"Oh fuck!" I took a step back and grabbed onto Bill's arm. He pushed me behind him, blocking me from the clown's view.

"Eddie!" Richie exclaimed, his arm outstretched as if to go to him, but he remained unmoving. Like me, he was all too aware of the monster in his path.

The clown grinned, its hand gripping Eddie's throat. "This isn't real enough for you, Billy?" the clown asked and I felt Bill stiffen. It knew. It heard what we had been saying and it knew what we had been doing. "I'm not real enough for you?" it mocked sadness, which soon turned a grin. "I was real enough for Georgie."

It smiled, a malicious smile that froze me to the spot but made me want to turn and run for the hills at the same time. The clown sprung from it's position on the floor and lept towards us, its hands outstretched and teeth bared. I screamed and dragged Bill backwards, bracing myself for our inevitable death.

But the contact never came. Instead, there was a high pitched yell and splatter of blood against the wall, missing me by inches. I looked up in shock to see Beverly clutching what looked like a fire poker, which was rammed right through the side of the clown's head.

Eddie moaned and Beverly stepped back in shock, looking at her hands as if she couldn't believe what she had just done. A terrible whimpering noise came from the clown's frozen figure. "Get Eddie, get Eddie!" Richie shouted, and he, Bill, and Beverly ran over to the fallen boy. I remained pressed against the wall, my legs refusing to move. My eyes were glued to the spot on the clown's head were the metal protruded, where blood was floating out of the wound.

This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

Eddie's screams were enough to snap me out of my daze, the same time the clown snapped out of its. It swung it's head to face the other's, the tip of the poker passing awfully close to my face. Everyone's screams mixed together in a horrific harmony as it let out a growl. I pressed my back further into the wall.

This was all just a terrible nightmare.

The took an intimidating step forward, thrusting it's hand out which, in front of my very own eyes, grew claws. My mind involuntarily wandered to the night at the Aladdin Theatre where we watched I Was a Teenage Werewolf and my eyes wandered to Richie, whose frightened gaze was fixated on its hand.

"Watch out, watch out!" I heard Eddie scream over the others as the clown took another step towards the group. It lurched forward and clawed at the air with a snarl, missing Bill by inches. It let out a terrifying laugh that caused everyone to panic even more.

Wake up Lara, wake up!

Suddenly, it spun its head to face me, the poker scraping Ben's stomach. He let out a yell and I could already see the blood spilling out of the cut. I whimpered as it grinned at me, and even pinched myself as if it would somehow get me out of this situation. But the clown's expression soon turned frightened and it slowly started to back away, almost stumbling out of the door. I stared after it in shock and relief.

"Don't let it get away!" Bill shouted, letting go of Eddie and starting after it.

"Bill, no!" I shouted, drowned out by the others' chorus of protests. Without thinking, I ran after him, earning another round of outcries. I saw him sprinting down a set of stairs and I went after him, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. If Bill was gonna die, I wouldn't let him die alone.

I reached the top of the stairs and found Bill halfway down, staring into the dark basement with wide eyes. I walked down to meet him and saw what he was looking at. I had never seen a well that was indoors before - and this one was crumbling with age. Rocks littered the ground, broken off the exterior, and there was a rusty hook that was missing a rope.

Bill looked up in surprise, only just noticing me. He put a hand on my back and lightly pushed me up the stairs. I was about to protest, since I was not going to leave him down there alone, but he went up with me. I sprinted back into the room where the others were as fast as I could.

"Aghh, Bill!" Eddie screamed and we ran over to him. Immediately, I cringed away. Eddie's forearm was bent at an odd angle and he was cradling it as tears ran down his face.

"I'm gonna snap the arm back into place!" Richie shouted over everyone.

"Do not fucking touch me!" Eddie screamed, trying to shuffle away from him but hitting his back against the table. "Do not fucking touch me!"

"Well..." Richie said, looking unsure before he gently grabbed Eddie's arm. "One... two... three!" I had to look away when I heard the very audible crack of Eddie's bone, which was nothing compared to the boy's scream.

"Fuck, Richie!" I yelled, feeling sick.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Mike yelled, his face pale.

"Yeah, let's go." Beverly said as she stood up, her voice shaky. Bill and Richie grabbed a now balling Eddie under the arms and half carried him out of the house and down the driveway. Mike picked him up and placed him in the basket of his bike.

