IT - REVISITED AND REDONE
By JULES
Author Notes: Sorry, but there are a number of explanations before I get into the actual story.
Before anybody flies off the handle about plagiarism, while I know KaitlynRose has recently done a wonderful job on her own version. I asked her personally before I started writing this idea. I was insanely jealous when she posted her story, because I have always wanted to do a IT and SEAQUEST crossover.
However, for my story, Lucas Wolenczak is for all intensive purposes BILL DENBROUGH at any age. I always like the idea of using Jonathan Brandis for the younger part in the movie and wanted to continue that theme on in my story. I always wanted the SeaQuest crew to see what happened to Lucas's character in the movie. (Yeah I know I am totally nuts right?)
Okay, the SeaQuest crew is from the second series plus Kristen Westphalen (don't know why) and the story starts in the year 2020. Bill Denbrough and Lucas Wolenczak are 17 years old as are all of the LOSERS CLUB (Hope fully I will explain later on how they got to be young again).
There will be lots of little author notes throughout this story so as to not totally confuse you about where and when they are. They will travel from the year 2019 back to 1959 and go forward from there.
I have taken a lot of scenes and words from both the book and the movie. I have been a Stephen King fan for a long time and just love his stuff. I am not making any money on this story (and I expect that you will be all sending the little men with the white coats around after you have read it all).
Hopefully I have just taken the movie and book and added them together with some of my own ideas to make a complete story.
Please read this with an open mind and believe me when I say that this story was only ever concocted in my own depraved mind after reading the book and seeing Jonathan Brandis in SeaQuest.
If you don't recognize the characters at first, please bear with me. Most of the main characters are not explained properly until after they go back to 1959.
But to start this story off I need to mention them a lot earlier than that in the story.
HOPE YOU READ AND LIKE IT - PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW I WENT.
And so the story begins...
Place: SEAQUEST Deep Sea Vessel
Year: 2019
Where: 12 days out from docking at UEO Headquarters and Shore Leave for the crew.
For Lucas Wolenczak, this day started out being one he had been waiting for over the past week and a half. It was the second last week aboard the SeaQuest before ten days of sun filled days of rest and relaxation. He wouldn't have to answer to anybody.
No phones, no video links, no Commanding Officer asking him if he had his task completed yet. These ten days were going to be great.
Lucas had organized with his bunk mate Seaman Tony Piccolo had all of their days planned out. They had prepaid to stay in a dingy hotel somewhere Tony knew about. They were going to check out all of the low life establishments they could during this leave.
Tony has assured Lucas that everything was taken care of and all they needed to do was turn up.
Lucas groaned slightly at the idea that Tony had organized most of their vacation, but is was better than the alternative of staying by himself. Twelve more shifts on the Bridge to go and they could say adios for two weeks.
Commander Ford was being his usual military stickler for remaining focused on the correct procedures and matters that needed to be carried out before they berthed at Fort Gore.
Lucas was seated at his console trying to keep his mind on the job. He had Ford's voice droning is his ears but he still found his mind wandering to other activities.
Suddenly, the entire room seemed to go completely silent to Lucas. He looked up briefly just to see if Commander Ford had actually finished speaking or left the Bridge. He hadn't done either. He was still dishing out orders and directives. Lucas could see his mouth working but he couldn't hear any sound coming out.
Lucas rubbed the inside of his ears just to check they were blocked or something. But when he noticed the rest of the crew, he couldn't hear any noise from them either. It was strange, he could see them moving about and talking to each other, but he couldn't hear a thing.
Sometimes when the submarine was coming up from the great depths below, you could get a popping or a ringing sensation in your ears as your body adjusted to the difference in pressure. He was about to ask if anybody was having problems with the ears when he heard another sound entirely.
He heard a voice coming from the vid-screen on the Bridge that he hadn't heard it in a very long time. The voice wasn't talking, it was laughing. And Lucas was sure that he would never forget that laugh no matter where he heard it.
He felt the blood drain from his face abruptly as he heard that cackle. It looked up at the screen with absolute fear written all over his face.
It was Pennywise.
Just as suddenly as it had come, the laughter was gone again. Somehow Lucas knew that a new cycle of terror and murder had begun again.
His fellow crew member's must have noticed his behaviour as well he now assumed. They all had apparently not heard the laughter. No that was only meant for him. But they were all looking at his pale features and the fear in his eyes and wondering what was wrong.
"You feel alright, Mr Wolenczak?" Ford asked trying to keep up the appearances of protocol, even during the last couple of weeks of the tour.
Lucas looked up at the dark skinned Commander but his voice failed to find the words to speak. He couldn't make any sound come out of his mouth to answer the question.
Commander Ford was now genuinely worried about the young man and forgot all about protocol and proper addressing of crew members.
He walked over to Lucas and gently grabbed the ashen youth and asked him again, "Are you alright, Lucas?"
Lucas could now feel everybody's eyes on him. He got up hurriedly from his post and brushed away Ford's grip and headed off the Bridge towards his cabin. In his haste, he failed to notice Captain Bridger walking onto the Bridge.
The teenager almost ran into the man. When he noticed his mistake he simply adjusted his direction of travel and kept going. He didn't look back at the puzzled faces that watched his back. He just needed to get out of there and take a breath of air again. His fear was threatening to overwhelm him and betray the horrible secret he had been carrying around with him.
"That was Lucas?" Bridger stated to Commander Ford rather than asking a question.
"Yes, but I don't know what's wrong with him. One minute he seems fine, doing his work as usual, the next he looked as though he was going to faint right on the spot," Ford explained.
Bridger had seen a little haste in Lucas's retreat from the Bridge but didn't think much of it. Most teenagers were always in a hurray to get somewhere.
"Has he mentioned anything to you about not feeling well?" Ford asked Bridger.
"No, exactly the opposite, all I have been hearing is his excitement about what he and Tony had got planned for shore leave after next week, " Bridger said.
"I'd better go and check on him. You have the Bridge Commander."
"Aye, Sir," Ford said as he saluted his superior officer. When he looked back at his crew all he got was questioning looks, but he just shrugged his shoulders signaling that he didn't know what was wrong with Lucas.
Bridger went after Lucas.
Lucas had run out of the Bridge and towards the Moon Pool area. He was leaning over the rim of the pool, with his hands in the water. His mind was somewhere else completely.
Bridger made sure that Lucas was aware of his presence before spoke to him. He didn't want to scare the teenager and have him take off again.
"Uhmmm," he coughed loudly, "Are you alright Lucas?"
Lucas turned around and had a distant look in his eyes. "Yeah I'm okay," he lied.
"Want to tell me what just happened on the Bridge?" Nathan asked.
"Nothing happened, I was just starting to feel a little cramped up in there that's all. I needed to escape and get some fresh air." The answer sounded plausible enough but he didn't know if the Captain would buy a word of it.
Bridger didn't really believe him, but knew better than to push the emotionally high strung teenager. He was patient enough. In time if something was bothering Lucas, he was pretty sure he knew the boy well enough for him to approach him and talk when he was ready.
Tony Piccolo had been taking some time off and swimming in the pool with Darwin. The pair had ventured out for a short swim in the ocean outside the SeaQuest. Tony didn't have to wear a wet suit due to his genetically engineered gills. He wore only a pair of lycra long legged diving trousers and flippers on his feet.
The man and the dolphin approached the pair standing at the edge of the Moon Pool. Tony waved and started to swim towards the pair. He was holding something in his hand.
Something that Darwin and he had found floating around in the water outside.
As the pair got closer Lucas could see that Tony was holding a piece of paper or something to that effect in his hand. Darwin was trying to knock it free from the man's hands and play tag some more with it.
"Wanna play with my new toy too, Lucas?" Tony asked with a smirk. He held the object out a little more for Lucas to get a better look at it.
Lucas hitched in his breath in horror and shock when he recognized what the object was. He grabbed it out of Tony's hand and clasped it too his chest tightly.
It was a small paper boat made of newspaper. It wasn't just any old paper boat though. It was the one he had made for his dead brother Georgie the day he disappeared into the sewer system of Derry.
Tony and the Captain just looked at Lucas with surprise of their own. Tony had playfully tried to retrieve the little paper boat by snatching it out of Lucas's hands.
The teenager reacted angrily and stepped back from the Moon Pool, "NO! It's mine," he said on the verge of tears. He ran from the Moon Pool to the solitude of his quarters as the tears threatened to spill down his face.
"I'll get you one of your very own, Lucas," Tony called out jokingly as he tried to fathom why his friend was being so touchy about a little paper boat.
Bridger tried to reassure Tony that Lucas had been upset before he had seen the boat. He said that Lucas had only grabbed out at the boat in frustration of whatever else was truly bothering him.
He told Piccolo that Lucas just needed some space for a little while and every thing would be fine again.
Back in his quarters, Lucas sat on his bed with the little paper boat still clasped strongly in his hands and up close against his chest. There was no other explanation for this item appearing out of the blue like that.
If you thought about it in terms of physics and chemistry, is was a near impossibility that the little boat had found itself in the depths of the ocean.
They had to be at least 100 feet down. Apart from the distance between where he was on the boat and where the township of Derry was, it was just a trick of the mind that a object made of paper could float in such deep water.
They all float down here Billy Boy ...the words echoed in his mind. He tried to shut them out and turned over on his bunk and closed his eyes and hopefully his mind to the painful memories that were beginning to emerge.
Bridger had knocked lightly on Lucas's door and then entered when he didn't receive an answer from the upset teenager. He was surprised to see the boy had actually fallen asleep. He knew that something was troubling him deeply.
Lucas wasn't normally one to be sleeping during the day like this. The Captain noted the silvery tear tracks that ran down his face. He caressed the boy's pale cheek with the back of his hand and decided to let him sleep. Whatever was bothering him could wait to be discussed when he had gotten some rest.
Maybe rest was the best thing for him. He would talk to Kristin about giving the boy a complete physical tomorrow just to make sure he wasn't coming down with something.
Bridger quietly closed the door and informed those who needed to know, including Tony that the boy was asleep. He made it clear that the boy wasn't to be disturbed until he had woken up on his own.
Everybody agreed to the Captain's words.
Tony was still having thoughts about what he might have done to set the teenager off.
Later that afternoon, Lucas had awoken on his own and come out of his room. He was forcing himself to forget what he had seen and carry on as normally as possible. He went into the Mess Hall for something to eat. He moved the meal around on his plate but nothing actually got eaten.
For the rest of the evening he spent his time in his quarters trying to work as hard as he could at his computer terminal to keep his mind from wandering.
Tony had come back into the room about 11.00 p.m. but was afraid to say anything to the still quiet and withdrawn teenager. He went to sleep wondering what was bothering the teenager. Somehow he could wait until shore leave so he could get his friend to loosen up a little.
Lucas went back to his bunk at about 4.00 am. He didn't want to lie there and not be able to go to sleep. If he just laid there, he would think too much about the past.
He made himself so dog tired that he didn't dream at all. He was being shaken awake by his room mate at 7.00 am who was telling him to get up and dressed for his stint on the Bridge.
The youth rolled over and groaned but knew it was fruitless trying to go back to sleep. If he didn't show up on the Bridge on time, Commander Ford would come and find him and demand to know why he needed to sleep in. He didn't feel like telling anybody that he had only gone to bed a few hours ago after working all night.
If that sort of information leaked out, he would hear the wrath of Commander Ford, the Captain and probably Doctor Kristin Westphalen to go with it.
When he finally made it to the Bridge five minutes late, he didn't get the chewing out he was expecting. He quietly took his post at his usual console and started working as usual.
Bridger had a quiet word earlier that morning to Commander Ford about Lucas's sudden change in behaviour. He urged the young Commander to give the teenager a little slack here and there until he could work out what the problem was.
Commander Ford had noted Lucas's tardiness, but he swallowed his words of retribution as instructed and simply gave the teenager a simple nod to say that he accepted any unspoken apology for his lateness.
Bridger looked at the teenager and noted the tiredness in Lucas's eyes and the almost haunted look that now existed. Yesterday there had been a smile there, even laughter, but today all of that had been replaced by a firmly tight lips and a frown as the teenager worked with his head down.
The teenager didn't look up at any of his colleagues and so therefore failed to note the eyes of worry that watched him go about his duty.
