CHAPTER NINE

09. it happened again.

It had been a hard week for Adriana, that was an understatement. It had been over a week since she had talked to any of the Losers, including Bill, and she was almost as lonely as she was when she found out that her mother had died. Not once had she stepped out of the door of her home and it was rare that she left her bedroom for anything other than to shower or get anything to eat.

Staying in her room meant that she would see boxes that stacked up in the corner, the ones that contained her mother's clothes and belongings. That only added to the loneliness that she felt as it was a constant reminder of what she had lost.

Hearing the phone ringing downstairs, the girl finally left her room to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi, Adriana," she heard Sharon, Bill's mother answer, "I was just calling to ask if you were coming to dinner this Friday seeming as you didn't come last week."

Andy faked a cough before talking, "I'm sorry, Sharon. I can't make it again, I still have this cold and I would hate to pass it on to you guys."

"That's okay, my love," she replied happily, though Addy could hear the glint of sadness in her voice, "I'll tell you what, I will drop over some of the chicken soup that we were having for dinner tomorrow to help you get better. How does that sound?"

"That would be lovely, thank you."

"Mom?" Andy heard on the other side of the phone, the voice belonging to none other than Bill, "Who are you talking to?"

The girl didn't even wait long enough to hear Sharon ask if she wanted to talk to Bill over the phone. She simply hung up to avoid it. "Shit," she muttered and pulled her shoes on, maybe today was a good day to go out in the sun. It was a nice day after all and Andy had been craving ice cream and she hoped that she could even get a few more pictures for her photography project.

So the girl set off, her hair in the wind as she skated down the almost empty streets of Derry to the more crowded town in the centre of Derry where the shops flourished and the park filled the air with playful squeals and soft chatter.

Andy pulled the board under her arm and started to walk down the street instead where she stared through store windows curiously. Her black boots came to a halt on the sidewalk as she stared into the window of the pawnshop, her eyes widening at the sight of her mother's necklace hanging on display.

The bell chimed as Adriana stormed in and marched right up to the counter to stare at the old man accusingly, "That's my necklace, I'd like it back please."

"Do you have the price on the label to pay for it?" his gruff voice asked her as he continued to look down on her as if she was a criminal, his glare was judgmental and intrusive.

"No, but-"

"No money, no necklace," he replied as he continued to count the money in his register and note down how much he had in a journal.

Andy felt angered, to say the least, "Look here you piece of shit, that's my mother's necklace and someone took that from my room and sold it so I will do anything to get it back so tell me what I need to do."

He gazed up at her with his green, envious eyes and looked up and down to see if she had anything valuable to sell, "I can't give it to you, but I can put it on hold. That camera is in good quality and so is that skateboard," he looked to her wrist, "And those silver bracelets. But that doesn't cover half of the asking price."

"I'm a hard worker and it's summer so I have plenty of free time, I could work off the other half," she started to unclasp her bracelets from her wrist and placed her camera on the counter for him but she kept the board under her arm, "I can give you my address, my school grade and teacher's name and even a phone number and if I don't show up then you can call the police."

He nodded to her and offered a blank piece of paper over to her for Adriana to write down her details, "I'll need that board too or we don't have a deal."

She placed the pen back in the old coffee cup that held plenty of others before looking down at the skateboard. Her parents had brought Andy her first-ever board when she four five and ever since then she would get a new one every so often, but this board was one of the last gifts her parents had ever sent over. That specific board held as many memories as a scrapbook or an old diary.

With a gulp, she handed it over before walking up to the display and pressing her fingers to the gold locket as an unspoken promise that she would be back for it.

"Your first shift is this Monday so don't be late," he threatened but the girl left the store before the rest of it could be heard, she planned on finding the other half of the money before she could even start working.

Without noticing what was going on, Adriana started to strut down the Derry streets and back home where she planned on giving her aunt a piece of her mind and she wasn't going to back down. Not this time.

"Adriana..." a voice whispered from the shadows of the alley beside her, the girl instantly started to walk away to avoid any trouble.

Andy tried her hardest to push the thought of the voice out of her mind, but it was harder than she thought. Especially with the same words repeating in her mind, "Adriana..."

