A story set in Derry (Y/N x the losers club)

Chapter 8- Building a dam

I woke up early in the morning and dug through my clothing drawer, I needed something that could be washed easily and it had to be something old that I didn't care about. I managed to find a yellow t-shirt that had a picture of a flower on the front and some beige shorts that were way too big, I put on some beige sandals and grabbed my satchel as usual. My job was to see if Richie and Stan could come to play before I went down to the Barrens, again I ran past 29 and came up on the end of Neibolt street. My feet clicked as I walked clumsily down the path, Stan's door was open and he was halfway out of it. The rest of his family were in the car and I waved at him before running over, "Hey Stan can you come play in the Barrens today?" I asked and he shook his head. "I've got to go to the synagogue...Sorry..." he said as he climbed into the car, I nodded and then began my journey to Richie's house. The door to his house was a bright red colour and I knocked on it with a smile, one of Richie's accent came echoing out of the letterbox. "Ou' is it gov'nor?" He called and I could recognise his English butler accent through the thick wood of the door, "It Y/N Richie!" I called through the letter box and then the whole door swung inside. "Can you come to the Barrens to play Richie?" I asked and he shook his head "Sadly no m'lady, I'm rather busy today but we should schedule a date for another day." He said with a bow. My face lit up with a smile and I started laughing, "That is the funniest thing I've scene since I don't know when!" I howled and he scowled. After that he slammed the door in my face and I walked away wiping the tears of joy from my eyes. Ben hadn't turned up yet and Bill stood next to Eddie kicking dirt, Eddie was stood looking at a tree aimlessly and I walked down with a smile. "Stan and Richie can't come..." I said and they both frowned, "Never mind though I'm sure Ben will be just as fun." I continued and Eddie turned to look at me "Yeah maybe." He replies and I got the feeling that something had happened but I didn't know what yet. The mood was lightened a bit when Ben arrived and he brought the wood with him that we needed to build the dam, we set to work immediately and Eddie was weary to take off his shoes but eventually he came around and we all climbed into the stream. The dam was not too hard to build and Eddie held the first board while Bill held the last board, Ben instructed me on how to pack the land in between the boards full of stones and mud. Half way through building we had a small lunch break, Ben had come fully prepared with food for everyone. I got half a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with a tiny square of chocolate, it was lucky that I found a packet of lemon sherbets in my satchel because after lunch we ate the sweets as snacks. The faces that the boys pulled when the sherbet came out of the middle were hilarious, it didn't phase me at all but it definitely phased them. Lunch was over quickly and soon we got a pleasant surprise, I spotted Stan and Richie walking through the trees and once they arrived the dam building process was a lot easier because we had more people. When all of our energy had been used up and all of the lemon sherbets had been eaten we sat back upon the top of a small hill and watched our work pay off, the area around the side of the dam had flooded and created a swampy area around the boards. Richie, Ben and Bill laughed at their work and shared Cigarettes while Stan, Eddie and I sat down the far end talking about how the dam was better than the previous 'baby dam' as belch called it. I felt safe with the losers club and even though Ben wasn't an official member I could see it coming. I could see him joining and becoming one of us. I thought the trauma of 29 Neibolt street was over but it was far from over in fact it was only just beginning, Bill told everyone about a haunted picture of his brother that he saw in George's old photo book and then Eddie told of the leper. Everyone was asked and Richie hadn't seen anything, Stan refused to say whether he had or not and Ben had seen a clown on the Kenduskeag canal. It was finally my turn "Did you see anything strange?" Richie asked and I nodded slowly, my eyes started to water and then the flood gates opened and tears rolled down my face. "I...i saw George at 29 Neibolt street but he turned into a crazy nurse..." I cried and Everyone leant in to hug me and we shared a group hug until my tears stopped. "Then some blood covered flowers were left outside the house..." I said, trying my best not to cry, "We have to do something about this." Richie said and Bill nodded his head in agreement. A few minutes later the Irish man from down the street came to see what was blocking the water flow in the Barrens and we had a brief conversation with him before deconstructing our dam. The dam wasn't as easy to take down but we did our best, the man proceeded to tell us that what we were playing in with our feet bare was the whole of Derrys raw sewage. After spending my day in the water I went home and washed all of the sewage off of me before heading to bed for an early night. Sleep was fairly easy now that I knew it wasn't just me who experienced the strangeness in this town.