Monday May 26, 1997 (Nighttime)

Winter and Lily had dozed off through the remainder of the day. Both of them had a long night of terror and trying to find the way out. As they awoke this evening, they didn't think this night was going to be much different than the night before.

Winter woke up and didn't feel like herself. She could feel her lungs swelling up and the pain from the cuts on her stomach made her think that they were becoming infected. She began coughing hard and it woke up Lily.

Winter looked down at her scars on her stomach; They were still covered in blood and the skin around the scar was turning a light yellow. She weakly lolled her head back at the look of it.

"Maybe you want your jacket back, Winter?" Lily asked Winter, seeing how she was becoming sick.

"You need to stay warm, Lily. I want to be sure you get home safely," Winter's voice was becoming a bit horse, but she could still talk fine.

"If you want me to keep the jacket, then I want you to have my bracelet. I made it with this lady who told me she was this thing called a Reiki Master. She said she put healing energy in it. Since you're not feeling good, you should have it," Lily said as she untied the black beaded bracelet from her wrist and tied it to Winter's.

Winter read about the healing energy of Reiki. The Reiki Master had to be attuned to the healing powers of Reiki from a ritual conducted by another Reiki Master. After being attuned, they have the energy field from the universe go through their body and transfer to other peoples bodies from their hands. Some people live by it as their means of healing. The world of natural medicines and remedies were fascinating.

"If you close your eyes and focus on the bracelet, you can feel the tingling." Lily said as she petted the bracelet on Winter's arm. "It's magic. It's connected to the love of the universe and nature."

"You're a real smart girl, Lily. Thank you so much for the bracelet."

"You're welcome. Don't keep it forever though. She told me that whenever you meet someone who needs the bracelet more than you do, you pass it onto them. When they're ready to give it away to someone who needs it more than they do, then they can pass it onto them."

"Keep passing it on until eventually the whole world is healed with its love?" Winter smiled at the bracelet weakly and back at Lily. It was the first time she felt distracted since she had been trapped in the sewers. It felt good.

Winter put her hand to her hot forehead, feeling sweat forming, although she felt very cold at the same time. "I wish there was clean water..."

"And maybe some food..."

"I don't usually share, but you can have some of Georgie!" a goofy laugh came from beside Winter.

Winter turned her head sharply beside her. It was the clown sitting beside her, eating up Georgie's little leg. Georgie's blood splattered all over the clown's mouth.

Winter grabbed Lily's arm, and with all her force that she could get, got up to her feet quickly and pulled Lily behind her so she was guarded by Winter's body. The clown wasn't there before. It was just the two of them. How does It just appear from out of nowhere?

The clown got up on Its feet. How was it possible that It looked bigger and taller than It did before? Winter could feel the field of force around the clown - what made the clown - was becoming stronger. It was pure evil and if It had a smell, like rotting eggs. Even Its physical form looked different - It was gaining strength.

"STAY AWAY FROM US, YOU PSYCHOPATH!" Winter yelled. She was trying to be strong for Lily, but her voice was more shaky than strong.

The clown stumbled backwards and put a hand on Its heart - if It even had a heart - and whimpered with fake cries.

"Winter, you hurt my feelings..." It was playing her, "I invite you into MY house - MY home - and you insult me! I just wanted to give you the best hospitality I could give..." It fake cried some more.

"You're just a fucking perverted pedophile trying to keep a Goddamn stupid town's urban legend alive! You're taking it way too damn far!" Winter spat at him, thinking back to the town's legend when someone every 27 years would go on a kidnap spree to keep the legend alive, according to Richie.

The clown stared at her, thinking that she was confused at what Richie told her. It could watch the flashback she was having the day with Eddie, Richie, Bill and Stan. It watched in her memories as Richie told her the town's story.

Seriously, with that same transfixed look It had before, It started to explain, "I am older than the world itself. I am not a stupid, foolish, human in a clown costume. I am a cosmic energy that not even the most brilliant Astronomer could explain..." It continued to stare at her. Slowly, as It explained further, It began to walk up to the two girls. Winter continued to back them away as she stared the clown in the eyes. "I am the eater of worlds! I am the eater of children! Children are the easiest to scare and their fear tastes so much fresher than the fear of a pruned adult! And children taste so much better when they are afraid and alive!"

The clown stopped walking and stared at them again. It was like a lion who was standing very still, about to pounce at the prey. But who was It looking at? Did It just turn to stone or was It looking at one of us?

Suddenly, It began to run up to them with a wicked speed as It ran with all Its might. Before Winter or Lily could react, the clown grabbed a hold of Lily's legs, lifting her off of her feet.

Lily screamed and hung onto Winters arm. Winter grabbed onto her arms and tried her best to keep a strong grip on her. The clown began to turn into a blob of white light, blinding Winter and making her turn her face away and close her eyes. She continued to keep her grip on Lily.

