13

19th December, 1985

`Ladies and gentlemen, telekinetic freaks,' announced Richie, barging into Bill's room and followed by a very grumpy Eddie,`I have hit the jackpot.'

`And how have you done that?' Asked Ben, looking up from his book.

Richie grabbed Eddie's bag off of him and dumped the contents onto the bed.

`Woah,' grinned Beverly, picking up one of the cans. `The Loser's Club gets off a good one.'

Richie looked furious at Beverly stealing his catchphrase, but waved it away.

`Eleven, have you ever had an experience with alcohol?' Asked Richie in a newsreader voice. `Pretty sure I know the answer.'

`No. What's- what's alco-hol?'

All the Losers looked extremely pleased.

0

Next thing Eleven knew, she was being pulled by the wrists by Beverly and Mike H. They were heading to her fort in the forest.

Bill started to set up a fire. He built a triangular structure with sticks, stuffed tinder in the base of it, and finally trickled a dribble of beer onto it, before strking a match. Flames immediately started to travel up the sticks and the tinder shrank, smoking.

Eleven was entranced by the flickering fire. It was the first time she'd seen one. `Pretty,' she murmered, reaching out to touch it. Bill hastily caught her hand.

Behind her, Richie was popping open cans and handing them out.

`Come on, Eds m'boy, aren't you gonna try some?'

`Alcohol heightens the chances of mouth cancer by as much as sixty percent.'

Richie took a loud slurp, and smacked his lips.

`You're letting me get mouth cancer,' he said in a sing-song voice. `What could you do to stop me?' He held the can under Eddie's nose, who rolled his eyes, grabbed it and took a drink.

`Happy?'

Richie planted sloppy kiss on Eddie's cheek. `Now I am!'

Eleven snorted with laughter at the look on Eddie's face, which was a mix of disgust and a smile. Beverly flopped down on the ground next to Eleven, and threw an arm around her shoulders. She'd already had a couple of beers.

`Aww,' she slurred. `Best friend El, two girls in a club of sweaty, awkward boys.' Beverly put a can into Eleven's hands, and Eleven, not sure what to do, simply down in in one. She immediately began to feel a lot less inhibited.

`Sweaty, awkward boys who love each other!' She sang, pointing at Richie and Eddie. Both went shuffley and scarlet. `They do!' For some reason, Eleven couldn't stop giggling. `Another?'

`Another beer? Sure.' Mike H went over to the bag and tossed one over. Eleven grabbed it with her powers and realized it was a lot harder to control under the influence of beer. The can rolled up and down in the air, and she dropped it a few times. Eventually she just crawled forwards and got it manually, pulled the ring and drank it faster than would be advisable.

The Loser Club steadily worked their way through the bag. At around midnight, the cans were all empty and the teenagers were dancing around the fire, holding hands.

`Loser Club, Loser Club, Loser Club, Loser Club,' they chanted loudly. Eleven tipped back her head and laughed, feeling her head spin.

This was the best feeling ever.

0

`Uh… oww.' Eleven sat up slowly, one hand gripping her curls. Drums pounded between her ears. `Ow,' she groaned again, massaging her head and screwing up her eyes.

`Totally worth it,' Richie mumbled, covering his eyes from the sunlight as Eddie and Mike H threw up in the bushes.

`Disagree,' chimed in Stan, groping for his yarmulke and putting it back on. `In fact, I think I'd rather fight Pennywise again.'

Beverly was nowhere to be seen.

`Beverly?' Called Eleven, worry sparking up in her chest. She found it impossible to get rid of the nagging fear that her new family would dissapear, or she would be separated from them. Like with Mike and Dustin and even Lucas, to an extent. Even though he hated her.

`Here.'

Beverly was inside Eleven's fort, dribbling a little water into her hands and then wiping her face. She replaced the bottle.

`Hey, Eleven,' Beverly said cheerfully. `I can't actually remember much of last night. Did I say anything- embarrasing?' She seemed fascinated by the row of books and souveniers Eleven had collected.

`No. Nothing embarrasing.'

Beverly let out a breath. `Good, good. I'd better go. Grandma will be wondering where I've gone.'

She hugged Eleven then ran out of the fort. The wilderness of the barrens temporarily hid her from sight, and then she reappeared on the road.

Mike was the best person in the world, and Eleven loved him more than anything, including Eggos. However, despite herself, she couldn't help but wonder occasionally what it would be like to kiss a girl. Beverly, for instance.

But then Mike's face popped into her head. Eleven shook her head, groaned as it pounded harder than ever, and went inside her fort to lie down. The rest of the Losers went off in various states of hungover-ness.

0

When she next opened her eyes, it was dark.

Her headache was almost gone, and the racing nausea. Good. Eleven had been sick multiple times when she caught the flu from Mike H and it wasn't something she wanted to go through again.

She got up, grabbed an Eggo (Eggos were the answer to everything) and sat outside in her blanket. Eleven worked out that she'd slept through the nineteenth of december and all the way through to the morning of the twentieth. The air was freezing, and the euphoria from the beer was gone.