"Holy shit, holy shit!" Richie kept repeating as he scrambled to get on his bike. I hopped onto Eddie's small one and pushed off down the road, blocking out the sounds of my friends' panicked talk. I slowed down my breaths, willing my dizziness to go away.

Whatever that thing was, it was going to kill us. If Beverly hadn't come in when she did, I would be dead right now. There was no way in hell I'd ever willingly go into that house again. I'd had enough terrors to last me a whole lifetime.

Bill pulled up in front of his house and I scrambled to get off my bike. Richie and Stan helped Eddie out of the basket while Mike carefully held his bike upright.

"M-my parents are home. Can w-we use your house, L-L-Lara?" Bill stuttered, his voice shaking and face pale. I turned to look at my driveway, noticing my mum's car parked outside the garage.

"My mum's home, I don't know if she'll..." I trailed off, heeding Bill's panicked state and Eddie's sobs. "We'll have to keep quiet."

Bill nodded and told the others where we were going. After a couple of unsure glances, they followed Bill and I up my driveway. I stopped at the front door, turning my head to look at my friends.

"Guys, my mum is home. She's never really met any of my friends, and for good reason, so just please... I don't know. Keep your mouths shut, maybe?" I looked at Richie as I said the last part, before pushing the unlocked door open. Instantly, the stench of alcohol and cigarettes invaded my nostrils, and I cursed my mum for the bad timing.

I tried to ignore the low noises of disgust as they entered my house and I felt Beverly fall into step beside me. I turned to look at her; her face held an expression of familiarity and understanding. I wondered what her situation was like at home.

I turned into the small kitchen and everyone piled in behind me. "The phone's over there, if you want to call your mum." I said to Eddie, pointing to the hallway. He nodded. The tears on his face had dried, leaving puffy eyes and a red nose. Purple and blue bruises had already started appearing on his arm, and it brought back memories of my sprained wrist. Luckily, mine had healed.

Eddie left the room, and I rummaged the freezer for something cold. After finding an old bag of frozen peas I turned to go find Eddie, but stopped when I noticed what the others were doing.

"You're not gonna find anything in there besides condoms and birth control pills. Not much grocery shopping goes on in my house." I said to Richie, Stan and Ben, who were raiding the empty pantry. Richie took out a strip of small, square-shaped foil packets, and I stifled a laugh. He made a noise of disgust before throwing it at Stan, who looked so angry he might've punched him.

"Eugh, Lara! You should've warned me." Richie said, shutting the pantry doors. All of a sudden a loud yell came from the hallway and I ran towards the noise.

"Who the fuck are you?!" my mum yelled, snatching the phone out of Eddie's hand. The small boy gave out a whimper and cowered at the woman who was dressed in only a silk robe.

"Mum!" I yelled as she grabbed onto his arm and ran up to her and pushed her away. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Why are there people in my house?" she snapped, rubbing her arm where I had touched her.

"They're my friends." I hissed, gently pushing Eddie behind me.

"You're not allowed to bring friends over." she replied, slamming the phone back onto its holder. "And they certainly aren't allowed to use our phone, or eat our food." She glared at something behind me and I turned to see Richie holding a box of crackers. He scrambled to put them back in the pantry.

"Whatever, we're leaving anyway." I said, motioning for the others to follow me. "Did you make the call?" I asked Eddie and he nodded. My mum stepped aside as we trudged past her, glowering at each of us. I heard someone gulp.

"Jesus fuck, that woman was a bi-" Richie said once we were outside and the front door was closed, but stopped when he realised I was listening. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." he said sheepishly.

"No, you're right. She is a bitch." I replied. I handed Eddie the bag of peas I was still holding in my hand, and he placed it on his wrist with a wince.

All of a sudden, a car screeched to a halt outside my house, and a large lady that I recognised as Eddie's mum came rushing out of the car.

"Gee, that was quick." I heard Stan mutter to himself as we ran up to meet her. Eddie had started to sob again.

"You! You did this." The lady hissed at us as she grabbed the back of the boy's neck. She was dressed in a bright pink jumpsuit and her hair was a mess, as if she had just woken up from a snooze. "You know how delicate he is."

"We were attacked, Ms-Mrs K." Bill said as she opened the car door and pushed Eddie into the passenger seat.

