"Hello?"
Winter woke up to the splashes of water hitting her face and the sound of a soft child-like voice who sounded panicked and weak.
She fluttered her eyes open. She was face-to-face with a young girl, maybe eight years old, who was tapping her shoulder.
As reality and the face of the clown she had seen awoke her memory, Winter quickly jumped up to a sitting position on the cold concrete and backed away from the little girl.
"Are you real?" the little girl asked her. She had blond hair with stains of blood in her hair as well as her face.
Winter hyperventilated as she stared wide-eyed at the blood-stained girl.
"Yeah... are you?" Winter's voice sounded shaken.
The little girl began to cry. Her cries were over-powered by the sound of water draining into the ground. Winter wanted to help her, but she didn't know how.
"How come we're down here?"
"The clown brought us down here..." she cried as she stared down at the ground. "I'm Lily."
Lily was shaking in her pyjama's. She had been taken right from her baby brother's bedroom when she opened the closet door to make sure the boogeyman wasn't in there, watching her brother as he tried to sleep. Except she didn't find the boogeyman, she found something worse.
Winter took off her jacket and wrapped the little girl in it, leaving herself in only her black sweater, t-shirt and jeans in the cold sewer.
"Help me..." the weak voice of a traumatized child from the other side of the dark room caught Winter's attention.
Winter looked up. Behind Lily at the other side was a little boy who was laying on the floor with a bright yellow rain-jacket on.
Winter's eyes went wide as her eyes began adjusting to the darkness and she recognized the face of the young boy on the floor. It was Bill's little brother, Georgie.
"GEORGIE?!" Winter shakily got up on her feet and ran over to the boy who was soaking up the ground with his own blood.
She got down to her knees and noticed that he was missing an arm. She let out a loud cry at the sight of the poor boy she would babysit once in a while. Winter didn't know exactly what to do, but she acted the best she could in the situation.
"Georgie, I'm here. It's Winter," she said, trying to sound as reassuring as she could.
"The clown ripped my arm off... And then he brought me down here..." his voice was so weak. He was losing a lot of blood.
Winter took off her sweater, leaving her in her light purple t-shirt. She took her sweater and applied pressure to his side where his arm had been ripped out to help the bleeding slow down. She picked him up in her arms as gently as she could so it wouldn't cause more pain.
"He took my boat... Bill is going to be so mad..." he said as he stared up to the ceiling.
"All three of us are getting out of here, Georgie!" Winter cried as she carried him towards Lily. "Come with me, Lily!"
"It won't let us leave..." the little girl said. Winter didn't listen. She had one mission, and it was to get Georgie, Lily and herself out of the sewers and get Georgie to the hospital.
"Georgie, don't fall asleep, okay? Just keep your eyes open, and if you have to, keep talking. If you don't know what to say, then sing. Just stay awake!" Winter spoke to him as she walked with Lily holding onto Winter's arm down a tunnel. She didn't know where she was going, but there had to have been exits.
Georgie weakly started humming Beethoven's 'Fur Elise'. It was the song his and Bill's mom would frequently play on the piano to them.
As they kept going into the tunnels, his hums were becoming weaker. She looked down at him as they continued to walk; His blood had soaked her sweater and it was dripping down her shirt. His face stared at the ceiling as if he wasn't even in his body anymore, but he kept humming.
"There's no way out!" Lily cried.
Winter was hiding her panic thinking that Lily was right - but there had to be a way out?! There are drain storms everywhere in Derry!
As they continued to walk, it became too quiet.
Georgie had stopped humming.
Winter stopped walking abruptly and looked at Georgie's face. His face was still and he wasn't blinking anymore. With one last breath, his body became limp and heavier in her arms.
"NO! NO! NO!" Winter cried. She got to her knees and placed Georgie gently on the ground. "GEORGIE?!" She screamed. "You gotta keep humming, Georgie, please! PLEASE!" she cried with the tears falling down her cheeks.
Winter opened his raincoat and put her ear down to his chest. She pulled her emotions together and told herself that she had no time to think and just had to do what she already knew. But there was no heartbeat and he wasn't breathing anymore.
