"Woah woah woah." the boys exclaimed in shock. Ben brought his lips away from Beverly's and looked at her with such love and desperation that I wanted to burst into tears.

"Please, Bev." he whispered, but her pearly white eyes stared back at him blankly. I could see his hands start to shake.

"I'm sorry Ben, she-" I started, but I was cut off by the sound of a loud gasp.

"Bev?" Ben exclaimed. I jumped up in happiness, ignoring the dizziness and searing pain in my legs. Beverly's eyes had returned back to their normal bright blue and she was looking at Ben as if seeing him for the first time.

"January embers..." she whispered.

"My heart burns there too." Ben replied with a smile that could have lit up the whole world. I almost wanted to leave and give the two time alone.

"Jesus, fuck." Richie exclaimed with a relieved laugh, enveloping Ben and Beverly in a hug. Mike, Stan and Eddie all joined in, and I hobbled over and wrapped my arm them as well. I felt Eddie cringe slightly at the sight of my hand hovering next to his face. He gave me a sheepish smile when he noticed me looking at him.

"I'm so glad you're okay." I said, leaning my head on Mike's shoulder in relief and for support. "I'm so glad we're all okay." But the words felt wrong as soon as they left my mouth.

Because we weren't all okay, were we?

I felt the others tense up beside me as well. "Where is Bill?" Beverly asked and we broke apart. We all looked around worriedly.

"He ran off... I thought he came into here." Eddie said, running his hands through his hair.

"Well we've got to find him! We can't leave without him." Beverly exclaimed with a look of determination. Suddenly, we heard a soft voice coming from the other side of the space, behind the large pile of junk. Everyone froze.

"He said I could have my boat back, Billy." a child's voice said. We looked at each other with wide eyes before running towards the sound. I made it a few steps before I almost collapsed from exhaustion and pain. Mike noticed and wrapped his arm around my back, half carrying me forward. I let out a breathy thanks.

We made it to where the others were standing, hands over their mouths as they watched the encounter in front of them. Bill was standing opposite a small child holding a paper boat. I recognised him from the pictures in the Denbrough's house.

"I couldn't keep up with it." Georgie said, his face crestfallen and ashamed..

"She, Georgie. You call boats she." Bill corrected with a shaky voice. Beverly moved forward as if to comfort him, but Richie placed a hand on her shoulder and held her back. I couldn't take my eyes off the small boy.

More specifically, the stump under his shoulder where his arm should be.

"Take me home, Billy." Georgie said. "I wanna go home." His lips pouted and voice wavered in the way children's voices did when they were about to cry. I felt my heart lurch and I wanted to comfort the small boy, but something was holding me back.

Bill's shoulders started to shake and I could tell that he was crying. I wanted to cry, too.

"I miss you, I wanna be with mum and dad." Georgie cried and I leaned more heavily onto Mike as my legs started to wobble.

"I want more than anything for you to be home, with mum and dad." Bill said, his voice wavering. He took a couple of steps forwards so that he was standing right in front of his little brother. "I miss you so much."

"I love you, Billy." Georgie said, looking up at him with wet eyes.

"I love you too," Bill replied, but then he lifted the gun that I hadn't realised he was holding. "But you're not Georgie."

The small boy whimpered as the muzzle of the gun pointed right between his eyes. I jumped and looked away as the sound of the gunshot went off and something hit the ground with a thud.

My mind went back to when I had first met Billy, when I had caught him making a paper boat which he'd let float down the drain to comfort his little brother. This was the boy who had dragged us to the sewers in the barrens, who had been willing to enter the Neibolt house by himself, who had punched his own friend when they said that Georgie was dead. This boy had believed so strongly that his little brother was still alive and had been willing to risk his life to get him back.

Maybe he knew that it wasn't Georgie who he was speaking to, or maybe he had finally realised that Georgie couldn't have survived six months in the sewers all by himself without food. Whatever in his mind that had compelled him to shoot his little brother, it was right.

Because that was not Georgie.

There was no noise beside from the dripping of water. I looked up, expecting to see Pennywise grinning at us, but Georgie's limp form was still clearly in sight. What had happened? Why hadn't It changed?

Suddenly, a loud gurgle erupted from the body's throat. Bill took a step backwards in shock as Georgie started to shake, his legs and arms spread wide.

"What's happening? What's going on?!" Eddie screamed over the sound of Georgie's yells.

"I don't fucking know!" Richie replied, taking a step backwards. The sounded turned deeper and I noticed with horror that a small arm had sprouted from Georgie's stump and was making a wet, flapping sound as it got bigger and bigger.

I took a step backwards but my foot tripped on something and I went falling to my butt. Mike turned around in surprise and offered his hand, but I didn't take it. My sight was trained onto Georgie who was now dressed in the familiar clown outfit. In front of my very own eyes, his legs and arms shot out, growing to three times their length.

As if held by strings, It was lifted up to its feet with the sound of cracking bones. Slowly, Pennywise lifted its head and looked at us with a grin. Everyone was screaming now.

