope up so the rest couldn't get up to them. Bowers slowly turned back to face the two but his attention was on Mike and not Holly. The brunette moved back slightly.

"You didn't listen to what I told you, did you?" Bowers questioned Mike. "You should've stayed out of Derry. Your parents didn't and looked at what happened to them. I still get sad every time I pass by that pile of ashes. Sad, that I couldn't have done it myself."

"Fuck you, Bowers." Holly breathed out, as Mike moved.

Bowers completely ignored her once again. He leaned down and grabbed a hold of the tool that was in Mike's hand. Holly went to stand up, to help Mike but Bowers pushed her back causing her to fall once again, this time hurting herself in the process. She looked down at her arm to see the blood slowly oozing out.

"Mike." Holly called out as Bowers went to aim the gun presser towards Mike's head.

However Mike was able to push it away just as it came down, Bowers then threw it to the ground giving Mike enough of a chance to grab a rock and hit Bowers across the face. Holly stood up and held onto her arm as Bowers fell to the ground.

He then picked himself up and ran towards Bowers pushing him into the well causing him to fall down. Holly ran over to him watching Bowers scream as he fell down the rest of the well presumably to his death.

"Mike! Holly!" Eddie called out.

"We're okay." Mike answered, briefly looking over at Holly who sent him a soft smile.

Mike grabbed the presser and went to load it again however the rest of the air presser bullets fell to the bottom of the well. Holly walked over to the other side of the well and threw the rope back down, she then proceeded to climb down with Mike following behind her.

"Stanley!" Holly heard Eddie shout. She climbed into the tunnel and followed behind the other's as they continued to call out for him. "Stanley! Stan!" Eddie jumped down making a splash. "Oh, shit. Greywater."

Holly followed behind Bill, Mike not far behind her. Holly jumped down, and soon walked over to Prudence giving her a tight hug.

"Stan?" They pressed forward through the greywater searching for their other lost friend.

"Stanley!"

"Stan!" Prudence called out.

They all looked around not entirely sure where to look until they heard Stanley's screams. "Stan!" The Losers took off running in the direction of Stanley's screams hoping to find him in time. They came up to a door which had been closed. They all worked together to get it open.

"We're coming, man! We're coming! Don't worry."

They were able to get the door open and ran in, Bill moved his flashlight around searching for Stanley. Eventually Eddie saw his flashlight and ran over to it picking it up, turning and seeing Stanley on the ground with the painted woman that he had been talking about. Holly, Prudence and Violet screamed soon grabbing each other and huddling close together.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Richie asked as it looked up at them.

"Oh, shit!"

Eventually it let go of Stanley and pulled back laughing at them, and eventually disappearing. It's hand stayed on the pipe and when it reappeared Pennywise made his appearance blood on his chin.

"Oh, shit!"

Slowly he disappeared again allowing them to get to their friend to see if he was okay. "Stanley!"

"Stan!"

"Stanley."

Eddie jumped up and moved towards Stanley all of them eventually crowded around him and soon enough he was screaming.

"No! No! No!" Stanley screamed out.

"It's okay."

"You left me! You took me into Neibolt! You're not my friends! You made me go into Neibolt!" Stanley yelled at them.

"Stanley, I'm sorry." Eddie replied.

"You made me go into Neibolt! This is your fault!"

"We would never let anything happen to you. We're here for you."

"You know we wouldn't do that to you. Come on."

"Bill! Bill!"

Holly looked away from Stanley seeing that Bill was no longer with them. Everybody else stood up as well. Holly and Eddie were the first to walk away from the ground.

"Bill!" Holly called out.