Bill set down the last page of the script slowly with one trembling hand. There were only three words printed on it: FADE TO BLACK.

The ticking of the clock on the wall brought him out of his reverie. It read four AM, meaning that he had spent the entire night shuffling through the pages of the damned script. Audra would be worried, and understandably so. He was acting like a lunatic.

Bill got to his feet somewhat unsteadily and immediately had to hold his head in his hands to keep from falling. An agonizing headache thudded in his skull. No wonder, seeing as how he had read the entire night sans glasses.

Well, at least there's a rationalization for that, huh? Stan would be proud, if he weren't six feet under and worm food already. But what about the fact that you were able to read anything without your glasses? What about that, Billy-old-boy?

He closed his eyes tightly, willing the voice to shut up. Eventually, it did. But the doubts it raised didn't.

Bill took one final look at the pages, which were spilled across the floor like the victims of some strange massacre of type and ink. Then he bolted for his room. His heart pounded with fear and exhaustion. He staggered through the doorway, only to see Audra sleeping peacefully and feel another painful stab of remembrance. She had seen It too. She had been subjected to Its horror more than Bill himself had ever had to experience.

What would happen to her now that It seemed to be preying on his memories? Would she, too, have to recall the hideous feeling of being submerged in the pestilential glow of the deadlights?

(that's the kind of thing that could drive a person insane)

Bill's mind suddenly filled with the image of Audra's face after he had rescued her from the web in the Spider's lair. Without the gossamer gauze of the spider-strands, he had been able to see her expression for what it really was...the terrifying vacancy, the cruel stark reality of her empty eyes. That look had almost driven him crazy. He could only imagine in his blackest thoughts what it had been like for her.

A small choked scream escaped his mouth. Audra woke up suddenly, startled.

"Bill? Bill, what...?"

But Bill had already collapsed on the bed. Although he was still awake even as Audra's demands to know what was going on reached a hysterical frequency, he fell asleep without answering. He didn't trust himself to speak.