Sciamachy // IT 2017

'It was real enough for Georgie!'

The stairs creaked under the four pairs of shoes that stepped carefully over the decrepit steps. "I feel like I'm going to drop to hell if I step wrong." Richie uttered as he bumped into Eddie who hissed at the sudden contact. His heart was beating at the speed of a woodpecker on a tree and worried that the other three would hear it. "Newsflash Richie- we're already there." Tilly mumbled as they completed the last step of the stairs, now standing in an upstairs corridor. It was quiet- too quiet. A far stretch from the shriek they heard from the main rooms. "I don't see anything-" Richie began but was cut short by the sound of something moving against the hardwood floors.

Turning quickly, towards the left a girls body struggled to crawl while gasping for air. "Betty Ripsom." Tilly uttered, her eyebrows furrowed in utter shock.

"Betty?" Bill cautiously called out.

"Ripsom?" Richie meekly retorted.

The missing girl was there in the flesh, dragging her body along the ground as if she was trying to escape from something and when she turned her head and reached for the group before being dragged back from view, they knew that she wasn't alone. Simultaneously, they let out sounds of disbelief. No sound was heard- just complete silence. Bill, Tilly and Richie stepped towards the room that Betty was just in only to find it empty when Bill peaked past the door frame. All that was situated in the room was a dirty mattress stained in old blood. "She was just here! Where the fuck did she go?" Richie remarked as he stared baffled by the near empty room.

Hesitantly, the trio moved towards the mattress. It had an old smell to it along with the horrid scent of dried hemoglobin that made Tilly scrunch her nose in disgust. "Smells worse than my dirty socks." Richie commented while faking a shiver. Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut and the last thing they saw was Eddie running towards them. Tilly and Bill quickly jumped to action and banged mercilessly against the door. "Eddie!" Bill hollered but no response came which only fueled him to scream louder. Tilly turned to look at Richie who seemed dazed, unmoving and stiff. "Tozier?" No response.

"Tozier?"

Still no response.

"Richie!" Tilly grabbed ahold of the back of his Hawaiian shirt and gave it a swift yank, pulling him into her arms which startled him out of his daydream. "This isn't exactly how I imagined us reenacting the Titanic." Richie retorted with a lopsided grin. "Your right...because instead of me jumping overboard, I'll just push you off." Tilly chimed before letting go of Richie, sending him slightly off balance. Just when they were about to step out of the side room that Tilly had went into to fetch Richie, the door slammed on them leaving them both trapped in a dark room and Bill screaming for them on the other side. "Shit!" Tilly cursed as she fumbled with the unmoving doorknob. "Step aside, my lady. Let your white knight Rich handle this." Richie rubbed his hands as if he was about to perform some pull-ups only to launch the side of his body into the door with a loud 'thump'.