.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

SHE'S TALKING AGAIN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

xi. the house on neibolt street

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THE GROUP PULLS TO A STOP right in front of the house of nightmares. 29 Neibolt Street, an old rundown abandoned house which kids would never even imagine venturing into. It was taken over with broken beer bottles and overgrown shrubbery.

Beverly was the first one to get off her bike, running up to Bill who was already on the steps of the house.

"Bill!" She yells out as the rest stop behind her.

"This is actually fucking ridiculous," Veronica mumbles under her breath while holding onto Richie's arm and shaking her head.

"Bill, you can't go in there! This-this is crazy!" Beverly's attempts to reason with Bill go unheard as he begins to rant.

"Look, you don't have to come in with me. What happens when another Georgie goes missing? Or another Betty? Or another Ed Corcoran? Or one of us! Are you just gonna pretend it doesn't happen like everyone else in this town? 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 walk into this house for me. It's easier than walking into my own," He finishes, lip quivering in between his sentences. He turns to the door, wiping his face with his hand.

The club had listened intently, heads hanging or eyes lingering at their shoes. Richie was the first to break the silence.

"Wow." Richie mumbles staring at Bill who stood at the door.

"What?" Eddie and Veronica ask in unison.

"He didn't stutter once," Richie responds before he begins up the stairs. Ben following close behind.

"Wait! Shouldn't we have some people keep watch? Y'no, just in case something bad happens," Stan asks, nervousness apparent in his voice.

"W-who'll stay out here?" Bill asks.

Each member of the club raises their hands. Except for Beverly. In defeat, they all put them down.

"Fuck." Richie mumbles met with an uncomfortable silence.

"So... Who's going in?" Veronica pipes up, breaking the silence.

"Let's draw lots?" Mike suggests, looking at the smaller girl who stood beside him. She nods. The rest agree.

♧

The club looks down at their makeshift straws. They ended up using sticks. Some breathing in sighs of relief while others grimace at their bad luck.

"You have got to be fucking with me!" Veronica enunciates, looking down at her straw them around the group.

"Anyone wanna trade?" She asks with a sweet smile. Everyone shakes their heads, no.

"Well, that's great! I'm going to die now! Arrivederci!" Veronica groans, turning to Bill, popping out her bottom lip.

"Do we have to?" She asks while grabbing Richie's hand and intertwining their fingers in hope to find any comfort. He squeezes her hand, gently.

"Y-Yeah, V. We have to," Bill responds, turning to the steps and climbing up. Followed by Eddie and Richie pulling Veronica up.

Standing in front of the door, bunched together while hands are brushing against each other in apprehensiveness. Bill pushes open the door, dust clouding the air.

"That's swell. Smells like absolute shit in here!" Veronica mumbles, gripping onto Richie's hand tighter.

"I can't believe I pulled the short straw, you guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks," Richie comments, looking around the house as they enter.

"Shut up, Richie," Eddie mumbles while taking a breath.

"Don't breathe through your mouth," Richie responds hearing Eddie's inhale.

"How come?" Eddie asks, looking towards him in curiosity.

"Cause then you're eating it" Richie states as if it's only obvious. Eddie gags.

Bill wanders from the group at the same time Veronica let's go of Richie's hand and goes off to look around.

Turning a corner, she enters a room. It was filled with garbage and old clothing all over the floor. Mold and dark spots covering the walls. It smelt damp.

As she walked around the room, looking for anything which would lead them to believe Georgie was really here. The door slams. She jumps in shock before turning towards the door and turning towards it and grabbing the doorknob, shaking it in a panic.

"Guys! Open the door! That's not funny!" She shouts out, banging on it. Her heart rate increasing as her lip quivers.

"What's not funny, Veronica?" Says a bellowing voice from behind her. The same voice which whispered into her ear in the basement. Only much louder now.

Freezing in place and turning to the voice slowly. She faces the clown for the first time, with a sadistic red smile on his face. His tall figure towering over the small girl. Her breath catching in her throat as she chokes and stares in pure fear.

"They can't hear you, Ronnie," IT says to her, walking closer. Veronica could feel her heart beating so fast she felt as if you could hear it from miles away. She could feel the pulses in her arms and neck. Backing into the door, she begins to scream out for help.

"Guys! GUYS!" She shouts out, her voice cracking as it gets closer. Tears beginning to fill her eyes as the clown gets closer and closer to her. It was so big compared to her. She couldn't help but cower back in fear.

Just then, she hears his voice. The voice which she could pick through a crowd of millions. The voice which she's comforted in times of need. The voice she heard whisper 'it'll be okay' into her ears countless times.

