.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

【 𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 】

iii. the barrens

TRUE TO HER WORD, Verity went to the bridge the next day and waited for the others. She was glad to have people to hang out with too- her parents were getting worried that she spent so much time alone with her camera.

She had talked to Bill a few times, and Eddie was in her English class, but apart from that she hadn't properly hung out with them before.
Still though, she knew they weren't assholes like some of the other kids in school, and that was enough.

She did know Stan, however. They lived next door to each other and had been really good friends growing up, playing on the street or going to the park.
When they had gotten to middle school, the dynamic had changed. They gradually stopped hanging out, but each one still gave the other a smile if they passed in the corridor; a small sign that something still remained after all those years.

Verity heard them coming down the street before she saw them, as Richie and Eddie seemed to be locked in a heated debate.

"-told you, my mom does not have crabs!" Eddie said loudly, much to the other's amusement.

"Are you really sure though?" Richie smirked.

Stan gave her a long-suffering look, making her giggle.

"How long have they been at it?" Verity asked with a smirk, moving to stand beside him.

"Too long,"

"Oh, my heart bleeds for you."

"You'd understand if you had to spend all your time with them. They're constantly arguing." He said, nodding in the pair's direction.

Richie had somehow managed to get hold of Eddie's fanny-pack and had thrown it up a tree, while Bill looked as though he wanted nothing more than to leave them and never come back.

"I'd better sort this," Stan said warily. "Or else there'll be an incident."

Verity watched Stan as he made Richie retrieve the pack, and managed to calm Eddie down, impressed at how he handled it. She realised that he was a mediator of sorts - able to make even a kid like Richie Tozier apologise - and was impressed.

As Stan turned around, their eyes met, and he flashed her a quick grin. Verity was instantly reminded of her childhood; the time they had broken their neighbour's window playing catch, and he had given her that same smile.

Maybe he hadn't changed so much after all.

◇

"I am not going in there!" Eddie said.
The group had made their way to the barrens, and were facing the opening to the sewer mains.

"And isn't that poison ivy?"

"Yep," Stan said, peering at the bushes. "That's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy."

"Shit Stanley, not every plant is poison ivy!" Richie said loudly, his voice echoing down the tunnel.

Eddie looked around, eyes shifting nervously. "Well, I'm starting to get itchy, and it's definitely not good for me."

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Richie asked pointedly.

"Sometimes, yes."

"Then you probably have cr-"

Eddie spun around "I swear to god if you finish that sentence Richie!"

"-abs" Richie finished, looking pleased with himself.

"That is so not funny!"

"It's a little bit funny," Verity murmured,  making Stan laugh in spite of himself.

She leaned closer to him, a smile playing on her lips. "I'm honestly considering leaving them down here," she said quietly.

"I'm for it." Stan muttered, before turning to the others. "Are you guys coming in?"

Eddie shook his head. "No way, that's graywater."

"What the hell is that?" Verity asked, rolling her eyes.

"It's basically piss and shit. So, I'm just telling you.. you're splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee." He eyed her with faint disgust as she stood in the tunnel's entrance, the fetid water lapping at her shoes.

"You're kidding, right?"

A second later, the group noticed Richie holding a large tree branch, water dripping from its leaves. He sniffed the branch, making Eddie gag.
"Hmm, doesn't smell like caca to me señor!" He grinned, obviously enjoying the disgusted look on the other boy's face.

"I can smell that from here!" Eddie said loudly, backing away.

Richie smirked. "It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face."

"Have you ever heard of a staph infection?"

"I'll give you a staph infection."

"This is so gross. It's like swimming inside a toilet. Have you ever heard of listeria?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Guys, stop!" Verity was getting tired of their bickering, and could tell the others were too.

Suddenly Bill, who had been silent during the argument, spoke up, face chalk-pale in the shadow of the pipe. "Guys,"

They turned to face him. He was holding a battered, dirty shoe.

"Shit," Stan whispered. "Don't tell me that's..?"

Bill frowned. "No. Georgie w-wore galoshes."

"Who's is it?" Verity asked, half-afraid to know the answer.

Bill looked inside it, reading the name written in black marker.  "Betty Ripsom."

This was the last straw for Eddie. "Oh shit! Guys, I don't like this."

"How d'you think Betty feels, running around the tunnels with only one friggin' shoe?" Richie laughed before going quiet at the icy silence that followed.

"What if she's still here?" Verity nodded ahead, motioning deep inside the tunnel.

"No!" Eddie exclaimed. "My mom will have an aneurysm if she finds out we've been playing down here, I'm serious! Bill?"

"'Playing'?" Verity repeated, raising her brows at him.

Bill looked up from the shoe, deep in thought. "If I was Betty, I would want us to find me. Juh-Georgie too."

"What if I don't want to find them? No offense, Bill, but I don't want to end up like.." Eddie trailed off. "I don't want to end up missing."

Bill turned to the others. "You too?"

"It's summer. We should be having fun. This," Stan motioned around them. "Isn't fun. It's frightening and unpleasant and-" He was cut off by a loud crash outside the tunnel, making them all jump.

"Oh shit! What happened to you?" Richie called.

Verity's eyes widened at the sight; it was none other than Ben Hanscom, looking as though he'd been mauled by a bear. "Ben? Is that you?"

The timid boy looked up at her, and she saw that his face was covered in dirt and blood.

"Guys, c'mon," she said, edging out into the sunlight. "We need to help him."