Eleven started to cry miserably. She wished that she could have been selfish enough to leave Lucas and Will in the Upside Down. That way, she could have had enough power to get home. To be with Mike-

`El?'

She froze, a sob cutting off in her throat. That voice sounded like- no, it was just Richie. He'd forgotten his glasses or something.

But hadn't Eleven begged him not to call her El?

A slight hope rose in her chest as the figure came closer.

`Mike?'

The Eggo dropped from her fingers. Eleven jumped up and ran towards Mike, crying again for a whole new reason. `Mike,' she mumbled under her breath, like she'd rescinded back to her old vocabularly.

Mike stepped to the side. Eleven stopped, a frown on her face.

`How could you.' Mike's voice was cold and condemning. His face was in shadow, inexplicably. The moon should have been illuminating it.

`How could I- what? Mike, you're scaring me.'

`You know what you did. Losing your temper with your powers.' Mike spat the word, and suddenly his face was lit up by the winter moon, and it was awful, Jesus Christ oh Jesus Christ what had she done to him? Her eyes focused on his shirt. The collar was soaked in red, with droplets spattering as far down as his midriff. Blood. So much blood, so much he should have been dead.

Not even Hermione had bled that much, even with that terrible wound.

`Mike, I didn't mean to, please, I'm sorry-'

`You liar.'

`Friends don't-'

And then Mike launched towards her, arms outstretched in a mockery of a hug. His hands connected round her throat, thumbs pressing into the hard part at the centre. Eleven choked, tears on her cheeks and her eyes, horrified, what if she'd done something in her sleep whilst at the same time trying to get him off of her, kicking and thrashing-

And then two thoughts connected.

Mike wouldn't do this to her.

This wasn't Mike.

It wasn't Mike.

Eleven hit it as hard as she could with her powers. It felt hard, but she managed it. The false Mike stumbled back, and fell into the bushes behind her fort.

It sat up again. Only in a different form. Worse than Mike's poor, ravaged face, with bits and pieces missing and gouges down to the bone.

Much worse.

Eleven lost it; she screamed, couldn't stop screaming, and fled, tripping over and hitting trees.

A root wound about her foot. Eleven's feet went out from under her, and she fell with a painful thump in the dry dirt, stones slashing open Beverly's jeans.

It was coming closer, not even bothering to run.

A trickle of saliva ran off it's thick lip.

And it's jaws unhinged, three rows of jagged teeth unveiling themselves. The root tightened until Eleven felt her foot go dead. She shrieked for help, despite knowing no one could hear her, and focused her powers on it.

It coughed, and Eleven screamed as droplets of the black stuff landed on her face. Pain rose from her skin, and Eleven frantically wiped it off.

Her hold broke on the thing, and it carried on moving towards her. It's face seemed to be only it's enormous, unhinged jaws. Teeth poked through the black webby stuff coating one cheek.

And then it vanished.

The root unfurled itself from her leg and settled back into the ground. Eleven sat there on the ground, her heart banging so hard she was sure she would die.

And Eleven ran all the way to the Hanlon farm. When she reached it, she made a beeline for the barn and shattered the lock with her power.

Mrs Huxtable, Mr Huxtable, Bear and Spot all looked up dopily when she ran in.

`Sorry,' she murmered at them, and laid down on Spot, who happened to be nearest. That was where she stayed for the remainder of the night, eyes fixed on the barn door. The image of Mike's ruined face and all that blood on his too-white shirt was burned into her eyelids.

Sometime around five a.m, when the birds started singing, Eleven finally felt safe enough to sleep.

0

Something sharp poked at her side.

Eleven jolted upright, thinking of the horrible monster of last night.

Instead, it was Mr Hanlon. Holding a pitchfork and looking more than a little annoyed.

`I'm not expecting you for a good hour.' His white eyebrows met in the middle, he was frowning so hard. `And yet you're here, broken into my barn.'

With a guilty start, Eleven remembered smashing the lock.

`I'm sorry, Mr Hanlon. Something was chasing me.'

`And what was this something, might I ask?'

Here, Eleven fell silent. What could she say? I saw the person who I love with most of his face either missing or hanging off. Or maybe, A clown who I think is called Pennywise tried to kill me.

Mr Hanlon's gaze seemed to go straight through her. Eleven squirmed as she stood before him, still brushing hay off her clothes and out of her hair.

`Whatever this something is,' he said finally, `it certainly gave you a shock.'

Deciding it would be best to agree with him, Eleven nodded quickly. It wasn't exactly untrue, either. Mr Hanlon nodded slowly. `Then you'll probably be wanting breakfast.'

And he led her inside.

Hi! I just want to thank everyone who's followed me and liked my story. For me, five favourites and four follows is very good. There's only seven chapters left! And It/Tom Riddle is most definitely back. Tell me what you think will happen in a review, it'll be interesting to see what you lot predict. And please spread the word of this fanfic if you like it!