She placed the heel of her hand on the centre of his tiny chest. She began to press down on his chest at two inches, making sure that her hand was away from his rib cage, fearing that she could break it. She pressed down 30 times at a rate of 100 per minute.
She checked quickly to see if his heart had started back up. It didn't.
Lily was crying beside her, but Winter tuned out her cries and concentrated on Georgie.
She wiped Georgie's mouth, trying to clear the blood that had dripped out from the sides of his mouth. She gently lifted his chin up and tilted his head back by pushing his forehead. She pinched his nose and wrapped her lips tightly around his mouth. After every two breaths, she would look over to his chest to see if his chest was rising.
Winter repeated giving CPR to Georgie. Every time she tried and failed, she became more panicked but was still determined.
"HE'S DEAD!" Lily cried even louder.
Winter was in denial. She couldn't let Georgie die. How would she be able to look at Bill again if she failed his little brother?
"COME ON, GEORGIE!" Winter yelled as she tried one more time. She wanted to keep going, but she broke down in tears as she knew it wasn't going to work. She felt her whole body collapse and she kept herself up with her elbows. After a few seconds, she got control of her emotions again, "I can't give up on him... I got to keep trying!"
Winter breathed heavily as she kept her eyes on Georgie's lifeless body.
"I got to keep trying!" she said again as she got herself back together and tried giving him CPR one more time.
Reality hit Winter hard, and she realized it was over. Even if she did bring him back momentarily, he had lost too much blood and wouldn't be able stay alive for more than two minutes. Winter cried as she laid her head on Georgie's still chest.
"I'm sorry, Billy..." she cried. "I'm so sorry..."
Lily slowly walked over to Winter and wrapped her arms around her as she held Georgie. Winter sat up and grabbed Lily in a hug, realizing that she was scared and hurt too. They held each other tight as they cried.
Winter pulled out of the hug and looked into Lily's scared eyes. She wiped a tear from her small face and tried to smile even though her voice was shaking, "Lily, my name's Winter. I'm going to help you get back home, okay? We're going to find the way out." she tried to reassure her as best as she could.
"The clown ate my baby brother in front of me before he took me..." she said. Her face was still in shock and she looked like she was sleep-walking as she was definitely traumatized.
Winter's breath caught in her chest; "What? The clown ate..." She couldn't form the words, "Ate your baby brother? Ate?"
"He ate Georgie's arm, too..." she whimpered.
Winter looked back down at Georgie's lifeless body, wondering how scared he must have been.
She got back up to her feet with Lily close by her side. Winter grabbed Georgie's body and wrapped him up in her arms. If she couldn't save him, she was at least going to get his body out of the sewers.
"Lets keep walking..." Winter said.
"It's still going to find us. The lights will know where we are. It watches..." Lily said as they walked together. Her words sent shivers down Winter's spine.
'It watches'... What's 'It'? The clown?
She could feel something watching them, and she could sense It was going to make Its presence known soon enough.
As they continued to walk quietly, flashbacks were playing in Winter's head:
Richie's voice was repeating in her head...
"It's just a story that every some-odd years, people go missing, especially children. Once they go missing, they're never found, or they're found dead. Some say it's witches. The oldest person that lives in Derry, Mr. Gibson, says that it was a psycho guy dressed as a clown back in the 1800's, and then to keep the urban legend alive, some crazy assholes will try dressing up as the same clown and do the same shit he did and go on a kidnapping binge. We've never seen anything though, but kids do go missing once in a while, but not like they did back when the legend was alive."
Then Robert's voice echoed in her head...
"...And then I remember these hands that were covered up by white gloves. I can't for the life of me remember what the guy looked like, but my imagination always makes me picture red hair... kind of goofy but in a scary type of way... And he smelled like the sewers...He had a red balloon..."
Winter and Lily stopped walking as they noticed something coming towards them slowly. It was floating towards them.
"What is that?" Lily's voice was shaking. She grabbed onto Winter's waist as she tightened her grip as it came closer, "WINTER! WHAT IS THAT?!" she was terrified.
Winter continued to stare at it as it came towards them.
"He had a red balloon..."
"It's a red balloon."
