DISCLAIMER: IT IS OWNED BY NEW LINE CINEMA AND WARNER BROS. STUDIOS! I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC!
A/N: We have reached the tenth chapter! I am predicting that there will be three or four more after this one, so be looking forward the those!
Forewarning: The POV will switch back and forth a few times between Steph and Bill, so I just wanted to prepare you for the craziness and emotions. This is by far the craziest and wild chapter of them all!
SuperSentai199: Hey, you understand! Awesome! And yes, it proves how strong Steph truly is! :) Glad you enjoyed the last chapter!
Connie Hooper: Thank you! I completely understand that you've been busy. We all have those days where we have too much to do and we can't write. I can't wait for your next chapter of "Inevitable!"
robinmuffins: Thank you so much! And yes, the final showdown finally begins here! But, spoilers, Its death isn't in this chapter.
Angryfanfic: Hmmm... Guess you'll have to wait until the epilogue ;)
Guest: Me neither!
MusicLover14: Boy, oh boy! This is gonna be a long one (thank God you read my author's notes!)… First off, yes you did flatter me, the tables HAVE turned lol Second, I'm gonna answer all of your questions in one go. *inhales deeply* The Losers are currently Its true lair, so they're pretty much under the sewers. The Shokopiwah was a tribe from WAY back when that tried to defeat It with the Ritual of Chüd, but the fourth side of Mike's vase showed that they failed and It killed them all. The Turtle is not in It: Chapter Two at all, but I've read the book. The Turtle dies a few years before the adult storyline. And also, I do cliffhangers because I'm evil. Don't cry, but there is another one... :'( And you can give me as many kudos as you want! They make me happy!
MissBeckyJolene: Thank you! And, honestly, SAME!
.2019: Glad you loved it!
Special thanks to Angryfanfic, SuperSentai199, Connie Hooper, robinmuffins, Guest, MusicLover14, DoodleBugNY, MissBeckyJolene, and .2019 for either leaving a review or favoriting/following the last chapter!
Now, without further ado, here is the tenth and VERY LONG chapter!
Chapter Ten
Anger filled every inch of Steph's being as she turned and gave Mike the scariest look he had ever seen from her. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be more scared of the demonic entity or his best friend.
"You lied to us again?!" Steph roared at him, the glower in her eyes not changing one bit as she grit her teeth in rage. She could see Mike trying to come up with an excuse but, in her honest opinion, she knew that he was far from getting out of this one innocent.
"The tribe… they didn't believe they could kill It back then… that's why it didn't work for them, because they didn't believe they could kill It!" Mike pleaded, trying to come off as telling the truth, but Steph knew that he was lying the second he started speaking. She scoffed as everyone else started to get ticked off.
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME, MIKE?!" wailed Richie in irritation.
Steph couldn't believe that her best friend would have the guts - the audacity - to lie to her face like that. It was even worse that she bought everything that he had said, she freaking believed him! It made her sick to her stomach. Not even Mike saying that he was sorry could fix this now, it was now a life or death situation no matter what happened. She couldn't do anything about that.
"Screw you, Mikey!" Bill sobbed, just as the giant version of the clown started crawling out of the branch structure.
"The Deadlights!" Beverly warned them. "Don't look at them!" She was right, as the entity took on that form for a second. Steph closed her eyes for a moment until she was sure it was safe to open them again.
Steph's eyes widened even more to the point they were nearly bugging out of her skull when she saw the spider legs attached to the creature. Her heart started going at a speed unknown to humanity as she started backing up, Bill jumping in front of her to protect her as she stared at the thing that she couldn't even have imagined to ever see.
"For 27 years…" It growled, its voice bouncing off of the walls and into the ears of each Loser that stood there in terror. "...I dreamt of you… I craved you… I'VE MISSED YOU!"
Mike then took steps away from the group and towards the demon, something that they were not anticipating. Steph shook her head and started yelling his name, but he seemed to not have heard her, as he was shaking from head to toe when he finally stopped ten feet from the clown. "I'm sorry, guys," he said in a croaky voice. "I'm so sorry!"
Steph screamed at the top of her lungs when one of the creature's gloves turned into a giant claw, just like from her nightmare of Georgie in the past. "TIME TO FLOAT!" It said the exact words from then. She knew what was going to happen next, but she wouldn't let it take place. So, she bravely ran for her best friend, despite Bill's attempts to hold her back. "Steph, no!" he bellowed.
