VERONICA HAD SWORN SHE'S NEVER DREADED ANYTHING MORE, trailing after her childhood friends in the streets of her hometown. Dressed lamely in a pair of cuffed denim jeans and loose burnt red top. Being here, being in Derry — made her sick to her stomach. She hated it here. It made everything open up. All the wounds, all of the past. Part of her hated being here. Part of her missed it — or, more specifically, childhood.

The sky still dark as Mike led them on the road of of Main Street, she recalled the days her and Richie would cut school for the arcade and all the times her and Mike would go out for ice cream at the parlour nearby. The town was quiet, eerily quiet as they walked towards the Barrens. The only audible sounds besides their steps being gusts of wind causing newspapers, leaves and missing posters to rustle against the concrete.

They walked and walked, the sun beginning to rise as they just made it to the valley where the train bridge resided. Shielding their eyes against the harsh sun rays as they walked down the hill in a line and Veronica swears to herself that they've done this before. That this wasn't there first time grouped up in a line in this valley.

♧

It was some time after the rock war against the Bowers Gang and the group of misfit children found themselves walking in a line, Eddie in front followed by Bill, Mike, Beverly, Ben, Stan, Veronica, and Richie. The Lucky Eight, finally complete. That was it. Eight. That was the magic number.

"Thanks, guys. But you didn't have to do that. he'll be after you now," Mike speaks up while slinging his hands back and forth as they walked down the sloped hill.

Laughing, Veronica jumps up and slaps against Stan's back, shaking her head. "Bowers hates us! Nasty little fucker, hey?" She responds.

"Guess that's one t-t-thing we all have in common," Bill adds, speaking for the group, glancing back at Mike.

"Yeah, Homeschool! Welcome to the Losers Club" Richie nods, squinting his eyes against the bright light.

"Hey! That has a nice ring to it! Welcome home, Mikey Boy!" Veronica pipes up, excitedly with a smile, bobbing her head around happily as things begin to fall into place perfectly for the once lonely group of children.

♧

They'd trudge through water, pants rolled up and shoes wet — following Mike Hanlon blindly through the town of memories that they couldn't seem to remember at all. It was coming slowly, faint remembrances of odd things from their upbringing.

Walking through the woods, all of them staring around at the green shrubbery encompassing them, Veronica felt an odd sort of calm and safety. Being in this place with these people.

"The Barrens," Beverly breathes out, suddenly remembering the name of the place the seven Losers once spent so much time at.

Smiling lightly, recognizing the trail and beginning to regain parts of his locked memories, Ben speaks up. "This is where we came. After the rock fight," He says, gazing around in awe at how it had hardly changed. In fact, it hadn't changed at all. As if it was frozen in time waiting for them to return and remember.

Veronica breathes out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, nodding her head as she trails after Richie — looking around the bush and taking in the atmosphere. "When we met Mikey," She mumbles, nodding her head and running a hand through her hair. Suddenly, getting flashes of images in her mind — the group of seven tossing rocks over a stream as Mike crawls towards them. That was the day they became complete.

"The clubhouse," Richie adds, his eyes going wide at the words, a smile spreading across all their faces at the mention.

The clubhouse. Their sanctuary, their safe place, the place they were free to be whoever they pleased. An unknown hole in the ground that was reserved for ten use of Losers only. It was their very own place in a town which gave them nothing. Veronica attempts to recall the details of it, the decor, the things that scattered the floor.

Perking up, Beverly nods excitedly. "You built that for us," She laughs, the memories flooding all of them like a wave battering the shore.

"Who would've thought you'd end up the renowned architect you are today," Veronica smiles, patting Ben's forearm lightly with a joyous smile. "We really ended up our wildest dreams, huh?" She looks back to the rest of her friends with a chuckle.

They all share a collective laugh, nodding as they take a moment to reflect on who've they've become. Things they've done, places they've been. It was odd, how thing has changed so drastically yet together they were all still the same. They were the Losers Club, through and through. Always had been and always will be.