Commander Ford had been more worried today about the SeaQuest itself than Lucas moody behaviour. The life support system seemed to be functioning okay, but there were a few areas like weapons and propulsion which were beginning to show glitches and slowness.
The boat had slowed down considerably since the day before and no matter what the engineering people tried, they just couldn't seem to get the boat going any faster.
Lieutenant Tim O'Neill suddenly took an incoming call through his headset. He listened to the caller at first and then asked the man on the other end to repeat who it was that he needed to speak to.
The speaker on the other end was Michael Hanlon. He didn't give his name to Tim. He asked the young Lieutenant if there was anybody aboard that matched the description of blond hair, blue eyes, slim build and about 17 years of age.
Tim looked over at the person who matched those criteria. He was a bit apprehensive about some complete stranger communicating with the teenager. He decided to voice his concerns to the Captain first.
"Captain," he began nervously, all the while stealing glances towards Lucas who still hadn't looked up from his work station.
"I have a caller here who won't identify himself, he says that he is wanting to talk to somebody who matches the description of blond hair, blue eyes and about 17 years old. He looked at Lucas again.
Bridger and the rest of the crew also looked towards the teenager who had apparently not heard the conversation. Lucas looked up when he felt that everybody was staring at him again for some reason.
Bridger nodded to Tim to repeat his message again for the confused teenager.
"Lucas I think this caller wants to talk to you. He won't give his name but he insists on talking to somebody with blond hair, blue eyes and about 17 years old." Tim explained.
"I'll take it in my quarters if you don't mind, Tim," Lucas said.
"A secure channel too please" he said as he walked off the Bridge towards his room.
The Captain was less than happy with this idea. He didn't like the idea of a complete stranger wanting to talk to Lucas anymore than Tim O'Neill did. Something in the back of his mind told him that maybe the call had some clues as to how Lucas had been behaving.
The request for a Secure Channel signaled to the Navy Seaman that perhaps Lucas knew who the caller was. He motioned for Tim to hold the call for just a few more minutes before patching it through to Lucas. He needed to voice his concerns to the rest of the crew before he did what he was about to do.
"I will talk to you all later about what I am about to do, but I need your co-operation on this," Bridger started to explain
"Something has been bothering Lucas as you have all noticed. I think that this call might be a clue to what's been going on. I want to record the call in case it becomes useful later on. I normally don't like eavesdropping on other people's conversations, but this time I am willing to make an exception. Are you with me?"
Almost all of them nodded their heads in agreement. All of them knew that Captain Bridger didn't usually use unfair tactics unless he was forced to. If he thought that something private like a telephone call was important to record, he must have a very good reason.
"After this call is recorded Commander Ford, I want a copy of it made and I want a meeting of all the Senior Staff in the Ward Room," Bridger ordered.
"Lieutenant, you may transfer to call to Lucas on a secure channel now" Bridger instructed.
Tim O'Neill did as he was instructed and patched the call through to Lucas. He could see the light on his console flashing to indicate that a call was being received. He would need to keep recording until the light went off. He never took his eyes of the red flashing light.
Back in his quarters, Lucas picked up the receiver in his room and listened for the caller at the other end. Somehow he knew in the back of his mind who the caller would be and why he was calling.
He listened to the words carefully of the caller on the other end of the line. He said a few words himself and then hung up. He went back to his bunk and sat down while he tried to concentrate on what he had just heard.
IT's come back Bill... IT's come back again.
There was something he needed to ask the Captain before going to see Doctor Westphalen. His head was beginning to ache a little from all of the memories and the concentration.
Tim O'Neill had recorded the call as requested and made the necessary copy. He had just hidden away his deed when Lucas walked back onto the Bridge and approached the Captain in private.
"Can I talk to you alone for a minute, Captain?" Lucas asked. He had found it hard to push the words out after the telephone call. His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Sure, kiddo," Bridger said trying to act normal.
"What's on you mind?"
"Um Captain, can you come out here for a minute please," Lucas continued as he walked out off the Bridger and away from listening ears.
Bridger noted that the teenager seemed to be rubbing at his temple and asked if there was anything wrong.
"Nah, just a slight headache," Lucas answered. "I just about to go and ask Doctor Westphalen for some aspirin. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute first."
"What did you want to ask me?" Bridger enquired barely able to keep from spilling what he had done about the call.
"I wanted to ask if I could arrange for a few friends to come and stay on the SeaQuest for a couple of days." Lucas said. He didn't know what the Captain's reaction would be. He knew that the UEO would be far from impressed with the suggestion. But he needed to come up with a safe haven for his friends, even if it was only for two days.
Bridger was taken aback by the request. In all the three years that Lucas had been on the SeaQuest, he had never once asked to bring any visitors or guests on board. Not even to look around when they were docked for repairs. The request sounded far from a simple get together of a few teenagers.
"Um I don't know what to say, Lucas," Bridger began and he instantly saw the teenager's face fall when he thought the request was being denied. "But I also don't have any objections, ,if it is only for a couple of days."
Lucas had to look at Bridger to see if he had heard right. At first he thought the man was refusing just like he had expected, now that he seemed to be agreeing to his request, he could scarcely believe it.
"You really mean it," Lucas said with a hint of a smile on his face.
Bridger couldn't resist that smile. He hadn't seen it in two days and it always had the same effect of happiness on him.
"Yes I really mean it. But you have to tell me who you want and where to pick them up from. We are almost due home so it shouldn't be a problem. What are you planning to do when they get here?"
Bridger's curiosity was getting the better of him.
"Oh, nothing much, I was just looking forward to a reunion of a few old time friends," Lucas said.
"I go and make the arrangements for the shuttle to pick them up. Is tomorrow to soon?"
Bridger smiled again at the kid's excitement. "Tomorrow is just fine," he answered.
Lucas left Bridger to his thoughts and went to see Kristen about the aspirin for his headache. His excitement about his friends coming aboard had been a bit of an act. True he did want to see them all again, but normally they only met at the worst possible times.
When he got to the Med Bay he spoke to Kristen and she had gladly given him two aspirin for his headache. She wanted to know if there was anything else she could do for him. But he just shook his head and told her that everything was alright.
The lie tasted particularly bitter in his mouth when he said the words. He went back to his cabin and noted that he wouldn't be able to call his friends for another couple of hours due to the time differences. He laid back on his bunk and intended toget a little sleep before he called them all.
This sleep might be the last he would get for some time to come. He might even find that he would never wake up from the next sleep he took.
Tony had come into the room and was about to ask his room mate if he was coming to the Mess Hall for some chow. When he saw the teenager was asleep he decided to let him be.
Piccolo had met up with the Captain in the Mess Hall. Bridger had asked where Lucas was and Tony had told him that Lucas was asleep in his room. Bridger just nodded his head and thought that this might be the perfect opportunity to listen to their pirated copy of Lucas's telephone call.
He told Commander Ford to get the Senior Team together and he would join them in a moment.
"Something I should know about, Captain?" Tony asked.
Bridger looked at Tony with sympathy. It was true that Tony wasn't a senior member of the crew but he knew the ex-con had definite feelings towards his friend Lucas. He couldn't turn the man down and told him what they were going to be doing.
Tony had been a little shocked at Bridger's telling him about recording Lucas's private telephone conversation. But he agreed that the young man hadn't been himself lately and maybe the mystery call should shed some light on the subject.
Bridger and Tony walked to the Ward Room and saw Lieutenant Jim Brody, Commander Jonathan Ford, Lieutenant Lonnie Anderson, Communications Officer Tim O'Neill and Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz sitting in the room.
They were all a little surprised to see Tony walk in with the Captain, but none of them spoke up about this being a meeting for Senior Crew members only. They too knew how Tony and Lucas had become friends over the last couple of months. They were always in each other's company.
Bridger locked the door to the Ward Room and then stood in front of the seated crew, waiting to start his explanation.
"I suppose you're all thinking that I am being way too protective over Lucas, especially with the telephone conversation and all," Bridger started, "But I want to assure you all that my intentions are genuine enough. Lucas had been wandering around this boat for a day now and I don't need to tell you all that something is definitely bothering him. Let's listen to this call and take it from there."
"The other strange thing that happened today involved Lucas asking if he could invite some of his friends aboard the SeaQuest for a visit" the Captain continued.
"It all sounds a little suspicious to me. I don't even know who these friends are. But it must be something important if Lucas is being bold enough for us all to meet them. He usually keeps things like that to himself. Do any of you know who these friends might be?"
The crew all shook their heads in a negative response. All of them tried to think, but not one of them could ever remember Lucas mentioning that he even had friends outside of the SeaQuest crew.
Bridger went about setting up the tape containing the recorded telephone conversation.
"What is about to be heard in this tape, doesn't leave this room, understood?" Bridger warned sternly. He could only imagine what Lucas's reaction would be to his tampering with his private calls.
The crew all motioned their agreement and Bridger pressed the play button and sat back ready to hear Lucas's voice:
(AUTHOR'S NOTE - TELEPHONE CONVERSATION HAD BETWEEN LUCAS AND MYSTERY CALLER)
"Is that you, Bill?" came the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Yeah Mike, it's me," Lucas answered.
"I guess I don't need to tell you why I am calling," the stranger said.
"No, Mike I know why you are calling," Lucas said with a little fear sounding in his voice.
"I wish it could be different," the stranger said.
"I have to keep doing this Mike, for Georgie's sake," Lucas replied.
"IT'S COME BACK BILL!" the stranger said with a little of fear in his voice as well.
"Will you come, Bill?" the stranger asked Lucas.
"Yeah I'll come, but first let me contact the others. I will get us all to meet in one place and talk this thing through. We can't let it get to us on our own like it did last time Mike," Lucas said.
"I can't do it like that again. This time it has to be different. This time there has to be some planning involved on our part."
"What are you planning to do?" Mike Hanlon asked.
"I'm not sure yet, give me time to contact the others. Maybe we could all meet here and go from there," Lucas suggested.
"I'll try and make up some reason to get you all on board."
"I'll wait to hear from you then, Bill," Mike said. "I'm sorry Bill. Remember your promise Bill... Remember your promise."
"Yeah I remember my promise," Lucas said a little too harshly. As if he needed to be reminded. It was him that made them all promise the first time around.
The tape ended with the click of the phone on the other end. They all just sat there for a few minutes, trying to take in what they had heard.
At first, they were all wondering why the man on the other end was calling Lucas Bill. They thought he must have made a mistake, but then again, Lucas seemed to answer to the alternate identity okay.
Who was Bill?
Who was the man on the other end of the phone?
What was IT and why was it back?
What did Lucas promise to do?
Where did he intend to go and why?
Bridger was determined that Lucas wasn't about to go anywhere. The strange phone call scared him enough and planted enough seeds of doubt in his mind to prompt him to keep an even closer eye on the teenager. But he wasn't going to be able to do it alone without the teenager getting suspicious or angry.
"What do you make of all of that, Captain?" Tony said out aloud. He was voicing the questions in all of their heads.
"I don't know Tony, but I don't like it," Bridger admitted.
"Why was that man calling Lucas Bill the whole time?" Lonnie Anderson asked in a quiet voice.
"I don't know the answer to that either, Lonnie," the Captain answered.
"I think we need to monitor this situation a little more, Captain," Jonathan Ford said in a very military sounding solution.
"I think your right, Commander," Bridger said hating to go behind the teenager's back. But in this case he definitely thought it was warranted and justified.
"What do you suggest Jonathan?"
"I think we need to place a hidden camera in Lucas's quarters and maybe listening device on him somewhere," Ford suggested.
"Especially during this visit by his friends. It sounds like he is determined to go somewhere soon. Maybe Lucas is placing himself in danger and doesn't even know it."
"You mean you want to bug him all the time," Tony said with a whistle. "You're definitely braver than me, Sir."
"I don't think we have a choice in this as the Commander says, Tony," Bridger now added.
"Something about this doesn't smell right at all. I don't want Lucas leaving this boat for any reason at the moment until we can establish who these friends of his are and what they want and where he intends to go with them."
"Can you organize these devices, Commander?" the Captain asked his next in charge.
"Yes Captain, the bug in his room shouldn't be a problem, but the bug on him is another story all together. I think that is where you will need to come in a little more," Ford said.
"How so?" Bridger asked.
"There are a number of bugs we could use on his person, but probably the best one and least obvious in his case would be one in the form of a wristwatch. The watch works normally and everything, but it has a small micro bug inside of it that we could listen to and monitor. It would allow us to hear his conversation and track his movements both on the both and off of it should he try and attempt to leave the SeaQuest," the Commander explained.
