"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°•
"What?" Eddie asked, his voice small in the oppressive darkness. We all turned, a new dread seeping into our bones.
"Guys," Richie said, his usual bravado gone. "Where's Stan?"
Stanley was gone. Vanished. It was one thing after another. We scrambled back the way we came, our voices echoing desperately through the tunnels.
"Stanley!" "Stanley!" "Stan!"
The tunnel abruptly ended, dumping us into a wider sewer channel. "Oh, shit. Greywater," Richie mumbled in disgust, but we didn't hesitate. We waded into the foul, knee-deep water.
"Stan?" I called out, my flashlight beam cutting a shaky path ahead. "Stan!"Bill yelled, sweeping his light down a branching path.
A blood-curdling scream ripped through the silence, followed by Stan's voice, shrill with terror. "Shit! Stan!" Richie yelled.
We ran toward the sound, sloshing through the muck, only to be stopped by a giant, rusted metal door, shut tight against us.
"Stanley!" Eddie yelled, throwing his good shoulder against the cold iron. "We're coming!"Bill shouted. "We're coming!Don't worry!" I added, my voice cracking.
With a collective grunt of effort, we forced the door open, its hinges screaming in protest. The scene that greeted us froze the blood in our veins.
"Stan?" Bill asked, his voice a whisper.
"Stanley! Stan! His flashlight." Eddie ran forward and picked up the abandoned light, its beam illuminating a nightmare.
The woman Stanley had told us about-the one from his nightmares-was on top of him. Her face was buried in his, and a horrible, wet, chewing sound filled the air.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Richie gasped.
The thing's head snapped up at the sound of his voice. It retracted a set of needle-like teeth from Stan's cheek, its face a mask of ancient malice.
"Oh shit."
Eddie screamed. The creature scrambled backward, moving with a jerky, unnatural speed, shrieking at us before it vanished into one of the countless sewer pipes. For a second, a different face peered back out from the darkness. It was the clown, its smile a promise of horrors to come, before it too disappeared.
"Stanley!" "Stanley!Stan!"
We rushed to our friend's side, but when we touched him, he flinched away violently, screaming. "No!No! No!" he cried, trying to scramble back from us, his eyes wild with terror. "It's okay," Bill said, his voice gentle but firm, trying to ground him.
"You left me! You took me into Neibolt! You're not my friends! You made me go into Neibolt!" Stanley yelled, tears and blood mingling on his face. His words were a physical blow. I felt my own eyes well up with hot tears.