Just as the clown saw her, It brought down the sharp tip of the claw on Mike, but Steph got there with half a second to spare and she jerked Mike out of the way. The claw impaled the ground, missing the woman by a nanometer. "RUN!" she screamed at the others as she pulled Mike along with her.
She could hear the thudding of fast footsteps after Bill ran up to her and gripped her hand in his. Steph and Bill ran as fast as they could, the others screaming either in front of, beside, or behind them. He pushed her ahead of him to give her more of a lead as she saw another tunnel-like area in one of the walls.
They both jumped into the tunnel, their hands still attached in the process. Immediately, ice cold water doused Steph's senses, making her eyes widen a little. Goosebumps erupted all over her arms as she swam and, to her horror, Bill's hand was separated from hers quite quickly.
She couldn't see him in the depths of the dark water, and Steph panicked majorly. Her oxygen was robbed from her lungs, so she couldn't breathe at all. But, she turned in a random direction and saw a shape at least five feet away from her. She swam as fast as she could toward it, her arms reaching out for it. She could feel the object; it felt like wood, and then metal.
It's a door! Steph thought to herself as she twisted the doorknob. The door flung open, and she closed her eyes before pulling herself inside. But the place she jumped into wasn't what she expected at all.
Steph's POV
Instead, the area Steph walked into was brightly lit; there was no sunshine, but it was still white and bright, complemented with the delicate mist enveloping her. She could feel the slight poking of the small stones under her now bare feet as she took steps. It didn't hurt like it normally would, but she did feel some pain; she ignored it. All she could do was keep walking, forcing one foot in front of the other as she continued into the white abyss.
She didn't know where she was going, or if she would get out of this, but Steph did know one thing. It was tricking her, It was making her see things, It was setting her in a trap. She needed to think of a way to overpower It… to fool It, to defeat the freaking monster!
She was suddenly thrown — No, not thrown, fired, fired like a living bullet. She was picked up and heaved across the abyss. It's not real! she screamed at herself. It's just playing tricks on me, I can do this, be strong, be true, brave…
Steph didn't know how long she was either flying or falling… In fact, it felt like ages until she hit solid ground again. Slammed against the ground. Her ears rang for a while, pain filling her head as she clutched it, grunting. She could see nothing but blackness for a second, and if it weren't for the throbbing pain spreading through every inch of her body, she would've thought she was dead.
It was an eternity before she finally managed to get up, briefly feeling a white-hot pain shoot through her bandaged arms. She looked around, noticing that she was back in the Barrens, except everything that surrounded her was black and white. It was dead silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and it greatly unnerved Steph. No wind, no birds chirping… just her quiet, trembling breathing…
"Steph…"
The woman froze, just barely managing to hear the whisper. She stayed quiet, her body rigid, glancing in every direction. A part of her was scared, but she was sure not to show it. Steph was ready to scream at the demon that it wasn't real, that she didn't believe in it.
"It's all your fault, Steph... All your fault…"
Steph gasped quietly as she recognized the voice. She spun around a few times, trying to discover where it had come from, but to no avail. She clenched her fists, refusing to back down. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "This isn't real, you're just seeing things, it's fake…"
But her racing heartbeat and her curiosity proved to be her downfall because, when she turned back around, she was barely able to hold back a scream of surprise.
A woman who looked to be around Steph's age was standing twenty feet away, staring at her, gaze locked onto her. She wouldn't have recognized her if it weren't for her mid-length, straight brunette hair and blue eyes. Despite her surprise, Steph couldn't speak, even if she wanted to, backing away as the woman slowly approached her.
Bill's POV
Bill gasped for air as he broke through the surface of the water. He pushed his soaked hair out of his face, blinking his eyes open to see more clearly, taking in his surroundings. His eyes widened when he realized exactly where he had ended up, surprised that this was the place he had to be in a moment like this. Why was he here? Of all places, why here?
He barely had time to breathe when he suddenly heard a door open behind him. He turned in the shoulder-deep water, and his expression morphed into one of confusion at what he saw. Truthfully, he didn't know how much he was being tricked, but he knew he was seeing things as he saw his thirteen-year-old self slowly descending the basement stairs. For a slight moment, he thought about how young he had been when all of this happened so long ago… What it would've been like if nothing like this happened… If —
"I lost it, Billy…"
If Georgie hadn't died at all…
Bill spun back around at the sound of the scarily familiar voice. He suddenly found it difficult to breathe, his heart dropping to his stomach in sorrow.
