HAYLEY WAS ON BILL'S TAIL THE ENTIRE RIDE TO NEIBOLT. She never once let up, shouting after him as they rode. He didn't glance back or even hesitate until they made it to the house, when he climbed off his bike and strode up to the front door. She was two seconds behind him, shouting, "Bill! Bill, stop!"

"I have to," he insisted.

The others finally arrived, and they all ran up to them. Bill was on the stairs of the house, Hayley was at the bottom of the steps, and the others a few feet away from her. Beverley said, "Bill, you can't go in there. This is crazy."

"Look, you don't have to come in with me, but what happens when another Georgie goes missing, or another Betty or another Ed Corcoran or one of us? Are you just going to pretend it didn't happen like everyone else in this town?" Bill asked, his voice broken like he was trying not to cry. "Because I can't. I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there, his clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals but he isn't. So walking into this house for me... it's easier that walking into my own."

As he turned around and headed toward the door, Richie muttered, "Wow."

"What?" someone else questioned, and they all looked over at him, wondering if he was going to say that the speech motivated him to follow his friend, like that was something Richie would ever admit.

But instead, he just pointed out. "He didn't stutter once." And then, when Hayley started moving up the stairs, he was right behind. There was no way that they were letting Bill go in there alone. There was strength in numbers.

"Wait!" Stan interjected before anyone else could move. They all turned around to look at him, and he looked scared as hell. "Uh, shouldn't we have some people keep watch, just in case something bad happens?"

"Wh-Who wants to stay out here?" Bill asked, and immediately, everyone except for him, Bev, and Hayley raised their hands. The Forbes girl shot them all a 'seriously?' look. They could at least pretend to support their friend in his endeavors.

Somehow, Hayley ended up going inside with Bill, Eddie, and Richie. The others stayed outside, keeping watch in case anything happened. Bev was out there as well because knowing those boys, they were all running at any sign of trouble. Richie groaned, "I can't believe I pulled the short straw. You guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks."

"Shut up, Richie," Eddie replied, and Hayley smacked the boy upside the head yet again. Eddie made a disgusted face. "I can smell it."

Richie told him, "Don't breathe through your mouth 'cause then you're eating it." Eddie then proceeded to start gagging and whip out his inhaler while Richie's head tilted in confusion. He walked over to one of the walls and pulled off a piece of paper, examining it. All of a sudden, his eyes widened in terror.

"What?" Bill asked, and they all went running over to him to see what had spooked him so much.

He began stuttering, "It, it says I'm missing." Sure enough, it was a missing poster, just like the ones that the rest of the kids had, and it had Richie's face and name plastered on it.

"Y-you're not missing, Richie," Bill reminded him.

Hayley nodded. "Yeah, you're right here, with us." She wasn't sure if that helped but reassurance seemed to be what he needed.

"Then why's it say it there? That's my shirt, that's my hair, that's my face..." Richie began ranting, pointing to each part of the poster when he said it.

Hayley grabbed his shoulder, trying to get his attention. He was freaking out, and he needed to stop. They were barely in the foyer, and It had already scared the crap out of him. "Richie, calm down."

"That's my name, that's my age, that's the date..."

"This isn't real, Richie," Bill said, also trying to shake his friend out of the daze. Eddie was still breathing in his inhaler, more intensely now. The Denbrough boy whipped his friend around and looked him in the eye. "Look at me, Richie. Look at me. This isn't real. It's playing tricks on you."

Once everyone had calmed down a little bit, they ventured up the stairs. They were checking rooms for any clues that could possibly lead them to Georgie and the others, but they couldn't find anything. Hayley ducked into what appeared to have been a bedroom, but now it was riddled with cobwebs and mold.

A door slammed, and she whipped around just in time to see the lock slide into place, locking her in the room.

Her eyes widened, and she ran toward the door, banging on it and shouting for her friends. "Billy! Eddie! Richie! Anyone! Someone, help me!"

Then, she heard a hissing, and her heart dropped. She slowly turned around, pressing her back up against the door, and she let out a whimper when she saw a giant snake right in front of her. But it wasn't just one. More were coming out from under the bed and the dresser and the desk. They were everywhere, and they were getting closer and closer to her.

She kicked at the closest one to her, but that just allowed another one to slowly wrap around her calf. She shrieked, banging on the door harder and trying not to cry. She knew that she shouldn't be letting It know that she was scared, but she was genuinely terrified.

Another one found her thigh, and she tried to kick and shake her legs to get them off. But they had an iron grip on her, and they didn't seem to be planning to let her go.

She screamed and screamed, but nothing seemed to be working. She shook her entire body, crying and praying for someone, anyone, to come help her.

Finally, the door behind her swung open, and she fell backwards into someone. That person caught her before she could fall, and she quickly scrambled out of their grip, thinking it was the snakes again.

Once she realized that there were no snakes anymore and that it had actually been Bill who had caught her, she dove toward him and gave him the biggest hug. "Oh, thank God."

"Y-You're okay. You're safe," he said in her ear as she took deep breaths.

She didn't release him for what felt like a long time — years maybe. She could imagine nothing worse than getting separated from him again. She felt safe. Right there. She might have kept holding him forever if it weren't for Richie making gagging noises. "I'm literally gonna throw up."

"Where's Eddie?" she asked when she finally pulled away, looking around and noticing that they were missing somebody.

Bill answered her, his face flushed from the hug. "W-We don't know. He disappeared, like you did."

"Well, we gotta find him and get the hell out of here," she told them urgently. She didn't want to spend another minute in that place. She ran into a room, and the other too boys were hot on her tail.

They stopped when they came to three doors. One said 'SCARY', another 'VERY SCARY', and finally 'NOT SCARY AT ALL.' They took one look at each other before opening the final one. They were greeted with darkness and a female voice asking, "Where's my shoe?"

Then, a light cut on, and they saw Betty Ripsom hanging by her wrists, her body severed at the torso. They all screamed, stumbling back as Richie slammed the door closed. "Where the fuck were her legs? What was that?"

"Oh, my fuck," Hayley breathed out, trying to regain her senses and her brain function after having the shit scared out of her so many times.

"This isn't real. Remember the missing kid poster that wasn't real, so this isn't real," he reminded them, grabbing one of their shoulders each as they all clung to each other. He then pointed to the 'VERY SCARY' door, and Hayley wanted to jump out the window. But she took a deep breath and joined his side with Richie. She had to think about Eddie. "Ready?."

Before they could answer, Bill opened the door, but they were just met with a long hallway, no movement in sight. Hayley asked, "Where's Eddie?"

"Help!" A terrified scream burst through the silence, and they immediately took off running toward it. They made it to the room at the end of the hall, practically knocking into the opposite wall from how fast they were running.

"Eddie!" Richie cried out in relief, but all of their stomachs dropped when they saw It on top of him, hand around his neck. "Oh, fuck."

It turned around and looked at them, or, more specifically, Bill. "This isn't real enough for you, Billy?" It asked, releasing Eddie and slowly approaching them. Hayley winced at the use of her nickname for him, and they all took slow steps back. The clown was terrifying. "I'm not real enough for you? It was real enough for Georgie."

Just as it seemed like It was about to pounce on them, a giant pole was slammed through It's head, puncturing it all the way through. They all turned to see Beverley standing there, looking just as shocked as the rest of them that she had just done that. Mike and Ben stumbled into the room, Stan with them, and Hayley immediately made a dive around It and to Eddie.

His arm was definitely broken, so she helped him up by his other shoulder and began dragging him to the door. Bill came to help her, and they all ran, not stopping until they were safely on the sidewalk outside.

"Holy shit."