"Kill it, Bill! Kill him!" I joined in, my voice sounding grating in even my own ears. "Kill it now!"

Mike was saying something next to me, but his deep voice was drowned out by the others'. Bill lifted the gun once again, pointing it between Pennywise's eyes.

"Hey, it's not loaded!" I finally heard Mike say, but he was too late. The empty click of the gun silenced us and Bill looked down at his hand in shock. A crack had appeared in the clown's forehead and it made a gurgling sound in his throat, mocking us.

Suddenly, Its upper body lurched backwards and it started to shake from side to side as it let out a guttural scream. We scattered.

I shuffled backwards as people ran around me. I watched in horror as the clown knocked Bill to the ground and brought its head down to him with its mouth wide. Bill brought his hand up still clutching the gun and the sound of teeth hitting metal rang in my ears.

"Leave him alone!" Beverly yelled as she brought a metal poker down with all her force. Pennywise caught it and threw it away with one hand as Bill managed to scramble out of its way.

"Beverly no!" Ben yelled and pushed Beverly away as Pennywise took a swipe at her. Suddenly, Pennywise bent backwards as Bill appeared on his shoulders, trapping the metal poker between its teeth. "Help him!" Richie cried as It started to spin manically and tried to get the boy off of its back. Richie hopped on as well and wrapped his legs around Bill with a scream. "Oh, fuck!"

Ben grabbed onto one of the clown's arms, biting down, as Stan was grabbed and spun around by the other. Mike was wide-eyed and holding up a baseball bat, as if waiting for the right time to strike.

I watched in horror as my friends were slowly overpowered. Stan was flung away and he rolled onto the floor with a yell. Richie was grabbed by the hair and thrown to the ground as Ben was forced to let go as well. Mike, seeing his chance, ran forward and swung the baseball bat.

"Mike!" I let out a scream as Pennywise swiped him away. Mike's body slammed against the wall with a thud and he fell to the ground, motionless. I tried to move forward, to help Bill who was the last one clinging to the clown, but I was defeated by my own body. I could do nothing but watch as Pennywise grabbed him in a headlock as he moved away.

"Bill!" Eddie screamed. The Losers had all gotten up and were standing next to me, each wearing matching expressions of horror as our friend struggled against the grip of a monster.

"No, don't," Beverly's voice wavered. "Let him go!" Pennywise returned her yells with a grin. "No, I'll take him." It said, tightening its grip on him. "I'll take all of you! I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear." It rubbed its gloved hand over Bill's face. "Or..... you'll just leave us be. I will take him, only him, and I will have my long rest and you will all live to grow and thrive and live happy lives! Until old age takes you back to the weeds..." he let out a dark chuckle.

"Leave." Bill managed to croak out his face turning red. "I'm the one who dragged you all into this, I'm s-s-s-so sorry."

"S-s-s-sorry, ha!" Pennywise mocked.

"Go!" Bill begged, and I looked at the others with wide eyes. We couldn't leave him. There was no way we were going to leave him!

"Guys, we can't!" Beverly said as she took in the unsure faces around her.

I wiped my face and looked down in surprise to see the back of my hand was wet with tears. Suddenly, Richie stood up from his position on the floor.

"I told you Bill." he said. I frowned at the tone of his voice. "I fucking told you. I don't wanna die... It's your fault. You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a fucking crack-head house." he counted off with his fingers. "And now..." he moved towards the pile of junk and picked up the baseball bat Mike had been previously holding. "I'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown."

Pennywise let out a growl and tossed Bill to the side.

"Welcome to the Losers club, asshole!" Richie screamed before running forward and swinging the baseball bat. Pennywise spun backwards as it made contact with his face, and it wasn't long before Mike started with his metal pole. I watched in horror as black hands shot out of It's mouth and grabbed onto the pole, leaving Mike fearfully frozen in shock. They reached out, getting further and further towards his face until I realised that they weren't just black, they were burnt.

I looked around, frantically searching for something that could help while the rest of the Losers let out yells. Stan ran forward, holding something long, but Pennywise's hand shot out and grabbed it before it came into contact with It's face.

"Stanley!" someone yelled as he struggled to pull his weapon free. My hand closed over something familiar and pushed myself to stand to my feet, my arm feeling heavy as I clutched the axe.

A sudden wave of energy surged through me and I found myself running forward, arms raised above my head. "Get the fuck away from my friends!" I screamed before bringing it down on the arms that were fighting against Mike's grip. I didn't have time to think about how close I had gotten to chopping off Mike's face before the hands disappeared back into the clown's mouth and It let out an earsplitting scream.

I felt the pain before I saw them, lurching backwards and falling onto the floor. I writhed and screamed, trying to swat the wasps away. I couldn't go through this again, I couldn't take the pain.

"Lara!" someone screamed. I heard the sound of metal hitting flesh and the stings stopped abruptly.

I lay there, sobbing. I couldn't move and I didn't want to move. The fire in my veins had intensified and I felt itchy all over. Before I knew it, the world had gone black.