Two Birds [S.Uris]

V. The Barrens

"Rise and shine, the early bird gets the worm." Stanley calls out, awakening the sleeping beauty. "Was that a bird reference?" Fleur asks, covering her mouth as she yawns. She slowly sits up and looks to Stanley, squinting her eyes at the brightness of the room.

"Barrens, remember? We're gonna meet the others on the way." Stanley confirms. "Shit. I told them I'd meet them at Eddie's house." Fleur remembers, pointing her index finger upwards.

"It's fine, just come with me and we'll let them know why." He sends her a comforting smile. She nods, getting up and walking over to the bathroom, where she made sure to fix her hair.

"Ready?" Stanley asks, appearing in the mirror behind the girl. "Yup." She smiles, exiting the bathroom and following the curly headed boy down the stairs. "Mom, we're gonna go hang at Bill's, alright?" Stanley calls out to his mother, who was lounging, reading a book. "Alright, be back before seven." She says, looking up from her book.

"No need to worry. See ya, Mom." Stanley waves, opening the door. "Bye, Stanley. Bye, Fleur. I hope to see you more often." The woman smiles to the girl. "Thanks for having me, bye Mrs. Uris."

••••

The two bike their way to the Barrens, meeting up with Eddie, Bill, and Richie at a crossover. "God, Fleur! Where have you been?"'Richie asks, cutting in between Stanley and Fleur as he pedals with great speed. "Sorry guys, Bowers and his idiot friends were staying at my place last night. Conveniently, I found our boy Stanley here. His family was kind enough to offer me a place to sleep." She smiles.

"Stan, your parents let you have a girl over?" Eddie asks quietly, so Fleur wouldn't hear. "I mean- yeah." He shrugs, looking ahead. "Yeah, Stanley! Get it!" Richie winks, laughing. "Hi-Ho silver, away!" Bill suddenly calls out, quickly passing by everyone.

"Your old lady bike's too fast for us!" Richie shouts, struggling to catch up. "Maybe you're just too slow!" Fleur shouts back, pedaling even faster so she could bike beside Bill.

"Hey! Since when did this become a race!"

••••

"That's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy." Stanley points around at random bushes, startling Eddie and Fleur, who quickly huddle up beside Stanley, furthering themselves from any shrub.

"Where? Where's poison ivy?" Eddie asks, studying the ground. "No where. Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley." Richie replies, having had enough of his false claims.

Richie and Bill begin making their way into the large sewer hole, leaving Fleur, Stanley, and Eddie to stand outside. "Okay, well I'm starting to get itchy now, and I don't think it's good for my-" Eddie is cut off by Richie, who turns around with a smirk.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. "Sometimes, Yeah." Eddie responds, trying to block out the horrible smell of shit that suddenly hit his nostrils. "Then you probably have crabs."

Fleur chuckles, looking over at Eddie and Stan, who clearly don't have the same reaction. Eddie seems disgusted, and Stanley seems quite annoyed. This alone, causes the blonde to immediately lose interest in the joke. "That is so not funny." Eddie responds, frustrated.

As Richie and Bill further themselves from the other three, getting deeper into the tunnel, Richie turns around once again, noticing that no one had followed them inside. "Aren't you guys coming in?" He asks.

"Uh-uh. It's greywater." Eddie says, pointing down at the brown water beneath their feet. "What the hell's greywater?" Richie asks in confusion.

"It's basically piss and shit. So I'm just telling you, you guys are splashing  around in millions of gallons of Derry pee." Eddie states, moving his arms around for exaggeration, nearly hitting Fleur each time he'd move.

Richie picks up a nearby stick, bringing it up to his nose and sniffing it. "Doesn't smell like caca to me señor." He says in quite a terrible Spanish accent. Fleur turns to Stanley, who looks annoyed as all hell. "Do they always do this?" She asks him, gaining his attention.

"It's never ending." Stanley replies, raising his eyebrows and slightly shaking his head. Fleur chuckles, a small tint of rose covering her pale cheeks. "Have you ever heard of a staph infection?" Eddie shouts, continuing to move his hand around.

"Eddie, I swear you're gonna kill me with that hand one day." Fleur says, bending backwards to avoid his flailing arms. "Sorry, Fleur. Richie's just being annoying!" Eddie argues, wining like a five year old.

"Oh, I'll show you a 'staff' infection." Richie says, using his 'staff' to pick up a plastic bag that lies in the water. "What are you doing Ri-" Fleur's voice is cut short as she watches the bag being whacked at the poor hypochondriac's legs, startling him.

"Are you retarded?! I mean, you're the reason why we're even in this position right now!" Eddie continues to shout. Fleur and Stanley share a look of annoyance, then can't help but smile at each other. "Guys!" Bill calls out, causing all the losers to advert their eyes to the tall boy.

He was holding a sneaker in one hand, and using his other to shine a flashlight at it. "Shit, don't tell me that's-" Stanley's voice cracks, he doesn't seem like he wants to finish his sentence.

"No, G-G-Georgie wore galoshes." Bill replies, looking down at the white sneaker, anxious. "Who's sneaker is it?" Fleur asks, trying to stand a little taller to see if she could read the label on the inside form where she stood.

"It's Betty Ripsom's." Richie says, shining his own flashlight into the shoe. "Oh god, oh fuck. I don't like this." Eddie says in a worried tone, speaking more rapidly than before.

"How do you think Betty feels? Running around these tunnels with only one frickin' shoe." Richie chuckles, jumping on one leg to demonstrate. Everyone looks to him with a 'what the fuck' face, which causes his smile to disappear.

"What if she's still here?" Stanley asks, his breath beginning to hitch. Bill and Richie share a look of agreement, then begin furthering themselves into the tunnel. "Eddie, come on!" Richie calls out, motioning his hand for him to follow.

"My mom will have an aneurysm, okay, if she finds out we were playing down here. I'm serious." Eddie shouts. "Bill?" Eddie waits for someone else's opinion. Richie was never taken quite seriously enough in their group. That's the reputation he earned for himself.

"If I were Betty, I'd want us to find me. G-G-Georgie too." Bill says, sending them all a sad look. "What if I don't wanna find them?" Eddie begins, shocking the others. "Eddie-" Fleur warns, yet he continues speaking.

"I mean- no offense, Bill. But I don't wanna end up like G-" Eddie stops himself, watching Bill's expression drop. "I don't wanna go missing either."

"He has a point." Stanley says in agreement. "Y-Y-You too?" Bill asks, disappointment sounding in his voice. "It's summer! We're supposed to be having fun. This isn't fun. This is scary and disgusting." Stanley sighs, looking down at the brown water.

Right as Fleur opens her mouth to speak, a loud splash is heard from behind them, causing them all to bring their attention to the new kid, Ben Hanscom. He looked completely beaten up, struggling to stand up.

"Holy shit! What happened to you?"