The first steps inside the Neibolt house saw the trio in absolute wonder.
"Okay, it's definitely old-fashioned," Eddie commented as he saw thick cobwebs outlining the corners of the main room.
As the youngster glanced around, he saw graffiti that lined the walls, furniture that was damaged, and wooden floors that were cracking in near half.
'This is…this is bad.' Eddie thought as he got his first real smell of the house.
"Oh, god!" he yelled as he covered his nose and mouth.
"Yeah, I hear you," Richie commented, "be careful not to inhale through your mouth."
Eddie nodded furiously as he adjusted to the decaying smell.
As Richie and Bill walked around the living room off to the right, Eddie made his way over to what appeared to be the dining room off to the left. There, hundreds of posters littered the floor.
"Oh, shit," he said as his foot almost stepped on a poster of…
Richie?
"No, that can't be right," Eddie whispered as he picked up the poster in question and examined it.
"Hey, Eds, what you got there?" Richie asked as he and Bill approached.
As Eddie started to tremble in place, the poster in his hands started to shake along with him.
"Rich…Richie, this is something you…you shouldn't see."
"Why is that?"
Eddie held the poster close to his body. "I'm trying to protect you."
Richie shook his head. "Let me see what you have."
"No, Richie."
"Eddie, please, what is it?"
As Richie made a reach for the poster, Eddie stepped back. Another reach attempt meant another step back…until his back was against the wall, covered in cobwebs.
"Eww…oh god, oh fuck!" Eddie yelped as he felt his body touch the webs, dropping the poster and running behind Bill as he ran his hands through the back of his body.
"Finally," Richie said as he grabbed the poster that was showing its back on the ground.
As he turned it around, Richie found out the exact reason why Eddie was over-protective.
"Why…why is this about me?"
"Ri-Richie…" Bill started to say, reaching out to the teen.
"No, Bill. This is my face, my name, my age…why is this here! Am I going to disappear too?"
Richie was nearly hyperventilating, his whole body shaking in absolute fear.
Eddie took a quick hit of his inhaler and shook his head, approaching Richie.
"No, we aren't going anywhere."
"Eddie's right. Th-this poster is only here to sc-scare us…that's what it wants."
"Well, it did its…fucking job!" Richie yelled as he looked around, plotting his next move.
The trio heard a creak coming from upstairs.
"Well," Bill gulped, "We can g-go up there n-next."
Eddie and Richie solemnly nodded as they made their way up the stairs, some steps creaking louder than others.
"Gee, this is some real Poltergeist shit," Richie mumbled.
"Please don't remind me," Eddie said as he scanned the area.
"Which way?" Bill asked as they reached the top, with the creak coming from their left.
The trio unanimously went left, towards the creak, as it grew louder with each step.
As they reached a fork in the road, the creak was louder off to the left, to which Eddie followed.
"Eddie, wait!"
Bill's plea fell on deaf ears as the youngster bolted towards the cracked door on the other side, opening it up to reveal…
"Nothing; how fucking awesome," Eddie muttered, kicking the ground beneath him.
"Eddie, get back over here!" Richie called out to his friend.
"Okay, I'm coming – nothing was over here by the way," Eddie said as he approached the duo.
Before he could make it across, though, the floor opened up, leading down to the dark kitchen.
"Oh, you got to be kidding me!"
As Eddie said this, he felt uneasy, as though someone was watching him. Turning around, he saw the leper.
"Hello," it said, mouth open exposing its sharp fangs.
With one step back, Eddie tripped and fell back down into the blackness, his weight shifting towards his right arm.
As he collided with the table, his weight and velocity broke it, allowing his arm to fall onto the hard floor beneath, snapping it into two.
"Ahhh!" Eddie yelled as he gasped for breath, looking at his broken arm.
"Eddie!" Richie yelled as he and Bill looked at the leper, still smiling. Both boys bolted towards the other side, Richie going right towards the stairs while Bill went left towards an abandoned room.
"Bill, are you—"
Eddie will be fine.
