CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
the one with stan.
warnings: n/a?
they're BACKKK!

THEY CAN'T FIND Stan, and the panic was finally beginning to settle into Ashley.

Sure, it'd only been- what, five minutes? Five nerve-wracking, terrifying minutes. Five minutes of wlajig through more and more graywater. of shouting and calling the same name over and over and over again.

Stan.
Stan.
Stan.

Ashley had been quick to only assume the worst.

She couldn't help it, really. All she could think was Stan was dead and so was Beverly, It got to both of them, oh God, they're dead dead DEAD.

The whole experience was nothing short of absolutely terrifying.

But then again, everything in the past few months had been nothing short of terrifying.

Then there was a scream.

A scream in a voice that was so, so familar. A scream that sent a shiver down Ashley's spine. One that was bone chilling.

"Stanley!"

They were back to where they started, back to yelling and running.

They came across what Ashley supposed was a door. There were a lot of 'we're coming!''s being said, but Ashley couldn't focus on them, God she could barely breathe, and Stan Stan Stan where was Stan-

They pushed the door open.

Ashley stumbled through the opening, shining her flashlight. "Stan! Stanley!" She shouted. Her hands were shaking and oh God, oh God where was he?

"His flashlight." Bill said, shining his own on Stan'd abandoned one.

Eddie ran and picked it up, and-

It landed on Stan- Stan. Stan getting fucking eaten, oh God, what the hell?

Ashley screamed, and Eddie scresmed, and the others gasped and Richie was talking and Oh God-

"What the fuck is that thing?!" Richie exclaimed. The- the creature looked up, teeth and mouth stretching with it.

The creature moved away, and Ashley shaked all over as It left Stan behind. The creature backed away from the light, letting out an inhuman screech.

"Oh, shit." Richie said.

"Oh God, oh fuck." Ashley managed to get out. The creature disappeared behind something for a moment, before-

Oh, God, the clown.

Ashley screamed, then the creature was gone.

They all ran towards Stan.

"Stanley, Stanley, oh my God." Ash exclaimed as they all ran towards him, and-

The scream that ripped from Stan's mouth broke her in half.

"No!" Stan screamed, scrambling backwards, away from everyone else who kept saying his name, "No! No!"

"Stanley no!" Eddie said, "It's okay, Stan, please."

They all clamored around him, trying to calm him down, but God, it was no use.

"You left me!" Stan damn near sobbed, "You took me into Neibolt!"

"Stan, please, please." Ashley begged.

"Stanley, no. Stanley, no-"

"You're not my friends!" Stan shouted, and his voice was so full of pain and fear and it hurt Ashley. She wanted to cry, fuck. "You made me go into Neibolt!"

Ashley realized she was crying.

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

"You made me go into Neibolt!" Stan repeated once again, "This I'd your fault." He said with something similar to a sob.

They didn't notice Bill standing up quickly, not at first.

"We would never let anything happen to you." Eddie said, obviously trying to keep his voice stable, "We're here for you."

"Listen to him, Stan." Ash said.

"You know we wouldn't do that to you. Come on." Ben tried, and Ash was pretty sure Stan was calming down which was- which was good.

"Bill! Bill!" Eddie shouted suddenly, and Ashley's head snapped up so quickly she feared whiplash.

And then the cycle repeated.

They shouted for Bill. Ashley stood up quickly, as did some of the others, his name falling from her lips as Bill kept running.

They walked through a tunnel, continued to search and shout Bill's name in hopes that he would respond, until Eddie managed to trip and fall into the water.

Eddie gagged, "Come on."

"Get out of there, dude, that's graywater." Richie said.

"Wait, wait, wait." Eddie exclaimed, "My fucking flashlight?"

There was a bit of commotion as Eddie searched for a few seconds before-

A skull popped out of the water.

Ashley screamed, Richie screamed, Eddie screamed, there was a lot of screaming as they all backed up.

"Eddie!"

More skulls popped out as Eddie stumbled to his feet.

"Come on, let's get the fuck out of here!" Richie cried.

They stumbled away and kept running.

They eventually found the end of the tunnel and-

"Oh my God, Beverly!" Ash cried out, stumbling towards her.

"Bev? Bev?" Mike said, a lot more quietly than Ash had.

Ashley ran towards Beverly. Who was floating. In the air. Ash let out a dry sob of relief as she reached her, the others following behind more slowly.

"How- how is she in the air?" Richie asked.

"Guys." Eddie said, fear laced inhis voice, but Ashley didn't listen, jumping to try and reach Bev, to try and bring her down because she can't lose Beverly, she can't, oh God, she couldn't-

"Are those-" Eddie trailed off.

"The missing kids. Floating." Stanley said. That caught Ashley's attention. She stopped jumping momentarily. More kids were floating in the air and oh my God-

Beverly couldn't end up like that.

"Help me!" Ash cried out, "Get her down, help me, fuck-"

"Ash, calm down." Ben said, "Mike, help me."

Mike ended up lifting Ben up, who pulled Beverly down by her feet with Richie and Ashley's help from the sides.

"I'm slipping." Ben said. Mike sat him down, and Beverly came closer towards them.

Beverly's eyes were empty and white and it made Ashley ache all over.

Ben grabbed her by the shoulders. "Bev. Beverly." He said, shaking her shoulders. "Why isn't she the waking up?!" He yelled, directing it towards the others, "What is wrong with her?!"

Ash wished she could answer. It hurt her that she couldn't. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

"Beverly, please! Come on!" Ben exclaimed.

Ash supposed Ben acted on impulse when he kissed Bev, but it still hurt Ashley to watch. She ached. She shouldn't be jealous, shouldn't be.

Bev gasped.

Ashley sobbed in relief.

"January embers." Beverly said.

"My heart burns there too." Ben responded.

"Jesus fuck." Richie exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Bev and Ben.

"Just Bev." Ashley said quietly, following Richie's actions. Mike's "oh, God" came out muffled, but Ash felt his arms.

They all pulled away after a moment, Eddie's footsteps in the water catching their attention before-

"Where's Bill?"

Right.

Can't they catch a break for one damn second?