Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 16: Bill the Brave

"Bill can you please bring me clean sheets from the linen closet?" his mother calls.

Big Bill leaves his sketchbook and pencils on the desk and goes down the hall to the linen closet. It was only going to be a couple more days before Mia came to stay with them. The young teen is very unsure of what to think of the incoming house guest; it's bad enough that they're in a house that isn't theirs, but to have a stranger come and stay was beyond weird. He hardly knows his cousin, and if you get technical, they weren't cousins anyway because their mothers are adopted sisters. Plus, he'd heard of stories about his uncle... the man was an infamous drunk and terrifyingly clever. The law would not stop him, and he never cared who got in the way of his final quest... evidently gaining custody of his daughter. Bill had heard these conversations from his parents when they thought he was asleep. He'd listen from the top of the stairs and it wasn't hard to hear the whole story because his mother got every detail of the situation.

Bill grabs a few sheets and pillowcases and walks to the small room next to the bathroom. His mother is milling about, cleaning as much as possible and preparing to make up the bed.

"Thank you, Bill," she says, taking the linens from her son. "I have to get your father in here to do something about this window."

"It's s-stuck?" the teen asks.

"Very stuck and with autumn just around the corner, poor Mia will catch a chill."

"W-Why is she staying w-with us?" Bill blurts, letting his insecurities get the best of him. "W-We barely know her."

"Because she needs a safe place to live Bill," Sharon Denbrough answers firmly. She'd already had this conversation with her husband about opening their home to this child and she doesn't want to explain it again.

"B-But if Uncle Joel finds her again..."

"Bill..." she says exasperatedly. She looks up to meet his gaze. She understands his concerns about her alcoholic former brother-in-law, but they can't think about that. She lays out the sheets and begins putting them on the mattress. "She is a family member in need. Your Aunt Caroline has no one else to turn to and hopefully, she will find a new job soon before he can even find Mia. And I promise it won't be forever... But family is the most important thing to us, and we always help each other, even in our darkest hour. Now, can you please get that corner?"

Bill goes over and helps fix up what his mother wanted.

"I know it's a big adjustment, and I know it's a big risk with Joel, but Mia has nowhere else to go. Imagine being trapped like that, unable to go anywhere without this evil presence following you."

Is she serious? Bill thinks to himself. That was their whole existence in Derry with IT, Henry Bowers and his gang. But of course, parents never noticed or talked about those things. It's as if they were made to ignore it. Bill hated having to look over his shoulder every time he walked down the halls at school, trying to avoid being accosted by one of Henry's goons, or having to walk home alone at night, fearing that IT would jump out of every dark corner. IT knew what he was afraid of and fed on his fear.

He watches as his mother finishes making the bed and then begins busying herself with other chores. She always did that when she was trying to forget something. She begins humming to herself as she goes downstairs.

It's then that Bill notices Georgie playing on the stair landing. He's making car noises as he drives them around the hardwood floors. The big brother approaches the little one.

"W-Why aren't you p-playing in your room?" he asks.

"Because there's a monster in my closet."

"There's no m-monsters in your closet."