"The hatch has gotta be around here someplace," Richie points to the ground as they all clamour about the days they spent hidden underground and forgetting the worries they had above.

Spreading around the area, they all kick at the spots of leaves on the ground, eyes focused on searching for the hidden sanctuary of their youth. "You know, I actually think the door was more like..." Ben calls out to them as they follow after his voice, watching has he stomps on a spot of the ground repeatedly. "Around..." He mumbles before the group snaps their heads towards the sound of clattering, seeing Ben fall deep into the cavern.

"Oh, shit. That's gotta hurt," Veronica laughs, looking between her friends shocked faces before Richie nods, laughing along with her and the group collectively joining in as well.

"Found it!" Ben calls up to them and they could all the smile on his face and their memories flashing through their minds. "I'm okay! Come down!" He calls again.

♧

Stumbling down the ladder, Veronica hops of the second latch. Landing onto the hard concrete of the underground dwelling, a sharp pain stabbing through her ankles for a moment before she recovers, moving out of the way so that Bill could follow after.

"What the dick is this?" Richie asks, adjusting his glasses as he sets an arm on Veronica's shoulder lightly. "How'd you build it?" He goes on, grabbing her hand and dragging her across the room and looking around curiously.

Bill nods, looking around for himself. "When did you build it?" He asks shakily as he stares around.

Ben smiles proudly, shrugging his shoulders. "Here and there, I guess," He responds. "It was already dug from something so I just had to reinforce the walls and get some wood for the... For the roof door and, that was pretty much it. Pretty good for my first time, huh?" He goes on, leaning against a wooden pillar which instantly causes a piece of wood to come loose from the top and clatter to the floor just behind Beverly.

"Holy shit! Bev could've just died. I was gonna say pretty good but now I think it's time to go back up," Veronica bursts out, laughing as she snags a red lollipop from her pocket and bites off the wrapper, spitting it to the ground and stuffing the lolly into her mouth.

Richie scoffs, nodding his head. "Now, that's a cool feature. What happened when you put your hand on the other pillar, professor?" He asks, shrugging his shoulders before taking hold of the lolly in Veronica's hand and taking a lick from it.

Walking around rapidly, Eddie nods. "Okay, you see, this is exactly why there are safety codes. Why we have permits! This place is a death trap, you understand that?" He panics, slamming his hands together in emphasis as he rushes over to Ben and stares him down.

Ben shrugs. "Well, it's a work in progress. Okay, Eddie?" He asks, his voice thin and sounding soft near the end.

Ignoring Ben's comment, Eddie points to himself. "Just so you know, if I get hurt you are liable," He turns away. "And also, what is this? The switch from Iron Maiden?" He asks, slapping a piece of metal which hung from a chain on the ceiling.

Veronica scoffing at the comment, reaching up to Richie and grabbing hold of the lollipop and taking it back. "That's mine, fuckass!" She rolled her eyes, sticking it back into her mouth and kicking his leg lightly as he puts an arm on her shoulder, leaning against her leg.

"That... That's a flashlight," Ben sighs.

Ignoring him once again, Eddie rushes across the room while pointing at the wall. "And what is that? A horse hitch? When do you have horses dow- Oh, this is cool," He leans over, picking up a paddleball curiously and inspecting it.

"That's as like, three dollars... So, be careful with that, please," Ben shakes his head as Eddie straightens out the string.

He nods. "I have one of these," He says cheekily, beginning to aggressively slap the ball towards Stan's face. "Hey, Stan. You see this?" He asks.

Nodding, Stan flinches away. "Yeah, okay. Can you... Maybe not?" He asks, bringing his hands up to his face as Richie, Veronica, Bill, and Beverly stand against the wall watching unimpressed — their eyebrows furrowed and faces bored.

