"Your mom is down a few levels, G2."
"Thanks,' I replied to the receptionist as I was back at the hospital. I walked past her over to the elevators, holding my backpack with some of my books to read and kill time. I was going to meet with my mom at the end of her shift, but I was still reeling with what I learned from being at Ben's house a few days ago after our swim at the Quarry.
He showed us all that he was researching since they moved into Derry a few months back. He was lonely and needed something to do, so to the library, he went. He was diving into the history of our town was finding some odd things and occurrences with the past. Inside the founders all disappearing without a trace, and for some odd reason, the trail of blood was lead to a well house of some sort.
It was a bit frightening to listen to, and though some of the boys didn't really get heavily into what Ben was invested in, the one who was fully listening was Bill. Of course, it would be Bill, even I could see the wheels turning in his head and going over and over. It felt more like a mystery.
After we met at his house, we all had to separate for the day. I knew I had to make an appearance with my mom since it felt like I haven't had any real time with her since we started summer. Plus I would want to have some time away from the eeriness that was over the group of us. Maybe it was because of the disappearances, or that Ben was showing us the bloody past of our town, but I needed to take a step back and breathe.
I hit the right button for the level, seeing the doors closed in front of me as I waited for the elevator to move. Since they were double doors, the elevators here were old, pretty old enough to take its' time to warm up and move to the right level. After a moment or so it was moving slowly, having me hear the wheels above me on top of the elevator and I could see my reflection in the mirror.
My hair was still a bit wavy from the jump into the water, the warmth of the sun still against my skin and my face was a tint of red from being sunburnt. I could see my implant poking out on the side of my head, having me reach up to touch it when something else came into view behind me. It was glistening, very faintly but it seemed like it was close enough for me to reach around to touch it. I was frozen still to the bone, my eyes going wide and my hand was freezing to stop from touching my implant.
A red balloon, floating right behind me.
I didn't want to move, thinking that it was going to pop right behind me or hit me in the face if I did. But it was right at my eye level, having me hear it move to and fro in the air with some invisible force holding it there. I breathed out a shallow breath. feeling the elevator then slowing down and then stopping with a halt. I cringed as the doors behind me finally opened, not the ones in front of me. The balloon floated out and I turned around slowly to see where I needed and on which floor.
I was in a longish hallway, gray and cold enough to give me a chill as the blazon was still floating down the hallway. For some reason, I was finding myself walking towards the balloon. I don't know I wanted to follow that balloon, but there was some kind of pull and grainy that was making me want to follow it more and more now as I was walking further into the hallway. I could have sworn I could hear voices coming from somewhere close by, making me almost do a double take as I was starting to hear things.
"Molly….Molly…."
The balloon finally floated to an open door that was at the end of the hallway now, the voices that I was hearing were getting louder and louder now as I was about to go through the doors myself. But I paused, not knowing if I should since I had no clear clue as to what was going on why I was down here. Something was off, I could feel it like a chill going down my spine as something else was being said in my head.
"Float with us….float with us…..float…..float…..float!"
As soon as I walked into the next room, I saw it was pitch black. It was about to make me have a full-on panic attack since there was nothing heard. I went to turn around when the door behind me slammed shut. The sound was so loud that I scared out in sheer fright, running around to feel for the handle to shake and get out. Now I was really panicking and really worrying that I was going to get hurt. I was taking and banging on the door now, seeing the small sliver of an image through the one window that was there on the door. I looked out, seeing the elevators slowly closing at the end of the hallway where I started.
"HELP!" I screamed into the room now, thinking that someone out there was going to listen. But as soon as I said it, something else made a noise right me. It was almost like a groan, making me freeze and finally see the lights in the room I was in turn on. One of the lights was flickering now as I slowly turned to see where I was. I finally got a glimpsed was confused as to what this place was.
There were plenty of doors in the wall, three stacked high and on both sides of the wall. The doors were slick of steel, and they were big enough fit something that was bigger than a bag in there. The red balloon was floating in the middle of the room, with a drain right underneath it on the tile floor. The floor was pristine, along with the tile walls now.
Nothing happening for a moment, but then slowly I heard one bang against one of the doors. Something on the other side of the door was hitting it hard, at first just one time, then another bang, then it was getting faster and fast now.
They sounded desperate like someone was trying to come out.
