Buttercup | r. tozier

↠ stan uris

After Eddie joined with the six of us, we began to ride towards Neibolt Street, like Bill had told us. We quickly got off our bicycles as soon as we arrived at the Neibolt house. I increasingly felt uneasy and nervous as I continued to walk on the dusty ground.

"Guys, spikes," Bill warned as we looked down at the tiny pricks that were scattered among the gravel.

I stared at the darkness of the house until I could hear Eddie hurling his fanny pack far to the parched grasses. Bill and Mike were unearthing the spikes from the ground when we saw Richie picking up an empty bottle and smashing it against the wooden handrail. While the others headed towards the house, I was standing outside, scared that the worst that could happen.

"Wait, Stanley?" Richie asked.

"S-Stan, I'm sorry, but we all have to go inside," Bill nervously stuttered. "Jaz was right. If we don't work as a team, that clown will kill us all."

"But if we do, we all can win," Beverly said with a reassuring smile.

I reluctantly agreed and walked inside with them. We all quickly went down to the basement where I could see the well with the light from Bill's torch.

"Jasmine!" Ben cried out, but got no response as his voice echoed down.

"How are we supposed to get down there?" Mike asked. I also pondered about the same thing when Bill showed us a pile of thick, dangling ropes. Mike pulled on the rope tightly while Bill went down the rope slowly followed by Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Ben, and then me.

We then climbed into a small tunnel when we heard Mike screaming from the top.

"Mike!" Bill called out.

"It must be fucking Bowers..." Richie muttered.

We all kept silent as we apprehensively listened Henry Bowers hollering like crazy. We helplessly waited for the chaos to fade on its own when a second later, we noticed Henry being thrown down to the dark abyss of the well.

"Holy shit!" Richie exclaimed, shocked by what had just happened.

"Mike, are you okay?" Beverly asked, concerned about Mike getting hurt.

"I'm okay," Mike responded, bringing us relief that he was doing alright.

After Mike finally caught up with us, Bill led us further into the sewers to search for Jasmine. I was hoping that she was still alive when I could hear a voice behind me. Lured by the raspy sound, I turned around and went towards where it came from, revealing a slightly ajar door. As soon as I went in, the door suddenly slammed behind. I tried to find ways to escape when I could hear a voice so similar to that of Jasmine's.

"Stan," she said in a gentle voice.

"Jasmine?" I asked, still skeptical that it was really her. "Is that you?" I added when I heard a clown laughing. From there, I knew that something must be so wrong that I couldn't explain it in words.

I then searched throughout the room with my flashlight and found no one. I grew even more anxious and agitated second by second.

"Guys?" I desperately cried out, "Guys?"

I kept looking around for my friends as eerie noises began to get louder. Not long, I could see a familiar lady with the same misshapen eyes and teeth. She went on to viciously chomp my head multiple times as though I was meat.

At the same time, I could also hear Bill and the others barging through the room, yelling my name.

"Stan!" Bill shouted.

"Stanley!" Eddie screamed as they stopped running.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Richie yelled.

I opened my eyes as the woman withdrew her teeth back from me and backed away into the darkness, revealing herself as nothing more than a ruse of the clown. While Bill and the others rushed over to me, I remained deeply disturbed and shocked, shaking uncontrollably like there were cicadas crawling down here.

"No!" I shouted as I sat up.

"It's alright," Beverly said as if she tried to assure me of something empty. "We are here for you."

I then burst into tears, screaming my anguish, "You left me, you aren't my friends! You made me go! You made me go!"

"I'm sorry," Eddie apologized, but even apologies were not enough to mend me yet.

"You made me go to Neibolt!" I cried, "This is your fault!"

Then all of them hugged me tight. It was that one moment when I felt profound peace, despite all the horror that took place in the sewers. I eventually stopped crying when I saw Eddie turning his head at the front.

"Bill!" he shouted before standing up, realizing that Bill was gone.