CHAPTER FOUR
"No,
I don't think she's awake yet."
"How
long has she been here? 19 hours? Twenty? Are you sure she's
alive?"
"She
has a pulse, if that's what you mean."
"Is
she in a comma?"
I
was awake. I kept my eyes closed, though. I was on some hard surface.
It felt like a dirt floor, judging by the texture. I slightly opened
my left eye to see a boy and a girl arguing.
The
girl had flaming red hair that hung down to her waste in waves. Her
eyes were green, and her face looked hardened somehow. She wore jean
shorts and a blouse. I knew that she was one of those people you just
don't mess with. She was the one asking if I was alive.
The
boy wore a sweatshirt and jeans, which seemed to be a little warm for
the heat inside wherever I was, but he seemed comfortable. He had
blond hair and blue eyes, and a confident look. I felt certain that
he was the brains behind most operations that he and whoever he was
with performed.
This place was underground, about
five by ten feet. There were some things, mostly kid's stuff,
scattered around. A window on the roof let light in.
"If
she is, then she will die soon without medical treatment. Which we
don't have."
Both
of them looked to be 14 or 15 years old. They looked different then
most others. They both seemed sharpened somehow, as though they had
been through much in a short amount of time.
"Then
what are we supposed to do? Throw her out to one of them?"
"If
she's going to die anyways, then maybe we should…"
Before
he could complete his sentence, I tried to say: 'Who are you?'
But what actually came out was an inarticulate groan.
The
boy started, and then looked at me guiltily, knowing that he'd been
caught talking about throwing me to my death. The girl, however, ran
to my side.
"Are
you alright now? What happened?"
I
thought for a minute, wondering if it had been a dream, and if not,
how much of it that they might believe. As I sat up and looked at
them, I believed more then ever that something was different here,
and I had an idea that they would believe me pretty much no matter
what I said. In addition, I wasn't in a position to refuse to speak
(although I had no idea why, I was certain that I was somehow
indebted to them), and I wasn't in a condition to make something
up. However, my thoughts were still in a bit of a snarl from impact.
"I…there
was this door…and this turtle…but then I was here…"
Instead
of looking reproachful as I had somewhat expected, their eyes grew
wide in recognition as they exchanged glances.
"Who
are you?" I asked.
"My
name is Ben," they boy answered, "and she is Beverly."
"And
I'm Sara," I said, purely out of habit, not giving it any thought
whatsoever.
I stood up and climbed the ladder that led to the trapdoor that made up the roof, pushed it up, and looked outside. It appeared to be in a forest somewhere. Before I could look any further, Beverly grabbed my waist and yanked me down, just as a silhouette with a knife appeared and took a swing at me. Beverly and I landed in a tangle on the floor, and the roof slammed shut.
"You probably shouldn't do that," she stated, almost sarcastically, but not quite.
"Where is this? What's
happening?"
"We
found you outside," Ben said. "You were unconscious, and one of
Them found you."
"One
of…who? The shadows?"
"There's
more then one now. I don't know where they came from, and I don't
know how there are more. Before, there was one, we called it, well,
just that: It.
"But
now, many years too early, there are more. There are three that we've
seen. I guess that they might have come from the same place that the
original 'It' came from. If this is true, then we are surely
doomed. These three, just a day ago, have completely taken Derry.
Maybe the world, but I think it's just Derry. No one can leave, and
no one has come in.
"We've
been trying to find the others, but we haven't been able to go far
from the clubhouse anymore. They wont ever come in, but one of Them
is almost always just outside.
"We
found you just outside with one over you, so we pulled you in." He
made it sound like no big deal, but I could imagine trying to drag
what could very well be a corpse across the ground, being quickly
pursued by a nightmare. Yes, these two had most certainly saved my
life. And I hoped it would be long before I would return the
favor.
"How
long," I asked, "have I been here?"
"Less then a day," Beverly answered. "Basically, we're cut off here. If we don't find a way to get Them to leave, then we're going to have to split off and make a run for it."
"Run where?" I asked. They both looked stumped.