"It… It just floated off…"
'Georgie' was standing in the exact same corner of the basement as he did 27 years before this. He looked just like he did back then, so young, so innocent of the horrors the world contained. With his yellow rain slicker and galoshes, he looked just as he did before he chased the paper boat to his death all those years ago. Except this time, he no longer had the warm smile on his lips that was accompanied by his bright blue eyes. His face was instead completely blank as he stared at the teenage Bill, not even acknowledging the company of the present Bill.
"I-I'm not m-m-m-m-ma-mad at you," Bill could hear his younger self say in a much more stable voice than he had really used that night so long ago.
The man was frozen in place, not really knowing what to do as he saw the scene take place before him. He felt as if he couldn't move his legs from where they stood, but also feeling numb with the amount of emotions flowing through him.
"It's your fault what happened, isn't it? You weren't really sick that day, were you?"
Bill stopped looking between them, his heart thudding in his chest as he felt even more guilt rise up inside him. 'Georgie' was telling the truth, although he himself hated to admit it… Heck, he didn't even want to admit it, but he knew It was going to find out sooner or later, and he couldn't stop It. He looked at 'Georgie' again just as he heard the painful reply.
"No."
Bill saw the boy's face alter into a look of hurt and disgust, but not once did 'Georgie' look at him.
"I only… pr-pretended because I didn't wanna puh-play with you," teenage Bill added, not sounding remorseful whatsoever. Present Bill looked at him with an expression of shame and regret. This was something he didn't want to have to face, but he knew there was no stopping that now…
Steph's POV
"It's your fault I died… you know that, right, Steph?" she said. "You let me die all alone… you weren't there for me…"
Steph shook her head over and over again, her eyes as wide as saucers as she kept backing away. "No, it wasn't," she murmured, tears swimming in her eyes, and she tried her best to blink them away. "I didn't do anything wrong…" She was trying to convince herself that she had never killed her mother but, very slowly, the guilt and the blame started to seep back into her soul. Her hands found her head, fingers knotting themselves into her hair as she sunk to her knees, refusing to look at the thing that was most definitely not her mother.
"You killed me! You did it, you let me die alone!" It continued to scream at her, taking slow and agonizing steps towards Steph.
"No, I didn't!" she shrieked. "You're not my mother! She would never have said that!" Now, she wasn't scared, instead heartbroken that It had to do this to guilt-trip her. She didn't want it to work, she didn't want to look weak and useless. But here she was… letting It rattle her into her state of depression to make her more of a target.
Why was she so special? Was it because of the depression? The fact that she was one of the mentally stronger members of the Losers? What the heck was it?!
Why does It want me to die so badly?! her mind asked her, and she shook her head, truthfully not knowing the answer to that question.
"It's all your fault! Your loser friends were more important than I was!"
"No…" Steph muttered, slowly raising her head to face the form of her now decomposing mother. "I didn't kill her…"
Bill's POV
"You lied and I died…"
Bill looked at 'Georgie' again, seeing him slowly approach him, but as if he weren't there at all. His eyes widened a little at the insult, tears threatening to arrive, but he didn't want to cry. He wanted so desperately to leave this place and never come back, but he didn't know how, especially since he couldn't move his legs at all.
"You lied and I died…" 'Georgie' repeated, his voice sounding more disbelieving than the last time, taking step after step, the water slightly disturbed with his approach. Bill turned to look back at his teenage self, and saw that his expression hadn't wavered one bit, his eyes blank as he stared at 'Georgie.'
"YOU LIED AND I DIED!" Bill's little 'brother' shouted, finally stopping in his tracks. The man was now crying, but the water on his face perfectly hid the tears cascading down his cheeks.
"YOU LIED AND I DIED! YOU LIED AND I DIED!" he screamed.
At that moment, Bill felt true terror in reaction to hearing these words and he fully understood why. The look upon 'Georgie's' face as he stared up at his past self was worse than Bill could've ever imagined. There was no warm smile or sense of happiness in his eyes. There was cold fury etched into every line of his young face. Bill could practically feel the anger rolling off of him as he screamed each word, almost like he could kill you with a single look.
"It happened because of me, Georgie," teenage Bill shouted. "ME!"
