CHAPTER ELEVEN

11. the sewers.

Bill had snuck out early that morning and left a note on Andy's bedside table; even though they didn't share a bed, she felt cold without him at her side. She even found herself missing his presence more that she should have and it only just dawned on her why.

She liked Bill.

No.

She loved Bill.

At first, all she could think of was that they were only thirteen. They were way too young to know what love was, it was an adult concept, right? So why did she feel the way that she did? If worst came to worst, Andy would fight to protect him. Even if it meant putting her life on the line.

"Adriana speaking," Andy answered the phone, wrapping the cord around her finger due to the boredom that she felt.

"Andy? Can you meet me? it's important, like really important," Bill replied, his voice panicked and rushed.

"Bill, what happened?"

There was silence on the other line which worried Andy greatly but she waited for his reply, "It took Beverly."

✘

Andy tightened her arms around Bill's body as she rode on the back of his bike, not only was it a faster way of travel but she had pawned her board days ago. Her eyes stared up at the Well house on Neibolt street. Something unsettling formed within her chest, it was fear.

All of the Losers ditched their bikes in the street messily, Stan being the only one to use the stand, before approaching the house and stopping on the dead grass in the yard, old bottles and cigarette butts surrounding them.

"Guys, spikes," Bill pointed out as he started to assemble weapons for them to take, Andy nodded and ripped a sharp, iron pole from the fence before throwing it between both hands and testing the weight of it.

Adriana looked up as a loud sound cut through the group, watching as Richie eyed a glass bottle that he had just smashed to use as a weapon but failed in breaking it correctly. The Tozier boy chucked it to the ground angrily which made Stan and Andy laugh.

"Ready?" Bill asked Andy, the girl shrugged her shoulders before passing over one of the metal poles from the fence 

"Is anyone really ready to face a killer clown who makes you see your worst fears and has taken one of your friends," she asked with an eyebrow raised before she almost saw a smirk grow on his lips.

It wasn't long until the Losers started to creep their way through the door of the Neibolt house, all but one. "Stan?" Andy looked behind her, speaking quietly just incase the clown was closer than she thought.

"Stan, we all have to go," Bill stepped forward with his voice stuttering every word, "Beverly was right. If we split up like last time, that clown will kill us one by one. But if we stick together, all of us, we'll win. I promise."

Stan slowly stepped into the house and lowered his head to not hit it on the planks of wood that barred the door shut, the friends were quick to make their way down to the basement where they saw the well that was covered in the blood of all the children that the clown had managed to lure down.

Richie chuckled to himself, "Hey, Eddie, you got a quarter?"

"I wouldn't want to make a wish in that fucking thing," the boy replied which earned Andy's attention where she finally noticed the pure white cast on his arm with the word 'LOSER' written boldly but with a 'V' covering the 'S'.

"Hey, Eds. I promise that when we get out of this shithole that we will all sign it," the girl spoke up. Andy gained a smile from the boy.

All seven stared down the well with their torches illuminating each and every brick, some of which were still stained in the red liquid that could be years old or maybe even new, they all hoped that none of it belonged to Beverly.

"Beverly?" Ben shouted down the well with his voice echoing down it.

Adriana let her torch skim across a room as the others talked about finding a way down. She finally stopped on a sturdy looking rope that appeared to not be damaged at all. Andy stalked over to it where she pulled it up, "How about this? If we tie some knots in it we can climb down easily."

"T-That's a great idea," Bill replied and helped her drag it over to the others.

"Calm down, Bill. Keep it in your pants," Richie joked which earned glares from Andy and Bill but everyone else could see the redness in their cheeks and the glance that they shared afterwards.

They both continued to tie the knots in the rope before Mike helped hang it over the well so they could all climb down. Bill watched as Andy looked hesitantly down the well before backing away with her torch still in hand. "Hey," he muttered and approached her, taking her hand in his gently, "We've g-got this, we always do, r-r-right? As long as w-we are together w-we will be fine, so just stay by my side."

Andy nodded as Bill turned, their hands just about to leave before she tightened hers around his and pulled him back into her body. Her soft lips pecked his cheek carefully and watched as they only got brighter in colour. "What was that for?" he asked her, his voice coming out as a whisper. He watched as she stumbled mentally and struggled to find the words, "Y-You can tell me anything, A-Andy."

"It's because I love you and I know that we are too young to know what love is, but I think I feel it, Bill. I just want you to know that in case we don't make it. I would rather live a life knowing that I was honest, then die knowing that I lied," she blurted out and covered her mouth afterwards with embarrassment and shock in actually admitting it.

Bill laughed before pressing his lips to her head, "I feel it too. I have for a while. Ever since-"

"Third grade?" she asked with a smirk.

"Ever since third grade when we went to the park, Henry Bowers was there and he said something stupid about your brother and we both had to literally hold you back before you knocked his head off his shoulders," he replied and they both started to laugh loudly before remembering where they are.

