Pennywise Loves Me?》It (2017)

Nine

We packed up our things and head toward Ben's house. Ben bolted to his room before any one of us got off our bikes. I heard a loud slam once we were in his room. Ben was out of breath while leaning against the closet. I would have been suspicious of it but I couldn't take my eyes away from all the old newspaper articles that were pinned on the wall.

"Woah," I breathed in awe as I took a look around.

"Wow," Richie added while adjusting his glasses.

Ben had the biggest grin on his face. "Cool. Huh?"

Richie shook his head. "No. No, nothing cool. There's nothing cool." Richie pointed at a picture. "This is cool, right here. Wait, no. No, it's not cool."

I glared at Richie. "Don't be rude, pencil dick," I scolded him. I smiled at Ben. "This is really cool, Ben." I continued to look around the room. "I seriously wish you were my lab partner for school."

At least I know he would have shared the work. I remembered being paired up with snobby Johnnie, who didn't do shit. As a little payback, I didn't put her name on the project, and when it was time for presentations I gave her the wrong cue cards to read from.

Stanley pointed to the copy of the town charter. "What's that?" he wondered.

"Oh, that? That's the charter for Derry Township," Ben answered.

"Nerd alert," Richie teased.

"No, actually, it's really interesting. Derry started as a beaver trapping camp."

"Still is, am I right, boys?" Richie held his hand for a high-five. No one gave it to him.

I pushed Richie's hand down before getting a closer look at the photos. "Ben, did you cut these from the library books?" I asked.

Ben's eyes widened. He ignored my question, confirming my suspicion, and continued with, "Ninety-one people signed the charter that made Derry." I sighed as I started to look around the room. "But later that winter, they all disappeared without a trace."

"The entire camp?" Eddie gasped.

"There were rumors of Indians, but no sign of an attack. Everybody just thought it was a plague or something."

I stopped in front of a photo of the town park back in the day. There were a few kids playing on the swing while one was on the slide.

"But it's like...one day everybody just woke up and left. The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house," I looked at Ben as he finished.

"And if any of those kids decide to crawl out of that well then I'm grabbing Bill and running. Have fun getting chased by those ghosts," I said. Which is a lie. I wouldn't leave the guys to deal with them.

I nearly jumped back when I looked at the photo again. All the kids that were on the playground...somehow moved. They were all standing in a line while staring right at me. One hand pointed to me while the other hand was pointing behind them. Furrowing my brows, and being stupid, I looked in the direction they were pointing at. My eyes widened when I saw that - that thing. Sitting on a pile of dead bodies, hearts of the victims scattered around them spelling Mine, the bastard held something in its bloody hand. The closer I looked at it, I saw a ring.

My breathing became rigid. Is this some sick trick it's doing? Did it actually try to propose to me through a photo? Is it trying to claim me? Why? Why me? Why the hell does this thing want me?!

》》》》

After a while, we all parted ways. Bill and I decided to take the longer way home. Bill kept talking about the well. He thought if we find that well then we find Georgie.