T R U T H - it chapter two

N I N E

     Macy grabs onto Mike and Eddie's hands as she looks down into the fire, watching all their artifacts burn together. She feels Mike squeeze her hand, as he begins the ritual. " The Ritual of Chüd, it's a battle of wills. The first step was our reunion, the second was the gathering of tokens. " He looks deeply into the fire and continues. " This is the final step. "

The fire suddenly goes out, with the room going dark, Macy feels Eddie's grip on her hand tighten at the sudden change. " What the? " Richie says, tilting his head to the side as he looks at the burnt-out fire. The losers feel a light illuminating from above them, causing all of them to look up towards the light.

The lights get brighter and Mike realized what the lights truly were. " It's the deadlights! Don't look at them! " Mike screams as he shuts his eyes tightly. " Turn light into dark! " Mike chants over and over again, making all the losers confused. " Say it! Turn light into dark! " He screams with the adults chanting with him.

The six losers chant the phrase over and over again while holding onto each other tightly. Mike begins chanting a phrase in a different language. The room gets louder and louder as they feel the light getting brighter and brighter. " Turn light into dark! Mike, what's happening man? " Richie questions through his yell, his eyes still closed shut. " Keep chanting! " Mike screams, his throat growing sore from all the screaming.

Macy keeps repeating the phrase, stopping once to take a deep breath before yelling the phrase louder than before. " Turn light into dark! " She screams over the other chants. The room suddenly goes pitch black again, making Macy open her eyes as she tries to catch her breath. " Did it work? " Eddie questions while timidly opening his eyes.

Mike races to close the artifact, sighing as he believes he's locked the deadlights inside the artifact for good. He tenses up, feeling something pushing against the lid of the artifact, His palms begin to sweat as he pushes against the red balloon that begins peeking out of the artifact. " I guess this is part of it? " Beverly asks, hoping that this is supposed to happen during the ritual and that Mike knew exactly how to stop it.

A red light illuminates onto their faces as they listen to the sound of the rubber ballon desperately trying to escape the artifact. " Mike is this supposed to happen? " Richie questioned as he wipes his sweaty palms against his pants. " Keep chanting! Keep chanting! " Mike repeats as he uses all his strength to hold back against the red balloon.

The adults begin to chant the phrase again, watching in shock as the red balloon begins growing in size. It begins growing too large for Mike to control as he falls back onto the ground. Seeing Mike fall causes the other losers to jump away from the balloon. The adults scatter, each trying to get away from the growing balloon. They all brace themselves, watching it press against the spikes of the layer.

The pop of the balloon blares through the cistern, making the losers fall to their feet, their ears ringing loudly. Macy falls to her feet, hitting her head on the ground as her ears ring out. She holds her throbbing head as she looks around, trying to find her friends through her hazy vision. She locks eyes with Mike and the two begin crawling towards each other.

" I can't hear anything. " Macy screams as she tries to read his lips. The two reach each other before embracing another, with their hearing begins to come back slowly. " Are you okay? " Mike repeats for the third time, holding onto Macy as they stand up. She nods her head at him, looking around to see the remains of the red balloon all over the cistern. " Did we do it? Is IT dead? " She questions, watching as Mike's face falls. " I'm not sure, but I don't think so. " Macy notices his hesitation, she opens her mouth to ask him about it but gets cut off by the sounds of their names being yelled out. " Come on. " Mike says, intertwining their hands they begin running towards the calling of their names before Macy could say anything else.