Two Birds [S.Uris]

VIII. Spider Stan

Fleur, Ben, Eddie, and Beverly barge into the library after hearing loud shouts coming from inside. "Mike?" They call out, letting the door slam behind them.

Fleur covers her mouth in shock as she looks down at Henry, who was lying dead on the ground as mike looked at his bloody arm. "Are you alright?" Ben asks. "No I'm not alright! I just fucking killed a guy!" Richie shouts.

"I was talking to mike.." Ben says quietly, sighing. "Where's Bill?" Mike asks, looking up at the others. "I'll call him. Ben, can you patch Mike up?" Fleur asks, looking to the man beside her.

"Yeah, come on Mikey." He says, leading Mike to a nearby table. Fleur pulls out her phone, dialing in Bill's number and waiting for him to pick up. "Bill, we're at the library. Where are you?" She asks as the ringing stops.

"I saw the little kid die right in f-f-fucking front of me." Bill says, sounding like he is about to cry. "Just come here to the library and we can talk about a plan." Fleur says, pacing around the room. "No, I'm gonna Kill it. I don't want anyone to get k-k-killed anymore." Bill argues.

"Bill, you ca-" Fleur stops talking as the phone beeps. Bill hung up. She sighs, turning off her phone. "He's going to fight it alone." She sighs.

"Alone?! It's about the group! The ritual doesn't work without the group! Doing it together is why it worked!" Mike shouts. Richie looks to the artifact, looking towards another side that's scratched out. Mike notices this, and snatches it from Richie.

"Fleur, did he tell you where he was going?" Ben asks, looking to the blonde. "If he really wanted to kill Pennywise there's only one place he'll go." Beverly realizes. "The same place the ritual needs to be performed." Mike adds. "Oh, we're not gonna like this are we." Eddie sighs. "Oh, fuck." Ben mutters.

••••

"Bill!" Beverly calls out as they all run towards the house. "No, you guys! No!" Bill shouts, looking to them with worry. "I s-s-s-started all of this. It's my fault that you're all here! This curse, this fucking thing that's inside you all, It started growing when I m-m-m-made you go down to the Barrens because all I cared about was finding G-G-G-Georgie." Bill sighs

"Now, I'm gonna go in there and I don't know what's gonna happen but I can't ask you to do this." Bill argues. Beverly bends down, picking up a spike. "Well, we're not asking you either." She says confidently.

"We didn't do it alone then, Bill. So, we're not gonna do this alone now." Mike adds. "Losers stick together." Fleur concludes, smiling.

"So, does somebody wanna say something." Eddie says after it goes silent. "Richie said it b-b-best the last time we were here." Bill says, pointing to Richie.

Richie sends him a confused look, looking around to see if anyone knows what he's talking about. "I did?" He asks. Fleur chuckles, remembering.

"I don't wanna die?" The man asks. "Not that." Bill replies. "You're lucky we're not measuring dicks?" He asks again. "No." Bill chuckles. "Let's kill this fucking clown?"

Bill smiles, nodding. "Let's kill this fucking clown." Richie repeats more confidently.

••••

They walk inside, shining their flashlights around. It looks familiar, yet it changed over the years. Another thing they notice is that there's fresh black goo running down the steps, sizzling. "I love what he's done with the place." Richie jokes.

"Beep beep, Richie." Beverly says quietly, looking around in shock. They continue to walk around, entering rooms and exploring. Fleur stays close to Beverly, holding her friend's hand.

Suddenly, Ben screams, causing the others to quickly spin around. Beverly quickly runs over as Fleur is too late. Fleur feels someone grab her arm and pull her back. She screams, yet calms down when she notices it is just Richie.

"Richie, you scared the shit out of me!" She yells at him as the others bang on the closed door, calling out to Ben. "The door was about to close on you!" Richie shouts back.

Suddenly, the fridge starts shaking, causing them all to slowly turn around and curiously look to it. "That can't be good, right?" Richie mutters. "No shit!" Fleur shouts, backing away.

After a few bangs, the refrigerator opens, revealing the young Stanley, contorted inside. Fleur places her hands on her mouth in shock, gasping. "It's Stan." Richie states.

"Stan." Fleur whispers to herself, trembling. Stanley screams, causing the others to begin screaming as well. As Stanley stops screaming,  his head falls off and bounces over towards Fleur and Richie, who quickly move out of the way.

It lands at the end of the room, the head standing on its neck. "I'd still be alive if it wasn't for you, Fleur." Stanley's decapitated head says, looking coldly to the blonde. "No." She cries.

Stanley's head begins to form bumps, making disturbing sounds. "Richie, what's happening to me?" The boy asks in worry. Twiggy, spider legs begin expanding from his head and his eyes, letting the head hover over the ground.

"You gotta be fucking kid." Richie says in frustration. Spider Stanley laughs, then pounces at Richie, who moves out of the way.

He crawls all over the room until it goes out of sight. They all look around, then walk over to Eddie who looks scared out of his mind. Just then, drool drips down in front of Fleur and Richie's face, causing everyone to look up.

"Oh there he is." Richie says. Spider Stanley pounces at Fleur, grabbing into her face, causing the woman to scream. She desperately tries to pry it off of her, but struggles. Bill and Richie run over, attempting to help. "Get the knife!" Fleur shouts.

"Goddamnit Eddie, get the knife!" Bill yells to Eddie, who stays still. Suddenly, Ben grabs the knife and stabs the spider repeatedly, causing it to screech and grow weak, letting go of Fleur.

Bill grabs it, then throws it across the room. It slowly begins dragging itself out. "Is everybody okay?" Beverly asks, running inside and crouching beside Fleur, who lies on the ground.

Fleur slowly sits up, coughing. Bill runs over to Eddie, pinning him to the wall. "She could've fucking died, man. You know that, right?!" He yells.

"Georgie's dead, the kid's dead, Stanley's dead! You want Fleur, too?" Bill adds. "You want Fleur, too?! Is that what you want?!"

"I don't." Eddie says quietly. "Please don't be mad, Bill. I was just scared." Eddie cries. "That's what he wants, right?" Bill says, letting go of Eddie. "Don't give it to him." Fleur says, getting up and pulling Eddie in for a hug.

"Im okay, Eds." She says as she rubs his back softly.