"No, no, no, no, it was..." But Bill couldn't get another word out, as he suddenly felt a piece of soft plastic in his hand. He turned his head in extreme confusion to see that his left arm was raised, and his eyes trailed up to where it was strangely attached to the rain slicker. He let out a breath that he had held for ages as he stared at his hand, and he tugged slightly. His hand wouldn't be freed, and Georgie wouldn't move at all.
Then It suddenly turned around to face Bill, 'Georgie's' face decayed and sunken. "LIED AND DIED!" It cried out angrily.
Steph's POV
Steph, be brave! Show It how strong you really are, a voice that sounded eerily like Bill's screamed in her mind. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, Steph would have smiled, but instead, she stood up with a blank expression on her face.
"I didn't kill my mother," she said softly, "and it isn't my fault she died. She just died because it was her time to go…"
A brief look of shock flashed across 'Jamie's' face, her eyes widening ever so slightly as she halted her approach. But after a few seconds the demon regained its composure. "Yes, you did kill me!" It shouted at her. "It's all your fault! I died because you weren't there! You didn't care!"
"Yes, I did!" Steph screeched, now approaching It fearlessly. She just barely noticed It slowly backing away from her, and a smirk touched her lips. "Just because I went to school and had friends doesn't mean I didn't take care of my mother every day I could! It isn't my fault and it never will be!"
She then mustered up the courage to grab her 'mother's' throat and pull her to the small lake by the edge of the Barrens. Looking directly into the blue eyes that were now turning yellow, she growled, "Now it's time for you to die, impostor!"
Steph then pushed the rotting corpse into the lake, but before she could step back, a grimy hand latched onto her wrist and pulled her in as well. She screamed as she was dragged into the water, struggling in Its grasp. She kicked around for a long time, but the hand still didn't let go. She could feel the water filling her lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. She couldn't see anything, no light… Nothing but darkness in her vision, blackness, nothingness.
She managed to kick the demon and, for a split second, she could see the yellow eyes staring back at her before they flickered away. The hand finally let go, and she was able to move at last. She swam upward, trying to find the surface of the lake, desperately wanting to breathe. But no success.
Unlike the cave, there was nothing to guide her out of this trap, this trick… Every time Steph tried to swim upward, she would hit a solid substance and hurt her head, but the water muffled her grunts.
All ability to breathe left Steph, her oxygen being drained - no - sucked out of her. Her muscles weakened, her arms and legs went limp, and her eyelids drooped. She felt exhausted, defeated, beaten to her last inch of life, and she finally gave up. Nobody was going to be able to save her from this, so why even try fighting? Why even attempt to kill the monster that was about to kill her right now?
There was no point.
No point at all.
Her eyes finally closed…
Bill's POV
Bill yelled in shock at 'Georgie's' furious screaming. But he got over that pretty quickly, since he snatched the head of the puppet and began shoving it into the water. He grunted as he did this, his breathing happening in forced gasps.
'Georgie' kicked out 'his' arms and legs desperately, grabbing a hold of Bill's hands. Bill felt the pain tugging at his heartstrings, and he wanted nothing more than to tell his little brother that he was so sorry. But, being the smart and brave person, he held 'Georgie' underneath the water.
After about a minute and a half, 'Georgie' eventually stopped struggling. Bill opened his eyes and saw the peaceful look on the face of his deceased brother. He sighed with relief, knowing that he had finally lain Georgie's spirit to rest.
And that was when he started to cry, feeling the need to mourn.
He heard footsteps behind him, and he hesitantly turned around to face his teenage self. He stared into what was supposed to be his old bright blue eyes, but they looked black. Coal black and evil. It made Bill want to get away from what he knew was not his old self, but he wasn't able to. Seconds after he thought this, he heard a clicking sound, and he looked down to see what it was. To his absolute horror, he saw the same bolt gun Mike had brought with him when they had first defeated It a long time ago.
He looked back up into the eyes of 'teenage Bill' as he felt the barrel of the bolt gun being pressed roughly to his forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment, preparing for the inevitable, but it didn't happen at all. Instead, his past self spoke to him, much to his surprise.
"We deserve to die," 'teenage Bill' muttered quietly, his voice emotionless but trembling. It made Bill shake his head, his eyes full of pleading.
"No," he replied, his voice a little more stable, but still shaking. "You were the best big brother there ever w-w-w-w-was…" He could see tears shimmering in his past self's eyes, and it almost made him feel pity, but he knew that this was all fake, an illusion of some sort.