At first, the sound of the voice was just unnoticeable and unimportant. But then it began to get deeper than a whisper and it even started to seem as if it was Bill. But that was crazy, right?

"Adriana, help me-" the voice cut off as Andy took off running to the same alley that she had first heard the voice where she found a figure slumped right at the end with something surrounding them.

"Bill?"

She got no reply.

"Bill, is that you?"

There was no reply.

Andy started to walk forward once more to approach whoever, or whatever, was sitting at the dead end of the alley. Everything within her told her to turn around and run, that this was a trap. But she couldn't. She felt compelled to touch the figure's shoulder.

And as soon as she did, she regretted everything.

Just like the clone of Andy that had rotting flesh and red eyes, that was a clone of Bill with the same demeanour. A shrill scream left her lips as an onyx coloured blood coated her hands where she tapped Bill's shoulder, his blood was on her hands.

This was her fault.

The blood started to ooze from the cracks in the concrete and spread towards her, trying to capture her.

"This is your fault," the demonic clone sneered to Andy who had already started to back away from it, "If we hadn't have met you then we would all be fine. But this, this is all your fault."

"No it isn't," she muttered to herself.

"This is your fault, Adriana. You killed me."

"No, I would never-"

There was a pause as the duplicate stopped, "Now I'm going to have to kill you."

Andy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she turned and sprinted away from the alleyway, yet the clone never moved. But that didn't stop the fear within her chest.

As soon as she ran down the street she could see Stan wearing his grey suit as he enthusiastically greeted guests by his father's side, she could even make out the untidy hair and glasses that belonged to none other than Richie Tozier. They had all been so caught up in the recent events of the clown and their fears to remember that his bar mitzvah was taking place soon. Sooner than expected.

With her eyes not watching where she was going, Andy tripped onto the ground with a groan and a thud. The air left her lungs before she rolled onto her back with a laugh almost escaping her lips before remembering where she was and why she was there.

Back on her feet, her hazel eyes glanced over her hands where she no longer found the blood to stain her palm. Instead, she looked back over to her two friends and gave Stan a thumbs up and mouthed 'You've got this' because she knew how anxious she was for the ceremony and he had been for months.

✘

Andy stormed into the house just in time to see her aunt finishing her dinner, the door slammed behind her which alerted Linda Michaels, "What was that for?"

"I'll tell you what! I just walked past the fucking pawn shop and saw my mother's necklace for sale!"

There was hesitation before the woman answered as she placed her dishes in the sink, "Watch your language! I had to sell it for rent money, it's hard having to pay for all the bills without you helping out and your dad's money goes right to his inheritance and a bank account for your future. Plus, it's not like you help out around the house."

"What do you want me to do? I'm thirteen and it's summer, all the jobs are taken already by the other kids wanting money. I know that because I've called up every diner, store and fucking ice cream parlour in Derry! But selling my stuff is a low blow, even for you," she replied and started to follow her aunt around the kitchen and dining room because she was not going to back down, "I had to sell my camera, my skateboard and everything else that I had on me just to pay off half the necklace, I have to go back next week and work for him otherwise he calls the police on me."

"Your stuff? This is my house and you are just living in here until you can go off and live on your own," Linda replied and started to make her way to the stairs before turning back to her niece, "Your mother was a no-good bitch, my brother was a fool to marry her and the whole town knows it."

Andy sobbed loudly and fell to the dining table chair, her hands wrapping around her hair as she fought back the urge to scream and shout at her aunt or anything worse that could get her in trouble.

"Adriana! Get the door!" her aunt screamed down the stairs as she started getting ready for work. The younger girl wiped her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself down before walking to the door.

"Can I help-" her lips stopped moving once she opened the door and her eyes set on the three soldiers in their uniform, one of them being her brother. If Adriana couldn't see the tears brimming in Liam's eyes and the hat that he clenched in his hand then she would have been happy to see her brother after months of irregular phone calls, "It happened again, didn't it?"

Liam stepped forward and brought his younger sister into his arms that had doubled in size since he had signed up for the army, "I'm so sorry, Addy."

A sob escaped her wavering lips as she pulled her brother in for an even tighter embrace.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

In conclusion, Andy can't catch a break xx