Hearing his conscience at this time was unnerving to Richie, but he shook it off. He glanced down the hall he was in prior to see that the leper disappeared.
"Psst."
Hearing Bill's call had Richie snapped out of his trance, as he moved towards the room where Bill was in.
"Okay, I'm here," the teen said as he glanced around along with Bill.
There was one mattress lying on the ground in the room, with a door off to the left-hand side.
"Bill…"
"Ye-yeah, Richie?"
"One of us needs to check out the door…over there."
As Richie pointed to the door, Bill stepped back, arms up in defense.
"Y-you go in, and I'll follow be-behind."
"…Fine, but I want you right behind me."
"I…I will."
Richie approached the door, his hand on the doorknob, but before turning it open, he looked back at Bill who was still standing in the same spot.
"Hey, when I said right behind me, I literally meant it."
Bill exhaled slowly as he walked towards the teen.
"Th-there…happy?" Bill asked as he was a few inches away from his friend.
"Much better," Richie replied as he opened the door and stepped inside the dark room.
He expected Bill to be right behind, but didn't make the realization until he heard the door slam behind him and he heard knocking on the other side.
"Richie!"
"…Oh, for fucks sake."
Richie examined the room before him, pitting him against his biggest fear…clowns.
He gulped as the lights flickered on the clowns around the room, moving towards one and raising an arm towards it. His heartbeat was racing as he made the lunge.
He felt only the exterior, and nothing came out of it.
"Stupid clowns," Richie mumbled as he shook his head.
The drape covering up the stained-glass window on the right drooped down to reveal some sunlight in the room at the same time the covers over what appeared to be a small casket dropped to the floor in the middle of the room.
The casket door slowly creaked open, unveiling a covered-up body lying inside.
Richie slowly made his way over to the casket, his heartbeat accelerating once again.
He heard thumps coming through his chest as he reached the wooden box, removing the cover and revealing his small doll-like self, covered in maggots.
Richie screamed and slammed the door shut.
"Okay, this is—"
He couldn't finish his sentence as the casket door flew right open…
And out popped It.
As the clown landed on top of the casket, Richie screamed and backed away.
The clown looked onto the teen and smiled wickedly, reaching out his left hand.
"Hello there, Richie," he said, waving at the terrified teen.
Richie gulped as he made it back towards the door, shaking the doorknob and pounding on it in endless fright.
"Bill! Open up!"
As he turned, he saw It with both arms out, floating towards him at lightning speed.
Richie closed his eyes as he felt hands touching his body, pulling him away.
"No!" he cried out as he hit the floor.
"We need to get out of here."
Richie opened his eyes to see Bill standing in front of him, the door that led to the room that he was just in shut closed.
"I…I agree," he said, feeling all over himself.
A noise came from the mattress as creaks and laughter filled the room.
"Oh, what now?" Richie pondered aloud in a whisper.
Eddie's head popped up from the mattress, looking disheveled.
"You want to play loogie?"
Neither one knew how to respond, so the imposter did just that as black gunk oozed out of his mouth, along with the mattress.
The gunk made its way towards the two as Eddie let out a sinister laugh.
"We need to go," Richie said in a panic as he turned around to see three doors.
"Oh, fucking hell!"
Bill grabbed Richie's hand and pulled him towards the door on the left, entitled in blood NOT SCARY AT ALL.
Opening the door, they heard a soft voice within the darkness.
"Where are my shoes?"
At that, light illuminated the room, revealing a girl, her top half hanging from chains wrapped around her arms, while her legs…
"What the fuck!" Richie yelped as Bill shut the door.
"Where were her legs? What's going on?"
Richie crouched down towards the floor as the gunk drew closer.
"None of this is real…remember the poster?"
Richie nodded in distress, standing upright and towards Bill.
"Okay, fine…on three."
Bill swung the door open as soon as Richie spoke, revealing the hallway leading towards the stairs.
"Oh, thank god," Richie commented as he looked back to see the room not flowing with gunk.
The duo ran across the hall, in search of their missing friend…
Eddie examined his broken right arm, nearly on the verge of tears.
