October 1, 1988
"TAKE IT, GEORGIE." The clown in the storm drain growled as he held the paper boat up.
Georgie Denbrough shuddered inwardly at the scary change of tone in the clown's voice. The blue eyes of the clown were not enough to lure him in a false sense of security. The boy in the yellow raincoat wanted to badly get away from the clown as fast as possible, but he didn't want his older brother to be mad at him for losing the boat. So Georgie chose to get his boat back from the clown and run home as fast as he can.
Georgie carefully crawled on all fours to grab the boat that was in the clown's hand. But the clown held it out of his reach, intending to draw the poor boy closer to IT. Georgie thought he saw the clown's eyes change back to a glowing, sinister yellow but Georgie kept his focus on his boat. Georgie stuck his tongue out a bit and reached for his boat as far as he could.
Georgie quickly managed to snatch the boat back from the clown, but the clown changed. The clown threw ITs head back and revealed rows of razor-sharp teeth. Georgie jerked his arm out before the clown could bite his arm off. Georgie stared in horror as the clown-no-MONSTER stared at the boy in a predatory manner and spoke in a distinctly monstrous voice. "wE AlL flOAt dOwN HeRe, GeORGie. AnD wHen yOU'rE DoWn HeRe wITh mE, YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!"
The creature grabbed at Georgie with IT's now-clawed hand but Georgie managed to back away in time. However, the creature managed to scratch Georgie on the same arm that he used to reach for the boat. Georgie let out a deep cry of pain as the claws dug down his skin. His raincoat sleeve was now shredded and his blood was leaking out of the big, ugly wounds. Some of Georgie's blood splattered on S.S. Georgie and the rest of his blood leaked down onto the rainy road and into the storm drain.
Georgie quickly got up on his feet and RAN as fast as his legs can carry him. His uninjured hand clutching his boat and also his injured arm. Georgie screamed for the first words he could think of while running from the hungry monster. "HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Georgie looked straight ahead as his galoshes rapidly splashed through the rain as he continued to desperately cry out for help.
The monster shapeshifted ITself out of the storm drain like IT was made out of rubber and ran after the injured child. IT had just awoken from another 27 years and IT's potential first meal was already running away. The monster growled in fury and hunger as IT chased after Georgie. IT's stomach was already rumbling at the smell of Georgie's FEAR and the taste of Geogie's fear-coated blood on IT's claws.
The cat and the old lady closest to that same storm drain went outside to see the poor boy running and yelling wildly for help. But they couldn't see or hear what the boy was running from, they only saw huge splashes made behind the boy. Both of them didn't care and went back inside their house like nothing was happening.
Georgie's bleeding arm throbbed with his pounding heartbeat as he continued to run from whatever IT was chasing him. The splashing footsteps and growls grew louder as the monster gained on poor Georgie. More adrenaline rushed through the boy's veins as he tried to run faster, trying to ignore the throbbing pain on his wounded right arm.
Luckily, one adult heard Georgie's frantic screams outside and quickly ran out of the house without his rain gear on. Dave Gardener ran up to Georgie and grabbed the poor boy into his arms. "It's okay, it's okay. Sh-sh-sh, I'm here." Dave rubbed the 6-year-old's back comfortably. The boy's right arm was clearly bleeding and his face was full of frightened tears. Dave guided the poor boy into his house as he looked behind him to see if anything was there.
Faraway from Dave's view, he thought he saw a clown slither back into the storm drain.
Although Dave was soaking wet from not wearing his rain gear, his attention mainly focused on the frightened boy clutching his boat. A pattering of footsteps were heard as Dave's son, Harold Gardener arrived down the stairs.
Georgie was still crying as he clutched his boat in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably on their sofa. Harold saw that Georgie's arm was still bleeding from the wounds and ran in to help. Dave Gardener quickly ran to the kitchen and got the first-aid kit. He opened the box, got the cotton pads, soaked them in rubbing alcohol and disinfected Georgie's wounds.
Georgie winced in pain as the rubbing alcohol left burning touches in the large, bleeding scratches. Dave then wrapped Georgie's injured arm in bandage wraps before securing with medical tape.
"Harold, call 911! He needs to get to the hospital right away!"
The young five-year-old nodded to his father and dialed 911 right away on their home phone.
Dave cradled Georgie's bandaged arm gingerly in his hands as he soothed the still-shocked child. "Don't worry, everything's gonna be just fine. You're safe now, the ambulance will come pick you up and send you to the hospital. They'll fix up your wounds and then send you back home, okay?"
