𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥

⁀➷ CHAPTER ELEVEN

STAY WITH ME

ELAINE'S LEGS BEGAN to burn just as she reached the Well House, her hands slightly clammy as she jumped off her bike and threw it to the ground. She was surprised to find half of their group missing and the other half playing patty cake.

"Pattycake, pattycake, baker's ma-oh hey, Ellie." Annabeth smiled over at the girl, a bit too nicely for Elaine's liking. She was only ever nice to her when she was either nervous or hiding something from her.

"Where are the others?" her eyes scanned the group, not seeing Bill and not hearing the loud whistle come from Richie as he tries to hit on her or Annabeth again.

Annabeth shrugged "beats me, I'm just trying to play pattycake with my...good friend Beverly here."

She turned back to the redhead, who looked slightly saddened by her words, and rushed underneath her breath "the others went into the Well House."

"Jesus, Anna!" Elaine cried out, they were all stronger when they were together, so why would they allow the others to go in alone? And before Annabeth could retort to her words, the brunette rushed up the stairs and through the door, picking up a rusted bar from the floor.

When she entered the house, it was silent. There was no movement except for the sound of bugs scurrying away from her light footsteps. She quietly called out their names, hoping they were near enough for her to not be alone as her hands clutched tightly to the pole in her hands

When no one replied, she turned around to check in the room behind her, but a set of stairs seemed to appear out of thin air and she stared at them cautiously. But an array of quiet voices argued upstairs, Bill's being slightly louder with his stutter coming out clearly.

Elaine breathed out a sigh of relief and rushed up the creaky stairs, peaking around the corner to where she caught sight of the group of boys. Most noticeably, Bill.

"Guys?" she called over and they turned to her in surprise and fear.

Bill was the first to step forward "Lanny, what are you doing here?"

Just as she was going to take another step towards him, an arm grabbed her from the side, a shriek leaving her mouth as they yelled out her name. She went to hit the thing that had pulled her into a room and shut the door with her pole, but they held a finger to their mouth.

She struggled to look through the dark, but their voice made her jump "T-that...thing...wasn't m-me."

"Bill?" he nodded, still having a tight grasp on her arm "oh thank god, you scared me."

"Well, I-I couldn't leave you a-alone." he whispered, his hand sliding up from her arm and moving to cup her cheek "you're s-safe now."

Mindlessly, she nodded, eyes trained on his lips "where are the others?"

"Let's not talk about them right now." he began to lean in, but it's like as if the stutter had left his body.

"Bill..." he hummed a reply "where's my Bill?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Elaine." he laughed breathlessly, still staring at her lips as he backed her up against the closed door.

She frowned, tilting her head to the side "what did you say?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

"No...after that."

He racked his brain before he straightened up "Lanny?"

"You said Elaine, you never call me Elaine." the girl tried to back up even more, but her back hit the door and she was trapped in between his arms.

"You know, one day you're gonna go off to college and that's gonna awfully soon," he ignored her accusation, staring down at her almost blankly like nothing was going on behind his eyes "and what happens when you get into a great college and forget all about us?"

"I-I"

"You're gonna be alone, that's what." he finished, laughing at her frozen features "not even your dumb friends are gonna be there, they'll have forgotten about you too. But I won't, I'll be here waiting for the day that you finally come crawling back to good 'ole Derry Maine."

She couldn't tell if it was the clown talking about Bill or himself anymore, that the clown was going to be waiting for the gang to return in 27 years if they don't defeat him. And that made her face harden, pushing out the thoughts of being all alone in college.

"I'm not afraid of you, you know" his face contorted into mock confusion, amused by her words "going this long with someone to truly love you? Between the two of us, I think that you're the one who truly alone, and you'll stay that way forever."

His chuckle sent a shiver down her spine and she could tell that he sensed it as his face slowly began morphing, the devilish smile from that same clown yesterday peeking through Bill's familiar features. 

He backed away, reaching up to take a grasp of the top of his head, slowly beginning to peel the skin down. Elaine tightened her grip around the metal bar she had forgotten about in her hands and narrowed her eyes.

Pennywise stood grinning at her, his outfit popping out as he dropped Bill's molding to the floor "I really thought that we could be great friends! Too bad that you and your friends have to die now."