"NO!" his past self roared, his right hand, which was holding the bolt gun, quivering very badly. "WE KILLED OUR LITTLE BROTHER!" 'He' tried to get more words out, but 'he' couldn't, very close to sobbing.
Bill, at that moment, truly felt the loss of his little brother. The little boy that he had been so close with was now just a memory, a shadow lingering in the depths of his mind. It didn't feel painful this time, but strange to lose someone that he had once had in his life; you could compare it to a limb being torn from your body without the chance to save it. Bill had felt very alone for so long, but he then realized that he wasn't alone. He had his best friends in his life… he had Ben, Mike, Stan, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, and Steph.
He had his wife, Steph, the woman that he loved more than anyone else in the world, maybe even more than Georgie. And it had taken her to figure out that what had happened to his little brother was not his fault. Sure, he still felt sorrow and pain from the loss of his only sibling, but it was Steph and the other Losers that had pulled him out of that. And the one thing that finally stood out to him was the fact that he weirdly could not feel the guilt anymore. He was glad that he couldn't, and he was about to make that very clear.
"He loved you…" he whispered to his teenage self. "And just because you didn't wanna play on a rainy day… just-just one time?" When he didn't hear a response from what he knew to be the monster, he continued, his bravery finally coming out at that moment. "That does not make it our fault!" he finished.
There was a long moment of silence, and Bill thought it was all over. He thought this illusion would fade away and he would go right back to reality. But he was very wrong.
After five seconds, the teenage version of himself pulled the trigger of the bolt gun. Bill actually leaned backwards, a little shocked and caught off guard; but a small smirk grew on his face when he saw that the gun did no damage to him.
It chuckled nervously and furiously, reloading the gun and pulling the trigger again. Nothing.
"And it never ever did," Bill said calmly, staring at the ever angrier monster standing in front of him.
"You really think it wasn't your fault?" It teased him, still in the form of Bill's past self. "You were never there for him, and you won't be there for the others when they die. Especially poor little Steph… why, that little brat can go first, now can she?"
Bill snapped, his expression turning from one of pleading and sadness to pure rage. His eyes burned with a loathing that he had never felt before as he slowly grabbed Its wrist and snatched the bolt gun away. His fingers enclosing around the gun handle in a fist, he raised it up and pressed it against Its forehead, causing the form of his teenage self to seethe at him.
"You will never ever touch my wife again!" he snarled. And he then pulled the trigger, and proceeded to damage the entity.
Several seconds of an eerie quiet passed afterwards, during which Bill was finally able to move, slowly backing away and looking for a way out. But, at the last moment, he turned back around and saw something that made his jaw drop in panic.
The form of his teenage self was slowly turning back into the clown and It cackled with the most deranged smile Bill had ever seen in his 40 years of living. It suddenly dived at him and he fell back underwater, and the basement of his old house disappeared forever. He swam around, barely able to see, and noticed something almost instantly.
Steph was nowhere to be seen.
Steph's POV
She opened her eyes again, but strangely didn't feel the need to gasp for air. Steph was lying across her back on the ground in a normal manner, and she almost didn't want to move. But, feeling the urge in the back of her mind telling her to, she got up off of the ground after a few seconds that seemed like years. She stumbled slightly, feeling dizzy out of nowhere, but regained her balance moments later.
Steph looked over herself and saw, much to her confusion, that she had absolutely no sewer water on her whatsoever. In fact, she was perfectly dry and even uninjured. There were no cuts or bandages on her right arm and left leg. She felt perfectly at peace and didn't detect any pain. But she had the sensation of floating as she walked, not like she had before unconsciousness had taken over. And that was when she finally took in her surroundings.
She was standing on the street where Bill and Richie fought that day after their first battle with It. The only difference was that it was very quiet and harmonious, almost as if it were at peace and that nothing had happened at all.
No memories overtook her, and that fact alone relaxed her. So, she knew that this wasn't real life; she was one hundred percent dreaming.
Wait… was she?
She couldn't feel any oxygen entering and leaving her lungs, and she wasn't even able to feel her heart beating. It was pretty much like it wasn't beating at all, maybe because it wasn't. Steph didn't truly know why this was happening or if it were even possible. The one question that travelled through her mind was this: Was she dreaming or was she dead?
That was the thing; she had absolutely no clue, and it didn't scare her. Rather, it confused her, and she didn't like it straight away. She could tell that there was no wind that blew through the streets, almost as if the area was frozen on its own, stuck in time, never moving forward. It weirded her out a little, and she hated it.