Henry had fallen asleep at his desk while he was finishing up his math homework. He laid hunched over the desk with his arms below his head like a pillow.
He was having a dream. In the dream, there was nothing, only darkness, but he was aware of the darkness. There was even a smell - it smiled like The Barrens when he would walk too close to the storm drain. He didn't know where he was - it was only darkness. Just black. He couldn't see anything. He could hear water running, and he could feel fear.
"Henry!" a voice surprised him from behind. Henry turned around and he was shocked to see a demonic clown behind him, looking at him with evil in his eyes, "Kill them all, Henry! KILL THEM ALL!"
Henry awoke with panic and hit his head on the back of the chair as he jumped out of his seat. Henry was sweating from the nightmare. He wiped the faint sweat off of his forehead and wondered why he had a nightmare like that, of a clown.
The turtle was tapping at the glass towards Henry. Henry looked over at his turtle beside him. The desk light was shining in the aquarium, lighting up the reptile. He looked at the turtle puzzled as he continued to tap at the glass, looking like he was trying to tell him something important.
As he stared at his turtle, a thought came to his mind: Did Winter try calling while I was asleep?
He looked at his clock on the shelf. It read it was 2AM. Henry grabbed his portable phone that was on his desk and looked to see if there were any missing calls. There were none.
Did she forget? She never forgets to call me when she walks home...
Henry dialled her number, knowing that her parents weren't home so it would have been her that answered. Even if she was asleep, her phone was beside her on her night table. The few times he did call while she was asleep, she had always answered.
It dialled and dialled until it went to voice mail.
Confused, Henry tried again.
The same thing. It went to voicemail.
Henry quickly glanced out his window and saw that it was raining out. He was starting to become worried.
Not knowing what else to do, he went to his parents bedroom and woke them up.
"Mom? Dad?" he shook his dad awake.
His parents woke up sleepily and turned on the bedside light, "What's wrong, Henry? Is everything okay?"
They could tell that he looked concerned and there was worry in his voice; "I told Winter to call me when she got home, but she never did. She's not picking up the phone either and it's right beside her bed. I tried calling twice."
Earl looked at him confused, "But you and Robert walked her home, didn't you?"
Henry's eyes went wide at him, wondering what he was talking about, "Dad! You told Robert and I to stay to do homework and help mom in the kitchen! You told us that she would be okay to walk home by herself!"
Ruth's mouth dropped open and she looked over at Earl shocked.
Earl was flabbergasted, "No, Henry! I told you and Robert to walk her home right before I went for my shower!"
"Dad! Robert, Winter and I were standing on the lawn when you said it! Robert can tell you!" Henry yelled, he was becoming frustrated with anger and worry.
Robert walked sleepily in the room after waking up to Henry yelling.
"What's going on?" he asked tiredly.
Henry began pacing and chewing on his thumb as Earl and Ruth looked over at Robert.
"I told you and Henry to walk Winter home, right? Did you walk her home?" Earl asked, looking worried too.
Robert stared at him confused with sleep still gazed in his eyes, "You did, but then you told Henry and I to stay. Winter walked home by herself."
"EARL!" Ruth shouted at him.
"I don't remember that happening! I couldn't - I wouldn't - have said something like that!"
"We need to drive to her house to see if she's okay!" Then he remembered that his dad's truck was at the shop. Henry panicked and came up with other ideas; "I'll take a cab, or I'll walk! I don't care about the curfew! I need to see that she's okay!"
Robert rubbed his neck nervously.
The whole family was feeling the panic rise in their chests. "I'll call Jim!" Ruth said as she grabbed the phone by her bedside.
When Jim answered the phone and Ruth explained that Winter had ended up walking home by herself and hadn't contacted them and was not picking up the phone, he told them that he would drive by the house and check.
She hung up the phone and turned to the family, "He said he will drive by and knock, but if it's this late at night and Winter is home alone sleeping, she might not go to the door. He said not many people would answer the door this late when there's a kidnapper on the loose..." she continued to looked at Henry's worried expression. "He will try though, but he said if she is not in school tomorrow, then he will call in a disappearance, even though it hasn't been 72 hours yet."
Henry's stomach began to turn with fear. He was sure something wasn't right - he knew it.