"No! It says! It says! What the fuck! Am I missing? Am I gonna go missing? Fuck!" It was Richie, muffled from the door but she could still pick up every single word he shouted out. Her heart begins to ache at the sound of his cries, lip quivering more. Her hot tears falling down her cheeks as she lets out a choked sob from both fear and heartache.

"Oh, Ronnie! Don't cry! We don't want you to cry! Why don't you come with me? So you'll never ever be alone, ever again! We'll love you, Ronnie! They'll love you! We'll all love you!" The clown laughs out, jingling as he shakes. It's barely a few meters away now.

"Richie! Bill! Eddie! Please!" Veronica screams in terror, her tears falling off her cheeks as she flails around. She's cornered.

"They can't hear you! Or, maybe! They're ignoring you, Ronnie! They hate you! They hate you! You're all alone, Ronnie! All alone! It's just you and me!" IT laughs again while grabbing Veronica by her cheeks and moves her face left and right.

"No! Stop! The-They're not ignoring me! They can't be! They-They don't hate me! Stop it! Please, stop!" Veronica chokes through her sobs, her pleads filling the room. Her greatest fears. The people she cares for abandoning her and hating her and being all alone in the world, both stemming from parents abandonment.

"Oh, look at little Miss Veronica Mills! You're all bark and no bite, aren't you!" The clown giggles while Veronica struggles against IT's grasp.

She lets out another cry, her breathing quickening. Her eyes slipping shut.

'This is it. You're going to die. You're going to fucking die, Veronica. Fuck - Fuck - Fuck. Shit. I didn't get to tell - Fuck!' Her thoughts were racing as fast as her heart. All she could think of what would happen if they found her in here, would they ever find her? Was she going to die?

"Richie!" She cries out one last time before everything turns black.

IT laughs.

"Out like a light. I'll be back, Miss Veronica. I need to check on your little friends! You'll float soon!" The clown says before disappearing.

♧

Bill leads Eddie and Richie up the stairs after hearing a bang from the room up there. None of them noticing the absence of the girl who was always attached to Richie's hip.

Standing at the end of the hall, they see a door cracked open. There's a girl. Laying on the floor, coughing.

"Betty?" Bill asks.

"Ripsom?" Richie finishes as the three of them inch closer to the door. She's pulled back with a jolt into the room causing them all the jump in fear.

Walking closer, they enter the room. Bill and Richie entering, looking around for any signs of the girl.

"What the fuck? She was just here!" Richie groans, putting his hands up in confusion.

The door slams shut behind them. Quickly, Bill and Richie turn at the sound and instantly hear the sounds of Eddie screaming.

"GUYS!" He shouts out, from behind the door. But, then, it's silent.

"Eddie! Open the door! You okay?" Bill behind banging on the door, jiggling the handle.

"Bill! Where's Ronnie?" Richie asks, only now realizing the absence of his best friend. His heart rate immediately quickening at the realization.

Bill's mouth drops a bit at Richie's comment.

"She didn't come upstairs..." He whispers out, eyes widening as he begins to slam at the door harder now. Shouting out Eddie and Veronica's names out.

"We left her down there! We forgot about her! Bill - I fucking forgot about her! Fuck!" Richie panics while scenarios pop into his head.

'What if IT took her?' Was the main question in his head. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her.

"Psst! Richie!" A whisper. Richie turns to the source of the noise and begins to walk over to it.

"Here, Richie!" Another whisper, followed by a familiar giggle. Veronica and Eddie peek their heads out of the corner in a room.

Richie shakes his head, walking to the room fully.

"Guys! Where the fuck are you? We're not playing hide and seek, dipshits!" He says while looking around the room filled with sheets covering large objects. Suddenly, the door shuts behind him.

Bill, notices the loud sound of the door slamming and runs to where the sound had come from. Grabbing onto the doorknob, shaking it. His breathing getting faster. They're all alone. Every single one of them. They got separated.

"Richie!" Bill shouts through the door, voice muffled.

"Open the door, Richie!" He shouts again, his attempts at turning the doorknob failing. Everything was moving so fast.

"I can't!" Richie calls to Bill, banging on the door. His attempts also failing.

They shout through the door for a moment. Banging on it, shaking the doorknob, calling out to each other. Richie then stops. His blood running cold at the sound of a scream. A scream he'd recognize anywhere. He hated hearing this scream.

"RICHIE!" Veronica. She sounded so close. As if she was in the corner of the very same room. 'Was she in the room with him?' He wondered.

His breathing speeds up more now. Heart racing, beating harder than ever. He turns around staring into the dark room.

