"SHIT!" HAYLEY CURSED. She had not been looking forward to seeing that terrifying face again. Ever since she had come back to town, it had haunted her. That stupid fucking clown. The one that had tortured them and so many other kids all of those years ago, the one who had killed Georgie.

"Did it work, Mikey? Did it work?" Pennywise teased, his voice high pitched but distorted. He laughed that terrifying laugh as he spoke, and it sent shivers down Hayley's spine. "Tell them why your silly little ritual didn't work. Tell them it's all just a...What's the word, Eds? Gazebo?"

Eddie glanced over at Mike, none of them even wanting to know what the clown meant by that. He asked, "Mike, what's he talking about?"

"Mikey?" Bill said when the man did not speak. Mike looked embarrassed and scared, and Hayley knew that there was something that they were missing, something that he had hidden from them.

"Oh, Mikey, you never showed them to fourth side, did you?" It giggled, and the Forbes woman hated that it had something on them. If Mike had just told them everything the first time, maybe they wouldn't be in that position. "Didn't want them to know what actually happened to the poor Shokopiwah?"

Realization dawned on them all at the same time. They fucking died. Mike brought them down there to die. But there was no way he would do that to them, right? Bill snapped, "Fuck, Mikey, you lied to us again?"

"T-They didn't believe!" Mike stuttered out in defense, but it did not sound like he was convincing himself nor anyone else. "They didn't believe they could kill him! That's why it didn't work back then!"

"Are you fucking kidding me, Mike?" Richie scoffed. He was halfway out of town just before this. He was ready to leave, and so was Eddie. Yet, the rest of them dragged both of them down there with them just to find out that they had to die.

Hayley muttered, "Damn it, Mike."

"I needed something, anything, for us to remember. Anything for us to believe," Mike tried desperately, but he had lost their trust. There was no point anyway. They were trapped down there, and they needed to fight like hell if they were planning to live.

Pennywise disappeared, and they were once again blinded by the giant lights that appeared above them. Hayler quickly shielded her eyes, knowing that there was no way in hell that looking at them could lead to anything good. Bev shouted, "The Deadlights! Don't look at them!"

They all backed up away from the center of the cavern, but there was no real point. The clown appeared in front of them, giant spider legs with spar spikes on the end danced under the lights. It was giant and horrifying, and It felt inescapable.

Suddenly, Hayley was a 12-year-old girl again, scared out of her mind but trying to put on a brave face. All she ever really cared about was protecting her friends, and that gave her the courage back then. So, she knew it would work now.

"For 27 years, I dreamt of you. I craved you," Pennywise sang to them. It was like he meant to sound playful, but it just made him more scary. The all scrambled back as he approached, all except for Mike, who stood there, defiant. "Oh, I've missed you. Waiting for this very moment."

They all began shouting at their friend, screaming for him to move and get out of the way. He may have lied to them, but he was still their friend. They did not want to see him die. "You gotta move, Mikey! Mike get back!"

"I'm sorry, guys," Mike apologized, his voice cracking in the process. Hayley's eyes widened. HE was sacrificing himself. Either that, or he thought that standing there was somehow going to stop It. "I'm so sorry."

"Time to float!" Pennywise exclaimed excitedly, and he lifted up one of his sharp legs. Just as he swung it towards Mike, ready to plunge into him, Hayley felt Bill leave her side. She felt like she was watching in slow motion as he dove into Mike, knocking them both out of the way.

Unsurprisingly, the clown was not pleased. They reacted just in time to start running as he charged after them. Bill sprinted behind Hayley, his hand touching her waist every couple of seconds to guide her and push her long. There was shouting and panting at crashing, but Hayley was just focused on getting away from the monstrous creature chasing after them.

She spotted a hole in the wall, one too small for It to get through in the current state, so she turned and grabbed Bill's arm before tugging him toward the hole. They jumped through it just as Pennywise's jaws weree about to snap closed on them, and Hayley gasped as she was plunged into water.