He let out a childish giggle before his happy features turned cold and his mouth reared back, showcasing a swarm of sharp teeth. Elaine's let out a yell as he rushed forward and brought her arms back, swinging the bar as far she could. 

The clown fell back onto the ground, his figure now looking exactly like Bill's as he looked up at her with fear "w-why would you do t-that, Lanny?"

Elaine shook her head and quickly rushed to open the door, running down the hall as she looked over her shoulder to where the clown disguised as Bill had vanished. When she turned back around, she skidded to a stop as she almost fell through a large hole in the ground, her arms flailing in the air as she tried to propel herself back.

Her body fell to the ground, the pole slipping from her hands as it tumbled through the hole instead of her. Elaine panted, a near-death experience not being on her list as she stood back up and carefully walked around the hole.

"Elaine?!" a voice came from down below making the girl peer through it.

Her eyes settled on the panicked figure of Eddie Kaspbrak as he clutched his obviously broken arm "Eddie! I'm coming!"

Without hesitating, she ran past the hole and down the stairs, peeking into a room that was empty. She stared straight into a mirror, herself staring right back before it ran off the side. Elaine stumbled out of the room "not again, you freaky bitch!"

She rushed into another room, happy to see that it was the correct one as Eddie sat in a pile of wood, obviously the cause of the hole in the ceiling. She went to take a step forward, but decided against it "how do I know if you're the real Eddie?"

"Because the clowns right behind you!" he yelled out making her turn around, jumping back when she saw the small fridge door open to a dismantled Clown. Elaine backed up, coming to stand beside Eddie.

The clown's head snapped up with a loud crunch as his arms reached out, helping him pull himself out of the small space. Elaine took a defensive stance in front of the helpless Eddie, wishing she had her pole with her, but it lay a few feet away on the other side of the approaching Pennywise.

"Aw, poor little defenseless Eddie and his knight in shining armor. Isn't it supposed to be the other way? The boy helping the damsel in distress?" his voice croaked, a throaty laugh following when his eyes met Elaine's stern gaze, trying to make herself seem unafraid. "Tasty, tasty fear from that one."

He pointed his finger past Elaine's face, lightly brushing her cheek as he gestured to a weeping Eddie. She held his gaze, hiding her trembling hand behind her back, as he brought his hand back.

"But it's okay to be afraid" he giggled "cause that's more fun for me."

Elaine choked as the same finger that had dragged along her cheek sharpened as it plunged into her stomach, her legs giving out under her as she heard Bill let out a yell. The two boys had raced into the room at the sound of Eddie's cries, but instead, they stumbled across a boy with a broken arm and a girl with a blood-soaked shirt.

"Holy shit..." Richie mumbled at the sight, Pennywise turning around at their voices with a wide grin.

"This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you? It was real enough for Georgie!" he cried just as he lunged at them, but a pole cut him off as Beverly stuck it through his eye.

The three ran over to where Eddie and Elaine sat on the floor, Bill trying to help her up as they tried to get out of the house before the clown could recover. But Elaine crawled back and away from him, memories from what had happened upstairs still fresh in her mind. He frowned at the slight fear on her face, but before he could question her, Eddie pointed behind them with his good arm "GUYS, LOOK OUT!"

Pennywise's face became deformed, almost foaming at the mouth as he growled. He brought his talons up, still coated with fresh blood from only seconds before, and began swinging at them. He managed to slice open Ben's recent scab before disappearing back into the room behind.

Bill looked behind him one more time at where Elaine was in the arm of a crying Annabeth and stood up "don't let i-it get away!"

He ran out of the room, after the clown, and ignored all of their yells for him to come back. Richie had turned back to Eddie and tried to help him up, but the boy reeled back from his touch "No, don't touch me!"

"I'm just going to snap your arm back into place!" he shouted back, reaching forward.

"Don't fucking touch me! Do not touch me!"

And with that, a sickening snap rang through the air.

authors note!

So, there's gonna be a bit of tension between Bill and Elaine since she has kinda lost her grasp with reality after the Pennywise disguised as Bill scene. But it's alright, the ship is just gonna have to be pushed back by a bit.