"Maybe not what? Yeah, yeah yeah. Hold on, maybe not what? Maybe not what? Be awesome and have fun and celebrate the magic of the paddleball!" Eddie goes on, getting more aggressive before letting the paddle fly from his hands and into Stan's face, the ball becoming unattached and rolling under the stairs.

Ben sighs as Veronica busts out laughing, sucking on her lolly to suppress it. "Wow! Well, good going, fucknut. You broke his thing," Eddie shakes his head, looking to Stan accusingly.

"I broke it?" Stan repeats in aggravation.

"Yeah! You broke it with your face," Eddie responds, furrowing his eyebrows in anger.

Shaking his head, Stan looks at the broken paddle on the ground. "What?" He asks breathlessly.

"I'm not putting my fucking hand down there," Eddie ignites Stan's question before wandering off around the clubhouse once again and babbling off about everything he sees.

Shaking her head, Beverly looks down to Veronica and sighs. "How many lollies did you give him?" She asks as Veronica puckers her lips and shrugs.

"You ask me like I fucking know! I'm dealing with this one attached to my hip," She gestures to Richie with his arm still on her shoulder before pointing to Eddie slapping at a chain. "And, that one taking my shit without asking! He probably took, like, a hundred! Look at his attitude," She rolls her eyes before pulling the nearly done red lolly from her mouth and looking up to Richie. "Take it. I don't want it anymore," She says, Richie closing his eyes in annoyance as she shoves it into his mouth and wanders off.

Richie looking to Bill and Beverly, sighing. "Fucking little people," He mutters, adjusting his glasses as he finishes off the rest of his best friends lollipop.

♧

Eddie leans over, reaching his hand under the ladder and picking up the same red ball that rolled under it so many years ago. Smiles appearing on their faces as they stare around the place they spent so much of their time.

Walking deeper into the dark dwelling, Veronica recalls the place they placed their cassette player and cassettes. She hurries towards the corner, finding a old green milk crate with a dusty player and dozens of cassettes scattered around.

With a ghost of a smile, Veronica kneels down — tenderly picking up a cassette which lay in the floor. Instantly recognizing it. The Losers Club was written in messy purple ink, she had written it in her messy childhood scrawl which would get her into trouble if she had wrote like that in her social work notes. She had made this tape, just for them. Smiling she looks up and holds it up to show the others. "Look what I found," She laughs as she passes it to Mike who begins to inspect it with a chuckle.

"We listened to this every single day," Beverly responds, peering next to Mike, recognizing the little drawings Veronica added around it. Thunderbolts and stars and hearts were the extent of her drawing ability back then.

Eddie nods, setting a comic book down. "Didn't we like... Rip the tape once and didn't listen to anything until you made another copy?" He asks, tilting his head.

"Fucking took her forever too, Ronnie always procrastinated," Richie jumps in, wandering around the clubhouse looking at the ceiling and reminiscing.

A breathy laugh comes from Ben as Bill begins to smile fondly at the memories of their childhood. "V's music has always been superior to ours," Ben goes on, ruffling Veronica's hair.

Scoffing, she smiles cheekily, turning her head over her shoulder, looking to Ben. "Why, thank you, Benjamin," She stands upright.

"Wasn't the majority of the songs by Billy Joel," Eddie laughs, taking the tape from Mike and flipping it around.

Veronica nodding, Richie walking up behind her and resting his chin on her head. "Yes, they were. He's the best," She responds with a smile. "Zanzibar! Piano Man! Uptown Girl! All my songs," She laughs.

Bill nods his head. "Uptown girl, she's been living in her uptown world," He sings out the chorus, remembering all those days where Veronica would pop the tape in and dance around the clubhouse with the widest smile.

Running a hand through his hair, Ben chuckles. "Remember how she'd dance to Sugar, Sugar? Screaming  the lyrics too!" He adds as Veronica burns red, shaking her head at the memory as Richie cups her cheeks softly from behind her.

"Oh, God. Please, don't," She groans before Richie begins hum the tune, the group following along.