'Oh, my mother is going to flip her shit…I want to go home!'
His thoughts were cut short when he heard tapping on the refrigerator door.
As the door swung open, It was sitting there in an awkward position, his head at the bottom of the fridge.
"Hello there, my sweet summer child…"
It made its way out of the fridge, composing himself to stand upright and towards the youngster.
Eddie was rendered to silence, only his fast breathing leaving his mouth.
"Time to float."
As It stepped one foot in front of the other, Eddie scrambled towards the wall, his left arm and legs doing the work. He gasped and gulped with each step that the clown took, close to hyperventilating.
With his back up against the wall, Eddie waited a few moments, catching his breath.
It screamed in agony as he came down to Eddie's level, grabbing the boy's body.
"Leave…me…alone," Eddie cried as he started to slap the clown with his left hand.
It grabbed the free arm and started to bring his mouth towards the hand; Eddie yelped with each approach, tears now streaming down his face.
"Oh…oh no," the clown said as he started to mimic Eddie's crying, which only made the boy cry harder.
After a few seconds, It grabbed Eddie's neck, licking his lips in anticipation.
"Tasty…fear tastes beautiful."
"…P-p-please, no," Eddie wept as the clown opened its mouth, lunging ever so slowly towards him.
A small creak caught Its attention, as he turned towards the sound.
Eddie screamed for help, but the clown covered his face, leaving him mute.
The door opened to reveal Bill and Richie, appearing in absolute shock seeing the clown.
It chuckled. "Is this real enough for you, Billy? Because it was real for Georgie!"
As Bill heard his younger brother's name, he froze in terror.
Richie gulped. "Holler, holler!"
Just as he said this, It lunged towards Bill, ready to feast on the leader.
That was until Bev appeared, placing a spear through the head of the clown.
Everything froze as It stood motionless, crying in pain.
"I…we were venturing around, and I heard you holler," Bev said, her words dripping with fear.
"Guys!"
Eddie's holler alerted Bill, Richie, and Bev as the trio made their way over. Ben, Mike, and Stan stood to the side, each freaked over the appearance of the clown.
"Please take me home!" Eddie cried, newly fresh tears falling down his face.
"It's okay, we'll—"
Before Bev could finish, It straightened its back and turned towards the kids on the ground, slowly making its way over.
Bill was left mute, mouth hung open.
Bev shook in absolute fear.
Only Eddie was left making any sound that came out from his mouth.
"Eddie, please look at me."
When he didn't listen, Richie grabbed his friend's face and turned it towards him.
What do you see?
His conscience chose a really bad time to ask questions, but he saw the fear in Eddie's brown eyes.
As the clown inched closer, Eddie jerked back to look, and Richie moved his face to look at him again.
"Please get me out!" Eddie pleaded with each back and forth.
It let out a sinister laugh as it stopped mid-walk and swiped left, effectively colliding his hand with Ben's stomach.
"Oh my god, Ben!" Stan cried as he caught his friend before falling, Mike aiding too.
As the clown disappeared through the same door that Richie and Ben entered, the leader stood up and slowly followed him.
"Bill, wait!" Bev called out to him, but her words fell flat.
"It's okay…he'll be fine," Richie tried to reassure her before turning his attention towards Eddie.
"This might sound crazy, but I'm going to snap your arm back in place."
"Richie – do not fucking touch me!"
"Oh, how bad can it be?"
"Richie, I swear on my life, if you try this—"
"One, two, three!"
On three, Richie snapped Eddie's broken arm upward, causing the youngster to scream in agonizing pain.
"Richie…why the fuck did you do that?" Bev asked, her hands covering her mouth.
"I was just—"
"Guys, c-come over here," Bill called over as he reentered the kitchen, "you n-need to see—"
"No! Absolutely not! Someone, get me out of here!"
A screech of tires was heard outside, and one voice yelled so loud, that the others heard it clear within the house.
"Edward Kaspbrak!"
The group of losers looked over towards the youngster, whose face flushed of all color.