She looked around, her eyes darting in every possible direction to see what was going on. But nobody else was there with her at all… Steph was able to walk, so she did just that, putting one foot in front of the other as she journeyed down the old street. The trees were still as green and the houses were still as beautiful as she remembered, but it didn't feel the same. It didn't feel real, and that was a strange thing.
Steph still felt as if her thoughts were groggy. Her head was pounding with pain, and every cell in her body was screaming for oxygen, but she didn't see red and black spots in front of her like she was expecting. Everything was clear, and that was a relief to her, but it was very odd.
"Steph?"
She suddenly felt a tugging motion, and she was jerked a few feet to her left, making her turn in that direction. Steph tried to make a sound, but her voice failed her; she could tell that it felt as if someone were frantically pulling her, but there was nobody there by her side. She was still on her own, and she felt it in her heart. But the other thing she had caught was the voice.
The voice she heard was very familiar, like she had heard it before. Almost like she had heard it in her childhood… or rather just a few minutes ago. Steph glanced around, her blonde hair flying in several directions as she did so. And her eyes landed on something - someone - that she thought she would never see again. Although doubt filled her being at that very moment, she couldn't deny the pure shock and sort of joy that flowed through her.
Steph's mother was standing a reasonable distance away from her, not moving, but looking in her direction with a genuine and soft smile on her face. Steph herself stayed where she was, not about to be fooled again, her hands clenched into fists as she stared at Jamie. "I don't trust you…" she admitted out loud. "I don't know if it's really you or that freaking clown…"
Jamie finally moved, shaking her head and waving a hand around, something that she had always used to do during Steph's childhood. "Sweetie, it's me," she pleaded, sounding very serious. And the blonde-haired woman couldn't see any problem as she examined her mother. "It really is me this time, I can prove it," Jamie added, her voice very sincere and slightly upset.
Steph felt more tears in her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that night as she nodded. "I believe you," she whispered. After a few seconds, she started sprinting towards her mother, laughing with happiness as she did so. Her hair fluttered behind her, bouncing off of her back and shoulders as she put great distance between her feet. To her, it felt like forever until she finally made it to Jamie. And when she did reach the brunette woman, she threw her arms around her and held her tightly, not wanting to let go. Her mother hugged her back just as tightly but Steph, surprisingly, didn't feel any physical pressure on her chest. In fact, she no longer felt the burning sensation in her lungs.
She pulled away from Jamie, chuckling through the battling tears as she gazed at the near identical eyes that stared back: dark, midnight blue, except they were more dull that hers were. And she then confirmed that it was indeed her mother standing in front of her.
"It's really you," she whispered, starting to sob, but she didn't cry; she didn't feel the need to let the tears flow. Jamie nodded, that smile remaining on her face as Steph tried her best to get over the surprise. The blonde couldn't look away, very shocked that her mother looked the exact same as she had all those years ago. But, there was one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb in her mind.
"Wait…" she whispered, the tearless weeping fading away slowly. "But… you're dead… you died a long time ago…" Her eyes were now showing disorientation in them as she looked down. She could hear Jamie chuckle slightly, making Steph look at her again.
"I know I'm dead," she said bluntly. "But I am here… Come on, let's take a walk."
And so they did. Steph walked by her mother down the street that put her through a temporary depression, but the strange thing was that it seemed never ending. She felt as if she would never turn onto another street. All the while, she kept feeling a pressure on her chest, almost like someone was pushing it; but she didn't feel anything else. She turned to look at Jamie, but the brunette woman looked straight ahead, not looking at her for some time.
"Steph…" her mother finally began, and she paid attention. "You know you're dreaming, right?" Steph nodded. "Well, actually… I would say you're between life and death… You kind of drowned just earlier, but I'm here to tell you this. Now is not the time for you to die. You need to live."
Steph turned to her mother in bewilderment, shaking her head a little. "So… you're basically saying that I need to open my eyes again and not give up…?"
Jamie laughed again. "Sort of," she answered. "I'm saying that you have a long life ahead of you, and now isn't the time to give all of that up. You have all of your friends with you at this moment… you have Bill, who is trying to revive you right now, and he's always been there for you. They will always be there when you need them…"
Steph nodded, understanding fully what her mother meant. "But…" she added. "What about you? You're gone… You're not there."