Another bang was heard behind another door, getting faster and faster now as more and more doors were banging in need and urgency. I was frozen there, hearing almost all of the doors now and seeing something shake against their locks so hard from the banging. I was pushing my body against the door more and more, thinking that I could hit it open with my body since my own voice was lost and my head was spinning.
"Come float with us Molly," A voice sang now over the banging, having me hear that the voice was coming from the drain under the red balloon. The voice sounded high pitched, almost like a maniac and trying to be comical at the same time. But it didn't sound anything safe at all, I looked in horror as something was slowly coming up and over the drain. I whirled behind me to reach for the handle, but something was off and I looked in horror.
There was no handle. There was no way out. It disappeared.
"I have plenty of friends here for you," The voice said again from the drain as I was pushing against the door now with a bit more force as I looked out the hallway. The lights were flickering off now, having me feel more and more panic now as there was no real reason for me to get out of there and no real way for me escape.
"You'll float too."
I felt something wet under my feet now, soaking my shoes as I looked down. There was water, plenty of water now as it seemed like it was coming from somewhere. I looked behind me to see where it was coming from. Out from the drain in the middle of the room was water, spewing from what could be the sewers. It was coming out slowly, the banging on the doors was getting heavier and more frantic now as the water was now coming out in a heavy rate.
One of the doors shot open, a charcoaled hand came out and clung onto the wall now. I finally realized where I was as another door was opening now from the force of the banging. Another set of hands were coming out and trying to grab onto something on the walls. They looked burned, like whoever it was died from being burned alive.
I was in the morgue.
The water was slowly rising now, having it almost touch my ankles now as I was feeling panic slip through my throat and I was hitting my body hard against the door. A part of my brain was telling me that this was not real and I was imagining all of it. There couldn't be dead bodies coming out now and trying to get out of those doors. But then it sounded so real: the banging on the doors as more there opening and the sound of some kind of fire within those doors. I was hitting my whole body against the doors now as I then had another fear. If there were no windows in the room, and the water was getting higher and higher, I was going to drown.
My worst fear.
I hit the door once extra hard, the door rattling now as got some kind of leverage there on the door. I looked back behind me and I saw a few of the hands were slowly booming arms as the bodies were coming out of the doors. They were mostly skeletons, looking at me now and hissing as the water was now almost to my calves. I looked back at the door and took in one more breath. I wasn't going to die like this, whether it was in my head or not. This was not going to kill me. I finally moved away a bit, giving myself some room as I finally kicked the door hard with my right foot.
Once I hit the door with my foot, the door opened and I fell through. The water rushed out as I fell to the floor, being splashed in the face from the extra water almost going up my nose. I got myself up, slipping and running as I was trying to make my way to the elevator. The doors were slowly opening with the light inside as I looked behind me once more, seeing the frantic hands reaching out from the morgue doors.
Finally, I got to the elevator doors, sliding inside and falling to the floor and I hit my back against the wall, facing the hallway again. There was still water all over the floor and the doors were still open in the morgue. But instead of a red balloon over the drain, there was something else. Someone else.
A clown.
His red hair and white face, yellow eyes and the white outfit was enough to make me cringe against the wall of the elevator. He was watching me with a tilt of the head, putting up one hand at me now and then waving me with a vicious smile at me while the doors were closing.
"I'll make sure you'll float too." He said to me in a booming voice as the doors finally closed.
I finally met Pennywise.
Of course, I said nothing to my mother now since I was too petrified to say anything. I was still crying when the doors opened back up and I was back in the lobby. One of the nurses named Betty was there, seeing me stumble out of the elevator and hyperventilating. She was an older black woman, helped me to my feet and walking me over to her station as she got one of the other nurses to call my mother. I was sobbing so hard that she had to calm me down, noticing the water stains on my shoes and legs now. She asked what happened, and I had to lie. There was no way she was going to believe what I saw and what I felt.
"Toilet explosion in the bathroom."
My mom took me home, seeing that I wasn't in the right mind to talk about it just yet. I was too tight-lipped and too paranoid to tell her, which I could see broke her heart because I would be able to tell her anything. Even my own mother wouldn't believe me, how I felt like I was going to drown and also be eaten by dead people because of one stupid clown. And that voice.
The voice.
I went home and took a cold shower, sleeping through the night with a dreamless slumber. I woke up early the next morning thinking that was worst of it was going to be over now. I even wondered if what happened to me at the hospital was, in fact, all in my head, all of it being a dream or some kind of sick joke my brain was playing me. it felt real though, way too real for it not to be a dream. I got up and walked over to my mirror on the dresser.