Bill's hand left her, and she lost her grip on him. She opened her eyes and desperately tried to fight her way back up to the surface, but all she could see was darkness. There was something pulling her down, and before she knew it, she was sucked into a pipe.

She was about to run out of breath was she was spat out onto the ground. She coughed and tried to reorient herself, but it was pretty dark. A quick glance around the room informed her that she was under those stupid bleachers again.

"Hayley, you stupid fucking bitch!" The voice made her whip her head in its direction. About ten yards away from her, over in the corner, she saw her past self. Young Hayley was surrounded by her old cheerleading friends — Shirley, Vivian, the whole lot — but they were terrifying, like back in the closet.

They were standing around the young girl, scratching at her with their sharp, long nails while she tried to kick them away. They were screaming at her, their voices loud and drowning.

"Hopefully she'll get into a freak accident over the summer."

"We could only be so lucky."

"You're ugly, Hayley."

"You're so fucking stupid and fat and dumb."

"No one will ever love you."

"Billy will never love you."

Old Hayley sprung to action, feeling protective over her younger self. She barely even comprehended that none of it was even real as she ran over to them, shouting. "Get away from her!"

At her racket, all of the monsters turned to her and started clawing at her arms and legs. They ripped up her jeans and her tank top, nails digging her into her thighs and biceps. She creamed in pain and kicked at them fiercely. She grabbed Shirley by the hair and flung her toward the under side of the bleachers.

She kicked the two away and was able to climb to her feet just as Shirley came diving at her once again. This time, she was launched toward the wall, but instead of hitting the stone, she was plunged back into water.

Disoriented, tired, and in pain, she didn't have the energy to fight anymore. She opened her eyes to see her arms floating in front of her, suspended in the water. Her hair was in her face, and everything was vey, very still.

Suddenly, she spotted something moving toward her in the distance. She was ready to see a new monster, the clown, an old memory, but she was filled with relief when she realized that it was Bill, swimming quickly toward her.

He was right in front of her now, his eyes scanning over her broken body and her tired eyes. His fingers skimmed across the bare skin on her waist where her shirt was ripped. For some reason, she felt no need to breathe or get to the surface. She felt no need to fight or save anyone. The only need she felt was him.

Bill must have felt it too because within seconds, he ducked his head through the water and pressed his lips against hers. Her hands found the energy to grab his shoulder, pulling him impossibly closer to her. Their limbs tangled in the water as their lips moved in sync. All of their problems on the surface seemed to fade away for a short moment that felt like an eternity.

But it couldn't last forever, and before long, Bill had pulled away and was tugging her forward by her wrist. She gasped for air as soon as she hit the surface, and she felt herself being hauled onto the ground. They both rolled down, unable to keep themselves upright.

"I know what you are," Pennywise's voice sang, and Hayley had only enough will to lift her head up and see that he was holding Mike, staring at him excitedly. "A madman."

"Hey, fuckface!" Hayley turned her head to see Richie standing on a ledge, his smile wide as he picked up a rock and chucked it at the clown, causing It to drop Mike. "You wanna play truth or dare? Here's a truth. You're a sloppy bitch. That's right. Let's dance! Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuc—"

Hayley's stomach dropped when he stopped talking mid-sentence because he got caught in the Deadlights. He froze, his jaw dropping open, and his eyes went yellow. The Forbes woman cried out, but she couldn't get up. She couldn't move.

She just had to sit there and watch while her friend got hypnotized. There was nothing she could do. She pressed her chest up, but her arms gave out.

"Beep-beep, motherfucker!" Eddie ran out of a hole in the wall and plunged the spike into the center of Pennywise's mouth. Richie dropped, released from the trance, and It stumbled back, plunging into the spikes behind him. Eddie laughed, and Hayley mustered a smile as he ran over to check on Richie. "Holy shit! Rich! Oh, Rich. Rich, wake up. Yeah, there he is! Hey, Richie, listen. I think I got him, man. I think I killed it. I did! I think I killed it for real."

But the clown was standing up, and Hayley barely screamed, "Eddie!" before it slammed one of its sharp legs straight through Eddie's torso.