"That's where I'm gonna stop you there, honey," Jamie said, cutting her off. "I may be gone… I may be dead… But I'm still with you in your heart. I promised you the day you were born that I would never leave you in any way. I'm still keeping that promise. I'm sorry that what happened that day affected you so badly, but just know that I'm still here, and that I always will be."
The blonde-haired woman nodded, fully believing her mother, and was positive that tears wouldn't show up again. She gave Jamie a gentler hug, but almost didn't want to let go, hesitating to do so. But a whisper in her ear made her rethink that feeling.
"Let go, Steph," Jamie murmured. "Let me go so you can move on."
Steph sighed sadly, squeezing her mother one more time before releasing her arms from around her. Immediately, she felt a weight being lifted off of her shoulders and a sense of relief glide through her emotions. She locked eyes with Jamie again and, to her elation, felt no more guilt seeping into her. "Okay," she whispered.
Steph suddenly felt air entering her lungs, and she was finally able to breathe. But it felt strange, weird; the oxygen felt as if it didn't belong to her, which made her slightly worried. She could also hear another voice echo in her ears, confusing her a great deal. She strained to hear it, but it was difficult to do. "What's going on?" she asked Jamie.
Her mother looked up slightly, tilting her head as if she could hear the same thing Steph was hearing. A small smile grew back on her face as she looked at her daughter again. "You'll find out in a few moments," she replied, slowly backing away. "You know… I'm sure you don't realize just how much more amazing you've become since I died."
The blonde chuckled a little, shaking her head. "Bill reminds me everyday," she said simply. "It's a little annoying."
"Yet you appreciate it," Jamie added.
Steph could start to hear the voice much more clearly, and it made her hope of staying alive rise drastically.
"Steph? Can you h-huh-hear me? Breathe! Don't be d-d-d-d-dead…"
She felt another hint of pressure on her chest, and then more air that didn't belong to her filling and leaving her lungs. And that was when it clicked for her, and she perked up. Jamie's smile grew into a grin, a clue that she knew the real answer to Steph's question. She herself smiled back, reluctantly watching her mother fade away, as well as the surroundings around them.
"Will I see you again?!" she called out. Jamie nodded.
"You will someday!" she shouted back in a calm voice. "Just so you know… You have some amazing friends. Now wake up and go kill that freaking clown!"
And just then, Steph doubled over and
started coughing violently, her head jerking up off of the ground it laid on. Water spurted out of her mouth, landing all over her face as her choking and coughing turned into wheezing. She felt hands on her face as she looked around wildly, her vision still blurry as she tried to get it back.
"Steph? Bruh-Breathe… Can you hear m-m-m-m-me?" Bill said, his trembling voice filling her ears.
Her eyesight then came back and she could see again. Her breathing slowed, although she still choked a little, her vivid and dark blue eyes meeting Bill's bright blue ones. A smile formed on her face, one of relief and contentment as she brought her right hand up and rested it on his face. "Bill?" she gasped out, still under slight shock from all the water she had coughed up. Her husband chuckled happily and Steph could see the tears streaming down his face as he rested his forehead on hers. "It's muh-me… don't worry," he assured her.
Steph nodded, her left hand pressed against his neck as she closed her eyes. They stayed that way for nearly a full minute, the commotion going on around them briefly forgotten.
"I th-th-thought I lost you," Bill whispered frantically, his voice cracking. Steph shook her head, pushing him away slightly so he could see her. "You never will," she replied confidently, and Bill smiled.
He then leaned in and planted his lips on hers more gently than he had ever done in their lives. If Steph were standing on her feet, she was sure her knees would have buckled right there. Like so many other times, her heart raced in her chest, ricocheting off of her ribcage over and over; she could feel shivers moving up and down her spine at lightning speed, and she refused to let go of Bill.
But, unfortunately, the moment didn't last very long, because Bill pulled away seconds later. "Are you okay?" he asked without stuttering. Steph shook her head slightly, which concerned him.
"I will be when this is over," she answered before slowly getting up. "Come on, let's go kill that freaking clown." She then extended her hand to Bill and he took it without hesitation, getting up and following her back into the giant dome-like room.
Steph instantly saw Mike hiding behind one of the branches that stuck out from the ground, but she could see that he was trying to stay out of Its sight. Because of this, she didn't say anything, instead remaining where she was, her hand still fastened to Bill's. But, seconds later, Mike saw them and tried to come out from where he was without being spotted. Steph shook her head frantically but he paid her no mind; just after she warned him, he came to regret not paying attention.