"Okay, you get it to me and I'll give it to him," Bridger said.
"Kind of a belated birthday present or an early Christmas one. Lieutenant O'Neill once this bug is in place in his room, I want you to monitor it and tell us of any outgoing or incoming calls that we might not know about. "
"Brody, your going to be the listener for the other bug on Lucas," Bridger explained.
"I want to be able to hear what he is saying at all times on the Bridge and keep me informed of where he is."
"I don't think I need to remind you people about keeping this as secret from Lucas as possible. He might find out by accident, but we will just have to jump that bridge when we come to it. For now just keep out eyes and ears open," Captain Bridger stated.
They all left with their new assignments and tasks in hand. They were somewhat apprehensive about how the next few days might pan out. But they were willing to help out Lucas anyway they could.
Lucas was still asleep for a few more hours so O'Neill was able to slip into his quarters and place the button like bug in an inconspicuous hiding place. Chances being Lucas would not even know it was there and if he did stumble across it by accident then it only looked liked a small black dot on the floor behind the bed.
O'Neill took a look at the slumbering teenager as he walked passed. The boy's blond hair had fallen over his closed eyes. He could see the teenager clutching at the bed clothes. It looked as though he was holding on for dear life. Maybe Lucas was just having a bad dream he told himself as he closed the door silently behind him.
Later that day, Lucas had awoken from his sleep and was still in his room. He was about to make four important phone calls. He secured the open line first and dialed his first number.
"Captain," O'Neill announced, "Lucas is making an outgoing call from his room on a secured line."
"Let's listen to it Lieutenant, but quietly shall we," Bridger said trying to emphasis the quiet part. Something in the back of his mind still told him that this was wrong no matter what the reason was.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE - LUCAS'S FIRST TELEPHONE CALL)
"Who do I call first?" he asked himself. There were three calls to make, but somehow there still existed the need to make them in the correct order.
Lucas spoke out loud to himself as he dialed the required number. His hands were a little shaky. It had been Mike who had made all of the calls last time. Somehow he wished it was Mike doing it this time. But he knew he couldn't shirk his responsibilities. He had to warn them all. He secretly wondered if any of them had had the warning signs that he had received from Pennywise.
"555 2589," Lucas said. The crew could hear the telephone in the background ringing. It rang approximately five times before someone on the other end picked it up.
"Hello?" said a female voice on the other end. It was Beverley Marsh's voice. That wasn't her name she used at the moment. Lucas had kept a little track of them and where they were living now, just in case he ever needed them again.
"Hi Bevvie," Lucas said in a smooth sounding voice.
"Who is this?" the young woman asked. There was a pause on the line as Lucas cleared his throat a little. He really didn't know how to start this conversation.
"It's me Bev, it's Bill," Lucas answered.
Bridger and the other's were now more confused than ever. Now Lucas was even saying his name was Bill. What was going on here?
"BILL!" Beverley said in utter surprise. "Is it really you?" The voice sounded pleased at Lucas being on the other end.
Lucas didn't know any other way than to say this direct.
"IT'S COME BACK BEVVIE," Lucas said.
Now there was a pause on Beverley's end of the line. Her hands had begun to tremble a little at these words. Somehow she knew that Bill Denborough wouldn't be making a social call.
"Remember you're promise, Bevvie," Lucas now said a little sterner.
"Yes, I remember, Bill," she said. "What do you want me to do? Do the others know yet?"
"I'm going to organize to pick you up tomorrow at the pier, Beverley," Lucas said now saying her full name for the first time. In the back of his mind, his brain was remembering what she looked like back in 1959 with her long hair braided into two plaits.
"I'll bring you here where I am until we can all discuss what to do. Have you seen or heard anything yet, Bevvie?" Lucas asked.
"Ummm, no not really," Beverley answered. But the tone in her voice told otherwise. She was not willing to go into detail about the incident outside near the news stand this morning.
"Sorry, Bevvie, got two more calls to make," Lucas said cutting the conversation a bit short
"We will talk more tomorrow I promise. I love you Beverley Marsh, " he said at the end and hung up.
When he had finished the call he was reminiscing about old times and far off places again. A time when their innocence about the real world hadn't been completely torn in two yet.
While Lucas was dreaming of Beverley Marsh. The crew on the Bridger just looked more confused by the minute about what was going on. They had all smiled a little at Lucas's private admittance of having loved a girl.
This was almost a first too. Lucas had never admitted to liking any girl, apart from Juliana. Sure he wasn't totally shy of them, Tony had seen to this on a number of occasions. But Lucas actually coming out and telling a girl that he loved her... she had to be something special indeed.
"He's making another call, Sir," O'Neill informed the Captain. Bridger gave his nod of thanks for the information and stood by as they waited for the second call to connect.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE - LUCAS'S SECOND TELEPHONE CALL)
"555 8954 Beep Beep Richie," Lucas said with a little laughter in his voice. His mind was taking him back again to happier times with the LOSER's CLUB.
There was an awful lot of noise at the end of this line when the phone was first picked up "HELLO" Lucas said as he found himself shouting into the receiver.
"If your blond and beautiful, then I want to talk to you, all you other turkey's out there buzz off," Richie Tozier said in his best suave voice.
Lucas smirked a little at his friends endless sense of humour. It had always kept the rest of them going in times of fear of the unknown.
"Well you got the blond part right, Trashmouth, but the other part I'm not so sure about," Lucas said into the other end of the phone.
"BIG BILL DENBROUGH!" Richie said in absolute astonishment.
"Where are you? You'd better not tell me your in town without letting me know you're coming first. We've got so many bars to visit man and so little time to do them in."
"You were always the first rate clown, Tozier," Lucas said and then realised in horror at the word CLOWN that had escaped his lips. He wished he could take it back.
"Sorry, Richie," Lucas stammered, "I wasn't thinking. I am not in town pal, this isn't a social call."
But somehow just like Bev, Richie had known that almost before he had answered the ringing telephone.
"Bill, what's going on?" Richie asked in a serious tone. He was asking about
his rude awakening this morning that he didn't describe in any detail.
"IT's come back, Richie!" Lucas now repeated to his second friend.
"You mean AGAIN!" Richie said in alarm.
"I told you guys this would happen. I told you we should have taken M-16's down there, but NOOOOOO all we did was put him back to sleep for another thirty years or so."
"I don't know if I can do this again, Bill," Richie said genuinely.
Lucas could hear the hesitation in the comedian's voice. "Could you do it for Eddie, Richie?" he asked.
The mention of Eddie's name only brought tears and pain to Richie Tozier. Pain that he wanted to bury deep down inside a long time ago and forget about just like Derry itself.
Lucas could hear Richie's groan on the phone and knew he was dragging up old hurt again for his friend. "Remember you promise, Richie," Lucas said.
"Yeah I remember, Big Bill," Richie said in a solemn voice.
"What do you want me to do this time?" Richie knew he didn't really have a choice in this. For Eddie or not.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow at the pier and let you know from there. I have already phoned Bev, she's going to met us there too. I already talked to Mike earlier. There's only Haystack left to call," Lucas said.
"See you tomorrow, Trashmouth" and again Lucas cut the conversation short.
His mind went back to when Richie Tozier still wore glasses. He wondered if Richie wore them now, even with all the sticky tape to hold them together.
Bridger and the other's were getting more confused and more confused. They had just heard the voice on the other end, the Lucas had identified as Richie and Trashmouth to call Lucas, Bill Denbrough.
Somewhere in the back of Bridger's mind, he remembered that name Bill Denbrough, but he couldn't quite place it right now.
"There's a third call going out, Sir,"O'Neill informed Bridger.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE - LUCAS'S THIRD TELEPHONE CALL)
"555 1463 HAYSTACK," Lucas announced as he next intended call.
"Hello, you have reached the Hansom's residence, I not in right now, but if you care to leave your name and number, I get back to you" the answering machine said.
Lucas was about to hang up disappointed that he didn't reach his last number when he heard the receiver being picked up at the other end.
"Hello?" came a very sleeping sounding voice on the other end. Lucas had tried to reach them all at a decent hour, but now he realised that he had rung his friend at 3.00 am in the morning his time.
"Sorry to wake you up, Haystack," Lucas said apologetically to the other person.
"Well I'll be," the voice said in utter surprise, "Bill Denbrough, I never expected to hear from you tonight. I never expected to hear from you again period."
"Yeah I know friend, but there's something stirring up again," Lucas explained.
"You mean it's started all over again," Ben said nervously.
"I'm afraid so, Ben," Lucas answered. "Do you remember your promise Ben?"
"Yeah, I remember, but how are we going to fight him this time Bill? I don't know how much fight I have left in me after the last time," Ben answered honestly.
"You'll do just fine Haystack. We have got to," Lucas replied.
"Meet me at the dock tomorrow and I'll explain what we are going to do this time. I am going to get us all together on the SeaQuest for the time being so that he can't pick us off one by one this time around."
"Are we ever going to be safe from him, Bill?" Ben asked. "Cause right now I don't feel very safe at all. It's scaring me silly Bill."
"Me too friend, me too," Lucas said in a low voice. "See you tomorrow Haystack."
Bridger turned off the bug just in case Lucas decided to waltz in at any moment. He sighed in relief that he had when Lucas came wandering aimlessly onto the Bridge about twenty minutes later.
He didn't notice the pretend looks of concentration that the crew tried to give as they seemingly carried on their work
"Hi there," Bridger greeted the teenager, sounding as normal as he could under the circumstances.
"Hi," Lucas answered back. "I just spoke to my friends about coming aboard," he said.
"Oh!" Bridger said trying to hid his eavesdropping scheme. "Have they agreed to come?"
"Yeah, I told them all that we would pick them up tomorrow at about 3.00 pm if that was alright with you?"
"Yes, it's alright with me, but don't you want to pick them up yourself," Bridger now curious about Lucas's reluctance towards this chore.
"I was going to, but I really need to organize the sleeping arrangements and get the party I have planned organized for tomorrow night," Lucas said.
"Your having a party tomorrow night?" Bridger said with a hint of raised eyebrow at this comment.
"Nothing major, just a few bowls of food and some music," Lucas explained sheepishly.
"I'm sure that somebody wouldn't mind picking up your friends for you. You told them all to meet you somewhere did you?" Bridger asked.
"Yeah, I told them all to meet on the pier tomorrow. There will be three guys and a girl. You can't miss them. The girl has got long hair. One guy is fat and the other guy wears glasses, and then there is Mike, who is black," Lucas stated, describing his friends in a most unflattering but simple way.
"Seaman Piccolo, fancy taking a shuttle Upworld tomorrow?"Bridger now asked Tony.
"Aye, Sir," Tony answered. "So tell me Luke, whose the girl? Anybody special we should know about? he said jokingly as he jabbed the teenager playfully in the ribs.
Lucas turned slightly pink, "No, not really Tony, just an old friend," he said trying to explain Bev away casually. Inside, the mere mention of her name sent butterflies to his stomach.
Lucas spent a very restless night again trying to sleep. He tossed and he turned. Memories from long ago kept coming back to haunt him. He kept seeing old faces and remembering old time, both good and bad.
By 9.00 am that morning he made sure that he was up and about making ready for his friend's visit later that day.
Tony was about to leave in the shuttle to pick them up at the pier. Lucas had given Tony the descriptions of his four friends. Three guys, one girl. He made sure Tony knew their fake names just in case he needed to ask about them.
Lucas was just plain nervous. Lord knows why, he had known all of these people most of his life, but somehow he felt like meeting them all again for the first time.
Tony could see the anxiousness about the teenager and his nervousness about everything being just right. He assured Lucas that he would be back in a few hours with his friends.
Lucas busied himself in the ship's mess. Taking care of the evening party preparations himself. Nobody aboard knew that Lucas even knew how to cook. He had learned a great deal about fine cuisine when he was married to Audra. She had often shown him how to make oriental dishes and other meals that had their own ethnic flavours to them.
He had a partiality to Thai food actually. But tonight, not knowing what his friends might like, he erred on the side of caution and made a huge bowl of spaghetti with lots of freshly baked garlic bread. He made baby boiled potatoes in a mayonnaise dressing for a salad and a number of green vegetable dishes.
