.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

SHE'S TALKING AGAIN

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

xxii. the cistern

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THEY STARE UP AT BEVERLY, floating in the air. All of their eyes wide, wondering what IT had down to her.

"Somebody grab her!" Stan shouts out, Mike instantly jumping into action.

He picks up Ben, holding him up by the waist. Ben reaches out for her ankle, holding onto it tightly as Mike slowly places him back down. They pull Beverly to the ground and stare into her milky white eyes which replaces her usual crystal blue in shock.

"Bev!" Ben screams grabbing her shoulders, shaking her in fear. "Beverly! Why isn't she waking up? What is wrong with her!".

Realization dawning on Veronica, her heart aching for Ben. Only now understanding what he must be feeling. She never noticed the glances Ben had sent towards Beverly. She thought they were just glances. She never would've thought that he was whipped for the girl who stood in front of them, unresponsive.

"Beverly, please!" He cries, throwing his arms around her and embracing her body tightly.

Veronica stares, tears welling up in her eyes as she leans into Richie. Sure, Beverly and her hadn't had the best of starts. Still, Beverly had become one of the Losers. One of the people Veronica could rely on no matter what. Losing her was like losing a part of herself. The thought of Beverly being gone made her want to scream.

Beverly's eyes stay white, Ben still embracing her as the Losers look amongst one another, trying to figure out what to do. Then, the unexpected happens. Ben pulls away and presses his lips against hers tightly.

"Holy shit!" Veronica sputters, eyes widening at the sight.

"I wouldn't be talking! Bill told us what he saw!" Stan groans, looking to her and shaking his head before rolling his eyes.

Veronica choked on a cough, Richie biting his lip in order to stifle a laugh. Ben pulling away from Beverly, she lets out a gasp, eyes returning to crystal blue.

"January embers!" She breathes out, staring at Ben, eyes huge.

"My heart burns there too," He finishes, a shy smile on his face as everyone stares at the two with scrunched up noses.

"Jesus, fuck!" Richie laughs, nudging Stan and Mike with a smile.

Quickly, they all join together and wrapping one another in each other's arms. It was the type of hug where they clutched onto each other so tightly, they could hardly breathe. It was so simple. It comforted all of them. Yet, it couldn't have lasted.

Eddie wandering off from the group, following Bill's shaking voice and stopping in a corner, staring. The others had noticed Eddie's absence and set out to find him.

When they did, they see it. Bill standing in front of Georgie. There stood the child who was supposed to be dead. The child who the original Losers would help babysit with bill when his parents were out. But, they knew, it wasn't truly him.

"Take me home, Billy... I wanna go home! I miss you! I wanna be with mom and dad!" The shell of Georgie cries out, his innocent eyes boring into Bill who chokes out a sob at the sight of his beloved brother.

"I want more than anything for you to be home..." Bill sputters out. "Mom and dad, I miss you so much" He adds on, words losing themselves in his throat.

"I love you, Billy," Georgie says.

"I love you too," Bill responds, pulling out Mike's gun and putting it to Georgie's forehead with a shaking hand. "But, you're not Georgie!" He pulls the trigger, eyebrows furrowed at his brothers shell.

The body falls, everyone going still as they watch it begin to shake, screaming emitting from his mouth. One leg popping out, longer. The other following. Slowly, it was transforming into the clown. It sits up like a puppet.

"Kill it!".

"Come on, Bill! Kill it!".

"Dammit Bill!".

They all scream for the deaths of the missing children, yelling to Bill to kill the monster who terrorized the town. Veronica and Beverly were clutched onto one another, eyes wide and hearts racing as they watch the clown sit there.

"It's not loaded..." Mike mumbles to himself as Bill raises the gun to the clowns forehead. "Wait! It's not loaded!" He yells right as Bill pulls the trigger.

Nothing happened. The clown shakes, getting up and runs towards them. Beverly and Veronica disconnecting, Veronica running to a corner and eyes flashing around frantically searching for something, anything to protect herself.

"Bill, watch out!" Someone screams, the clown jumping onto him before Beverly comes from behind and hits it in the head.

"Leave him alone!" She yells.

Then, it grabs Beverly, lifting her up. Veronica screaming out to her, "Beverly, no!" Running to the first thing her eyes fall on. Another piece of plywood. It was smaller this time, thinner too. It'd be easy to pick up.

Mike goes in, ready to hit the monster and is hit across the floor. Bill holding onto its back as the clown shakes and runs around violently.

Veronica runs in, the plywood gripped in her hand tightly, she hits it across its legs, a scream escaping her parted lips. She had put in as much power as she️ did with Bowers. Nothing. It grabs her waist, throwing her across the dark room. She lands onto the ground with a thud, an ache rushing through her entire body as she feels something in her crack. Her ribs.

"Oh, fuck" She whispers to myself, feeling them poking out she stifles a groan, scrunching up her nose.

"Ronnie?" Richie screams, voice cracking. She tell he was fighting the urge to run up to her.

Veronica sighs, watching Ben get pushed away from the clown. She swallows the saliva which had built up in her mouth, pushing herself off the ground, a groan escaping her and breathing out a sharp breath. She couldn't help but think, 'Y'no, I️ never thought broken ribs would hurt this bad,' as she grabs the plywood from the ground.

