IT - REVISITED AND REDONE
By Jules
(AUTHORS NOTE - From now on - we just assume that Bridger and the others can see and hear what's going on. There will be occasional comments about their feelings towards what's going on, but they may not be mentioned every few lines from here on in.)
Later that evening, Bridger and his crew could only watch on with the heaviest feeling of sorrow as he watched the Denbrough family deal with their grief.
They were all seated in the living room, apparently watching television. Sharon and Zack Denbrough sat on opposite ends of the couch. Bill sat in the middle between them. There was no love or compassion in this room tonight. All three were lost in their own thoughts about Georgie.
Bill was thinking about the other nights they had in front of the T.V. when Georgie was alive. There would be jokes and laughter. Bill and Georgie would be fighting over the popcorn. But that was now all in the past. He doubted that watching television would ever be the same again.
Neither of Bill's parents looked at each other, or at their other son. Bill felt like he was only in the way. He felt that he was another burden that his parents had to deal with at this point in time. He picked himself up off the couch and trudged upstairs.
Bill went into his room and threw himself onto his bed and just cried.
The next morning things hadn't gotten much better in the Denbrough house. Tony and the others felt totally helpless as they watched the three people walk around the house. They moved and seemed to be able to talk, but inside, the warm of light and love that had been there before was now gone. It was like that old saying: The light's on but nobody is home.
Bill had walked from his room into the hallway. He spotted his father coming out of Georgie's room with a box. It contained toys, books and a few other little boy possessions.
Sharon Denbrough had been coming up the stairs when she spotted what her husband had in his hands.
Bill saw the anger on his mother's face and pressed himself up against the wall, trying not to be seen.
Bridger and the crew also leaned up against the wall, feeling like they were in the way, but of course, their presence to the outside world still remained unknown.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIS THINGS!" Sharon Denbrough shouted at her husband.
Zack Denbrough flinched at the venom in his wife's words and walked back into Georgie's room and started placing the things back in their rightful places in the room.
Bill now walked into the room and saw his father on his knees beside Georgie's bed. Bill saw that his father was crying.
"D-Duh-Dad," he tried to whisper. He had not seen his father cry before.
"Get out, Bill," his father snapped. His voice was shaking as he said the words. Bill wanted to go to his father and tell him that everything would be alright. But at the moment he didn't really believe that himself.
Bill left the room and walked down the stairs to hear the sounds of his mother crying in the kitchen. Bill now voice his fears and sorrow out loud for his friends to hear: "Why are they crying so far apart?"
Bill just sat down at the top of the stairs and put his head in his hands and cried on his own. Bridger had tried to go and comfort the distressed boy. But it broke his heart that he couldn't reach out and touch the one that needed him the most right now.
Later that night, something happened to Bill that would remain with him for a very long time.
While his mother and father were once again seated in the living room at opposite ends of the couch reading a book and magazine, Bill walked upstairs to his brother Georgie's room.
Just the thought of walking into his little brother's room now, caused him to start breathing rapidly and caused his legs to feel like jello.
Bill was convinced that the room was haunted. There was so much of Georgie's presence in the room. He would have been terrified out of his mind, but not totally surprised if Georgie's one-armed ghost had been hiding behind the door.
When he walked into the room he could smell the little boy in everything in the room. He saw memories from the past as he watched the curtains in the window. He remembered the two of them playing together as he rubbed his hand along the bedspread.
His heart felt heavier than ever as he realised for perhaps the first time since Georgie's death that he would never see his little brother again. Sure he would have the memories of how much time they spent together. They had laughed, they had cried together over the years.
They had teamed up on many occasions as allies and defeated the Indians that tried to invadethe territory as they played cowboys out in the back yard. He absentmindedly wiped the salt water away from his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. He really missed his little brother so much already.
He felt that at least by coming to this room he was able to hold onto something more tangible about Georgie. His memories would remain at least for a while before they faded into the distance with time. The thing he was most afraid of was when the time would come when he would remember nothing at all about his little brother.
He wouldn't be able to remember his smiling face, the deliberate part in his hair, the squeak his new sneakers made on the lino floor in the kitchen. The precious moments spent together with his brother and as a family would start to mingle into one another until he could no longer tell any of them apart and Georgie's unique and quirky personality was lost forever.