For main courses he made fried chicken with home made french fries. Dessert was just ice cream that had some chocolate drizzled over the top for a garnish.
While Lucas was busy in the ship's gallery kitchen, Bridger had been talking privately to Lieutenant O'Neill about what he had planned for Lucas's little get together.
Lucas intended to use one of the conference rooms to entertain his guests, so Bridger instructed Tim to set up a hidden camera inside the room. The camera was cleverly concealed to hide its presence. Lucas and his friends would be able to enjoy their little party and not even know that they were the star attraction in the Ward Room.
Bridger wanted to check up on his young charge and found him busily preparing his feast in the kitchen. As he walked into the room, the aromas that struck his senses were overwhelming. Everything smelled so good. It was hard to believe that Lucas could cook like this.
"You never told me you knew how to cook," Bridger said with a smile as he watched the teenager flit from one plate to the other making sure everything was just right.
"You never asked," Lucas said not looking up from his task.
"I have asked you to cook breakfast back at the island on a couple of occasions as I recall," Bridger said in reply.
"None of them ever looked or smelt this good before. Saving your best for your friends are you?"
"I don't often get to entertain like this." Lucas said trying to explain his culinary expertise.
"My friends are a bit picky about what they eat sometimes."
"Shuttle Number 7 docking at Dock number 3," came the announcement over the ship's communication system. Bridger would have to wait to continue this conversation at a later time.
Lucas looked up nervously and cleaned his hands on a tea towel. It was time to greet his friends. He looked a little apprehensive.
"Yeah," Lucas lied. "I just haven't seen them in a long time that's all," he admitted.
"And oh Captain, these friends of mine... ," the boy paused. Bridger looked questioningly at him.
"They don't call me Lucas very much that's all," Lucas said trying to explain away his real name that his friends would undoubtedly use.
"Oh," Bridger said trying to sound surprised. Maybe he would finally get an explanation to the BILL question that had been plaguing him for a couple of days now.
"What do they call you?"
"It's just a nick name, but Bill mostly," Lucas said and tried to give his best sheepish look. "Just wanted to let you know."
"Thank's I'll try to remember that it's you they are talking about when they call BILL down the corridor," Bridger said with a grin.
Lucas quickly made it towards Docking Bay 3 and his friends. Most of the crew were waiting to see the teenager's friends. Bridger had walked up to most of the senior crew and whispered to them about Lucas admitting his nick name was BILL.
They all seemed happy with the explanation that the name was actually a nick name. It still sounded strange though to hear people calling him BILL when they had known him as Lucas all of this time.
The mechanical sea doors slowly opened and water dripped from it as it rose into it's fully open position.
Richie Tozier was the first to climb up the ladder from the shuttle and stick his red head up into view. He looked about the room and his freckled face soon fell upon the one person he was looking for. Bill Denbrough
"Hi Ya, Big Bill," he greeted Lucas. Lucas stepped forward and grabbed his life long friend into a strong bear hug. He didn't care what the people behind him thought of this display of affection. He and these friends had been through too much together not to get emotional when they saw each other.
"Richie," Lucas greeted his friend, "You finally got here. Thought you must have got lost or something."
"Well, the cab driver here was a little easy on the gas peddle if you ask me," Richie said as he pointed towards Tony Piccolo. "I think he was taking the scenic route or something."
Lucas looked over at Tony but saw that his roommate was unaffected by Richie's remark. He barely paid any attention to anybody else on the boat. He only looked towards his friends.
Ben Hanscom was the next to emerge from shuttle. He was wearing jeans and a checked shirt. He hadn't changed much over the years. He had lost some weight, but was still a little on the chubby side.
"Good to see you again, Haystack," Lucas said as he gave the same warm show of affection to his larger friend.
"Wow, this is better than back home, Bill," Ben said as he looked in awe at the size and spectacular sight of the SeaQuest in all her glory.
"I'll give you a tour later if you like," Lucas offered his friend. His gaze was distracted from Ben as he caught sight of the next member of the 'Losers Club' to emerge from shuttle number 7. It was Beverley Marsh.
She looked even more prettier than he could have remembered. She still had her long auburn coloured hair in two neat braids. Her figure was still very slim and shapely.
Beverley looked at her friend and smiled at him. She showed just as much love towards him as Lucas had done. There were no words spoken between them at first. Lucas walked over to her and they both kissed passionately before everybody an engulfed each other in a lover's embrace.
Bridger raised his eyebrows at this site. Tony just chuckled to himself that he had been correct in his assumptions of there being more to this girl than Lucas was willing to admit.
They both parted and smiled back at each other, "You alright, Bev?" Lucas asked her as he gently stroked her cheek to rub away the few tears that she had let fall.
"I am now I with you, Bill," she whispered. She never felt more safer than with all of her friends right now. Somehow just being with Bill made her feel extra secure.
"Gee I hope I get a warm welcome like that," came Mike Hanlon's voice behind Bev as he climbed the ladder out of the shuttle.
"Mike!" Lucas said and grabbed his dark skinned friend's hand and shook it heartily.
"Great to see you, Mike."
"Good to see you too, Bill," Mike said with a grin.
"Well, Big Bill, where's the bar and the babes man," Richie Tozier said. "And there had better be babes aboard this crate. How could you stand it down here for months at a time without babes?"
Richie Tozier looked over at the SeaQuest crew that were giving him certain looks of disapproval. Some of them had already taken a dislike to his uncouth manner, but those who knew him also knew that he was all bluff. That's just how Richie was.You either loved him or hated him.
Richie spotted Lonnie Anderson standing near the doorway and looked at her small petite frame. "Not bad Billy Boy, not bad at all."
"Come on, let's go to my room and get settled," Lucas suggested as he tried to steer his friend out of trouble.
Bridger had moved Tony Piccolo out of his usual quarters with Lucas and placed three extra single mattresses in the room. He had been unsure about there being a young lady staying on the boat, but Lonnie offered to share her accommodation if the young girl opted not to stay in Lucas's quarters.
"I like the shaggy look, Bill," Richie said commenting on Lucas's blond hair. It was a little longer than normal, but Lucas liked it that way.
"Your butt and my face, Tozier," Lucas said aloud.
Bridger had been a little shocked at the teenager's remark but none of the friends seemed to notice the slightly rude comment.
Lucas felt more comfortable than he had in days. His friends had only been here a few minutes and already he was feeling completely at home with them again.
The crew just grinned and shook their heads at the sudden change in the teenager's demeanor. They could see that just being with these friends had a positive effect on him. They watched him and the others disappear down the corridor toward Lucas's quarters.
Bridger signaled to the senior crew that it was time to go and listen in the Ward Room again. The people involved made their way there ready to listen to the teenager's reunion.
The other members of the SeaQuest crew made their way back to their own duties and tasks.
"So this is where you live now huh, Big Bill," Richie said as he entered Lucas's humble room.
"Makes a difference to living in that concrete mansion of ours I suppose."
"Yeah, it's not exactly the Taj Mahal, but it's home for the time being," Lucas admitted.
" I still own the house in Sullivan Crescent. I couldn't bear to part with it for some reason. Some real estate guy contacted me just after Audra died and offered me two million for it. I just couldn't let go. Something to do with Audra I guess," Lucas saidwith a touch of sadness in his voice.
With these few true friends about him, there was no need to explain further.
"You still miss her don't you?" Bev asked Bill with sympathy. Maybe if things had have turned out differently, she could have been Mrs Bill Denbrough. She was not bitter about the fact that their lives had ended up down different paths.
Bill's family had moved away from Derry in the Summer of 1964. She had moved away too, but not until she was out on her own and away from her controlling father.
"Yeah, she's been gone a long time now, but I can still feel her presence sometimes," Bill admitted.
"So tell, me what you all have been doing with your lives since the last time we met?" Lucas asked trying to change the topic of conversation. His heart still weighed heavy for Audra.
At some point he had blamed himself entirely for what had happened to her. The guilt was still there years later, maybe it always would be.
"Well, speaking for myself," Richie Tozier said, "I can't thank you enough Bill for that Time Travel stuff. Thanks to you I have a whole new generation of fans just waiting to hear my acts and hear my jokes."
"Oh please Trashmouth, if it wasn't enough to hear it all the first time," Haystack chimed in.
"You know that Time Travel accident wasn't totally Bill's fault."
"I still can't explain what happened there guys," Bill said honestly. "After the last incident in 1985, things seemed to go alright for a while. Audra and I even planned to start having a family together. Something just didn't click though and Audra was told she would never be able to carry children."
"They couldn't give us any explanation. Everything was alright as far as I am concerned, no problems with me at all. The problem seemed to lay with Audra but they couldn't explain it medically. I always secretly blamed it on what happened to her in the dead lights."
"Oh why did you have to say that, Bill," Richie said in over dramatic tones. "As if we weren't all scared enough already. Why did you have to mention dead lights?"
Bill ignored his friend's jibing and continued with his explanation as to what went wrong.
"Anyway as I was saying, Audra died in 1990 as you all know," Lucas said softly, he blinked back the tears.
"After her death, I just couldn't seem to function properly without her. It was as if something inside me died with her that day. I started on a one way trip to self-destruction. I drank, I smokes two packs a day, I even experimented a little with hard drugs. Nothing seemed to help. Then one day I woke up after a night of heaving drinking and thought to myself, what if it comes back again."
Bill looked up to look at the faces of his friends at this question. He saw the fear they all held. They had all thought the same thing secretly but would never admit to it.
"That's when I started working on that Time Travel project. I tried to make it so that we would be young enough the next time it come back again and we had to fight. Otherwise we would all be seventy three or so by now." Lucas continued.
Back in the Ward Room, Bridger and the others couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"I had been working on the project for months when it finally seemed to work properly. That's when I contacted you all and told you about what I was going to do. I intended for us all to go back in time, not forwards. I wanted us to be able to go back and live normal kid's lives, not feeling scared like we had done the first time," Bill explained.
"That's were things went wrong for all of us didn't they, Bill?" Mike now asked.
"Yeah, we all got young again alright, but somehow instead of going back to 1959, we went forward to the twenty-first century. I ended up being eleven all over again. I thought I had gotten the chance to live the childhood that I had always been denied before after Derry," Lucas continued.
"When I got to this new time slot, I found myself living with the Wolenczak's and that's were I took my current name from, Lucas Wolenczak," Bill added.
"You mean that's a real surname?" Richie asked jokingly. "When you told me what you name was now Bill, I thought you made it up like one of the characters from your books."
"No, it's a real name alright, Richie," Bill replied "Lawrence and Cynthia Wolenczak, all American good guys and loving parents everybody thought. Until the abuse started," Lucas said sadly.
Bill's friends were shocked. None of them knew about the abuse that Bill had suffered at the hands of the Wolenczak's while he was Lucas. The teenager went into some of the details about how he had been treated whilst living with them. He told them about the bruises and the broken limbs.
By the time he had finished, his voice was almost a whisper. All of his friends were openly saddened at the horrors Bill had suffered. To them, Bill had always been the strong one. He was their leader. He was the one they had all looked up to in times of trouble. Some how it seemed a cruel twist of fate that he should be dealt a hand like that after being their protector for so long.
"And you want to know the sad part about it all," Lucas asked his friends.
"The ironic part is that for a long time, I actually believed that I deserved that punishment. Not because of anything that I had done to the Wolenczak's. But because of what had happened to Georgie. I figured that it was payback for all of the misery I caused my little brother."
Lucas was barely keeping it together by the time he finished his traumatic tale. Richie and Bev put their arms around him and hugged him.
"You listen to me, Bill Denbrough," Bev said in a stern but gentle voice. "Nothing about what happened to your little brother Georgie was your fault."
"But...," Lucas tried to say, but Bev put her finger to his lips to silence him.
"There wasn't anything you could have done to save him, Bill," Bev told him. The others nodded their heads in agreement trying to reassure their friend.
Lucas looked about at his friends but still found it difficult to believe the words they were saying to him.
"Have you been still working on the Time Travel project since then, Bill," Haystack asked nervously.
"Yeah, I have Ben, even the crew here knows I am working on it for the past three years now. Though I have told them that I have never successfully got it to work yet," Bill said.
"I have gotten close again on a number of occasions. I have so much more equipment to work with here in the year 2019 that I didn't have in 1990."
"Have you told any of the people on this boat what's been going on, Bill?" Richie asked.