"Ronnie." He breathes out, panic setting in as he walks deeper into the room, looking for another way out. The sheets fall off the statues. Clown statues.

Richie does a double take, turning round in confusion. His fear and panic increasing at the thought of Veronica's screams and the sight of the clowns.

"Oh, shit..." He chokes out before accidentally backing into one. He yelps, jumping forward. Another scream from Veronica. His chest tightens, tears pricking his eyes.

'Is she okay? Why was she screaming? Is IT hurting her? Oh god, please don't hurt her. Please.' Richie's head was wracked with unsettled thoughts and visions. His head spinning in circles as he stares around the clown filled room.

His vision was getting blurry. It was hard to even walk now. He lets his eyes slip shut for a moment.

'Calm the fuck down, Richie. For Ronnie.' He told himself.

He breathes in. Out. In. Out. Over and over and over again. Until he catches his breath. He wipes his face and walks up to a statue, apprehensively. Knocking on it with his hand. It was wood.

"Stupid clowns. Alright. One less thing to fear. Let's get Ronnie," He mumbles out, shaking his head and walking forward a bit. His steps more confident. A coffin at the end of the room opens up.

A missing poster which he had seen downstairs in it. His photo, his hair, his glasses, his face. It was him.

"Oh! Fuck!" He whispers, walking closer.

He stands over top of it. A sheet laying in the coffin, covering another statue which laid. Reaching his hand out, he rips off the sheet. To reveal a miniature version of himself as a statue lying in it. Covered in maggots and all.

Exclaiming in disgust, he shuts it.

"Richie! Help me, please!" Veronica screams out again causing his heart to drop.

His calmness begins to fade as his mind begins to run in circles. He needs to find a way out. He looks around confused, where could her exit? Where?

Then. From the coffin, out pops the clown.

"Beep beep, Richie!" IT says, opening and closing its hand with a sadistic smile.

Richie backs up as it jumps off the coffin and towards him. His body falling to Bill. The door had opened.

"Let's get out of here!" Bill says, pulling Richie off him.

"Bill! Did you hear her? Ronnie? Did you hear her? She's - She was," Richie sputters out, looking around his surroundings.

Bill looks at him confused.

"No," He says as his attention begins straying to a mattress which lay on the ground. It's moving. Richie follows Bill's gaze and watches as Eddie's head pops out of the mattress.

"Wanna play loogie!" Eddie laughs before he pukes up a black liquid and begins convulsing in the mattress.

Slowly, the vomit begins seeping onto the floor and begins filling the room.

"Help! Somebody!" Veronica calls out again, it was pained and sounded like a cry.

Richie turns to Bill, wide-eyed. Bill nods, yes. He had heard it too.

Quickly, they turn and are faced with three doors which had suddenly appeared on the wall.

Scary. Not scary at all. Very scary. All written in red ink. Blood?

Bill and Richie in sync, run to the not scary at all door. Fighting for the doorknob, one of them swings the door open. It's dark.

"Where's my shoe?" A gentle voice calls through the darkness. Bill sees a light and pulls at it. He shouldn't have done that.

It reveals Betty Ripsom, dirty and bloody. Dangling from the ceiling, with no legs. The boys scream in horror. Slamming the door shut.

"Where the fuck were her legs!?" Richie screams out, shaking and grabbing onto Bill in a panic.

"T-this isn't real. Remember the missing kid's poster? That wasn't real! So, this isn't real!" Bill attempts to calm Richie down, grabbing onto his shoulders.

Another cry for help, but not from Veronica. No, it was Eddie this time. IT had him too.

The boys look at each other in panic before Bill grabs the doorknob, twists it open and forces them through.

They're met with the dark hallway which they first walked through to get into the horrific room.

"Oh, thank fuck!" Richie breathes a sigh of relief, forgetting about Eddie and Veronica's cries for help for a split second.

"W-where's Eddie and V-V?" Bill asks, looking around the empty hall.

And again, another scream for help. From Eddie. Coming from the downstairs.

♧

Watching in horror, Veronica cries as the clown grabs at Eddie's face and does the same thing it had done to her in the room prior. Moving it left and right, it laughs at Eddie's fright. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move. She was frozen in place.

Suddenly, Bill and Richie rush into the room. Seeing Eddie on the ground, clutching his arm as the clown taunts him. Veronica sat in the corner, eyes wide and hair messy with scratches in her face.

"Fuck, Ronnie!" Richie cries out, running to her and pulling him towards him. She hits his chest with a thump and instantly latches onto his shirt with tears forming in her eyes.

"This isn't real enough for you, Billy! I'm not really enough for you?" IT asks, hands still on Eddie's face. Head turned to Bill who stood alone.

