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

Chapter 12- Bloody bathroom

After getting a phone call this morning Bill changed the activity from today to something completely different to what we were all expecting, I sat on the back of Stan's bike as we all rode towards Beverly's house. Stan was the only one with space for another person on his bike so I had to ride with him. We came to a stop outside of some run down apartment buildings, there was a bang from up above and I looked up to see Beverly descending the fire stairs of the flats. "Thanks for coming..." she said with a quivering lip, she lead us towards the rusty metal steps then turned around. "Someone needs to stay guard in case my dad comes home." She said while scanning our faces, "Richie?" Stan suggested and everyone nodded. "Richie, s...s...s...Stay here." Bill said and began the walk up the stairs,  closely behind Beverly. "What am I supposed to do if someone comes?" Richie shrieked and Stan turned round with a huge grin on his face; "Just do what you always do, start talking." He replied and I smirked a little at his comment before following everyone up the stairs. They were rusty and creaked a little under our weight but they seemed pretty sturdy. Beverly lead us into a small 2 bedroomed apartment and down the narrow corridor towards the bathroom, she paused outside of the door and turned around to look at us all. Without a word she pushed the door open to reveal masses of red goop everywhere, the stench hit me first, death and rot just like the clown. I heard Eddie's aspirator go off, "So can you see it?" Beverly asked meekly and Bill nodded "I can see the blood too." He muttered. "Me too," Stan said and then the rest of us added the same phrase, "so what are we going to do?" Beverly asked Bill and his eyes scanned the losers club "We're go...go...going to c...clean it up." He said adamantly and I felt my stomach churn. Beverly moved past us and into her tiny kitchen, soon she returned with a bucket of soapy water and some old rags for cleaning, "Let's get started." She whispered and handed each one of us a piece of cloth. Somehow I managed to get the job of cleaning the walls with Stan, the wallpaper was covered in blood and it was hard to get off because of its thickness. I had to lean against my rag in order to make the slightest difference to the deep red colour of the walls, Eddie was cleaning the floor and every now and again he looked up at me. Bill left the room to refill the bucket of water and I slide over to Stan, "You wanna know what happened then?" I asked and he nodded silently. "Me and Eddie went into 29 Neibolt street and well, the best way to put it is that there was a clown and-"  I whispered and Stan turned to look at me with frightened eyes, "Stop." He said solemnly and I was taken aback a little. He turned his face away from me and begun cleaning a different part of the wall, "So you've seen something too?" I asked and he nodded "If I don't think about it then maybe it will just go away..." he said. Bill entered the room again and I casually moved back over to the part of the wall that I was cleaning originally.

Eventually the room was clean and everyone left the apartment, we made our way back down the creaky stairs to the ground and it wasn't until I planted my foot on the floor that I noticed Bill and Beverly hadn't made it out yet. I headed over to Richie and he was talking away to himself merrily, "You seen anything strange recently Richie?" I asked and he shook his head to signal no. "Why'd you ask, honey." He asked in a Texan accent and I smiled weakly at him "Oh, I just wondered." I said and walked away to regroup. Everyone was here now, Bill, Richie, Beverly, Stan, Ben and Eddie. "Hi Beverly." I said as I moved through the crowd to get to her, "Thanks a lot for helping me Y/N, I appreciate it." She said remorsefully. "Hey don't sweat it, Beverly." I replied with a small laugh, "Oh, please call me Bev." she said kindly and I nodded before wandering over to where Stan's bike was stood up on its stand. As I climbed onto the back Stan climbed onto the front and I waved at Bev as the Losers club minus one rode off of her drive, as we rounded a corner I caught glimpse of Henry and his gang messing around near the entrance to the barrens. Our eyes connected for a second and I saw a sudden flare of anger flicker before I tapped Stan on the shoulder "Any possibility of going faster?" I asked and I saw him scowl, "what do you think I am? A motor? A chauffeur?" He said and I laughed at his suggestions. "Never mind." I replied and he chuckled to himself as I watched the houses go by. At one point I almost fell off of the bike and we decided to walk from that point on, I dropped towards the back of the group so that I was next to Eddie. He was staring into the distance and I smiled at him, "Hey, Bill will sort this, you'll see...." I whispered before turning off to take a shortcut home. "Bye guys!" I yelled but no one heard me. When I got home I could hear my mother yelling down the phone and I slipped up the stairs as silently as I could, I dropped my bag by the side of my bed and then lay down with a sigh. My eyes glazed over and then the darkness crept across, I was asleep in no time at all.