"Just stay safe, yeah?"

He nodded his head, "Only if you do."

Bill climbed down first, then Eddie, Richie, Stan and finally Ben. Adriana took one last glance down the well, "None of you look up my shorts or I will castrate you as soon as this is over," she threatened before taking Mike's offered hand and gripping the rope where she started to descend down until Bill helped her step into the tunnel to wait for Mike, "Come on, Mikey. It's your-"

They all shut up as Mike screamed out in pain which was followed by a thud. "Mike?" they all screamed, their shouts getting confused in the air as they all chorused together and overlapped. The last thing that they expected was to see Henry Bower's head pop over the edge of the well, blood coating his face which they all feared to belong to Mike.

"Grab the rope!" they all screamed to each other a little too late as the bully started to pull it up which would leave them forever trapped in the sewers below Derry for good, "The rope!"

"I should go up there," Bill muttered and started to crawl to the edge of the tunnel but was stopped by Andy.

"For once in your life, Bill, don't be dumb," she cursed at him, the wound still under her eye scabbed over, "There is no way that the blood belonged to Mike, okay? Just have a little hope. Can you hear that? That's Bowers talking which means he is probably trying to taunt Mike who still has the cattle gun."

Mike started to scream, no it was a battle cry, as he rushed forward and shoved Bowers down the well where his body ricocheted off the walls until he hit the bottom with a thump, the yells from his lips stopping upon impact. 

"Holy shit!" Richie screamed and scooted back in the tunnel.

Andy took Richie's place and stared up at the entrance and used the torch to shine in Mike's face which was coated with sweat, "I'm okay."

Mike started to shove the rope down the well and climb down just as the girl heard muttering behind her, she saw nothing. That was the thing. She saw absolutely nothing where Stan was supposed to be.

"Guys, where's Stan?" Richie asked, taking the words right out of Andy's mouth. 

"Stanley!" Eddie shouted and started to crawl through the tunnel, "Stanley! Stan!"

Once Mike had successfully made it into the tunnel, he joined Andy and Bill as they all started to file out of the small pipe and to the much larger one that had water that gave off a haunting stench which made most of them gag and groan in detest. 

"Oh, shit. Greywater," Eddie informed them as he stepped into the muck that came roughly up to their knees.

"Stan! Where are you?" Andy called out as they started to power through the water and through the tunnel, each of them stopped upon hearing a scream, "Fuck!"

Their walk was soon to increase into a sprint to make it to their friend in time, hoping for the best was tough considering the circumstances of them being in a literal tunnel, up to their knees in Derry shit, looking for their friends who had been taken by a clown.

It wasn't long until a musty red hatch came into their vision that took all of the remaining Losers to force open, even then they lacked the hope that Andy had tried to get them to feel. All torches scanned the room and not a single scream subdued to a stop until they found their friend, which they didn't expect to see lying on the floor with a female figure leaning over his body with rows upon rows of teeth sinking into the flesh of Stan's face.

"What the fuck is that!?" both Richie and Addy screamed out in fear and shock.

"Stan!"

Neither side moved, waiting for the other's actions. The figure unclamped it's teeth from the Uris boy's face, bloody dripping onto his unmoving cheeks, and slowly backed away with each step as inhuman as the next.

"Oh, shit!"

The girl, if you could call it that, disappeared into a joining pipe until it reappeared with the clown in its stead. No one dared to move in fear of being attacked, or even in fear of Stan getting attacked in his state of weakness and exposure. The clown slid back into the tunnel silently. 

"Stan! Stanley!" they all screamed and practically skidded over to his lifeless body and shook him awake where he too started to scream in fear, pain and terror and back away from his friends with a red face and damp cheeks.

"No! No! No!" he yelled their way as they all tried to stop him and reassure him that they were real and not another projection from the clown to create fear and chaos, "You left me! You took me into Neibolt! You're not my friends! You made me go into Neibolt!"

"Stan!" Andy cried and tried to take his hand into hers and to make him calm down but the boy pulled it from her grasp and did the exact same to Eddie who started to sob, "Stan! Listen! This isn't real, Stan!"

Andy let her damp, hazel eyes watch as Bill's figure stood up and left them as he started to limp through the tunnels and follow a yellow figure. One that she recognised. It was the same yellow coat that Georgie had been wearing.

"Bill?" she uttered under her breath and got up to follow him, retracing his steps through the tunnels in hopes to find him. The stench of the water filled her nose once more as she continued to use her torch to illuminate her way until it started to flash.

Andy hit it several times once it stopped completely, a scream almost left her lips at the sight of the clone that had been taunting her for weeks. The very one that was exactly like her yet with red eyes, rotting flesh and a mouth filled with maggots and black blood. The rank hand clamped around Adriana's neck before beginning to silently drag her through the pipes and tunnels. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This chapter was definitely filled with drama but I hoped that you guys liked it, please vote and thanks for reading xx