"I have to go,too," I spoke up, my voice barely above a whisper. "My mom's waiting for me." It was only half the truth.
I went around the circle, giving each of my friends a tight hug, saving Ben for last. I tried desperately to keep the tears from...
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•°Ben's POV°•
It didn't take long for the rest of the Losers to join us. We raced our bikes through the streets of Derry, a single, terrified unit headed for the one place that haunted all our nightmares. We skidded to a halt in the overgrown yard of the house on Neibolt Street, throwing our bikes to the ground without a second thought. My mind was a laser focus: get to Corinne. Get her out of that horrid house.
"Guys, spikes," Bill said, pointing to the rusty, pointed fence posts scattered around the lawn. I helped gather them, stuffing them into Bill's backpack-pathetic weapons against a monster, but they were all we had.
The sound of shattering glass made us all jump. We turned to see Richie standing over the remains of a bottle, a grim look on his face. "What?"he shrugged, kicking the broken shards aside. "For Bowers."
One by one, we filed through the front door, the darkness inside swallowing us whole. I looked back and froze. One of us wasn't following.
"Stan?"
The others turned. Stanley stood frozen on the porch, his feet cemented to the threshold, his face a mask of pure terror. He wasn't coming in.
"Stan," Bill said, his voice firm but pleading. "We all have to go. B-Beverly was right. If we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. But if we stick together, all of us, we'll win. I promise."
Bill's words hung in the stifling air. Stanley took a shuddering breath, then a single, hesitant step across the threshold. It was enough. We were all in.
We followed Bill down into the basement, to the gaping, black mouth of the well he'd described.
"Hey, Eddie. You got a quarter?" Richie asked, his attempt at a joke falling flat in the oppressive silence. "I wouldn't want to make a wish in that fucking thing,"Eddie whispered, staring into the abyss with wide, horrified eyes.
"Corinne? Beverly?" I called out, my voice echoing down the stone cylinder. The only answer was the drip of distant water and our own frantic heartbeats.
"How are we supposed to get down there?" Mike asked, stating the obvious problem.
Bill found an old, frayed rope coiled in a dusty corner. It looked ancient and untrustworthy, but it was our only option. Mike tested the hook above the well, tying the rope with a knot that looked like it could hold.
"All right," Mike said, giving it a final tug.
Eddie went first, his descent slow and terrified. Richie went next. When it was my turn, I struggled, my hands slipping on the coarse fibers. The darkness below seemed to pull at me.
"Guys, guys, help," I whispered, panic rising in my throat.
A hand reached out from a hole in the well's wall I hadn't even seen. Richie grabbed my arm and hauled me into the dank, cramped space. "All right,buddy," he said, his usual bravado replaced with a gruff concern. Maybe he wasn't the asshole he pretended to be.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I told him, dusting off my shirt, trying to sound braver than I felt.
We started to crawl through the narrow tunnel when a scream from above froze us in our tracks.
"Mike!" "Mike!" "Mike!"
"You okay? Mike!" Stanley yelled.
But Mike was gone. In his place, leaning over the well opening with a bloody, manic grin, was Henry Bowers. His face was a mask of fresh blood, his eyes gleaming with madness. Another psycho to deal with.
"Bowers. Mike. Fuck," Richie muttered.
Henry started to laugh, a low, guttural sound that was worse than the silence. His eyes locked onto each of us, relishing our fear.
"Mike!" Bill yelled uselessly into the darkness. "Where is he?"I asked, my voice tight with dread. "We're next,"Richie mumbled, voicing all our fears.
Henry grabbed our rope and, with a brutal yank, untied it. "No,no, no! Grab it!" Stanley yelled.
But it was too late. Henry let the rope fall, and it slithered down into the deep blackness of the well like a dead snake. "Get the rope!Get the rope!" Eddie shrieked, but it was gone, vanishing into the pit.
"Oh, shit."
Henry disappeared from view. That couldn't be good. Mike was up there alone with him.
"Mike!" "Mike!Leave him alone!"
We were trapped, scared, and utterly helpless. Bill stared up the shaft, his mind racing. "I should get up there," he said, his voice thick with determination.
"Are you insane? With what?" Richie asked, his voice cracking. "We just lost our only way out!"
A sudden blur of motion shot past our hole-a body falling down the well. We all flinched back, a collective gasp ripped from our throats.
"Holy shit!" "Oh my god!" "Mike!"Eddie yelled, staring down into the void.
For a heart-stopping moment, we were sure we'd just watched our friend die. Then, a voice echoed up from below. "I'm okay.I'm okay."
Mike's head popped into view from further down the shaft. He was clinging to another, older rope we hadn't seen, hidden in the shadows. He quickly climbed up, his face pale but determined, and joined us in the cramped hole. We were all together again. But we were also trapped, deeper in the belly of the beast than ever before.