"Oh, shit..." Richie mumbles, staring at the clown. His hands holding onto Veronica, attempting to hide her face from the clown. He held onto her tightly, scared that she'd slip away from him and towards the clown. He had to get Eddie too. Oh, God. Oh, God.

"It was real enough for Georgie!" IT yells out before pouncing at Bill who quickly backs up in a panic. Suddenly, Beverly runs in and stabs it in the head.

Everything seems to stop. For only a second. Just a split second.

"Get Eddie!" Mike yells to the group who stood in shock.

Quickly, Richie practically drags Veronica towards the boy who sat in fear. Eddie clutching his arm in pain. The clown slowly recovering from the attack, heaving in breathes. Readying itself to pounce again, at any moment.

Bill and Richie dove to Eddie, grabbing at him - he was too dazed to even understand they were there. Beverly and Veronica hovering over them and staring at the others while they shook in fear, knees shaking.

IT turns its face. It's distorted face.

"What the fuck was that!?" Veronica screams out and falling backwards, her eyes wide and hands moving erratically.

IT jumps at them, laughter filling the room. Beverly backing into a wall and sobbing sobbing while Veronica loses balance and falls to the ground, right between Eddie and Bill, screeching in fear.

Richie slaps at Eddie's arm, desperate to get him to come-to. "Eddie! Eddie, fuck!" He screams as Bill watches the clown slowly get closer to them.

"We're gonna fucking die!" Veronica yells, her body shaking before she falls back against the wall she sat in front of.

Panicking, Richie grabs her arm, pulling her towards him, turning her away from the clown and holding her head down against his chest so she couldn't see, he head moving in resistance. Then, he looks to Eddie. "Hey, look at me. Don't look at it, look at me. Eddie, look at me! Ronnie, stop moving, don't look at it!" He looks between Eddie's panicked face and Veronica, panic setting through him as he comforts his closest friends. Veronica slowly stops, her hand clutching onto his shirt as he continues to comfort Eddie.

Richie would easily, kill for the Losers. He'd easily die for them too. But, the thought of losing any of the made him sick! Especially, the thought of losing these two little devils he held in his arms now. They were his best friends. He loved them all, so much.

Just then, IT turns to the others. Mike, Ben, and Stan. Slashing Ben across the stomach with the object Beverly had stabbed it with. Ben falling back, a wall escaping his mouth as Mike catches him. IT retreats down the hall.

Bill stands, chasing after IT. Into the hall while the rest stare in shock.

"Don't let him get away!" He shouts out as he runs after the clown.

Veronica pulls her head from Richie's chest, eyes wild and hair messy. "Bill! Don't be dumb! Get back here!" She calls after him, leaning forward.

"Bill! We have to help Eddie!" Richie yells out as Veronica crawls to Eddie's other side, her hands shaking.

"No!" Eddie screams, eyes wide in fear at the thought of Richie Tozier and Veronica Mills attempting to 'fix' his arm. They were both so reckless! "Veronica Mills! Richie! Don't you dare!" He screams again.

Veronica looks down at Eddie's broken arm which was popped out of place before inhaling sharply and shutting her eyes in disgust.

"I-I'm gonna snap your arm back in place!" Richie panics, moving his hands frantically before looking to Veronica whose eyes were still shut, hyperventilating. "Ronnie, hold him down!" Richie says, gesturing to Eddie's thrashing body.

"Do not fucking touch me!" Eddie screams out, looking back and fourth between Richie and Veronica.

Veronica takes a deep breath, opening her eyes before grabbing onto Eddie's hand and uses her legs to pin down his. "Sorry, Ed's. This might hurt, just a little..." Veronica frowns, clenching her teeth before Richie snaps it back into place. The room is filled with Eddie's scream.

♧

Screaming, crying, the club runs out of the house. Their hair whipping while they each run and jump down the stairs in a rush.

"Go! go! go! go!" Mike yells to the group, running off the steps and onto the street to prop up his fallen bike.

"Oh shit!" Stan shouts, already biking off from the club. The panic in the air thick. Eddie was being held up by Richie and Bill as they rushed down the stairs and onto the street to where Mike held his bike.

Holding onto Richie and Bill, Mike carries Eddie up and places him in the larger metal basket attached to his bike where he kept the meat from his farm when he delivered it. Eddie has tears running down his face, clutching onto his newly broken arm. Ben and Veronica held the bike up while Beverly rushed around, flustered.

"Holy shit! Holy fuck!" Richie screams, running to his bike. The air filled with swears and screams of panic from the club as they set off from the house of nightmares. Abandoning one bike behind.