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

s i x t e e n

we arrived at beverly's house. i held up a hand to knock, but i noticed something out of the ordinary. the door appeared to be slightly ajar. i opened it and bill and i walked in. "where is she?" i muttered.

"beverly?" bill asked, walking further into the apartment. i walked around, finding what appeared to be her room. i didn't see her anywhere. bill went a different way to look. i think he walked towards the bathroom.

"beverly!" i heard him shout. i ran to where his voice had come from and stood in the door of her bathroom in shock. on the upper part of the walls, written in what appeared to be blood, was "you die if you try." bill and i looked at each other for only a second before we ran as fast as possible to help bev.

when we got outside, bill hopped on his bike. motioning for me to sit on it with him. "we've g-gotta get the o-o-others."

i nodded and hopped on, holding him so i wouldn't fall.

first we went to grab richie, we went to his house, but it was empty, so we biked to the arcade. sure enough, he was there. "richie!" bill shouted.

"what do you want?" replied rich. "see that guy i'm hitting? i'm pretending it's you. and why are you with him, [y/n]?"

"that's not important right now," i said. "it got beverly."

"what are you talking about?"

"it, richie. it got beverly," bill said.

we all left. i saw a phone and thought of eddie. "we should call eddie."

bill found a coin in his pocket and dialed his number. he filled him in on what happened, told him about beverly and it, and asked him to meet us at neibolt again. after he hung up, we all biked to pick up stanley, mike, and ben. when the whole group was together, we all biked to neibolt, and after riding on bill's bike the whole time, i was really regretting not grabbing my own bike before we left.

"guys, spikes," bill said. he was kneeling down in his backpack, grabbing them out for everyone. richie broke a glass bottle over the railing, and tossed the useless remaining half aside. i silently questioned him, but kept my thoughts to myself. we were all set and walking in, ready. the door creaked open again. we walked in, but had to stop when ben spoke.

"stan?"

"stan, we all have to go. be-bev-beverly was right. if we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. but if we s-stick-stick together, all of us, we'll win. i promise." stan finally walked into the house, ducking underneath the boards that blocked the upper half of the entranceway.

"hey, eddie, you got a quarter?" richie asked.

"i wouldn't want to make a wish in that fucking thing," he replied. we all peered down into the well, pointing our flashlights into what seemed like a bottomless pit.

"beverly?" ben called down the well.

"how are we supposed to get down there?" mike asked.

bill grabbed a rope and we set it up. richie threw it down. mike pulled on the rope to test it; it was sturdy. bill bravely climbed up and grabbed on. he looked down and started his descent.

"all right," mike said as he helped me onto the rope. after me went eddie, stanley came down next, and richie came down after him.

"guys, guys. help," ben said when he reached where the rest of the group stopped.

"all right, buddy?" richie asked after we pulled him onto the edge we had found.

"yeah, i'm okay."

mike was the last one who needed to come down. the group was getting ready to walk down the tunnel, but we stopped when we heard mike's scream echo down the well from the top. we all called up for him.