He Likes Boys//It (2017)

f i f t e e n

Chapter Fifteen:

"Hey! Where'd you guys go?" Richie called to them, when he saw both Hom and Beverly start to rejoin the rest of the losers at the creek, Mike now with them, having finished his duty on the farm.

"On a date, dumbass." Hom replied, sitting down between Bill and Stan on the big rocks. Richie laughs at the pair. His way of dealing with things is usually by joking about them, and seeing his two friends together while he's still lonely as ever. Especially since he'd had a crush on Beverly since the moment she first joined the losers club. Richie didn't want to admit that he was jealous  of Hom, although what he was feeling was almost certainly jealousy.

Beverly sighed. It felt good to get it all off her chest, but she knew that it would feel even better when she tried to actually make a change to her life. To the things that were happening to her. She knew it would feel so much better when her father was put in jail where he belonged. She'd heard of people getting caught for doing things like this before. She'd heard of people going go jail for it, so why not her father?

"On a date eh? When are you going to do the bump and grind already?" Richie teased them. Hom felt his face begin to go bright pink. Sure, he thought Beverly was pretty, but he had never actually thought about having sex with her, especially not after what she'd just confessed to him about her father.

"Can it Richie. Don't we have more important things to be talking about?" Hom said, trying to regain his pride.

Bill stood up. "Hom is right. W-We do have more important things to be talking a-about." Bill announced. They needed to put a stop to It as soon as possible. Pretty soon it would become hungry again and start going after another kid. They had to stop it before then. He couldn't imagine all the families It would come to destroy if they failed to kill this monster. Bill would have his revenge on It. He would kill the monster, just like it had killed his little brother.

"W-We need to check out the leper house Eddie was talking about. Seen if we can track it down there." Bill suggested. Eddie visibly shivered and started to panic at the suggestion. Eddie wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt. He couldn't do it. God only knew the type of creatures that were still lurking around that house.

"N-no." Eddie stood up, his eyes wide, thinking of what he'd seen the last time he was near that house. He would be killed. He'd catch the diseases lurking around there, the germs quickly infecting his body and morphing it into something inhuman, killing him from the inside out. He couldn't do this, no matter how hard he tried to muster up the courage to face his fears just like everyone else would do, he couldn't do it. He was afraid.

"We can't go back there." He felt his heart rate pick up, getting ready to run from It. Run from the monster. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run.

"We have to." Bill insisted. "It will only keep going after other kids." He could see the panic in Eddie's eyes. He could see that Eddie was going to run any moment now. He knew they didn't stand a chance without him. They didn't stand a chance if any single member or the team was missing. 

"I-I-I can't Bill. You have to understand. I'll get hurt. My mother will kill me!" Eddie was yelling now, doing anything in his power to make Bill change his mind. He did realize that other children could die, that It might just keep eating them until there were but a select few left, but he also realized that he could die, or get sick or injured in trying to stop this monster. He probably would get injured at the very least.

"You have to Eddie. That thing will just keep killing. It will keep eating. It ate my brother, and It might eat me, too." Bill said.

Eddie shook his head. "Don't say that Bill. Don't say it's going to eat you. Don't fight it and it won't eat you."

"I have to get my revenge, Eddie. It killed my brother."

"Just do it Eddie." Mike spoke up. "If you do it there's less of a chance of any of us getting hurt."

"Yeah Eddie." Beverly agreed.

"You can do this Eds." Richie spoke. "You can fight it.

"We believe in you Eddie." Stan spoke.

Hom looked up at him. "Fight it."

"For Christ sake Eddie." Ben was the last to speak.

Eddie looked around. They all wanted him to fight. They all wanted him to help. They all wanted him to do this. He was a coward. He was weak and pathetic and he would never amount to anything. He couldn't face his inner fears, not now, not ever. He couldn't fight his inner demons. He trembled with fear as tears start to fall from his eyes.

"I-I'm s-so sorry guys." Eddie murmurs, his head in his hands, as a sob wrecked through him, his voice thick with emotion.

Stan puts a reassuring hand on Eddie's back, then whispers something in his ear, inaudible to the rest of the group.

When Eddie lifts his head again, there is a new sense of determination in his eyes.