"No Rich, I haven't mentioned anything," Lucas admitted. "Something happened the other day on the Bridger and at the Moon Pool, but I just explained it away as best I could.
"Whoa what I saw the night before you rang, Bill," Richie said as he finally let out his terrible secret.
Richie looked about the room and saw that he wasn't the only one who had seen something that day.
"Okay, let's here it from you all," Bill announced. "He's trying to chip away at us already. Trying to find the weakest link again."
"And maybe he will succeed this time, Bill," Richie said in fear. "Have you all thought about that. This time there's only five of us left. Who is going to be net? Eddie and Stan have already paid the ultimate price. Which one of us is going to die this time? One of us, more, or all of us?"
"That's why I had you all brought on board here, Richie," Bill said. "It was the only way I could think of to get us all together to protect each other. We need to be able to join our hands again and fight the evil off if it comes. I don't know how strong five of us will be compared to seven, but I don't think we have much of a choice."
"That's why I tried to go back in time. Somehow after what happened in 1985 I knew that we would always be the chosen ones. No matter when it came back, it was our responsibility to see that it was driven back again for the next thirty years or so. We will all discuss later on after dinner what we are going to do this time around" Lucas suggested.
"For now, just let us catch up a little first and find out what has been happening to each other over the past few years."
"Who's first, you, Bev?" Lucas prompted. It was supposed to be a girls go first thing, but it came out sounding lame.
"Alright, I'll start," Bev suggested. "As you know, I had been living with that asshole Tom Rogan when we met in 1985. He used to hit me around just like my father did back when I was a kid. Trust me Bill, I know exactly know what you went through when you were beaten. It might sound different to you, but it's all the same to me."
"Anyway, when I got back to Chicago and my business. I threw myself back into my work. It thrived just as successfully without that pompous twit standing over my shoulder the whole time. I had been the back bone of that company. I had started it from sewing a few simple clothes for myself and made it into a multinational operation."
"After the Time Travel thing, I found myself back in Derry again. Back with my father. I was eleven, almost twelve I think. I lived with my father until I was old enough to get out on my own. From then up until now, I have been living in a one bedroom apartment with my friend fluffy the cat and a canary for company."
"I went out with a boy for a few months, but then one night he turned around and hit me, breaking my nose. Surprise surprise Huh?" Bev said disgusted with her romantic score card.
"The other day, before you rang Bill, I had walked down to a nearby newsstand to buy a paper. I started going back to my apartment when I looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood. The paper was actually bleeding. I looked around in fright."
"obody else seemed to be able to see the blood. Just like the last time in my dad's place. I could see it they couldn't. Anyway, I ran all the way back. I threw the paper in a trash bin but my hands were still stained red. I got home and went into the bathroom and started to wash away the blood. It took almost half and hour for the red stain to go away."
"Just as I was cleaning the basin, I heard voices in the drain hole again. It wasn't any of the dead kids this time. It was Pennywise laughing. Telling me that we will meet up again real soon," Bev finished. Her hands were shaking and she was trembling from the fear that radiated through her body.
Bill moved a little closer to were she sat on his bed and pulled her closer to him in a hug.
"It all felt so real... it really did," Bev said amidst her tears.
"It's alright, Bev, I promise I am not going to let him get to you again," Bill said softly.
Bill looked up at Richie, "What about you Tozier?" he asked. "What happened to you."
"I don' know if I really want to repeat it," Richie said nervously.
"We are all your friends here Rich, we will believe you," Lucas said reassuringly.
"It's not that I think you won't believe it, Big Bill," Richie said. "I just don't know if I believe it myself. Oh well, here goes," he said with a sigh.
"I was watching a Johnny Carson late show. You know, the one where he invites celebrities onto the show and talks to them about their shows. Well the other night, I was watching Whoopie Goldberg, she was a barrel of laughs. Suddenly the TV went dark and I thought they must be going to an ad break."
"The next thing I see is that the next guest speaker isn't Tom Selleck like they said it was. The next guy I see walk out is Michael Landon, but he wasn't dressed like he normally was, he was dressed like his character out of that movie "I Was a Teenage Werewolf"."
"Johnny Carson didn't seem to notice that he was the werewolf. He just kept asking questions. Then suddenly Michael Landon comes right up to the TV screen, I almost pissed myself and thought he was gonna reach right through the screen and grab me."
"He leans right up close to the screen and in the best voice of Henry Bowers you have ever heard he says : Gonna get you fuckface, gonna break those glasses," Richie said. By the time he was finished, he was rubbing insanely at the sweaty palms of his hands.
"Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time," Haystack said. Henry Bowers.
"That's what happened to me the other night, Richie," Ben admitted.
"I was walking through a park walking my dog, when I turned around and thought I could see Henry, Belch and Victor Criss chasing me. They were running after me just like that day down at the Barrens when I stumbled on you and Eddie Bill, down by the stream."
"I kept running and running until I couldn't run anymore. I could still hear their voices and it sounded like they were getting louder and closer all of the time. 'Gonna get you fat boy they yelled. 'Gonna carve my whole fucking name in your gutsthis time' Henry yelled.
"Just as quickly as I thought they were following me, they were gone. I could hear them laughing still. I haven't been that scared in a long time," Ben said. He was shaking slightly too at the end of his tale. He looked up at his friends but only saw sympathy and understanding coming from them.
"What happened to you, Mike?" Bev asked.
Mike started out as nervously as the rest of them. "I was in my apartment when I looked outside at the tree near the window. I could see a couple of sparrows in a new nest so I decided to take a look inside it. I went outside and climbed the tree, when I looked inside the nest, I couldn't believe what I saw."
"There were three eggs in the nest but one had been cracked open. What I saw was this deformed looking pathetic creature that looked like it never should have breathed life. It was completely bald of any downy or feathers. It's eyes seemed to be double the right size and they seemed to bulge out of it's head. I saw it looking there and was going to pick it up and put it in a trash bin when it talked to me," Mike said.
"It talked to you, Mike?" Bill asked.
"Gonna get you nigga. Me and my daddy are get all you niggas. Better stay away from Derry if you know what's good for you nigga," Mike said as he repeated the ominous words he had heard in the form of Henry Bowers coming from the disfigured bird in the nest.
"Seems that Henry Bowers is still determined to haunt us for the rest of our lives," Ben said in disgust. That name and face had plagued his mind since he had first moved to Derry, now almost 73 years later, it still put fear into him to hear that voice.
The others nodded their heads in agreement. It seemed that Henry Bowers had a grudge to bear against all of them at some stage.
"How bout you, Bill" Richie said, breaking the silence. "You still haven't told us much about yourself except for your adopted folks. Have you done any writing lately?"
(Author's Note -Back in the Ward Room)
Tim O'Neill began furiously looking at the Social Security records to cure their curiosity about this person Bill Denbrough. He had been a book worm most his life and knew that the name rang a bell in his mind, just like it had in the Captain's.
He logged onto the correct database and put in the name William Denbrough. It took a few minutes to come up. Tim motioned for them to gather around the laptop computer screen in front of him to see what he had found.
The writing on the page said:
WILLIAM DENBROUGH
Date of Birth - 1947 Portland Maine
Father: Zack Denbrough
Mother: Sharon Denbrough
Occupation - Writer/Author
Wife- Audra Denbrough - married - 1976 New England
Latest Book - THE BLACK RAPIDS
There were a few other facts listed on the page about William Denbrough's schooling and other novels he had written. To the write of the typed text was a photo.
It had been taken about 1984. It was an older picture of Lucas, a lot older, but you could still tell it was him. He was wearing a pair of thinly rimmed glasses and had long hair pulled back into a pony tail at the back. But the more the crew looked at the photo, the more their eyes kept telling them that Lucas was actually the same man.
They didn't know how. The time travel idea didn't seem to be rational enough an explanation. But there it was in black in white with a picture to prove it.
Bridger had even remembered reading a couple of Bill Denbrough's novel's back in his college days. He never thought much about them because they were always of a horror nature and had dark underlying ideas behind the words.
Bridger kept reading the other information over and over again. He could barely make his eyes go past the married bit. Lucas married? It didn't sound right. But there it was. He now knew who the Audra was that Lucas had been talking to his friends about.
(Author's Note - back to Lucas's quarters)
"I haven't written anything in a long time, Richie," Bill admitted. I tried to write a few things in college. Even made some money on a few of them. But mostly I got told by my college professors that I had no imagination at and kept getting F's for grades in my English classes.
"Like I told you before, when Audra died, I never did much of anything any more," Lucas explained.
"Not even writing. When Audra was alive, she was my guiding hand and supporter. I used to get asked all of the time where I came up with such dark ideas for my stories. Before I would just tell them anything to get them off my back, but now when I go back and think a while, I realize that the inspiration for all of my stories was probably always Georgie."
"On this boat, I am the Chief Computer Analyst. I write software and keep the ship's main frame computer going," Lucas told them.
"You always were the smart one mush mouth," Richie said to Bill.
Lucas was taken a back for a minute. Richie hadn't called him mush mouth in a long time.
"Okay you guys, let's go and have some food," Lucas suggested, trying to clear the tension and fear in the room.
"I've lined up some food for us all. When were done eating, we can come back here and discuss what it is exactly that we are going to do."
All five teenagers got up from their positions and followed their leader Bill out of his quarters towards the conference room he had set up. Once he guided them into the room, he quickly excused himself and made the necessary trips back to the ship's galley to collect the plates of food.
It was on his last trip back, with only a handful of napkins and coasters for drinks that something laying just outside the conference room's door that caught his eye. He was glad he wasn't carrying anything breakable, because he would have dropped due to his fear anyway.
He picked up the item and stared at it a few minutes. He concealed it in the palm of his left hand and walked into the conference room.
Back in the Ward Room, Bridger had instructed O'Neill to turn on the hidden video camera and start recording what was going on visually.
They were just in time to see Lucas walk back into the room and lock the door behind him.
Lucas walked over to the table were everyone was seated. He put the napkins down, but everybody could sense that something wasn't quite right.
Lucas's face was quite pale. Even Bridger and the crew could see this through the lens of the camera.
"I found something outside in the corridor," he said as he tried to talk. His mouth was particularly dry and he needed a drink of water to continue. Unfortunately, appearing only 17 on the boat, he wasn't able to supply his guests with any slightly stronger alcoholic beverages.
"What did you find, Bill?" Bev asked as she watched her friend battle with his fear.
Bill opened his hand and displayed the object.
To Bridger and the others the items seemed harmless enough. It was a large orange pompom. Like the ones you would find on a clown suit at the circus.
Lucas's friends saw the orange pompom and stifled back screams of terror. Richie Tozier and Ben Hanscom even moved their chairs away from the table in order to get away from it. Beverley had hidden her face in her hands.
"Sorry guys, I just thought you needed to know," Bill said apologetically. He placed the pom pom in a drawer in the room, out of sight. Richie and Ben moved back towards the table, but there eyes still showed the fear that they all felt.
"Like you said, Bill, he's trying to chip away already," Richie said.
For the next hour or so, things seemed to be going along without much to worry about. Bridger and the others could see Lucas enjoying himself with his friends. And he was enjoying himself. He was openly smiling, cracking jokes and laughing out loud often.
They all continued to hear little bits of information about each other's present lives.
Bev talked about her designs she was working on. Richie told them all about the club gigs he was planning to do over the next few months.
Ben told them about his projects at college that revolved around his architecture skills. None of them doubted Ben's ability to built things. He had shown them all at the age of eleven how to built a dam. By 1985 he had built and designed some of the most prominent buildings in the country as well as oversees.
The subject somehow got onto the subject of dating and marriage. They all knew about Bill's marriage to Audra.
"So how long have you been married for now, Bill?" Richie asked.
"Audra and I got married in 1976 that would make us married 46 years this year," Bill said with pride and a little sadness. It should have almost been a golden wedding anniversary for them.
"You take it from me, Haystack," Richie warned his large friend. "Better dead then wed."
"How many times have you been married now, Richie?" Ben asked at the conclusion of this statement.
"Oh I don't know four or five times, who the hell keeps count," Richie said while laughing.
Bridger and the other's found it hard to take in what these young people were saying. Here they all were talking about the successful lives they each had apparently lived and the marriages they had been through and to look at them now, not one of them looked a day over 17 years old.
