WOUNDS ♚ henry bowers [it]

f i f t e e n

After Belch and Victor apologized to me, Henry giving them a black look the whole time, I ended up staying to hang out with them for the rest of the day. It was awkward at first, being that I was sort of an outsider to Vic and Belch, but it quickly dispersed within the first hour. Belch was the first to warm up to me, making fun of Henry and I every time we did something 'couple' like, earning a glare from Henry. Eventually Victor ended up coming around, laughing and joking around with me, but making sure to keep his distance. He didn't want Bowers to cut his dick off.

Being that my mom was gone, we stayed mainly at my house in the back yard finding random things to do. We'd gone from them wrestling, to seeing who could throw and stick Henry's pocket knife in a tree the best (them also ending up convincing me into trying it and of course I wasn't as good as them, but they were all still pretty impressed at what I could do), to them somehow ending up pestering me about why I hung out with those 'losers'.

I rolled my eyes at Victor, "I've been best friends with most of them since first grade, and Richie since I was born. I can't just drop them."

"Why not? They're fucking dorks." Belch shrugs.

"Because I-" I was interrupted by the sound of my house telephone going off. I told them to give me a minute then opened up the screened back door. Picking up the phone, I answer it with a hello.

"Taylor!" Bill's voice yelled through the phone. "I-i-it got her."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "What? I don't understand."

"It, Taylor. It has B-B-B-Beverly." My stomach dropped at his words. It, that thing, had Beverly.

"Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?" Was all I could manage out.

"C-c-can you meet us at the h-h-h-house on Neibolt S-street? The creepy o-o-one?" I assumed he meant the whole gang was gonna be there.

"Of course," I reply. I know I've only talked to Beverly maybe two or three times, and I wasn't really that much of friends with her, but I knew Bill cared about her a lot, and I cared about Bill, so of course I was gonna help. Plus, I wasn't just about to sit back and wait for the outcome of my friends battling against this monster.

We each hung up and I was about to hurry and go get on my bike, then I remembered the three gang boys that were in my back yard. And one of them owned a car, a car that's much faster than some dingy bike. I knew it was a stretch, but I had to ask.

I ran out the back door and down toward them, Henry quickly getting up when he noticed my distraught and panicky mood. "I need your guys's help with something."

.  .  .  .  .

"I can't believe I'm about to help these skinny ass pale-" I lightly elbowed Henry in the side, trying not to be too rough knowing he probably had a bruise down there from his father. He put on an annoyed face, getting out of the car. "Just because I'm doing this, doesn't mean I like them. Remember, I'm only doing this because you asked me to."

"I know, but at least try and be a little bit more nicer to them." I addressed all three of the guys. After explaining the situation and everything that's been happening in Derry to them on the drive here, Henry immediately agreed to help. But, in his words, only because he didn't want me going in on something that dangerous without him. Seeing that their leader was helping, Belch and Vic agreed to help also.

Victor grunted, "No promises." Henry and Belch sided with him, and I frowned, but nonetheless I was grateful that they were gonna try to help. Walking past my friends' bikes lying on the yellow, overgrown grass lawn of the crack-house, we walked up the creaky stairs and toward the door. Henry placed himself directly by my side, a little bit more in front of me, as he pushed open the already cracked, charred door.

Henry's hand found my own, giving my hand a tight squeeze as we all walked in the house. I glanced at him, only to find him looking straight forward, a stoic expression planted on his face. His tough exterior side showing.

"I hate this fucking house," I hear Belch mumble behind me.

Hearing a recognizable voice, I dragged Henry and guys behind me to a door. Opening it, I found a set of stairs. Guessing it led to the basement, I took wary steps forward, hearing the voices get louder.

"Not without, Tay-" I hear Richie say, but then stops when he looks up toward the staircase. "Taylor!" He exclaims, and I take a quick glance around. It was creepy as hell down here, all dark and dingy, but the most creepy of it all was the worn out well that stood in the middle of the whole room. Everyone was down here (except for Beverly of course), surrounding the well. Bill, Eddie, Richie, Mike, Stan, and Ben. "And... Bowers?" Richie gave us a quizzical look. "The whole Bowers Gang, what the hell are they doing here? And with you, Taylor?" They don't call him Trash-mouth Tozier for no reason.

Besides Richie and Bill with confused faces, everyone else gave Henry, Belch, and Victor terrified faces. Mike even looked like he was trembling. The whole Bowers Gang gave the obviously smaller boys than them death glares. That, I could deal with as long as they don't try to hurt my friends, especially in the situation that we were in right now.

"Calm down, they're here to help." I tried to ease the tension, but it didn't help very much. Richie looked down at Henry and I's still intertwined hands, his eyes widened and right before he could say anything stupid, I cut him off. "Look, we don't have time to explain right now."

Bill spoke with courage, "She's r-r-right. The longer we w-w-wait, the more t-time that thing gets."

Bill gets on the make-shift rope ladder thing they've made, going down into the well. Each of us following behind him. When Mike climbed on right before me, he accidentally dropped all the ammunition for his gun.

"What a fucking dumbass," Henry mumbled next to me. He had been tensed up ever since we stepped foot down here. Wanting to talk to Henry before we descended, I motioned for Vic and Belch to go. Once they were both down and I was sure no one would be able to hear us, I pulled him a few feet away from the well.

"Look, I'm trying my best, Tay." Henry says, automatically assuming that I wanted to talk to him about his actions toward my friends.

"I know," I grab his other hand so that I'm holding both. "And I'm more than grateful for that, Henry." I saw his ears go slightly red. "But that's not what I wanna talk to you about. You've been all tense ever since we've gotten here. Why? Are you having second thoughts or something?"

He looks down at the ground, "It's just... I don't know if this is such a good idea anymore." He looks back up so that our eyes meet, "I just got you, I don't want to loose you already."

My eyes got glossy and I smiled a sweet smile at him, leaning up to give him a kiss. "You won't, Henry. I promise." He nodded his head, but the look in his eyes gave away that he wasn't truly convinced.