Bill got up from the bed and went over to a set of book shelves in the room and started to look at the items that were on display. These were the same items that his father had put into a box and carried out of the room before his mother had spotted him.
Bridger and his crew now watched as Bill took a large dark covered book from the top shelf. It had been on top because it was too wide to stand upright in the shelves below.
The book turned out to be a photo album. The words MY PHOTOGRAPHS - GEORGE ELMER DENBROUGH - AGED 6 were written on the front cover in very neat letters.
Georgie had shown a keen interest in photographs at an early age and collected all sorts of unwanted photographs from his family. He cut out clippings from the local newspapers and displayed them carefully between the plastic covered pages. They would serve as a reminder of happier times in the Denbrough family.
There was a photo of Bill just after he had been struck by the car at age 3. His head was swathed in bandages and almost made him become invisible against the white walls of the hospital room.
Bill had turned the pages slowly and carefully as though they were so fragile that they would break at any moment. He felt a little bit like a thief looking through his brother's possessions without his permission. But then again Georgie wasn't here anymore to ask permission was he?
The last photograph in the book displayed a photo that almost made Bill heart break into two complete halves. It was a photograph that had been taken of Georgie only a few weeks before his death. The boy had his hair parted slightly to the side and slicked down with water. Georgie was wearing a blue and white striped t-shirt and navy blue school shorts.
Georgie was smiling that famous gappy toothed smile and Bill could almost believe that he was smiling back at him.
Bill rubbed the tip of his thumb over the photograph as he tried to hold back his feelings of grief and loss at the vibrant little boy that they all missed so much.
Bill was about to close the photographs album and put it back on the top shelf when something happened that he would not forget for a long time to come.
Suddenly Georgie appeared to move in the photograph. Bill blinked to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
Bridger and the others were able to see the photograph moving on the page.
It was now that Georgie now winked back at his horror stricken brother. Bill screamed out loud at the gesture from his brother and threw the album across to the far side of the room.
He stared with utter fear at the book which lay against the wall and put his trembling hands to his mouth to suppress any more screams that might escape his open mouth.
The book started moving again. It opened up at the first page and started to flick through to the pages in the back. Once again Bill's wide and frightened eyes came to rest on the photograph of his brother that had winked back at him.
Bill waited with dread at what might happen next. He didn't have to wait long before the book slammed shut with an echo. Now something started to ooze out from underneath the haunted book. It was blood.
It started to seep at first but then started to flow from underneath the cover and pool around the floor in puddles.
Bill couldn't hold back his fear and he screamed again. He couldn't hear the strangled and scared cries from Kristen as she and the others watched the site in horror as well.
Bill heard footsteps behind him and looked around to see his father and mother running into the room.
"Bill are you alright?" Zack Denbrough asked as he put his hands on his son's shoulders to calm him down.
Sharon Denbrough's eyes became fixated on the photo album across the other side of the room. She couldn't see the blood that was around it. She walked over and picked it up.
Bill tried to warn his mother "Mom, don't you see..." he started to say before he was interrupted by the interrogations from his father.
"What were you doing in Georgie's room?" he asked sternly.
"Georgie's picture dad, Georgie's picture" he stammered. "Mom..."
"I don't ever want you coming in here again son," Zack now said to his son. "I mean it Bill."
"Yes, Dad," Bill said as he watched his mother place the album back in its rightful position on the top shelf. When she took her hands back down, they were stained crimson from the blood that had soaked into the cover.
Bridger and the other couldn't do anything but watch Lucas struggle with his emotions as he tried to figure out what he had just seen and whether it was real or not.
Later that night Bill had another experience during his sleep that had sent waves of fears down his young body. The crew had watched as Lucas would whimper and cry out in his sleep but they couldn't see what made him cry out from his dreams.
The dream involved him sitting in class at Derry Elementary School. He was in the fifth grade when his teacher had stood in front of the children with an announcement for the class.
Bill sat at a small wooden desk at the front of the classroom. Eddie Kaspbrak his best friend sat behind him.
Stanley Uris another friend of Bill's sat behind one of the new students in the class Ben Hanscom. Beverley Marsh sat to Bill's left with Richie Tozier behind her desk.