Lily's little fingernails were piercing Winter's skin as the clown - or the lights - were pulling her.

It was too strong. The lights sucked Lily up like a vacuum cleaner, and Winter could hear screaming and chewing.

She fell onto her bottom and shook with fear.

There was no one there anymore. Lily was gone and so was the clown and the lights.

Winter screamed into her knees and hugged herself until she was able to come back to her grips. She stared down at the Reiki energy filled bracelet and thought she could see the ripples of energy surrounding it. She wished she let Lily keep it. Maybe it was what was keeping her alive.

Winter continued to cry into her knees.

It was night time when Henry was searching around the streets in Derry. He didn't stop searching for the night and he was determined to find Winter.

The town of Derry had already put in the alert that Winter Callaghan had gone missing. Jim Hopper was assigned to find her. Henry knew as well that Eddie, Stan, Richie, and that Bev girl skipped school to look for her as well. He kept his distance from them, as something inside him told him to, but he hoped that if he couldn't find her alive and safe then they could.

Henry was on his breaking point after searching by himself for twelve hours. It was already passed the 7PM curfew, but he didn't care. He imagined his parents were worried about him, but he didn't care about that either. To him, it was all his dad's fault anyway, and Henry was angry.

Henry stopped walking at the bridge where the kids and lovers in Derry would carve their crushes names into the fence.

He kicked the fence as hard as he could with frustration, anger, sadness and every negative emotion he had that was building up inside him.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU TAKE HER?! YOU FUCKING PERVERTED PIECE OF SHIT! COME HERE AND FIGHT ME!" he yelled out to the road with anger and tears. He fell on his bottom when his knees decided to buckle from all the emotions he was letting out. He punched the fence as hard as he could, which caused his knuckles to bleed from splinters.

Henry looked up to the stars, imagining he was talking to a Godly Force, "She's my everything! First you take my older brother away! Then you bring him back, and now you take my girlfriend away! WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF GAME IS THIS?! IS THIS SOME BALANCING OUT KARMIC BULLSHIT?! IT'S FUCKING UP MY LIFE!" He cried as he begged softly, "Please... I'll do anything to have her back safely."

There was a shooting star that went through the starlit sky that Henry noticed.

"Henry..." said a voice from inside of the dark bridge.

Henry quickly jumped back up on his feet as he stared in the darkness of the tunnel. "Who the fuck was that?!"

His eyes weren't adjusting to the pitch blackness in the bridge. He could feel the heat rising in his veins when he thought he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at him. Henry stared back.

Then the eyes were gone.

Henry blinked in confusion at what he just saw. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he considered walking in the bridge to see what was there.

Henry jumped from a hand that landed on his shoulder before he could start walking into the bridge.

"Bowers!" said the boy who put his hand on his shoulder.

Henry turned around and was faced with two guys that he had never seen before. One of them was tall with dry curly hair and the other guy was shorter with gelled back hair. Both of them wore leather jackets and their style was very vintage.

"Who the fuck are you guys?" Henry asked. He realized he never swore as much as he did that night.

"Seriously, Bowers?" said the shorter one. "We go to Derry High School too. We see you in the hallways. Pretty sure you've seen us too."

Henry tried to think, "No... I don't remember."

"I'm Vic - short for Victor, and this is Belch," Victor put his hand on Henry's shoulder, "We're out looking for your girl. We were told she went missing, and we were told to help."

Henry blinked at the two guys. He found them really odd. They just came out of nowhere and acted like they were his best friends.

"He's confused, Belch!" Vic said to Belch. Belch just laughed and shrugged. He wasn't much of a talker.

"Think of us as your gang, Henry. We're here to make sure you're okay, that things go the way they're planned, and that you get your girl back."

Henry squinted at him, "What are you even talking about?"

"You'll find out soon. Don't worry... Things are going to be okay, okay?" Vic said confidently and patted Henry's shoulder. "You're mad, and you shouldn't hold that toxic shit in. Let everyone know that you're angry. And sometimes, if you feel like you can't do what you need to do, this shit really helps."

Belch pulled out a bottle of rum from his jacket pocket. Henry stared at it. He had never drank before, but with all his emotions boiling up, he was tempted.

"You're giving me booze?" he asked confused.

"Henry, a man can be strong, but the flesh is weak. When you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change. The devil changes you. If you drink some, you'll be able to do what you need to do without feeling like you're the one steering the wheel." With one last pat on the shoulder, Vic said, "We'll be checking in on you soon."

Belch put the bottle of rum in Henry's hands. Henry watched them as they walked away into the darkness of the bridge.

"What the fuck?" he whispered as he looked from the bridge to the bottle of rum in his hands. It was called'Bacardi 151'. The bottle was from the 1950's. Henry looked at the aged bottle with a raised eyebrow and turned back to the bridge one last time.

He quickly put the bottle in his backpack and continued on with his search.