𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮

xii. All Grown Up.

   

     THE FACE staring back at him was so familiar. "Patrick... where have you been? I-I never saw you over the summer that year." He said softly and he felt like he was fifteen all over again. "Around here... I float." He smiled widely and it gave Timothy the nostalgia of having use to know Patrick Hockstetter, the creepy smiles he'd give.

God, he was such an ass when they were kids. "You kept my bracelet." Patrick snickered and Timothy looked away, crossing his arms. "Of course I kept it..." He shrugged and looked down. "Aw, were you in love with me?" Patrick crawled closer and it felt so wrong. Why did Patrick still look as when Timothy last saw him? Why was he still 15?

"No..." Timothy gave a confused look. "We were just fooling around, relax, Hockstetter..." He says and Patrick shrugs. "You relax." He said and pushed Timothy down onto his back but the man stopped him. "Nope. No way. You're not real. This conversation? Not real, either that stupid ugly clown did this or it's all in my head, hey, maybe I'm going crazy!" He offered with a smile. He heard screaming and quickly got up, running out to see Eddie in the air, being flung around.

How long was he in that stupid cave? Eddie gets thrown to the side and they all started running after him. They ran down to the bottom where Eddie was laying, face down. "Eddie!" Richie said as he stood on the other side of him. "Oh, God," Timothy whispered and grabbed him, moving him gently to rest on his back. "Be careful," David said as he took off his jacket so he can use it for Eddie to rest his head on. "Come out and play, Losers!" The clown cried out at the entryway.

"He's hurt really bad, we gotta get him out of here." Richie said, taking off his jacket and pressing it to Eddie's wound to stop the bleeding. "How are we suppose to do that, Tozier?" David asked and he's right. How? He's injured so bad, he can't even move any other parts of his body. Just his arms and his head. Maybe his legs too.

"I almost killed it. The leper." Eddie said and they all looked down at him, he was looking at Mike. "My hands were on his throat." He said as he used his hands to demonstrate what he did. "Kinky." David whispered and Timothy smacked his arm. "I made him small." Eddie ignored him.

"He seems so weak. He seemed... so weak." He said and Timothy glanced up. "The Shakopee. All living things must abide by the law in the shape they inhabit." Mike said to them, Beverly looking at him right away. "There's a passageway," Ben said, appearing in a little tunnel.

"Through here." He nodded behind him. "The tunnel," Beverly said and they all look at her. "Pennywise, we have to make him small... To get through the entrance of the cavern, right?" She said and Timothy remembered, it was a tight squeeze. "Okay, so if we can get back there, we can force him down to size, we can make him small." David added to her little plan/theory.

"Small enough so we can kill him." Beverly said, staring at David and Eddie nodded his head softly as It continued to claw at the rocks above and under the entryway of the cave. "I can smell the stink of your fear!" He called out to them.

They walked through the passageway, Beverly, Ben, Bill, Mike and David ahead as Timothy helped Richie carry Eddie. "I need a little rest." Eddie said and Timothy set him down before joining the others, grabbing Bill's hand. Eddie and Richie spoke behind him as they all stood, hiding from Pennywise then they were running off to the entryway of the cavern where they had to crawl through the crack. The clown noticed them quickly.

"Holy shit!" Timothy yelled as they ran, they were so close but then the clown ran along the wall and jumped down in front of them. "Gotcha!" They stopped, "woah, woah," Bill said and Timothy stepped back a bit. "You foolish filthy little children." The clown chuckled lowly.

It crawled towards them on It's six spider-like limbs. "You got a plan B, man? What do we do now?!" Ben asked Mike as they stared at the clown. "You die, that's what you do!" The clown exclaimed, giggling. "There's... there's more than one way to make someone small." Mike said.

"Make him believe that he is!"

"Wh-what?"

"Make It believe that he is."

"Oh? Me? Small?" It laughed boastfully. "I am the eater of worlds!" He says, drool dripping from his big stupid red lip. "Not to me, you're not... You're just a clown." Mike told him and it paused. The clown turned to Beverly then, snarling. "You're a weak old woman." She said loudly.

"Eater of worlds!" It raised It's limb, about to attack Ben next. "A headless boy!" He said and the clown paused again. He opened his mouth, growling at Timothy and Bill. "Imposter!" Bill shouted and it was said with anger, fear maybe and hatred so Timothy stepped in front of him. "A mimic! A stupid fucking mimic!" He yelled at the clown.

It backed away, "you're a fucking bully!" Beverly yelled. "You're just a fucking clown!" Mike yelled at It as the clown morphed into other things, a mummy, a leper. "Just a fucking clown!" Richie shouted from where he was at Eddie's side. They all yelled at him, calling him a stupid mummy, a dumb zombie or even just a leper, and on top of that, a clown. They followed it into the middle of the cavern where it crawled, scared of them now.

Richie came in at some point and ripped one of It's limbs off and threw it away as they continued calling him a clown, a stupid clown. "A clown..." Mike said when he saw how their words did affect the clown as it laid against one of the spikes, his head sort of smushed down onto the ground.

"Look at his scared beating heart."

Mike stepped closer, reaching out but backed away a bit when It snarled at him with big sharp teeth but fell back, defeated. He reached closer and closer, the tiny hands of the clown grabbing his large hand. They was like baby hands. He reached into the body of the clown, It making pained noises as he did. He pulled out his hand, holding the heart. He reached his hand out to the others.

David put his hand to Mike's, the others following his actions. "Look at you... You're all grown up." He said and started laughing. Bill was the first to squeeze, then they all did. It started to cry out in pain. The life was drained from It, growing quiet as it started to break into little pieces that floated upward and into the air. The deadlights slowly died as well, and they pulled their hands apart, the bits and pieces of the heart floating upward as well.

Ben patted Mike on the back and Mike turned to David who hugged him tightly. Timothy sighed, putting an arm around Bill's shoulders and his head against Richie's shoulder. "Eddie." The other man said and they all walked off.

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

  

   

authors note i had to write about this scene twice, once for my richie fic and and now for this fic... okay... mentally prepared now. let's go.

+ so like i said poly richie/niklaus/eddie rights in an authors note in my richie fic and tbh? if i hadnt written dave to be with mike, it'd be mike/bill/timmy because... hanbrough 🖐😫