"Children, I have prepared a test for you today. While it's not the only test you will have this semester, it leans a good deal towards your final assessment for the year. It may determine whether or not you pass the fifth grade and move on next year
Bill gulped a little at the thought of his short term future riding on his one surprise test. He secretly hoped it was easy enough and he would be able to pass it. "The test is a little different from usual in that it will in the form or an oral essay," the teacher now added.
It was those four little letters that brought the most fear to Bill Denbrough. ORAL. The mere thought of having to speak in front of his class sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't pass if the test was an oral one.
"I will call your names out alphabetically and give you the intended topic. You will have a few minutes to think of your essay in your head and then you will stand up and face the class and tell it out loud to everybody," the teacher continued.
"Oh just great," Bill said to himself. His surname had to start with a D didn't it. Most of his friends had nothing to worry about. Richie's surname started with a T and Stanley did even better with his name beginning with an U. Even Beverley and Eddie had a little more time to prepare than he had.
"Looks like the first person will be Henry Bowers," the teacher said. She looked in the direction of the rebellious boy and saw the immediate scowl come to his face.
"I'm not doing any stupid essay you old hag," Bowers said. The brave children in the room laughed out loud at his outburst. Bowers snickered and waited for the teacher to make the next move.
"Go to the principal's office, Henry," she said annoyed. "You will remain for one hour after school every day this week to complete your essay."
"My father will tan my hide" Henry said trying to weasel out of his predicament.
"Well you should have thought about that earlier," she said and pointed her outstretched hand towards the door signalling for him to start walking.
Henry got out of his chair and gave her an angry look as her walked past her out the door of the classroom towards the prinicpal's office.
"Now class" the teacher said trying to keep the other children's minds on their upcoming test. "Let's see who's next?"
"Please don't let it be me... please God don't let it be me first" Bill said underneath his breath.
"Bill DENBROUGH," the teacher said and suddenly everybody's eyes were on the blond haired boy as he tried to shrink into his chair away from the stares.
"Okay Bill, I want you to give a talk about your holiday to the seaside during the holidays," the teacher now instructed.
Lucas thought for a minute and had an idea in his head, but like always, the problem wasn't coming up with the answers, it was only when he tried to tell them to someone that his tongue got tied in knots and he just couldn't seem to get the words out.
In the middle of his nightmare he found himself stuttering even worse than normally and he could barely put two words together before falling over himself again and again. He could feel his face turning red with embarrassment as the children in the room just laughed at him.
He looked over at his friends and they were laughing at him too, even Richie Tozier. Beverley Marsh was trying to hide her giggle behind the sleeve of her blouse, but Lucas saw it anyway.
It was at this moment that Bill Denbrough sat up in his bed, trembling and shaking from his nightmare. He had almost cried out loud again, but reminded himself of his parents rushing into the room like earlier in the day and thinking he was loosing it.
It was at this very moment when Captain Bridger saw Lucas/Bill do something he never thought possible. There were a lot of things he didn't know about this secretive teenager, but nothing prepared him for the scene of the eleven year old reaching into the draw beside him and pulling out a box of cigarettes.
With all of the experience of a harden smoker, Lucas now took one from the pack and found a box of matches in the draw also.
"Nathan stop him," Kristin said out loud, as she watched in horror as this child was about to put something as poisonous as a cigarette into his body. She forgot momentarily about them not being able to alter the physical world. They couldn't stop him and he couldn't hear their comments about being too young, and what the effects of smoking would have on his young lungs.
Nathan wasn't happy about the situation either as he watched Lucas bring the lit match to the end of the cigarette and light the tobacco.
"I never thought it possible," Tony said as he too whistled at the boy's brazen actions. He had remembered offering Lucas a cigarette on more than one occasion when things had been normal, but on each occasion Lucas turned his head away in refusal and reminded Tony that he shouldn't be putting such things into his body.
Who was calling the kettle black now Tony said as he watched Lucas/Bill lean up against the wall in his room and continue to smoke the cigarette until it was only a butt.
"Me and that boy are going to have a stern talk when we get back," Kristin said and then realised what she had said.