The giant clown came into their view once more, Its eyes locked on Mike as he stared up at it. That foolish smile was on Its face again as it approached the man as slowly as possible.
"I know what you are," Mike said in a composed voice. "That's why I'm not afraid."
Suddenly, one of Its huge arms wrapped around Mike's entire body like an anaconda. Steph yelled in a panic when she saw this and tried to run towards her friend but, with Bill being right next to her, she was pulled back and his arms encircled her waist to hold her back. "Duh-Don't!" he forewarned her in an anxious voice.
"I know what you are," the clown scorned Mike, a smirk in its smile as It leaned closer to him. "A madman…"
It then opened its mouth wide, preparing to devour Mike. Steph shrieked, trying to break free of Bill grasp. He shook his head, his strong arms keeping her frozen where she was. "I won't lose you again!" he shouted, but she refused to relent.
Out of the blue, a stone flew through the air and hit the clown with such force that it nearly knocked It backwards. The arm loosened around Mike, and Steph looked to see where the rock had come from, her eyes eventually landing on the person that had thrown it.
"HEY, MAGGOTHEAD!" Richie bellowed, a look of outrage and boldness on his face as he bent down to pick up another rock. Steph couldn't help but laugh a little at his choice of words, rushing to Mike's aid after he was thrown to the ground. Fortunately for her, Bill finally let her go.
"You wanna play Truth or Dare?!" taunted Richie, his ridiculing carrying on as he stared straight at the clown, not backing away anymore. "Here's the truth! You're a sloppy twat!"
Steph couldn't see for herself, so she wasn't able to notice the clown's glare piercing into Richie's soul. She smiled for a moment, grateful that her best friend was finally being brave.
Little did she know that her hope would be shattered in seconds.
"Yeah, that's right!" Richie continued, lifting up the rock in his right hand, ready to throw it. "Let's dance! Yippee ki-yay, motherfu-"
In an instant, Richie's mocking was broken and all went silent. Steph looked back up from checking on Mike; her eyes widened in trepidation and she wailed at the top of her lungs at what she saw: Richie levitating into the air, his eyes white and blank, obviously caught in the supernatural grip of the Deadlights… just like Beverly had been all those years ago.
Steph tried to run for Richie, calling out his name, but both Bill and Mike held her back this time. Her struggles nearly got the better of them, but they managed to restrain her from moving further. She grunted as she demanded for them to let her go, but neither listened.
Nearly two minutes passed, and Steph was positive that Richie was about to be killed, since she could see Its mouth getting wider, the Deadlights emanating from it. She closed her eyes, unable to watch when it happened; she didn't want to see her best friend die in front of her. She couldn't lose another friend, and this fact was about to make her cry.
"BEEP BEEP!" came a yell from what seemed to be behind Richie.
Steph opened her eyes to see a spear soaring through the air and, to her, it seemed like slow motion. Not even five seconds later, the weapon went through the clown's head, impaling It in the mouth. Richie plummeted back to the ground as It choked on the spear, before falling back onto another one of the branches, piercing through its torso. The woman sighed with relief just as Ben and Beverly sprinted into the chamber. She could see, much to her confusion, that Beverly was covered head to toe in blood; but she could ask questions later.
She then saw Eddie run over to Richie, shaking him awake. "Hey, Rich! Wake up!" he shouted to get his attention. Richie finally opened his eyes, snapped out of his trance as Eddie continued. "There he is! Hey, buddy! Hey, Richie, listen. I think I got It, man! I think I killed It! I think I did! I think I killed It for real!"
Not even half a second after he said this, Steph's entire world was ripped apart forever.
"NOOOOOOOO!" she screeched in pure sadness and anger, her scream louder than the others. Her eyes were wider than ever at what she saw, looking at what had just occurred at the same time Eddie did.
One of Its claws had torn through the man, impaling him majorly as it stuck out of his chest.
A/N: You know me by now...
OH NO! Eddie is very badly hurt! I think you guys can predict what will happen in the next chapter... :''( I'm sad.
ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? Was it intense? I thought so!
What did you all think of the illusions Steph and Bill had? Were they awesome? What about the dream Steph had? FINALLY, she gets a good dream! Yay!
I'm sorry I'm ending on ANOTHER cliffhanger! But this will be the last TRUE one, I promise! Don't you guys worry!
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter... I'm sure you guys did but I don't care lol... As always, have a great day, and until next time!
- Hermione Romanoff