CHAPTER THREE
the one in the sewers
warnings: none.
quick a/n: cool but i hate this chapter.

ASHLEY HARP STOOD IN front of a mirror that was hanging on her closet door, smoothing out her t-shirt, her hands slightly shaky. She was still a bit...shaken up from yesterday's experience, but she had to be at Eddie's soon, so she needed to get going eventually.

A sigh escaped her lips as she stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a bit messy, and her attempt to smooth her t-shirt had failed, but she didn't care at this point. With a shake of her head, Ashley walked over to her bedroom door.

She grabbed her bag that was sitting outside her door, throwing it over her shoulder and making her way downstairs.

"Dad, I'm going to a friend's house! I'll be back by five!" She shouted as she went to open the front door, but froze.

Her dad had replied, but she didn't hear him. Instead, she peeked outside, looking for any sign of the bugs from yesterday. Most of them seem to have crawled away by now, only a few left. She let out a sigh of relief, before opening the door and exiting the house, bolting off the front porch so she could avoid the insects.

Ashley walked over to her bike, before hopping on it. She reached inside her front pocket, and went over the address Eddie had given her. It wasn't too far, maybe twenty five minutes bike. She nodded to herself, a small smile on her lips. She stuck the paper back in her pocket, before beginning to pedal her bike.

♡

SO THERE HAD BEEN a small change of plans- instead of going to the barrens, the small group was now at the sewers. But Ash had been right about the maybe twenty five minutes thing- it was about twenty seven minutes later when she arrived at Eddie's house, and thirty when the group actually arrived at the sewer entrance.

The kids were now making their way through trees and plants with their bikes held to their sides, trying to follow Bill.

They came to a stop in front of the sewers, and Ashley wrinkled her nose, "It smells gross." She commented, getting a nod of agreement from Eddie in return.

"That's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy!" Stanley said, pointing at random plants that probably weren't actually poison ivy.

"Poison ivy? There's no poison ivy." Ashley raised an eyebrow, walking over to the entrance of the sewers, where Richie and Bill had already entered.

"Where? Where's the poison ivy?" Eddie asked, a bit frantic.

"No where. Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley." Richie spoke, and Ashley could just about hear his eyeroll.

"Ok, well I'm starting to get itchy, and I'm pretty sure that's not good for me." Eddie said- or more complained- standing in the entrance of the sewer with Stan and Ashley.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Richie questioned.

A short silence came, before: "Sometimes, yeah." From Eddie.

"Then you probably have crabs."

Ashley snorted at the joke, shaking her head as Eddie huffed.

"That's so not funny." Eddie retorted, and Ashley let out a small chuckle.

"It's a little funny, Shortstack." She said.

Richie turned to the three who were still standing by the entrance, "Aren't you guys coming in?" He asked, and Eddie shook his head.

"Uh-uh. That's graywater." The brown haired male replied.

"What the hell is graywater?"

Eddie paused for a second, before answering the other, "It's basically... piss and shit! So I'm just telling you! You guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee!"

"Gross." Ashley muttered, backing up, before looking back Richie, who was now picking up a stick.

"Are you serious? What are you-" Eddie began,

"Doesn't smell like caca to me, senor." Richie said in a fake Spanish accent, and a rather terrible fake one at that. Ashley shook her head, before beginning to tune out the pair, letting her mind wander.

Her eyes drifted over to Bill, who also seemed to be ignoring Eddie and Richie's bickering. She focused on what he was doing, and at the moment, that was picking up a shoe and inspecting it with his flashlight, which made her scrunch her nose in disgust. Who the hell picks up a shoe you found in the sewers?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a voice that wasn't Richie or Eddie (surprisingly), nope, it was the boy she'd just been focusing on.

"Guys!" Bill said, turning to face the group, holding up the shoe, while Richie walked over to him.

"Shit, don't tell me that's..." Stan spoke, and Ashley shot a glance in his direction, before looking back at Bill, waiting for his answer.

"No, Guh-Georgie wore galoshes." Bill informed, his voice quiet.

"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked.

There was a short silence as Richie examined the shoe for any idea on who's it was, and Ashley Harp shifted a bit at that, before Richie looked up at the group.

"It's Betty Ripsom's." He told them, and Ashley's eyes widened.

"The missing girl?" She mumbled and got a nod from Richie in return.

"Oh shit, god, oh fuck." Eddie cursed, "I don't like this." He commented.

"How do you think Betty feels?" Richie 'joked', "Running around these tunnels with only one freaking shoe!" He added, jumping on one foot for visual support.

"Richie." Ashley hissed quietly, while the other boys stared at him.

"What if she's still here?" Stanley broke the silence. No one replied to that, instead, Bill and Richie walked farther into the sewers.

"Eddie, come on." Richie called back, his voice echoing.

"My mom will have an aneurysm, okay, if she finds out we're playing down here, I'm serious." Eddie replied to him.

Ashley shook her head. She really didn't feel like listening to the two argue like an old married couple some more, and thankfully, Eddie instead turned to Bill.

"Bill?" Eddie said, though the tone was definitely more a question.

Bill faced the group, "If.. if I was Betty Ripsom," He began, "I would want us to find me."

Ashley let out a sigh, before Bill continued, looking at the three who stood at the entrance, "Guh-Guh-Georgie too." He added.

One thing was on her mind, and that was that she didn't what to find Georgie. She felt sorry for Bill, she did, and she understood. But she was convinced that George Denbrough was gone.

But Ashley Harp would never say that to Bill Denbrough.

"What if I don't wanna find him?" Eddie. He sure did seem like he could read Ashley's mind. After he said that, all eyes were on him, "I mean, no offense Bill, but I don't wanna end up like Ge-"

Eddie stopped himself before the last word fell out of his mouth, but it wasn't hard to figure out what he was gonna say. Ashley glanced at Bill, before Eddie fixed his sentence.

"I don't wanna go missing either."

Ashley blinked a bit, before speaking up, "I mean.. yeah, Bill. As much as I'm sorry about what happened, and I wish that you could find him, I really.. don't wanna go missing." Her words were muttered, and a small silence was between the group.

"They have a point." Stanley said, and Bill looked over at him.

"Yuh-Yuh-you too?" Bill asked, and Stanley let out a sigh.

"It's summer!" Stan exclaimed, voice a mix of annoyance and anger, "We're supposed to be having fun. This isn't fun. This is scary and disgusting." He commented.

And almost right on time, a splash came from outside the sewers. Ashley turned around quickly, searching for the source of the noise, as did Eddie and Stan, while Richie and Bill exited the sewers.

A kid that Ashley Harp was quick to recognize was trying to stand up in the water, before slipping, his breathing fast. Ben Hanscom, and oh boy, did he look like absolute hell.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?"