She blinks rapidly, walking towards where the other Losers were from the dark corner she was in. Her eyes widen when she notices. The clown had Bill in its grasp. She continues towards the group and practically collapses into Mike's side, his arm wrapping around her waist for support.

"Let him go!" Beverly says, her breathing shaky.

"No! I'll take him! I'll take all of you! And I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear!" The clown laughs. "Or! You'll just leave us be and I'll take him, only him and I'll have my long rest. And you'll have live to grow and thrive and lead happy lives!" It goes on, body shaking excitedly with a sadistic smile. "Until old age, takes you! Back to the weeds!".

"L-Leave! I'm the one who dragged you all into this, I'm s-so sorry..." Bill says, hand gripping the clowns who held onto his throat. His voice cracks as he speaks.

"Hell to that! We're not leaving you. Fuck you for thinking that we'll leave you!" Veronica shouts at him, arm clutching her ribs as Mike holds her up. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to talk. But, she really didn't give a shit about herself at that moment.

The clown jingles. "Go" Bill yells back.

"Guys, we can't!" Beverly's voice shakes, looking between the Losers who just stared in fear.

"William fucking Denbrough! Get that damn head out of the clouds. We're not fucking leaving you! I didn't go through nine years of friendship with your impulsive ass just sit leave you to rot with a clown!" Veronica screams at him, voice wavering from pain. Mike holding her up tighter.

"I told you, Bill. I fucking told you!" Richie walks up to the front. "I don't wanna die! It's your fault. You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a fucking crackhead house!" He lists all the things they've done during the summer.

The Losers watching him, convinced he was about to turn his back and leave. Veronica was practically losing her mind silently as she struggled away from Mike in attempts to get Richie to stop. She stood to the side, about to open her mouth to protest.

"And now... I have to kill this fucking clown," Richie says, grabbing a bat from the pile which held all of the missing kids items. "Welcome to the Losers club, asshole!". He runs towards the clown, smacking it upside the head with the bat.

Mike follows after, burnt hands ripping from the clowns throat, he freezes at the sight and backs away. The clown then taking form of the woman who had attacked Stan earlier, running towards him. Mike recovers, shaking his head, running towards the clown and hitting it.

Hands turning into spikes, Mike falling to the ground. They begin to stab at the floor, Mike rolling over continuously to avoid the spikes from meeting his body.

Veronica watches, the plywood in her left hand, her right still clutching her ribs. You might as well have called her useless. She could barely talk. Let alone run in and defend her friends.

Quickly, Ben runs in, stabbing it with an iron rod which was on the ground. The monster then begins to grab at his face with some sort of mummified tissues. Ben running back from it.

Blinking as she watches all her friends work together at defeating the clown, Veronica shakes her head. "Fuck it!" She says to herself, running towards Ben, ignoring the pain which struck from her ribs.

She pushes Ben away, he falls to the side. Watching Veronica stare up at the monster as it transforms back into the clown and cackles.

"Useless, useless. Little Veronica Mills! You can barely talk without being in pain, what makes you think you can hurt me?" It says, staring down at her and inching closer. She laughs harshly at it.

"They'll forget you! They will! They'll hate you and you'll mean nothing to them!" It goes on.

Veronica shakes her head. "No, they won't," She whispers, more to herself before raising her voice and eyes going wild as she stares the clown dead in the eye. "No, they won't!" She screams, lifting the plywood up and hitting it across the legs. She couldn't feel my ribs anymore. The pain was gone. Adrenaline? Maybe.

Mike then come from behind the clown, hitting it with a link of chains. Richie taking a hit with the bat.

And, they all take turns beating at the monster who terrorized our town. The monster who murdered innocent children. Who murdered Georgie.

In a moment of weakness, it falls to the ground, turning to Eddie and vomiting out a black, gooey, thick substance onto him. Eddie loses his shit. Screaming out, "I'm gonna kill you!".

Eddie Kaspbrak was many things but a fearful coward wasn't one of them. He gets up, bringing his head up and kicking the clown across the head. It falls over, doing a flip and transforming into Beverly's father. She inches towards it, meekly at first.

"Hey, Bevvy," It whispers. "Are you still my-" It begins before Beverly screams, raising a metal rod and shoving it down it's throat before backing away. Quickly, Veronica grabs onto her, losing balance and leaning into her.

The clown coughs, falling back and struggling away from the Losers. They all close in on it. Beverly was practically dragging Veronica towards it, all of her small bodies weight on Beverly. The clowns disfigured body was shaking, laughing.

"That's why you didn't kill Beverly... Because s-s-she wasn't afraid" Bill starts, approaching the clown slowly. "Well, we aren't either. Not anymore. Now you're the one who's afraid, cause you're gonna starve." He finishes, staring down at its weak figure. It falls into the part of the well, holding onto the edge.

"H-He thrusts his fist against the post and still insists he sees the ghost..." It repeats over and over, it was Bill's stutter exercise.

Stan hands Bill a rod and he raises it, traded to bring it down onto the clowns head but he stops. The clowns head cracks, the parts of its head falling dissipating into the air.

"Fear," It says.

And then, it disappears.