Half way through the meal, everyone was just beginning to relax when something else hauntingly familiar took place in the room.
Suddenly the five young people could hear Pennywise's distinct laughter in the room.
It sounded just like it had to Lucas on the Bridge that day. They all froze and started to cringe at the sound of it.
Amazingly this time, Bridger and the other's in the Ward Room also thought that they could hear the voice of a circus clown. They couldn't work out where it was coming from, but they could definitely hear something.
They could see the terror and fear distilled in Lucas and his friends. Why were they all so afraid of clowns?
Lucas and his guests looked towards the ceiling when they heard a distinct bang overhead. When they looked up, to their horror they could see dozens of coloured balloons drifting down from the ceiling towards the table.
Bridger and the others could also see the balloons coming down from the room. They all thought it was something that Lucas had arranged for his friends. They couldn't have been more wrong.
Lucas and his friends jumped off their chairs and back away from the table towards the edge of the room. They all had bemused looks of horror on their faces. Balloons had never been a favourite party decoration for any of them.
Bridger and the others watched the cascade of colour, trying to work out what was so frightening. They all wanted to race into the room and ask what was going on, but they knew that if they did, their little game of secret listening would be found out.
None of them wanted to know what Lucas's reaction would be to him finding out about their little deception.
They watched the balloons start to drift onto the table. It seemed strange that these normally fragile items could bounce on the surface of the table without bursting.
All of a sudden they did start to burst. And to the horror of everyone. Lucas, his friends and the people in the Ward Room, when they did burst, instead of popping loudly like normal balloons should do. The noise they heard was a very wet sounding one.
As the balloons burst on the table and the floor, they spilled their contents of bright red blood. Well it looked like blood anyway. It was convincing enough to make Lucas and his friends scream in sheer terror.
Suddenly, while their concentration was on the balloons in the room, the Video Screen came to life.
The face that they all saw appear on the screen was Pennywise. He was right up close to the screen and snarling at them with his fang like yellowing teeth.
Bridger and the others in the Ward Room couldn't believe what they were seeing on the screen.
Lucas and the others had all huddled together in a group. He stood in front of them all, trying to be the strong one in all of this for them all, just like he had been years ago.
Lucas could feel his own body trembling at the sight that had haunted his dreams for so long.
SO YOU ALL THOUGHT YOU COULD RUN AND HIDE DID YOU?
WELL I GOT NEWS FOR YOU ALL - THINGS HAVEN'T CHANGED ONE BIT
JUST BECAUSE YOUR IN A DIFFERENT TIME ZONE.
I WILL STILL KILL YOU ALL. KILL YOU ALL I SAY.
I AM YOUR WORST DREAMS COME TRUE, I AM EVERYTHING YOU EVER WERE AFRAID OF.
I WILL KILL YOU ALL.
I AM ETERNAL - I EXIST IN MANY DIFFERENT FORMS - SPACE AND TIME ARE NOT BARRIERS TO ME - I WILL KEEP APPEARING AND REAPPEARING WHENEVER THE TIME IS RIGHT AGAIN.
REMEMBER YOUR FRIENDS STANLEY AND EDDIE - THEY'RE DOWN HERE WITH ME NOW - THEY FLOAT TOO YOU KNOW - THEY ALL FLOAT - AND WHEN YOU ARE ALL DOWN HERE WITH ME - YOU'LL FLOAT TOO.
KILL YOU ALL ... KILL YOU ALL...
Pennywise started to fade from the screen and his voice appeared to float off in to the distance, but the fear was still there. They could still see his horror looking made-up face and colourful clothes dancing before their eyes. They could still see the yellowing teeth and smell the stench of death from within.
"Billy Boy," Richie said in a hoarse voice, "I don't know about you, but I really need to get out of here right now. This place isn't any more safer than anywhere else."
"I think your right, Richie," Bill said as he tried to gather his composure. His face was still a little pale and the shakes in his hands were still visible.
"We're with you too, Bill," the others chanted and the five young people followed Bill Denbrough out of the conference room and towards the launch bays.
Lucas hadn't thought about asking permission before taking one of the shuttles. They all just needed to run as fast as they could.
Now with too many events from the past resurfacing, Lucas found it hard to think about his current life. He had almost totally forgotten about his friends and family on board the SeaQuest. Back with these five friends, it almost seemed as though they had never been apart at all.
Back in the Ward Room, Bridger and his crew could see how scared the teenagers were.
They had seen the look of terror in their eyes. They had seen the clown threatening to kill them all.
None of them could fit all the pieces to this giant puzzle together yet. But something bad was definitely happening and no matter how much they wanted to deny it, Lucas seemed to be caught right in the middle of it.
"Quick Commander there trying to leave the boat," Bridger shouted at Jonathan Ford.
"Get to the control panel and stop them leaving, NOW!"
The Commander tried his best to manually override the ship's launch bay codes and prevent Lucas and his friend leaving the boat, but he wasn't quick enough.
Lucas and the four others had managed to scramble into one of the shuttles and had sealed the hatch up. Lucas had flown to the pilot's seat and started hammering in codes on the dash board.
"Everyone sit down and put your seat belt's on," Lucas shouted back to them without looking up from the control panel. "This is going to get a little rough."
Bridger was shouting into the Communicator trying to get in contact with Lucas and his friends.
"Lucas, stop please. Tell me where you are going. Please don't leave. Please tell me what's going on."
Lucas could hear the Captain's voice. He regretted that he had to lie at all to this man that had never done nothing else but offer him unconditional love.
"Sorry, Captain but this thing is bigger than the both of us. I don't know if I could tell you what's going on. I don't think we really know ourselves yet. Please remember that I always loved you. That was never false and if I ever get to come back I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." Lucas said. His words were hurting him and the Captain and everybody listening could hear it.
"What are you all running from, maybe I, I mean we can help you," Bridger said in desperation, trying to stall the teenager's escaping.
"To tell you the truth Captain, I don't know that we even know what we are running from anymore. Maybe we are running from ourselves more than we know," Lucas said in all honesty.
"See you around, Captain," Lucas said in a tone that was devoid of emotion. Lucas knew that he had to distance himself from the SeaQuest and everything about it at the moment. He had to concentrate on being Bill Denbrough at the moment.
With that Lucas made the shuttle race away from the SeaQuest in great haste. He had shut the shuttle's radio off so that he could no longer hear the Captain's pleas to turn around and come back. As he sat in the pilot's seat with his back to his friends, the silent tears threatened to fall freely down his face.
The shuttle made it journey towards the surface...
Back on board the SeaQuest, everyone was just sitting stunned, trying to work out what had happened over the last couple of hours.
They had just met four people who claimed to be Lucas's friends. They had heard these people call Lucas by his apparently secret identity of Bill Denbrough. Somehow this all was just too much to take in.
Bridger didn't care what the reasons were for Lucas leaving. Something told him that Lucas was putting himself and his friends in danger and he was powerless to stop it.
Suddenly the SeaQuest gave a few loud shakes and shutters. The lights went out and there was no sound to be heard anywhere.
"What the hell is going on, Commander?" Bridger asked Ford in annoyance. The ship falling apart was the last thing he needed right at the moment.
"I don't know Captain, I will try and find out," Ford said as he tried to feel his way around in the dark. He bumped his knee into a small coffee table in the room and let out a colourful string of profanities.
Just as his hand stumbled across the door's airlock, the lights came back on. There was a low pitch hum in the room that indicated that Life Support Systems had been restored at least for the present.
"Come on everyone, let's go and check out what's going on," the Captain announced.
He would have to leave the Ward Room and Lucas reluctantly for the time being until they could find the source of the power failure.
When they all reached the Bridge, there were a few blinking and flashing lights on the various consoles and work stations, but that was it. Something was still very wrong with the SeaQuest.
"Give me a diagnostics Mr O'Neill and Mr Ortiz," the Captain ordered. None of the panels in front of him displayed any helpful information.
"Captain, something is really weird here," O'Neill said as he tried to assess what the readouts were telling him. He looked over at Ortiz to see if his friend could shed any light on the problems. The Cuban just shrugged his shoulders at the Lieutenant, signalling that whatever was happening was a complete mystery to him as well.
"What are you getting, Tim?" Commander Ford asked his chief communications officer.
"That's just it Sir, I am not getting anything. No radio, no W.S.K.R.S., no sonar, no radar, no tracking systems of any kind are working.
"Same here Captain, Sir," Ortiz informed the people on the Bridge.
"There's no power at all except for Life Support. No weapons, no propulsion. We're dead in the water," Ortiz added.
"How is that possible?" Captain asked impatiently.
"Lieutenant O'Neill open the View Screen and give us a view of the ocean would you please?" Bridger ordered.
"Aye Sir, opening Vid-Screen," Tim said. The first attempt seemed to show that there was no power to that system either.
After a few more attempts, Tim was able to do a manual override and get the shutter on the inside to open sufficiently to show them a view of the sea surrounding them.
What they all saw amazed them and left them feeling as though something weird definitely was going on. Everything outside seemed to be frozen in time. There were fish and other marine creatures in view, but they were in a position of suspended animation.
Their bodies were frozen in the movements that they had been making when time stopped. Some of them were swimming straight ahead, others looking to be trying to swim to the surface but not quite getting there.
Bridger and Commander Ford looked at their wrist watches. The second hands were not moving. The digitial clock on the Bridge had been on the same time now for the last ten minutes. Everything seemed to be halted except them inside. They were able to move about and talk to each other inside, but they were not able to communicate with the outside world.
They weren't able to make contact with anybody by radio or any other form of communication. They didn't even know if anybody apart from Lucas knew where they were.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Twilight Zone," Tony Piccolo said from the back of the Bridger.
Everybody tried to laugh at the joke, but somehow they knew what Tony was saying was true. There was no rational explanation as to what had been happening on the ship.
There was no rational explanation to what they had heard Lucas and his friends saying before they left the SeaQuest. Maybe whatever they were running from was affecting the SeaQuest too.
"Let's go back to the Ward Room and try and work this one out," Bridger suggested, trying to keep the crew calm.
Everybody was grateful for being able to stick together and eagerly followed the Captain. Some of them looked back over their shoulder as they left the Bridge trying to fathom out what was going on.
When they reentered the Ward Room, they were surprised to see a visual picture of Lucas and his friends aboard the shuttle on the screen. They had been able to hear Lucas, but they had thought that had been made possible by the receiver hidden in Lucas's watch or the shuttle's radio.
Lucas wasn't wearing a hidden camera anywhere that would normally have enabled them to see what was going on. Strange things were really starting to happen to them all.
"Let's just see what happens for a little while," Bridger said as he looked at his watch and it still hadn't changed time. There was no way of knowing how much time had elapsed since the strange beginnings began.
The others nodded their head in agreement, all a little nervous, but willing to wait out whatever was causing the weird things to happen. They didn't have much of a choice. With the boat's propulsion system shut down they couldn't go anywhere.
(Author's Note - the SeaQuest will remain in a state of suspended animation for almost the remainder of this story. Nothing outside the boat moves. They cannot receive or send communications. They will not age during this time. They will be exactly the same age and in the same time that they were before everything started. )
They all tried to focus on Lucas and his friends to see if they could shed any light on what was going on. As they watched the screen, it seemed that Lucas and his friends were totally oblivious as to what was going on aboard the boat they had just left.
The shuttle was just docking at the pier that Tony had picked up Lucas's friends from earlier. The five teenager's disembarked and now stood together talking.
Bridger and the crew seemed to be able to see and hear what was going on a lot clearer now than before. They could see that the teenager's were visibly afraid of something.
"What do we do now, Bill?" Richie asked for the others. His hands were in the pockets of his pants, but they were pushed down as far as they could go, trying to hide the nervousness that he felt right now.
Bill thought a minute on what best to do next, "Let's go back to my place and talk things over for a bit more. There's plenty of room. I haven't been back there for a couple of years now. We can talk about it over night and decide where to go in the morning. I have got a car over in the warehouse there," Lucas told them as he pointed towards the large building a few metres away from the pier's edge.
Lucas went over to the warehouse on his own. He told the others he would bring the car out to them.
Bridger and the other's wondered how Lucas had hidden a car away from them all of this time. The boy had barely gotten his driver's license.
The bright headlights of the car drove slowly towards the four people huddled in a group near the pier. The car was a silver coloured Porsche sports car. It had metallic paint and spoiler on the back. It looked like it should belong to a Hollywood Movie Star rather than somebody like Lucas.