"Well," Ben said animatedly, as if he was talking off the top of his head, "we need food and water, so I guess we need to get to a store or something. Maybe we could lock the door when we're there, and…"
"Do you honestly think a locked door will keep It out? Any of Them?" Beverly snapped. Ben did not look hurt or offended, as if he understood that she was just frustrated with the situation, not with Ben. They were terrified, both of them.
"I think we need to get to Bill," she said. "Or get him here. He will know what to do."
"He could be dead, Bev," Ben said in a soft voice.
"I don't think so," she said, her eyes shining with hope. "We would know. Because now that They're back, we're connected again. And we would know. None of them are dead, and if we can get them all here, then we can make a stand! We can fight back, just like we did before!" she said, her voice building up in excitement as she went along.
"We need a plan, first," Ben said gloomily. That seemed to crush Beverly's sudden good mood as soon as it had come. After a few minutes of solemn silence, I finally thought of something.
"What are they exactly?" I asked. "What do they do? How have they taken over?" I was envisioning three hooded figures with many dangerous weapons, but I was totally thrown by what Ben said next.
"They're shape shifters. Every one of Them. They read your mind, find your worst fear, and run with it. And all too often, the person they're attacking will end up dead."
What the turtle had said was still bouncing around in my head. 'These hypnotic states that you find as a sign of weakness will be what will save you all.'
'They're going to have trouble reading your mind if it's wiped blank,' some alien voice said in my head. Had he phrased it any other way, I would not have figured it out. But he had, and I did.
"I think I might know a way that I can get out of here," I said softly.
From what I could tell of these two from the short time I've known them, Ben is the one to consult if you have a plan, and he will shoot it down, alter it, or agree. Beverly is the one to consult if you're ready to put it into action. I was not surprised, then, when it was Beverly who looked up, but Ben who answered.
"What?" he asked.
"I…I can do this thing. It's like going into a comma, but I can still walk and stuff, but I'm not thinking at all…"
"Self-hypnosis?" Ben asked.
"Yes, yes that. Or something like that. I'm thinking that if it cannot read my mind, then how can it kill me?"
Ben kind of stopped for a minute and stared at the ground. I could almost see the sparks fly as the inventive wheels in his head twirled at a speed I doubted I could ever match. His eyes lit up, and he looked at me, and started firing off questions.
"Can you hypnotize others? Bev and me, for instance?"
"I…I don't think so."
"Can you hypnotize yourself at will?"
"I've never tried it."
"Can you follow directions when hypnotized?"
"I've never tried it."
"Can you try to do it now?"
"I'll try," I said dubiously. I doubted it would work, so I did something I'd never done before. I looked inside myself, tried to find the part of me that would surface whenever it would happen. It took fifteen minutes for anything to happen. And even then, I had only felt a little dizzy for a minute, but then it passed. I looked up.
"Sorry, I guess I can't…" My voice trailed off. Beverly was standing up, despite the fact that I would have heard her do so, but didn't. Ben was right in front of me, coming across the small clubhouse in a record time.
"What happened?" I asked, feeling a little woozy.
"You were out for about three minutes. I think this could work," Beverly answered excitedly.
"I don't know," Ben said. "If you can only do that for three minutes at a time, then how do we know that one of Them wont get you when you do wake up?"
"I think I can fight it," I answered. "I think I can stay under as long as I need to. The only problem is that I have no idea where anything is."
"Maybe you can follow a map?"
"I don't know. I don't think so, and I don't want to wake up lost."
"I think we ought to run a few simple tests before we try anything rash."
"What are you thinking of?"
"Try it again. I'm going to try something I think is called hypnotic suggestion."
"Okay," I answered. I didn't like the idea of being so vulnerable to people I didn't know, but who was I to refuse the people who had saved my life? I tried it again, found that part of me, and then I was across the room with a pencil in my hand.
"I still can't believe that that worked," Beverly repeated. Although this was the first time I heard her say that, I could tell that she had said it more then once.
"Well, now we know that we can do something with it."
"Excuse me, what the hell just happened?" I asked, feeling left out, as I always did when I'd missed something.
"Ben told you to go across the room and pick up that pencil, and you did," Beverly answered.
"I think this could work," Ben said quietly. "I really do."
"Where will you send me?" I asked. I felt uncomfortable talking about myself as though I were talking about an object, but that's really what my worth was in this case, wasn't it? That's me: Sara the homing pigeon.