The way things looked at the moment, there was no guarantee that any of them would ever get back to the SeaQuest again never mind seeing Lucas again to give him a lecture on the causes of keeping one's body healthy.
"I think I was about 15 before I had my first smoke," Commander Ford admitted to the crew. "Made me so ill that I never touched the things again." he said with a grin. How old were you Captain?".
Bridger looked at Commander at first with a gaze that demanded why he was being asked such a thing. How do did they know that he even smoked in his life. He then felt sheepish himself and quickly mumbled a number that wasn't quite heard.
"What was that Captain?" Tony said. He had heard the number but wanted to make the Captain feel about three inches tall and admit to being no different from the average teenager.
"Fourteen" Bridger admitted and the SeaQuest crew now broke into a fitful laugh that nobody else could here but themselves.
Lucas didn't go back to sleep until just before dawn much to the crew's dismay. He had too much on his mind. About 7.00am they heard Sharon Denbrough calling her son down to breakfast before heading off to school. Lucas woke himself up enough to pass for alert and got dressed quickly. He was still very tired, but hopefully his parents wouldn't notice. They never noticed anything else about him.
By 7.30 am, the crew were now trailing Lucas as he rode his bicycle to school. They all smiled at the antics of a boy as Bill got on his beloved bike and yelled his favourite line at the top of his lungs. "HI-YO SILVER AWAY" he bellowed. At the moment he was perched up on top of a crest in the roadway.
Suddenly the SeaQuest crew couldn't believe what they were seeing this dare-devil child do on the bike. One minute he was just cycling at normal speed, the next, with the momentum of the hill and the fast pedalling his was doing, the boy was now ducking and weaving in and out of the morning traffic on the road. A few shrieks escaped from the crew as they watched Lucas toy with death.
If the boy hit something he would be catapulted of the bike and land God knows where. There had been a couple of near misses with the backs of cars already, but the boy didn't stop and didn't show any signs of slowing down. The crew covered their eyes at various points of the daring ride, waiting for the impending impact to happen.
Thankfully for them and Lucas it never did. After a ten minute hair-raising ride, Bill Denbrough was seen to pull his bike up in front of the Derry Elementary School.
"Ready to go back to school," Bridger joked with the crew as they silently and secretly followed Lucas into the schoolroom.
"I hated school the first time," Tony now rebuked. He looked nervously up and down the hallway as they walked in. He knew nobody could see him, but it still gave him the creeps to be in such places. Lucas probably felt right at home in a classroom, but to Tony it felt only slightly less cramped than his prison cell that he had lived in before joining SeaQuest.
Bill was rushing to his classroom so much that he failed to notice someone else coming the other way. The two of them and Lucas barely recovered from the clash before he found himself being hauled up by his school shirt and thrown up against the wall. He was now looking face to face at the one school bully that everyone in Derry Elementary School feared – Henry Bowers.
"You'd had better watch where you are going you little turd," Bowers spat at Lucas. Lucas didn't try and get away from the bigger boy. He knew from experience that if you crossed Bowers, he would just pound you into the ground and then pound you again when you were down. He was just a mean kid and the other kids genuinely feared him.
"I-I'm s-sorry, H-Henry," Bill stammered as he tried to get his fear under control. He was close to tears.
Tony Picolo, like Kristin earlier had briefly forgotten about not being able to help Lucas out in any way and was now suddenly barking at Henry Bowers to let the boy go or he would step in. Lucas never heard him and neither did Bowers or his sidekicks.
"A-ah, I'm not wasting my energy on a baby who can't even talk properly," Bowers said and roughly threw Lucas to the floor. Belch and Victor Cris walked away with Bowers, kicking Bill's school bag and all it's contents down the hallway.
"Looks like I have to go hungry today," Lucas said to himself as he picked himself up off the floor in time to see the lunch his mother had made squashed into the hallway floor. Henry Bowers looked back at the trembling Bill, waiting to see if the kid said anything smart.
He was a little disappointed that he didn't. He would have liked to have had a reason to go back and deck the kid just for the hell of it. Maybe luck would shine on him another day and he would have a reason to cream him.
"A-Asshole," Lucas said when Henry was well out of hearing range. He felt angry and frustrated, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't beat Henry or his friends in a fight and didn't even want to try.
to be continued ...
JULES