Georgie nodded while he continued to sob quietly.
The other neighbors were alerted too from Georgie's frantic screams and went outside to see what was going on.
The Denbroughs were the most frightened amongst them when they heard Georgie's screams through the receding storm. His parents hurried outside into the rain as they looked and called out frantically for Georgie. Georgie's older brother, Bill also ran out into the streets despite his parents' protests to stay inside as he called out for Georgie.
Few minutes later, the ambulance came up to Dave Gardener's house with a loud siren and flashing red-and-blue lights. Dave came outside his house with Georgie under an umbrella and escorted the boy to the paramedics.
When the Denbroughs saw Georgie, they worriedly ran to him and asked Dave what happened. "What happened to Georgie?!" "Is he okay?!" "I-I-I-I-S H-H-H-E H-HURT?!"
"Georgie has been scratched deep by someone or...some thing. He needs to get stitched up before he bleeds more." Dave replied.
One of the paramedics walked up to the Denbroughs and asked, "Are you the patient's relatives?"
"Yes, absolutely." Georgie's mother said. "I'm his mom, this man here is my husband, and this boy here is our other son."
The paramedics let the whole family into the ambulance before closing the door. Georgie grabbed onto Bill's arm as they sat next to each other. Georgie was still crying from his near-death experience with the monster-clown. Bill stroked Georgie's head as his little brother clung onto his shirt and wept.
"Georgie, w-w-w-what h-h-h-happened b-b-b-b-back th-th-th-there?" Bill asked him.
"I almost lost her, Billy." Georgie whispered to him. "I almost lost our boat in the sewer."
"H-h-how d-d-did y-y-y-y-ou g-g-get h-h-her out?" Bill asked as he continued to stroke his brother's head consolingly.
Georgie sobbed more before answering ominously, "A clown."
"A-A-A-A cl-cl-cl-clown?!"
"A clown was in the sewer, he somehow knew my name. He even had our boat in his hand."
"A-A-A-A cl-cl-cl-cl-clown i-i-i-i-in th-th-th-the sew-sew-sew-sewer?! Georgie! Wh-wh-wh-why di-di-di-di-di-didn't y-y-y-you r-r-r-r-r-r-run?!"
"I didn't want you to kill me, Bill! You were sick and I didn't want to lose the boat you worked so hard to make! And...his eyes...he looked like yours' and mom's, Bill. He TRICKED me."
Bill sighed and continued to stroke Georgie. He couldn't blame Georgie for trusting a stranger hanging out in a sewer, he was only 6-years-old after all. Kids that age couldn't make rational decisions by themselves without adult supervision. Plus, Georgie was already suspicious of the stranger and only tried to get his boat back so he wouldn't upset Bill.
"He tried to eat me, Bill. Now I understand why he drooled when he saw me. He was trying to EAT ME." Georgie sobbed into Bill's shirt.
Bill's eyes flew open when he heard that the perpetrator TRIED TO EAT his own little brother.
"His mouth was so big and he had rows of sharp teeth. He tried to bite my arm off."
Bill's fears rose higher when he heard about the unnaturally mouth and excessive amount of sharp teeth the clown had.
"He tried to grab me, but I backed away in time. He managed to scratch my arm before I ran away from him His glove was ripped off and he had claws underneath."
Bill's blood pressure surged through the roof as he tried to process the clown that almost killed and ATE his brother.
"A-a-a-a-a cl-cl-cl-clown wi-with a-a-a-a-a l-l-large m-m-m-mouth f-f-f-f-full of ra-ra-ra-ra-razor sh-sh-sh-sharp t-t-t-t-teeth a-a-a-a-and cl-cl-claws?!"
"Yeah, it was horrible! I was ALMOST EATEN ALIVE! I should have caught up to the boat before she fell into the sewer! I'M SO SORRY, BILLY!" Georgie sobbed harder into his brother's shirt.
"N-n-n-n-no, Georgie. I-i-i-it w-w-wasn't y-y-y-your f-f-f-fault. I-I-I-I-I c-c-c-c-c-could al-al-al-al-always ma-ma-make a n-new one f-f-f-for you. J-j-j-j-j-ust d-d-d-d-don't go n-n-n-near the s-s-s-s-sewers a-a-a-g-g-g-gain, okay?"
"Okay Bill, I promise!"
When they all arrived at the Derry Hospital, Georgie's wounds were stitched up by the medical staff and then sent to a nearby ward to rest.