"Bev's right," Ben said. "You need to go to Big Bill's. I can write a note. He will know what to do."
Ben grabbed a sheet of paper from a pile and I gave him the pencil. He sat for a couple of minutes, musing and writing. I watched and waited.
"It doesn't cover everything," Ben said, "But it will have to do."
"Okay. I'll get ready," I said. I knew that this time, I might not get out alive. I considered what the turtle had said, 'save yourself first, then your friends.' But really, by helping them, I was helping myself. So I glanced once at my bow and arrows, but I decided to leave them here.
I let myself fall once more. I found myself coming awake once when I was walking, and I heard footsteps closing in behind me. I forced myself to drift back down again, and then I was being pulled roughly backwards through a doorway.
"Kwuh-Quick!" the boy who had pulled me back shouted. "Th-this way!" He grabbed my hand and started running, and I almost fell down, and then ran unquestioningly after him.
He pulled me up a flight of stairs. I turned while running and saw the door practically explode inward, and an indistinct form crash through. All I saw was the knife's gleam before the boy pulled me around a corner.
We ran down the hallway, and before we could reach the end, It had already made Its way up the stairs, and was rushing forwards.
'We're dead, we're dead, we're dead…' this thought floated through my mind what seemed like a million times before the boy took a left and yanked me so hard into a room that I fell down, and landed harshly on the floor.
The light swooshing sound of the phantom with the knife behind us had stopped, and now heavy clunking footsteps fell and echoed down the hallway.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Instead of a silvery cloudish figure, of all things, a clown now stood in the doorway.
"You're safe for now," It said in a menacing tone. Its razor teeth were stained with blood. "But trust me, you'll be dead soon. You and your other little friends. And then you'll float, just like the rest of us. Georgy wants to see yah Bill. Hiding in his room will do you no good. Would you like a balloon?"
Some part of my mind dimly comprehended that this was the boy that I had been sent to see. But most of my thoughts were directed towards this thing at the door.
"Please make it go away," I whispered. "Close the door get rid of it please oh God please make it go away…" I whispered, repeating myself over and over.
"W-we killed you wuh-once, and we'll k-k-kill you again," Bill replied calmly.
"You couldn't save Juh-juh-Georgy," It said, mocking Bill's stutter.
He walked up to the doorway. "I d-don't b-believe in you." He slammed the door in Its face.
"Is It gone?" I asked, feeling like a child asking for reassurance, but the question found its way through my locked teeth nonetheless.
"It c-can't get us in h-h-here," he replied. He was panting and out of breath from running, but he seemed to feel none of the hysteria that I felt bubbling to the surface. Or if he did, he hid it well. "I d-don't know wh-why, but It wont f-foll-how us in here. Th-this might be the only place in d-d-Derry th-that's safe from It. How d-did you survive s-so l-long?"
"I haven't been here long," I answered. "I found a door, and then I talked to some giant turtle, and then he sent me here," I said dully, expecting apprehension from him just as I had expected it from Ben and Beverly. Once again, though, I found myself surprised by his lack of disbelief.
"Th-the turtle? Y-you s-s-saw the t-turtle?"
"Yes. They both sounded interested in the turtle, too."
"Who?"
"Ben and Beverly. They sent me here."
"Th-they're st-still alive?"
"Yes. Wouldn't you know if they're dead? If anyone was?" I asked, thinking of Beverly saying that they would now know.
"I g-guess I would, at th-that," he said solemnly.
"Ben wrote this for you," I said, handing him the note; feeling more at ease, just by being around Bill. He had power radiating off of him. I guess he was the sort of guy you just could not help liking. And I, clinging to any power at this point as though I was drowning, was glad to have someone just like that near.
"Th-thanks," he said, opening the note. He held the back towards me, and I watched his eyes flick smoothly from one end of the page to the other. Finally, he nodded and set it aside.
"I've b-b-been hiding in Juh-Georgy's room for the past d-day. S-sometimes It will leave, and I c-can get food and s-stuff. I d-don't know how the others h-have survived. Or if th-they did. B-but I guess they h-have, haven't th-they?"
