They hadn't talked to each other in weeks. The seven went from being around each other constantly, to not at all.

All because of some fucking clown.

Richie couldn't take it anymore, he missed his friends. Especially Eddie. What kind of idiots were they to split up when a killer clown was hunting them down? Big ones, Richie thought.

Yet even though Richie desperately wanted to run to his friends, apologize for everything and just have some fun, he was too proud. He couldn't bring himself to do it, because he knew he was right. They shouldn't run after a clown hell-bent on killing them, especially after what happened to Eddie.

Eddie.

Richie missed him so much, and he constantly debated on whether or not he should go over to his house. After all, it wasn't him and Eddie who had fought. And yet, Richie was terrified that Eddie hated him and the others for breaking his arm. He also knew that Mrs. K wouldn't let him within ten feet of the house.

Richie sat up in bed frustratedly, throwing the blankets off of him and sighing. His parents were gone for the weekend, they went to some work retreat that didn't invite kids. Richie wasn't surprised when they said they were leaving, nor was he shocked they were leaving him by himself. They'd done that multiple times, they loved vacations that didn't include him. The problem was that now Richie knew a killer clown lurked in the dark, and even though Richie hadn't seen it in weeks, he still felt anxious about being home all by himself.

That was why he had every single light in the house on. His parents were going to be so mad about the electric bill, but Richie didn't feel too guilty. After all, they did leave him. What'd they expect? A clean orderly house and a well-behaved child when they came back? Richie knew they didn't expect that, he'd been disappointing them since he was born.

Looking at the clock on his wall, Richie discovered that it was 1:30 in the morning. Wonderful. Deciding sleep was a hopeless cause, he picked up an old, tattered, comic book. The wolverine, his favorite. He'd read it about a billion times, it gave him a sense of comfort.

When Richie opened his comic, he didn't find what he was expecting. Instead of his favorite hero, he found the smiling face of that damn clown, drawn in comic book style.

"Ahh!" Richie yelled in alarm as he threw the book across the room. It hit his shelf, knocking over one of his action figures. One thing he knew for sure, he had to get out of this house and find his friends.

Richie didn't even try to go out the front door. He immediately dashed to his window, opening it in one swift movement, and climbed onto his roof. He grabbed onto his tree, the tree he had used to sneak out multiple times over the years, and swung off the branch.

He half fell in his panic, but he quickly stood and sprinted down the street. His goal was Stan's house, it was the closest.

Richie almost screamed when he heard his name being sung, it felt like the speaker was right in his ear, but he didn't stop to investigate. He had to get to Stan's.

IT kept singing his name, giggling now and then, and soon music accompanied him. It was a tune Richie associated with the carnival, and would now always associate with this terrifying scene.

After a few moments of running, Richie noticed a peculiar thing, he'd been running down the same street for the past two minutes. Even though he'd taken numerous turns, he kept coming back to this same street.

He stopped, knowing running was just tiring him out, and looked behind him. IT wasn't there, but when Richie turned his head back in front of him IT was smiling in his face.

Richie barely managed to keep the scream down. "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real." His eyes were shut painfully tight.

A minute went by of Richie shakily chanting those three words, his breath uneven. He cracked one eye open slowly and in front of him stood Stan's house. It was dark and Richie thought that maybe his friend wasn't home. He was scared again before he realized it was 1:30 in the morning, of course the lights were off.

Richie took a step forward, hearing a crunching noise at his feet. There, laying innocently on the street, was a missing poster with his face on it. He'd seen this before, so it shouldn't have scared him like it did. But last time he had his friends there, they had told him he wasn't alone, and now he really was alone. What if he was already missing?

The music started up again, and against his better judgement, Richie slowly turned around. There, in the middle of the street, stood the clown with a gleaming red balloon. He lifted his head, a wide smile on his face, and started dancing.

"What the fuck." Richie whispered, shocked his mouth could even move.

Before he could even blink the damn clown was in front of him, breathing on his face. Richie tried to run, god it was all he wanted to do, but the thing had it's claws around his shoulders in a vice like grip.

"Aw, don't be sad Richie. We're going to have so much fun." IT's mouth opened unnaturally wide, showing rows and rows of shark-like teeth.

Deep inside IT's mouth, deeper than possible, three lights danced. Richie was screaming, but once he laid eyes on the lights he didn't want to scream anymore. He didn't need to. He felt both calm and terrified, pleasant and horrible.

The darkness started inching closer in his vision and Richie found he wasn't concerned.

"Richie?" He heard, but it wasn't the clown. It was a familiar voice, a friend maybe.

When did he get on the ground?

He decided not to worry about this, and instead gave in to unconsciousness.