I had to take a few deep breaths now, thinking that it would help me from remembering what happened in the hospital. After I did those deep breaths, I looked at my implant that was resting on the top of the dresser, with shaky hands I placed it back on my hear and moved my hair from my eyes now, seeing my reflection. I was used to how I looked before I saw those things in the morgue, feeling confident and brave. But what I saw really shook me to my core, Almost having me revert back to my old 4 years old self with nothing to hold onto or to lean on.
There was a tap on the window.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing Eddie there at the window and looking a bit off. I walked over to open the door.
"We need to go to Beverly's house," He said to me, having me raise an eyebrow at him.
"We?" I asked, looking past him on the street and see the others on their bikes and waiting for me. Bill, Stan, Ben, and Richie were all looking at me now as I looked back at Eddie.
"What's wrong?" I asked, finally looked over at Eddie. He looked just as lost as I was as he shook his head.
"No idea."
"In there…"
"What is it?"
"You'll see." I stood next to Ben and Stan as Beverly lead the group of us into the hallway now of her apartment. She lived on the poorer side of town, her father being one of the janitors at our school was enough to have them live there. Her father was out, and with her warning that he wouldn't be pleased that boys were in her apartment, Richie was told to wait outside for the watch in case. Her hallway was dark, but she pointed to the door now and I could feel another chill do down my spine as Bill walked towards it and us behind him.
"Great, bringing us to the bathroom," Eddie commented in panic, "You know that 89% of the worse accidents occur in the bathroom and kitchen. And that's where all the bacteria and fungi are….and it's not a hygienic place…" He stopped when the door was pushed open and we all saw was inside. Her bathroom, from head to toe, was red.
Red in blood.
"I knew it!" Eddie gagged and I covered my mouth briefly as we were all looking at every inch of it being covered in blood. There was not one spot that wasn't red, and it looked thick and sticky. I was afraid to place my hand somewhere. It even gave off a rent tint on our faces as we watched the whole bathroom in front of us, not even stepping into the area just yet.
"You see it?" Beverly asked us in a scared tone.
"Y-yes," Eddie stuttered in a whisper.
"What happened in here?" Stan asked the infamous question.
"My dad couldn't see it. I thought I might be crazy," Beverly admitted to us now.
"Well, if you're crazy, then we're all crazy," Ben said to her as he too was looking at all the red all over the place. I gulped a bit now.
"Trust me, you're not crazy," I reassured her with my own shaky breath.
"We c-c-c-can't leave it like this," Bill said to the group, and we all looked at him wondering what he was thinking of doing. But he then looked back at us now and then I saw him roll up his baseball shirt sleeve.
For the next hour or so, we cleaned the bathroom top to bottom.
When I walked back down the emergency stairs on the outside of the apartment and over to Richie, he was watching the others dump our bags full of towels that were doused in blood into the dumpster. I could tell something was turning in his mind and he was wondering what just happened, but not one person was telling him just yet. I took my big bag over to the dumpster and I could see Richie out of the corner of my eye follow me now in earnest as he left this bike on the floor next to mine.
"What happened?" He asked, "Christ you guys took forever and a day!"
"You don't wanna know," I replied to him,
"Well, if I'm asking I do wanna know!" He said back to me, having me throw the bag over the top into the dumpster and turn to face him. Since I had two free hands I signed to him since I knew he was the only one who knew enough signs to sign back to me without hesitance.
"No, you don't." I signed back to him, taking in my own deep breath and I could see he was watching me. I wasn't myself, not since that incident in the hospital. I wasn't as confident as I was before, something inside me was shaken and was not bouncing back.
"What happened with you?" He signed to me, seeing that I was biting my lower lip and I shook my head. He shook his head back since he knew I wasn't going to say anything now to him, "Something happened, and you're not telling me. Please tell me."
"You wouldn't believe me." I signed back to him now as the others were gathering up. I placed my hands down now and I looked over to the others now, seeing that they too looked out of it from what happened. Stan saw how I looked hesitant and I looked away from him now, placing my hands in my back pockets now as Richie spoke up.
"Can someone tell me what happened back there?" He asked now in a huff. I eyed Stan once more, not only thinking of just happened with Beverly but also what happened with me. I didn't tell the others just yet, and I don't think I could tell them all. Richie, although, was different. I was closer to him than the others, and he knew how I ticked and vice versa.
What was I going to tell him?