we're not kids anymore | bill denbrough {book two}

IV.

CHAPTER FOUR
[ the clubhouse ]

Eddie paced the floor. "Okay, what do you mean you've seen us all die?"

"Yeah, cause I gotta be honest, that's a fucked up thing to just drop on somebody." Richie said.

Beverly wiped away a tear. I grabbed her hand to comfort her. "How do you think she feels?" I scolded.

"Ever since Derry," Beverly began. "I've been having these nightmares. People in pain. People dying.." she was too emotional to finish her sentence.

"So you have nightmares," Eddie said trying to rationalize. "I have nightmares. People have nightmares. That doesn't mean that your visions are true."

"I've watched every single one of us-" Beverly struggled to complete her sentence again.

"Every single one of us what?"

Looking up, I saw that Bill and Mike had now joined us. Bill stood there with a concerned look on his face.

"Same place that Stanley wound up" Beverly replied. "That's how we end."

"How come the rest of us aren't seeing that shit?" Richie asked. "I mean, what makes her so different?"

"The Deadlights." Mike answered.

"She was the only one of us that got c-caught in the Deadlights that day." Bill stated.

"We were all touched by it." Mike began "Changed. Deep down like, an infection or a virus. That virus, has been growing for twenty seven years. This whole time metastasizing. It just got to Stan first because-"

"He was the weakest" Richie finished.

"J-Jesus Christ, Rich" Bill scolded.

"I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking." He defended.

"What Beverly sees, it will come to pass" Mike spoke. "It's what'll happen to all of us eventually. Unless, we stop it."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Eddie questioned.

"The ritual of Chüd" Mike answered. "The Skokopiwah. The first ones who fought It. They have a saying, all living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit."

"A tribal ritual? Are you fucking kidding me man?" Richie asked. "Alright, there's gotta be another way. This thing comes back what, every twenty seven years? Let's just kick the can down the road and do it then."

"Wait, we'll be seventy years old asshole" Eddie argued.

"It doesn't work that way" Beverly spoke up. "None of us make it another twenty years and..the way it happens"

Beverly couldn't manage to finish her sentence. It was clear that whatever Beverly saw was truly horrible. I continued to hold her hand for comfort.