The police then asked Georgie what the perpetrator looked like. They gave Georgie a small box of crayons and a piece of paper to draw on.
Georgie had to use his left hand to draw since his right arm was just stitched up. Georgie couldn't see much of the clown since it was dark inside the storm drain.
He drew a big bald head with orange tufts of hair on both sides. He put in yellow dots on the face as eyes and a red mouth with razor sharp teeth drawn on top of it in black crayon. He also drew a large ruffled collar around the clown's head and brown clawed hands.
The police stared at Georgie's drawing for a minute and then asked him, "Is this the one who attacked you?"
"Mm-hm." Georgie quietly nodded.
The police officer swore under his breath in disbelief as he put the drawing into a manila folder.
The police warned the Denbroughs not to let Georgie wander off by himself at ANY TIME. The police then issued a search for the clown with orange hair and yellow eyes throughout Derry, including the sewers. The police had labelled the sewers off-limits and closed off the house on Neibolt Street. The police even issued a 7 pm curfew for all of the residents of Derry and that no child shall be left alone without a "trusted adult."
The Denbroughs thanked the police for their help before most of them left to search for the clown.
"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-achoo!" Bill sneezed loudly, alerting the people the people in the room.
Bill felt cold all of a sudden and was shaking uncontrollably. Bill fell to the floor, his strength to stand on his feet leaving him.
"BILLY!" Georgie screamed as Bill collapsed onto the ground, hard.
The medical staff ran to him to make sure he was okay. Bill convulsed and vomited onto the floor. Everything was a blur for Bill as the medical staff wiped his mouth clean of the vomit and placed on a bed right next to Georgie's.
Their parents were panicking as Bill suffered a huge coughing fit. "WILLIAM!"
One of the nurses felt Bill's forehead and found out he was burning up. "Get me an ice pack!"
One of the other nurses ran out of the ward to get an ice pack while others tried to stabilize Bill's temperature to the best of their ability.
Georgie and their parents kept panicking as Bill kept trembling due to chills from his high fever.
"William! That's why we told you TO STAY INSIDE! YOU'RE IN NO CONDITION TO GO OUT!" Bill and Georgie's father roared at him.
Bill groaned in his bed as he felt himself getting colder and colder.
A nurse shoved a thermometer in Bill's mouth as the other nurse came back with a few ice packs. And ice pack was placed directly on Bill's sweaty forehead while the other two were shoved in Bill's underarms.
"His temperature is still too high! Get me more ice!" Another nurse shouted.
The same nurse who got the ice packs ran back to get some more.
Georgie continued to watch with horror as Bill wriggled around uncontrollably in his bed while the nurses struggled to keep his temperature down. Georgie started to cry again when he considered the whole situation to be his fault. Georgie felt really guilty for waking Bill when he was sleeping just to make the boat for him. Even worse was that he didn't tell his parents he was going outside to play with his boat. He also went too far from their house and hit his head on one of the sawhorses, which caused him to lose his boat into the drain.
If Georgie never woken his brother up to make a boat for him and go outside by himself, Georgie would've never gotten injured by the clown, his family wouldn't have been so worried sick about him dying, and Bill would've not gotten a life-threatening fever.
One of the nurses escorted the rest of the family out of the room so they could sit outside and wait for Bill to heal.
Both Zack and Sharon argued with each other in the hall while Georgie sat quietly and cradled the boat in his hands. His parents were distraught that both of their sons have almost been killed in one day because of various reasons. They argued about whether keeping watch of Georgie and Bill was each other's responsibility. They fought and they fought for what seemed like a long time.
Georgie cried to himself as he watched his parents continue to fight and peeked into the door to see that Bill was doing well, but was sedated minutes ago. Looking back at his parents, Georgie carefully crept back into the room to see Bill.
Bill still had an ice pack rested on top of his forehead and he was covered by a warm blanket. He was lying still with his eyes closed and his breathing stable. His face was a tad less sweaty and pale when he was suffering from a fever. Bill's expression was somewhat calm, but there was lines of uneasiness written on his features.
"G-G-G-G-G-eorgie...No!" Bill half-whispered and half-yelled in his sleep.
Georgie saw that Bill was having a nightmare about him and climbed onto the bed.
He tuned out the sounds of their parents' arguments as he laid down right next to his brother's sleeping body.
Georgie buried his head in Bill's shoulder as he fell asleep with the boat resting between their heads.