Lucas's friends were just as impressed as his friends watching on the SeaQuest.
"Very nice, Bill," Richie whistled as he ran his fingers along the smooth paint work.
"Must have set you back a couple dozen novels huh?"
"Not really, about 250 000. I bought it just before Audra died. It has been stored away here out of sight all of this time," Bill admitted.
"I never had much of a chance to bring it out and show it off before. Nobody aboard the SeaQuest would have ever believed it was mine."
"I don't suppose you would consider letting me drive, Bill? Richie asked hopefully.
"You've got to be kidding, Tozier," Bill said in mock amazement, "After the way you used to drive that red Ferrari of yours."
"Picky Picky," Richie replied. Bill and the other's came out laughing at their friend's disappointment.
"How far's your house, Bill?" Mike now asked.
"It- its about an h-h-hour's drive from here M-Mike," Bill stuttered. He had barely finished the sentence when the horror of his own voice struck him. Everybody else around him had heard it and saw the look on his face. They all knew that it was tearing at Bill down deep inside.
Bev walked up to him and put her arm around him. Bill's hands were shaking slightly and his face had lost some colour.
"Been a long time since you done that Huh?" Bev asked softly.
"Yeah, too long, Bev," Bill admitted. "I guess it's like riding a bike, you never forget how. That's the first time in since that last time in Derry in 1985. I was always told it might come back. Something about it being repressed in my subconscious somewhere."
"How did you overcome it before, Bill?" Richie genuinely asked. "I don't mean to be rude old friend, but sometimes you used to almost turn blue you stuttered so badly."
Bridger and the other's had heard the stutter but put it down to the fear they had seen in Lucas's eyes. They had no idea that he had ever stuttered badly before at any time. He always seemed to be well spoken, maybe a bit quiet and softly spoken at times, but well spoken anyhow.
"After what we did in 1959, I spent the next four years going to lots of different speech therapists in Bangor Maine. I used to travel every second weekend with my mom over there. They taught me to speak slowly. It was the first trick they showed me.
Before I introduced myself to anybody, they told me to think of my middle name," Bill explained.
"Before Georgie died, I used to stutter moderately. I was hit by a car when I was three. I spent two whole weeks in the hospital. The doctor's said that I had a concussion and that's what caused my stuttering. After Georgie died it got a lot worse as you all know."
"I could barely speak two words without tripping over my own words. I used to get so embarrassed at school that I just didn't put my hand up in class anymore to answer the questions. I managed to get by like that until I saw this speech therapist. She taught me how to speak French."
"Whenever I thought I was going to stutter, like when I said my name, in my mind I just said it in French. When I went to say the actual words in English, they came out normally. That trick really saved me a heap of times."
"When we travelled back after 1985 I suppose trying to forget all about Derry and what we did back then helped to hide the stuttering. Until just a few minutes ago. Funny how old things come back ain't it" Lucas said.
Bridger and Kristen had tears of their own as they listened to Lucas's heart felt story about his speech problem. How many other things were there about this boy they loved that they didn't know?
"Come on you guys, let's get g-g-going," Bill said as he climbed into the driver's seat. He buckled his seat belt and waited for everyone else to climb in. He turned the key and started the engine. He hadn't felt anything so good for a long time. The rev of the motor sent ripples of anticipation through his body. He placed one hand on the leather covered steering wheel and one hand on the gear stick.
Lucas looked back and tried to think of the most appropriate line to say at a moment like this. All together again and about to embark on another hair-raising adventure. The right words came into his head. The very ones he had learnt so long ago. The only words he had been able to say as a kid that he didn't to stutter.
He gave his friends all a sly smile and wink as he shouted "HI-YO SILVER AWAY!!"
He gunned the car and took off down the road. The adrenaline rush he felt from the V-8 engine under the hood was better than anything else.
Bill drove the car down the highway. At first there was no indication that anything was wrong. They were just enjoying the ride together. Somehow the speed underneath them made them feel almost invincible.
Mike had been sitting in the front passenger seat beside Bill. He was admiring the nice wooden dash board with gold trim. It really was some kind of car. Much more than he would have been ever been able to afford on his meager salary. His fingers reached down and began fiddling with the radio controls Bill was watching the highway and noted with a little nervousness that the highway had become strangely deserted for the last couple of miles.
Normally the number 9 highway was a busy road with a great number of vehicle in both lanes. Now looking at the opposite side of the road Bill couldn't see a single oncoming car. He looked in the rear view mirror and noted that there was nobody behind him either.
He knew it was getting on a little bit at night, but it still felt too eerie for his liking. Mike finally managed to come across a radio station playing music. However, the five of them just looked at each other as they heard the lyrics of the song playing.
"DON'T IT MAKE YOU WANTA GO HOME" Joe South sang out on the air.
Mike just looked at everybody else and turned the radio off all together. For the next few minutes, everybody sat in silence. Lost in their own thoughts about where they were headed and what they were about to take on.
Suddenly the radio came to life again. They all looked at Mike to see if he had turned it on again. He shook his head at them when he saw their questioning looks.
Before anybody could comment further, a crackling static sound started emerging from the radio. It sounded just like when it wasn't quite on the right frequency and you got all the static and noise in the background.
Somebody finally spoke from the other side of the radio. Bill had hitched in his voice in fear and almost veered off the road when he heard who it was. It was Pennywise again.
YOU ALL THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE DID YOU?
WELL YOU THOUGHT WRONG. I AM IN CONTROL OF YOU. I CONTROL
THE AIR YOU BREATH, THE DREAMS YOU HAVE. I CONTROL EVERYTHING
ABOUT YOU. YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME UNTIL I HAVE KILLED YOU ALL.
Bev was now crying in the back seat at the sound of the clown's threats. Richie was comforting her. Ben was wringing his hands together from his own fear. He was gripping them so tight that his knuckles had begun to turn white.
SO YOU WANT TO PLAY A TIME GAME - I'LL GIVE YOU A TIME GAME. ONE THAT
YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO RUN AWAY FROM.
I AM GOING TO SEND YOU BACK. BACK TO THE BEGINNING. LET'S SEE
IF YOU CAN START ALL OVER AGAIN AND SURVIVE THIS TIME.
The voice on the radio had finished and Pennywise was gone. Everybody in the car was still trying to get their breath back.
"What did he mean, Bill?" Ben asked. "What did he mean go back to the beginning?"
"I don't exactly know Ben, but I don't think we are going to like it," Bill said. He tried stepping down on the gas peddle a bit more. Maybe they could out run the monsters.
Bill looked ahead and could see that they would be soon entering a tunnel. There were a few of them along the highway. They broke up the monotony of the road.
Bill had both hands securely on the wheel. He was concentrating on the road ahead when he felt something start to rub against his hands from the steering wheel. Whatever is was soon became more noticeable as Lucas saw finger like things starting to emerge out of the middle of the steering wheel.
Before he could let loose the scream that was caught in his throat, he felt the barbed end of the long narrow fingers pierce his hands and hold them tightly to the steering wheel.
Lucas screamed in agony as the needles began to dig into his skin deeper. He tried to pull his hands away from the pain and the steering wheel but the force against him was too great. The others were screaming as well, Mike was trying to pry Bill's hands away from the monster or whatever had a hold of him.
The more Bill tried to pull away, the more the fingers wrapped tightly around his hands, preventing him from loosening his grip on the steering wheel.
A bright light coming from ahead made Lucas lift his pained face towards it. He no longer tried to pull his hands away. He was frozen in his fear as he saw the entire tunnel ahead bathed in an eerie white light.
The other's in the car also looked at the light and couldn't believe their eyes. The car was headed right for the light.
"DEAD LIGHTS" Lucas shouted to the others.
They were headed right for the Dead Lights. He tried to pull at his hands again but couldn't. They were only a few metres away from the entrance to the tunnel now. They turned their faces away from the light, trying to shield their eyes against thebright white light inside.
They all began screaming as the car started to disappear into the tunnel. The screams were loud and full of terror.
Bridger and the other's aboard SeaQuest could only watch on in terror of their own had they saw Lucas and his friends being dragged or pulled towards some sort of bright white light.
They had heard Lucas say the words DEAD LIGHTS.
They didn't know what they were but they heard the fear etched in his voice. They saw the blood dripping from his injured hands that were held to the steering wheel.
They were powerless to help. They had all begun shouting the teenager's name, hoping that some miracle would come and help save Lucas and his friends. They had to shield their own eyes from the bright light as they watched the rear spoiler of the Porsche disappear into the tunnel.
As the car disappeared into the light, time was pealed back in layers. Every thing seemed to be happening in slow motion. Those inside the car looked outside the windows but only saw the blackness of space and time. They found their thoughts going back in time.
Going back and back until they had no memory of the present or future.
Then the light had disappeared, they looked back towards the screen. It was now clouded over with darkness. There was no tunnel, no car, no friends and no Lucas.
Bridger had walked up to the screen and pressed his nose to it to see if he could see anything on the other side. There was nothing there now but an empty space. He didn't know where Lucas and his friends had vanished to.
(Author's Note - Bill and his friends have now returned to August 1959. They are all 11 or 12 years old again. They have no memory of what they did in 1959 or 1985. They have not met Pennywise yet. Georgie Denbrough is still alive and 6 years old. They have gone back to the beginning - with the future still to be written)
Bridger stepped back from the screen and continued to look at the screen. Slowly, the screen began to show some colour. It was a funny looking colour though. Almost like a sepia coloured photograph.
Then before he or any of the other's in the room could start to say anything, the room began to lose focus. They all began to feel strangely light headed. It was like they were on an endless Ferris Wheel ride at the carnival.
"Nathan, what's going on?" Kristen asked in a voice that didn't sound like her own. She about and could see that somehow her spiritual self had been separated from her physical being. She could gaze down at herself. Her body seemed to be asleep. Her eyes were closed and she looked relaxed. All of the others in the room could see similar images of themselves.
Bridger had been standing up last time he remember, but now his body was sitting down on the floor with his back leaning against his office desk. His eyes were closed as well as if in sleep.
"Try and keep together people," Bridger said trying to calm the nerves of his crew.
They all felt themselves being taken away from the SeaQuest. They couldn't stop their strange and ghostly journey. They couldn't feel the weather outside. There seemed to be a breeze, but it didn't affect them as they travelled.
They found themselves drifting aimlessly on the clouds. Where they were headed, they couldn't rightly say.
Just as suddenly as the journey had begun, they found it ending again. Their bodies were being settled gently on a street corner. The pages of time had been turned back.
They were all still dressed in their UEO issued uniforms, but nobody in the street seemed to notice their presence.
Tony Piccolo tried to put his hand on a telephone pole. He missed when his hand passed right through and he found his ghost-like body in a heap on the pavement.
They were found themselves in the streets of some little town. They saw a sign on a building that said CENTER STREET DRUG STORE - DERRY - Established 1950.
They were all caught in some type of time warp. Everything looked like it might have back in the 1950's and 1960's. There were houses with little picket fences and gardens all around. Men were dressed in trousers and suspenders. Ladies wore printed patterned dresses and hats.
"Are you seeing what I am seeing, Captain?" Tony Piccolo asked.
"Yes Tony I am seeing what you seeing. I don't now how and I don't know If I believe it, but I'm seeing it," Bridger answered. The Captain looked over at the rest of the crew and saw the same look of disbelief on their faces.
Everything that they had heard Lucas and his friends talking about was becoming true. Somehow they had gone back in time to before any of them had ever been born.
They watched on with a little dread about what might happen next. How much more of Lucas's strange tale would become true?
They started to make their way down the everyday streets of Derry Maine. They could see the street names as they passed them by.
It must have been raining for quite some time because most of the gutters were overflowing into the storm drains at the end of each street.
They passed Witcham Street which was blocked off to traffic due to the flooding. There was quite a bit of debris in the storm drain. Branches of trees, leaves and even rocks in some places.
Their sub-conscious seemed to be telling them where to go. They now were able to controlled where they walked, but it was some invisible force pulling them towards an unknown destination.
They travelled down the street and a house suddenly started to come into view. Something told them that this is where Lucas was at the moment. Again they didn't know how they knew, they just knew. Some sort of life force was attaching theirspirits to Lucas. Wherever he was, apparently it was automatically deemed that they would follow, no matter where their friend would go.
