IX. Braver Than You Think

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They all begin making their way down the stairs, staring directly at the well

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They all begin making their way down the stairs, staring directly at the well. "All the memories are all bad." Ben says.

They make their way down the well one by one then without hesitation, trudge through the water of the sewers. "Oh, damn. Greywater." Richie says. Alisa grabs onto Richie's hand, holding it tight. They walk through the sewers, finding an entrance to another big room, filled with much more water than they remember.

"Shit. This is it. This is where it happened." Ben says. The losers all walk forwards, headed towards a platform. Richie helps Alisa up onto it, following quickly behind. "Bev, what is it?" Ben whispers, noticing that she seems shaken.

"I thought I heard something." Beverly says. Just then, a scary old woman appears out of the water, grabbing Beverly. Alisa instantly begins feeling worse once more, but quickly jumps into the water to avoid burning. "Time to sink!" The lady shrieks, then pulls Beverly down.

"Ally, stay up here!" Richie shouts, diving into the water. Alisa screams, frightening Eddie. "Ally! What's going on?!" He asks worriedly. "Get out of the water!" He shouts. "No! I can't! I'll catch on f-f-fire and I'll lose another finger." She exhales, trying to control
her breathing. "What do you mean lose a finger?" Eddie asks confusedly.

"Forget it." She says just as the others arrive, quickly swimming back to the platform. The migraine goes away, and Alisa gets out of the water. "Mike, where do we go from here?" Richie asks.

Alisa looks down at her hand, relieved to see that she still had three clear ones. She sighs, and follows mike. The losers all gather around a circular door in the middle. "In the depths of work right, beneath to find the leaf." Mike mutters repeatedly, confusing the others. Alisa turns to Richie, squinting her eyes.

"Is he okay?" She asks. "I think, at this point, that's a relative question." Richie responds. "What's on the other side?" Beverly asks. "I don't know. No one does." Mike responds. He quickly bends down, startling the others as he lifts the circular door. It looks like another endless well, yet more narrow.

Without warning, Mike jumps down. Bill follows behind Mike, fitting himself into the well. "Guys, I can't do this." Alisa says nervously. "I'll just collapse again. I can't help you guys." Alisa says weakly.

Richie turns to her, walking towards his wife. "Listen to me, Ally. You had a moment, fine. But who killed a psychotic clown before she was fourteen?" Richie asks.

"Me." Alisa responds. Once she does, she recalls another memory she wishes she had never forgotten. Richie had already done this once before.

"Ally!" Richie cries out, running to the girl and crouching beside her. "Come on, come on. Stay with us ally. Look at me." The boy says, causing the girl to advert her eyes to him.

"Who's been living alone and still getting through life?" He asks, staring directly into the girl's blue eyes. "Me." She whispers, coughing out one water she had swallowed.

"Who was brave enough to throw a fucking hammer at that motherfuking clown?" He continues. "Also, me."

"And finally, who stood up when Henry was being an asshole?"

"Me."

"Who repeatedly stabbed a fucking spider version of Stanley while she was already about to collapse?"

"Me." Alisa sighs.

"Who married a man who doesn't even deserve how amazing she is." Richie asks.

Alisa smiles to the man, wrapping her arms around him. "You deserve it, rich." She responds. "You're braver than you think." Richie says.

"Thanks, Glasses." Alisa smiles. "Alright, come on." Richie takes her hand, helping her down the well.

They get down, squeezing through an narrow space and arriving at a spiky area, surrounding one main elevated section in the center. "This is where it hit." Mike states. The losers walk to the center. "So, This has been in Derry for, like, forever?" Eddie asks in shock. "Not forever. Just a few million years." Mike responds.

They gather around the middle, placing the artifact in the center of them all, lighting the fire. "It can only be attacked in its true form. The ritual shows that." Mike explains. "What's it true form?" Ben asks. "I hope it's a puppy." Alisa and Richie say at the same time, then turn to each other. "Pomeranian..." Richie continues. "I'll shut up."

"It's light. Light that must be stuffed out by darkness." Mike states. "Take your artifacts, place them in the fire. The past must burn with the present." Mike says as they all look at their tokens one last time.

"This is the boat that I built with G-g-g-georgie." Bill says, holding up the paper boat and placing it in the fire. "It's- uh.. inhaler." Eddie says. He nervously holds it, then takes one last puff before throwing it in. "Come on, dude." Richie says in disappointment.

"Something that i wish I had held on to." Beverly cuts in, holding the postcard right to her chest before dropping it. "This is a page from my yearbook that only one person signed. I probably should have forgotten it but.. I couldn't because I kept it my whole life for 27 years." Ben drops the page in the fire.

"This is a token from the capital theatre." Richie quickly says, dropping it into the flames. "You're burning an actual token?" Eddie asks. "Yeah, man.  That's what you're supposed to do, asshole." Richie says. "Do you have any idea how long that's gonna take to burn?" Eddie asks.

"Yeah, but so is your inhaler dude, all the toxic fumes, and the plastic, and shit." Richie says. Alisa sighs, holding up the cassette in her hand. "This is a cassette of Richie and I's favourite song growing up. The pippi Longstocking song." She chuckles, dropping it down as Richie wraps a comforting around her.

"Look closely, Bev. You see that?" That's where you hit Bowers." Mike holds up a rock coated with blood. "Rock fight." She says. "If any of these items are forged..." Mike pauses, then drops the rock.

"Oh, wait!" Eddie says, pulling out the shower cap. "Can't forget about Stan, again." He says, finally dropping the final token into the burning flames. "Okay.. grab hands." Mike instructs.

"The ritual of chüd. It's a battle of wills. The first step is our reunion. The second, to gather the tokens, this is the final step." Just as mike finishes, the fire burns out.

"Shit." Alisa says.

𝙼𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝙸𝙸 {It's back}Where stories live. Discover now