easy to hate u, better to love u 》 bill denbrough

t w e l v e

it had been a couple of days since i spoke to the losers. my cut was finally beginning to scab, but i knew that it would leave a horrible scar, especially since i don’t know how to properly take care of this kind of shit. bill hadn’t visited me, and i guess it was understandable. now i feel more alone than ever. maybe i should have stayed, and sided with bill. but why would i? we were all hurt, almost killed, and scared to death. we all had every right to leave them on that street. 

i woke up in a sweat, anxious about the nightmare i had the night before. i had been reliving the day at neibolt over and over every night since that day. it always ends right after he reaches for me, where i’m about to die, and be eaten alive by some stupid fucking clown. 

“fuck…” i mumbled, throwing the blanket off me and getting out of bed. 

i went to the bathroom and threw cold water on my face. it effectively woke me up and calmed me down somehow. 

i went back to my bedroom and threw on the first shirt i saw and a basic pair of shorts. 

i opened my window and climbed outside. i then hopped on my bike and began riding around town, something i hadn’t been able to do in a very long time. the wind flowing through my hair and the sun on my face helped distract me from the nightmare events from the previous week. 

as i road down the busiest street, i looked around for something to do that day. a loud engine roared behind me, and i could hear it as the car sped up towards me. i pedaled faster, but the car caught up with no issue. and i could recognize that car anywhere. henry found me. 

“you better stop pedaling bitch!” henry shouted at me. 

the car had stopped, and he had gotten out. now he was running towards me. the car sped up again, and it didn’t stop until it was a bit ahead of me. belch and vic got out there, and ran at me from the opposite direction. i panicked and couldn’t think of what to do. i turned my bike sharply to the left, making me go into the road. but that was a bad idea, the cars and people that were in the road caused me to have to turn left again to avoid hitting anyone. but by then, henry had caught up to me. he grabbed my bike handles, forcing it to stop. he grabbed my shirt and pulled me to the car, effectively shoving me into the back seat. i hit my head on the door, giving me an automatic headache. the three boys got in quickly and belch pressed the gas fast. before i knew it, we were at henry’s house. henry told vic to hold me, so he had me with my arms behind my back. i tried to break free, but i couldn’t, his grip was hard and was probably going to leave marks. henry had gone inside, and belch was setting up glass bottles a little in front of me. i had no idea what they were planning, and it seemed that vic and belch, who were basically henry’s servants, had no idea what henry wanted to do either. they both listen to whatever he says without question, so it’s not surprising that they seem confused all the time. 

“what are you doing reggie?” vic asked. 

“what henry asked me to,” he replied simply. “hey, you know why we had to get her?” he pointed to me.

“no idea. he must have something planned.”

“jesus.”

he nodded in agreement and then henry came out of his house, holding a gun. 

“what the fuck?” i asked myself under my breath. 

henry started shooting at the bottles that belch set up. he hit the last one and it exploded, sending glass shards flying everywhere. a couple of them hit me in the face, and i felt warm blood drip from my eyebrow and bottom lip. 

“put the next target out there,” henry told belch. he had pointed to me. both of them looked wide-eyed at henry’s request, but they listened nonetheless. belch grabbed me and brought me to the target area. i tried to get away, so i wouldn’t die. “just hold her.”

“henry! p-p-please don’t!” i shouted. 

“this is what you get, bitch.”

he pointed the gun at me, closed one eye, and aimed. i closed my eyes and prepared for the worst. 

“what the hell's going on here?” mr. bowers asked. 

“just cleaning your gun, like you asked,” henry replied. 

i opened my eyes. 

“you're cleaning my gun, huh?”

“dad…” 

“hey!” he screamed, taking the gun and shooting next to henry a few times. henry cowered with his hands in his face, and vic and belch jumped at the noise of the shots. i pulled away from belch. “look at him now, boys. ain't nothing like a little fear to make a paper man crumble.”

i ran, away from henry, away from everything. i didn’t run home either, it was all too much.