It was a modest two-story bungalow with a white picket fence like the other houses on the block. They all walked up to the front door. They couldn't knock out of courtesy, but found themselves to be able to walk right through the solid wooden door as though it wasn't there.
They all checked themselves over once they were on the other side, just to make sure every part of them was still there. Inside, on the ground floor, a young woman sat at a piano playing the tune Fur Elise.
The started to walk up the staircase to the second floor. It was in the room at the far end of the hall that they saw a sight that truly shocked them and left them feeling as though they were caught in some sort of bad dream.
Sitting up on a single bed in the room was Lucas Wolenczak. Or Bill Denbrough as he should have been known as. But this version of him was younger, much younger. The boy couldn't have been any more than ten years old.
Bridger and the other walked in to the room and stood along the wall, watching what was going on before them. They felt like the fly on the wall that saw and heard everything. Lucas didn't seem to be able to sense or see them either.
The younger Bill looked as though he was sick. He was pale and wan in the face and he was hacking up congestion from his lungs into some tissues from a box beside him.
There was an even younger boy in the room with a red checkered shirt on and blue denim overalls. He was playing with a large rubber ball in his hand as he talked to Bill.
"Read me a story Bill, pleeassseeee Bill please," Georgie begged his older brother.
"G-go a-a-way Georgie, I don't feel to hot right now," Bill said as he leaned back against the pillows on his bed.
"The magic storm story Bill, please, Bill," the little boy asked persistently.
"G-go bug somebody else Ya little cootie," Bill now said with a little annoyance.
Bridger thought it was strange somehow. He couldn't imagine Lucas being an older brother, but somehow he fell into the role quite well. He could remember being a younger brother himself and pestering his older siblings just like this young boy was doing to Lucas. He had to smile too at the choice words that Lucas called his younger brother. He had been on the receiving end of some rather colourful descriptions too when he was growing up.
'Cootie' wasn't one of them though. Bill saw his younger brother's face fall at the remark. Georgie was about to turn around and leave the room in disappointment.
"Guh-Georgie," Bill stuttered before the boy reached the door. Georgie turned around and saw his brother Bill leaning down over the edge of his bed and looking for something under it.
Bill felt around for a moment before resurfacing and bringing with him something made of newspaper.
Bridger and Tony just groaned out loud when they saw the object. It was like de-ja-vu all over again. They couldn't believe what they saw in Lucas's hand. It was the same boat that Tony had found floating outside the SeaQuest only a few days earlier.
The other's in the room just looked at them with puzzled faces.
Bridger briefly explained about Tony finding a boat like that one a few days earlier and what Lucas's reaction had been when he saw it. Somehow the boat that Bill Denbrough held in his hand now was the same boat that had appeared on board the SeaQuest some seventy three years later.
Bill held the paper boat out towards his little brother in a offer of peace.
Georgie's eyes lit up with excitement and he moved forward to take it from his brother's hand "You made it for me?" he asked almost unbelieving that Bill could be this generous.
"Can I go sail it?" the little boy asked with anticipation.
"We-well y-you have to s-s-seal it f-first with par-pah-parafin," Bill explained. "Otherwise it will just sink when the water soaks it."
Georgie hurried off to do his brother's bidding. He went down into the cellar, although it was very dark and scary. He didn't think he had been gone more than a few minutes when he heard his brother yelling from his bedroom.
Bridger and the other's watched as Bill Denbrough called out to the younger boy, "Did you d-d-die out there Juh-Georgie?"
"No, I'm gettin it, Bill," came the reply.
"W-well hurry u-up would ya," Bill said with a little impatience creeping into his voice.
Bridger and others just watched the scenes played out before them. Sometimes they would see a lot of Lucas Wolenczak in Bill Denbrough. The cheeky grin, the twinkle in those blue eyes. But then there were comments just like these last ones and the sound of impatience in his voice that just didn't fit the Lucas personality at all.
Normally Lucas was notorious for his patience and understanding. It was one of the characteristics that drew people to himand like him from the moment they met him.
Georgie had grabbed the box of paraffin from a shelf in the cellar and ran back upstairs into Bill's room with it. The sound of the cellar door slamming behind him echoed through the entire house.
"Georgie you waste," Bill said and both boys just giggled at each other. "We need a small knife, some matches and a bowl," Bill instructed.
Georgie went off without questioning his brother what the various items were for. Bill would explain in his own good time.
Bill started to cough a little. A little and then a little harder. When Georgie walked back into the room, he could not see the worried look on the faces of the invisible crew as they watched Bill struggle to get enough air into his lungs.
Bill had buried his face into his hands as was turning red in the face from the coughing fit. He fumbled with the pitcher of water on the bedside table and poured a small amount in the glass beside the bed. He put the glass to his mouth and slowly sipped the water. His first gut reaction was to gulp the water as fast as he could, but he knew that was the wrong thing to do.
Georgie had begun to worry too about his brother's coughing and contemplated whether or not to go and get their mother. Before he could make up his mind, Bill had stopped coughing and seemed to be getting himself under control again. His face was still red though.
"You alright, Bill?" Georgie asked.
"Yeah, thanks for a-as-asking," Bill replied as he continued to sip at the glass of water.
Bill motioned for his brother to give him the items he had requested. Georgie placed them all out in front of him on the bed.
Georgie, and the others in the room them watched in silence as Bill went about showing them all how to waterproof a paper boat.
Bill cut a small amount of the paraffin off the large cube with the knife and placed it into the bowl. Next he lit one of the matches and melted the paraffin in the bowl until is was a sticky liquid. Bill then dipped his index finger into the bowl and started to smear the warm substance onto the newspaper boat. It left a smoky coloured haze on the news print. The wax like substance dried almost instantly.
"I'm gonna go sail it," Georgie announced as he held out the boat that his brother had made for him.
"You'd better put all of this stuff away first," Bill told him. "Make sure you put on your rain coat too before you go out."
Georgie appeared at the doorway a few minutes later dressed in his yellow rain coat still clutching the little boat in his hand.
"I wish you could come too," he said with a note of sadness. He started to turn away towards the staircase ready to go out.
Bill quickly scrambled off the be, "Juh-Georgie, don't stay out too long or mom will have a bird."
And then Bill said something that would echo in his brain for years to come "Juh-Juh-Georgie be careful."
Georgie looked at his big brother for a moment, a little confused by the last comment. But then he just assumed that Bill was being the typical older brother.
Bridger and his crew watched as Bill settled himself back on his bed and appeared to go to sleep. Something in the back of his mind told him that they should follow Bill's little brother. They hadn't liked the tone of voice that Bill had used to warn his younger brother to be careful. It had an edge of fear in it.
Bridger looked over at Lucas and decided that it would be alright to leave him for a few minutes. He and the others made their way downstairs and out of the house using their strange ghostly apparitions and started to follow little six year old Georgie.
Bridger and the crew followed Georgie Denbrough as he sailed his newspaper boat along Witcham street in the puddles left over from the rain storm. The boat was sailing great and it didn't even look like sinking thanks to the sealing of wax on it's outside.
The little boy cheerfully followed his boat down the gutters as it made it's way through the murky coloured water.
It wasn't until he saw that it was about to be swallowed up by a swollen storm drain that he cried out his disapproval. "No, please No" he said in a small voice as he saw the boat disappear into the dark drain. He bent down on his knees trying to see where the boat had gone, but it was too dark to see anything.
He was bitterly disappointed. Somehow he had to go and tell his sick big brother Bill that the boat he had just made for him was now lost forever. He started to get up from the gravel road when he heard a voice from within the storm drain.
Bridger and the other's could hear the strange sounding voice as well. They noted that it sounded like the voice that they had heard in the Conference Room when Lucas and his friends were having their party. It was the same voice that they had heard over the radio in Lucas's silver Porsche, just before it entered the tunnel on the free way.
"Hi Ya Georgie" the voice said in a happy voice.
Georgie stopped his motions to get up and looked back into the storm drain, trying to work out if he had actually heard somebody calling his name.
When he looked for the second time, he could actually see someone in the drain. It was a clown. Just like the ones that you saw at the circus. A real life, red nosed, white made up face clown.
"Aren't you going to say hello, Georgie?" the clown asked his young visitor.
Georgie shook his head but didn't say anything.
"Aw come on," the clown said trying to coax a verbal answer from the boy.
"I'm not supposed to take to stranger's" Georgie answered in a firm voice. "My dad said so."
"Very wise, Georgie, very wise of your dad indeed," the clown answered. "I am Pennywisethe Dancing Clown. You are Georgie. So now we know each other correct?"
The clown was using little children rationality to put his point across. If you twisted something long enough, in the end it came out sounding exactly how you wanted it to sound to someone else.
Tony and the others wanted to intervene and stop this clown from talking to Bill's little brother. Tony had forgotten about not being able to touch or feel anything in his present state.
"I gotta go now," Georgie announced. He was beginning to feel a little afraid of this clown that had suddenly appeared in the storm drain. It was a most unlikely place to find a clown Georgie told himself.
"GO!" the clown snapped, "Without this," he said in a calmer voice as he held up Georgie's newspaper boat.
"My boat," Georgie said excitedly.
"Come on Georgie, take it," the clown said as he held the boat just out of the boy's reach.
The boy would have to put his hand into the storm drain to retrieve the boat.
"You want it don't you, Georgie?" the clown asked. "And there's fries and cotton candy and all sorts of surprises down here."
"Balloons too?" Georgie asked. Balloons were his favourite decoration. He loved the colours and the fact that they seemed to float in the breeze without any effort at all.
"Balloons of all colours down here too Georgie" the clown asked with a grin.
"Do they float?" Georgie asked seriously. He didn't like balloons that burst at the first touch. He liked to let his go into the breeze and watch them float skywards.
"Oh yes Georgie, they float," the clown said with anticipation in his voice "They float".
Bridger could see that the buttons on the clown's colourful suit matched the one they had seen Lucas carry into the party on the SeaQuest. The one his friends had screamed in terror from. Something told them that they had to try and get this boy away from this clown before it was too late.
Kristin watched in horror as she saw Bill's younger brother reach his hand into the drain trying to reach the paper boat. Without warning and before any of them could do anything, they saw the clown creature seize hold of Georgie's arm.
Before their very eyes, the clown changed. Changed into a hideous monster with fangs instead of a smiling face. He pulled on the little boy's arm, trying to drag him into the drain.
"And when you're down here with me Georgie, you'll float toom" the clown snarled.
Georgie Denbrough was screaming in pain. Screaming as he felt his arm being pulled up against the grate of the drain's cover. The clown didn't stop his yanking on the boy's arm and suddenly there was a terrible tearing of flesh sound.
Kristin and the others had turned their heads away almost physically sick at the sight before them.
Little Georgie Denbrough looked up at the sky with sightless eyes. His left arm had been completely torn of and now there was a steady stream of red blood flowing from the wound. The blood mingled with the murky water and then flowed downinto the storm drain.
A man had turned up at the drain upon hearing the child's dreadful screams. He couldn't believe what he saw. He stood in shock for a long time as he gazed down at Georgie Denbrough's dead body.
The man had gone back to his house and gotten a quilt. He now wrapped the little boy's body up in the material and walked back down Witcham street with the limp bundle in his hands towards the Denbrough residence.
How could he have hidden such a terrible secret for such a long time without telling them? How could he have not told them they he had a brother who had been brutally murdered?
A few hours later, Bridger and the others slipped into the hospital emergency room in their unseen presence. They could see a very pale faced Bill sitting on a bed while Sharon and Zack Denbrough held onto each other and cried for their lost son.
The next day, Bridger and the other's stood in front of Bill and his family in the local town cemetery as little Georgie Denbrough was laid to rest.
It was raining again. Bill Denbrough stood on his own while the rain soaked his clothes. He didn't seem to notice. He was trying to hide the tears that were running down his face.
A few of his friends, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Stanley Uris and Eddie Kaspbrak stood a few feet behind their distraught friend.
Bridger and his crew noted that the friends standing behind Bill were younger versions of some of the friends that had come aboard the SeaQuest. They recognized the girl with long braids and the red-headed boy with glasses. There was two they couldn't place. One dark-haired boy would they would later recall as Stanley Uris and a smallishsickly looking boy who stood huddled in amongst the others. His name was Eddie Kaspbrak.
to be continued...
Jules