♧

"Sugar! Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun! Ooh, honey honey! You are my candy girl," Veronica beams, holding a hairbrush which she had left in the clubhouse to her mouth, using it as a microphone as Sugar, Sugar by The Archies played in the cassette player.

She danced in circles around the clubhouse, around her friends who sat around talking, joking around and laughing while some of them watched her. "I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you," She sings out, shaking her hips around and swaying back and fourth. Her eyes squinted in joy as she walks over to Mike and Stan a wide smile on her face. "Dance with me," She laughs, grabbing their hands and dragging them up from their seated positions.

She holds their hands, twirling around and making them follow her movements. "V, you look stupid," Stan attempts to deadpan at her but a smile breaks through, slowly beginning to sway to the beat. Mike too.

Veronica breaking their hands and making her way towards Bill and Eddie once satisfied with their dancing. She continues singing, ignoring the unimpressed looks her friends face her, picking up the hairbrush she had put down and beginning to sing into it before putting it towards Eddie. "Sing!" She laughs, Eddie just sighing.

He knows that she'd just keep shoving it into his face if he didn't, mumbling out, "Like the summer sunshine pour your sweetness over me," He sings out monotone, the group bursting into laughter at the sound and Veronica's disappointed face.

"You can do better than that! What was that bullshit?" She screeches loudly, beginning to shout out the lyrics, her hair flying around in a frizzy mess as she begins to dance again. She grabs onto Eddie now, dropping the hairbrush to the ground and grabbing his hands, spinning them in a circle while moving her shoulders and singing.

"Nic, you're making me—" Eddie starts, his eyes beginning to look around the room, noticing how all the others were beginning to join, beginning to sing the song with Veronica as they jump around, smiles on their faces. They were home.

♧

"Dizzy," Eddie looks to Veronica with a smile. "You made me dizzy," He laughs as Richie runs a hand through her hair and walked off without anyone noticing.

Veronica nods. "You weren't feeling the music like you should have been! Mikey and Bill and Stannie were," She says, her heart aching at the mention of her late friend. "Besides, where's the fun in not being dizzy?".

Bill laughs, rolling his eyes. "I was 'feeling the music' because you were hyper off Mars Bars and wouldn't let us relax," He says, walking over to her and ruffling her hair as she sighs.

"I wasn't hy—" She attempts to respond before getting cut off abruptly.

"Hey, losers," They hear from a shadowy corner of the clubhouse, all of them staring and setting the items they held down as their eyes widen in fear. "Time to float!" The voice says, all of them stumbling back, Ben falling down onto a milk crate before Richie comes stumbling out of the shadows laughing loudly at the fear he induced on his friends.

Bill shakes his head, Veronica next to him — her head against a pillar. "Fuck, Richie," Bill mumbles.

"Dude!" Eddie shouts.

Still laughing, Richie looks between his friends. "Remember how he used to say that shit? And he'd do that little dance?" He goes on, bringing his arms side to side and imitating circus music. "Am the only one who remembers this shit?" He asks, noticing the lack of reaction his friends gave him.

"Are you gonna be like this the entire time we're home?" Eddie asks, squinting his eyes and Veronica nods rapidly.

Richie nods, sucking his cheek. "Alright. Just trying to ass some levity to his shit. You didn't even find it funny, Ronnie?" He asks, looking to the small girl who still stood by Bill.

"It could've been but it wasn't," She deadpans, shaking her head. "Not your best work, Rich,".

He sighs, stuffing his hands into his jacket and beginning to whistle a tune as he walks around the clubhouse awkwardly. They all stay silent, taking in the display of things from their past. It was like a tomb to their childhood.

And, they searched. Staring at posters and gadgets they had hidden away in the underground of Derry — letting the remnants of their past appear in their minds as they remember each and every little wave and glimmer of themselves as children. This was their safe place. Their sanctuary. This was the Losers Club of 1989's clubhouse.