That was a question I couldn't answer, but I did anyways, in a way. I smiled and nodded, figuring that if they had died, then he wouldn't be uncertain.
"All th-the grownups in D-Derry are g-g-gone. Ih-it's just kids now. Easy f-fucking prey," he said bitterly.
This boy, Bill Denbrough, was a leader. He had been isolated in a time of need, and had suffered from it. He was a leader, and he needed to lead.
"Should we go back?" I asked timidly. "Get all your friends together, just like last time?"
"H-how would you nuh-know about l-l-last time?"
"Beverly was talking about it. She seemed very hopeful."
"W-we got out alright last t-time, but how lucky c-can we get?"
"We need to do something, Bill, and we are going to need you to get us through it."
He bowed his head, casting shadows in his eyes. "I d-don't want to a-ask them again," he said gravely. "I c-couldn't hardly s-stand asking them th-the first time."
Although his speech was ambiguous, I thought I understood its meaning.
"You don't have to, Bill. I think they want to. Ben and Beverly do, anyways. I don't know about the rest, but I think that they will share their willingness."
"We c-can't go far f-from this room," he said. He looked up at me, and stated this not as a statement, but as a question, asking me to disprove him.
"I think maybe I can distract it while you make a run for it." I stopped, blinked, and then smiled. "From It, rather. Do you know how far the clubhouse is from here?"
"It's about f-fifteen minute walk, b-b-but I think I could b-beat It with S-Silver."
"Silver?"
"My old b-b-bike. I h-haven't ridden it f-for years, but it's s-still in good shape."
"Then maybe you can make it."
"M-maybe I can. Ac-hording to th-this note Ben wrote, y-you can s-s-somehow hypnotize yourself s-so It can't g-get you."
"Yes. But I need instruction when I'm in a trance, and I'm not sure how Ben did that. He never explained it."
Bill picked up the note and read it again, then frowned, as though he had not found any sort of instructions.
"Well," he said, "L-let's give it a sh-shot. I'll h-have you get my b-bike ready outside."
"Fair enough." I again called upon that part of me (I was getting quite used to this at this point), and again, I awoke with a start, and no realization of time's passage. I was still in Georgy's room. Bill was sitting on the bed, his head down, as though he was lost in thought.
"What happened?" I asked, feeling as dazed as I did coming out.
"N-nothing. I t-told you wh-what to do, but you just sat there f-for nearly an hour."
"Maybe Ben did something different."
"M-maybe. Maybe it's my s-s-stutter. I don't nuh-know."
"I can try doing it myself," I said musingly. "Hell, I think anything's worth a shot. Where is your bike?"
"Down stairs, in th-the garage. It's r-right next to the d-door," he said, still solemn, still without hope.
I nodded, and started hypnotizing myself again. I seemed to fall slowly this time, and I could feel each stage as I let go completely. As I fell, I thought over and over 'get the bike in the garage to outside the front door.' I felt the sentence grow more surreal as I fell; I thought about every word and what it meant. Finally, I felt the thought take a real and detached form, as if it was flying away. But I knew it was okay, it was going somewhere that it would be more useful then here. I finally started to really drift off, but it was like going to sleep this time.
When I woke up, it felt less like a blackout and more like waking from natural sleep. I was still in Georgy's room, and I was worried that my trance had been no more then sleep. However, the freshness that a natural sleep brought was not present. Still, though, it had been so much like real sleep…
"Did it work this time?" I asked Bill. But then I realized that he was asleep on Georgy's bed. I stood up from the floor I had been sitting on, and looked at him. Yes, he was not unconscious or knocked out, but was in a natural sleep. Had I really been gone so long that he had let himself fall asleep? I didn't know, but I was tired myself.
I went to the closet to grab a pillow and a spare blanket, and lay down on the floor again with them. As I was drifting off, It suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking to be the psychotic clown that it had pretended to be for Bill. I didn't jerk awake, as I surely would have if I had seen it before, or if I had been alone. But because Bill was asleep, the room had somehow filled with a lazy stupor, and I remained half-asleep.
"Bill doesn't believe in you," I yawned. "Neither do I." It then disappeared, or maybe it had never been there in the first place. I fell deep asleep, unmindful of the hardness of the floor or the strange surroundings.