She spun around furiously. "No! Don't try to blame anyone else." she snapped, turning back to the car but dropping her keys.

"Let me-" Beverly said as she bent down to pick them up, but Eddie's mum pushed her away.

"Get back!" she snapped, snatching up her keys and leering at Beverly. "Oh, I've heard of you Miss Marsh. And you too, girl." she turned to look at me and pointed with a fat finger. "And I don't want dirty girls like you touching my son." she hissed, and dug around in her handbag for something.

"Mrs K I s-sw-" Bill started.

"No!" the lady cut him off. "You are all monsters! All of you. Now Eddie is done with you. Done!" she turned and waddled around to the other side of the car, plopping into the seat. The car let out a groan and visibly sunk from her weight. Tears were running down Eddie's face and he shook his head slightly, not wanting to look at any of us. We walked onto the road as they drove away, watching sadly.

Bill turned to look at us. "I saw the well. We know where it is, and-and next time we'll be better prepared."

"No!" Stan shouted unexpectedly, and we turned to look at him in surprise. "No next time Bill. You're insane!" I silently agreed. There was no way in hell I'd willingly face that monster again, not after today.

"Why?" Beverly asked. "We all know nobody else is going to do anything."

"Eddie was nearly killed!" Richie exclaimed. "And look at this motherfucker! He's leaking hamburger helper!" he gestured at Ben's still bleeding stomach fanatically. I looked at him in sympathy; I had forgotten about his injury. I should have gotten him something from the house too.

"We can't pretend it's going to go away! Ben, you said it yourself, it's going to come back every twenty-seven years!" Beverly said.

"Fine! I'll be forty and far away from here." he replied and my eyebrows raised in surprise. Ben usually supported everything Beverly said, but this time he looked at her as if he'd rather be anywhere else. "I thought you said you wanted to get out of this town too."

"Because I want to run towards something, not away." she replied.

"I'm sorry but who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?" Richie asked and I snorted. Beverly shot us both a glare and stuck up the middle finger. "'i'm just saying, let's face facts! Real world, Georgie is dead. Now stop trying to get us killed to." Richie stepped forward to move past us, but Bill shoved him back.

"Georgie's not dead!" Bill said, a furious glint in his eye. Richie looked regretful for a second, but it passed in an instant.

"You couldn't save him, but you can still save yourself." Richie moved to go past him again, but still, Bill pushed him back. I looked between the two boys worriedly.

"No! T-t-take it back!" Bill stuttered, hopeless desperation in his eyes. I had a feeling that he knew what Richie was saying was true, but he didn't want to believe it. "You're scared, and we all are, but take it back!"

Bill shoved Richie, causing him to stumble backwards. Looking furious, Richie ran forward and shoved Bill back. Then, Bill brought his fist to Richie's face and sent him sprawling onto the ground. "Bill!" Beverly exclaimed.

"You're just a bunch of losers" Richie shouted as he tried to get up, but Stan and Mike held him back. Bill moved forward to hit him again, but Ben grabbed his arm. I stared at them in horror. "You're just a bunch of losers and you'll get yourself killed while trying to-"

"Stop!" I yelled, just as Beverly stepped between them. Her presence stopped their advances to attack each other, but it didn't wipe the angry looks off their faces. "This is what it wants. It wants to divide us! We were all together when we hurt it. That's why we're still alive!"

"Yeah? Well I plan to keep it that way." Richie snapped and bumped Bill's shoulder as he walked back to his bike. After a second, Stan followed, then Ben. I watched them get on their bikes and set off down the road, soon followed by Mike.

"Mike," Beverly held out a hand to stop him. He turned to look at us hopelessly.

"Guys, I can't do this." he shook his head. "My granddad was right. I'm an outsider, gotta stay that way." he pushed off of his bike and set off down the road. I turned to look at Bill and Beverly, who were looking at each other sadly. After a few moments, I turned back towards my house.

"Wait, Lara!" Bill stopped me, and I turned to look at him remorsefully.

"Bill, I want more than anything to get Georgie back. But that thing, that clown, killing that is way out of our league. When I came to Derry, I didn't expect to make any friends at all, but I met all of you guys. And this, this is just tearing us apart."

I turned away and walked back to my house, wanting nothing more than to look back.