The Fourth of July festivities were set in place at Derry sooner than the Losers envisioned, and they all agreed that spending the day together was the best thing to do.

Beverly was the first to arrive at the town square and took in all the red, white, and blue decorations hung up around lamp posts and buildings.

'This looks fantastic! I wonder what the others will think?'

"Hey th-there, Beverly."

She turned around to see Bill approaching her.

"So, looks like we're the first to arrive."

"You can sa-say that a-a-again."

Bill's smile diminished with how hard it was for him to speak, with his imminent stutter. Bev caught on and wanted to cheer him up.

"Hey, has anyone told you that you speak rather eloquently?"

Bill shook his head. "I've been…te-teased before because of m-my speech im-impediment."

"It shouldn't matter how you speak, but rather, the power that comes across the words – you speak so well for someone with that struggle, and I wanted to compliment you on that."

Bill returned to his smiling ways. "Thanks, Bev."

The two waited for the others to arrive, and it wasn't long after that Ben arrived on the scene.

"Hey, guys; did you hear that a member of Bowers' gang went missing?"

"N-no way, really?" Bill asked to which Ben nodded.

"His poster is over there if you're curious," Ben said pointing to a nearby brick wall, where sure enough, Edward Corcoran's information was plastered for all to see.

"This is insane," Bev said while shaking her head.

"Ho-how many more will it t-take?" Bill asked.

"It takes for what?"

The group looked over to see Stan standing there, curious to know why others were looking at the poster.

"For pe-people to do the r-right thing," Bill answered.

"All these people are missing," Ben said as he flipped through the posters of Edward, and of Betty Ripsom, "and who knows how many more went missing before them?"

"Li-like Georgie…"

Bev looked to see Bill now in a downcast mood, not knowing what to do.

She was snapped out of her trance when Mike approached the group.

"Howdy, hope you all don't mind me being here."

"No, not at all," Stan responded with a smile.

"We were just talking about the missing children," Ben added.

"Yeah," Mike said, "it's crazy to think about."

The group all looked around and started to chuckle as they spotted Richie playing a ballad horn horrendously, much to the amusement of the actual band player.

After a bit though, the band player grew annoyed and snatched his instrument back into his possession.

"Man, fuck you!" Richie yelled as he turned around to see the group, all smirking at him.

Richie scratched the back of his head in embarrassment of seeing his friends see him messing around. As he made his way over to the gang, Eddie appeared to the side of him with ice cream cones in each of his hands.

"Hey, figured you might need something to swallow down the bitterness of playing like dog shit."

As Eddie offered Richie the cone, the teen took it in his possession.

"Thanks…"

Once the duo made their way over, Ben said, "So, you guys want to hear a strange theory I might have stumbled upon over the last few weeks?"

"Sure," Stan nodded.

"Okay, so with all the tragedies that took place in Derry…"

As Ben continued, Richie was focused on two things – the first was the soft-serve ice cream and devouring it, and the second was on Eddie's gentle heart.

'Why would he gift me an ice cream? Was my performance that shitty?'

Gee, how about you ask him.

Richie stopped mid lick and sighed with tongue still out.

'You again? Don't you have anything better to do!'

Negative – remember what I told you about your inner feelings? Maybe you should listen to them…

He couldn't argue with that stance.

With eyes darting from Eddie back to the group, Richie inched his way closer, listening to his heartbeat thump against his chest with each slight movement.

'Okay, the heart is still racing when I move towards him, and his eyes…my god, his eyes are gorgeous. But…but not like Bev's. Yeah, her eyes are—'

"Dude, what the fuck?"

Richie didn't notice but he was now grazing Eddie's left side of his body, and it wasn't until his friend called him out that he knew.

"Ever heard of a personal bubble?"

"Uhh…yeah."

"Okay, well you popped mine! Please back off."

As Eddie looked at Richie in annoyance, the teen listened to the youngster in moving a few inches away.

'Okay, now I feel…upset? Because he called me out?'

"Were you two even listening?" Bev asked.

"I was," Eddie said while pointing over at Richie, "but he must have been in la-la land."

Richie blushed like mad. "Yeah, I was…sorry, guys."

"It's okay," Ben said, "it's just an interesting take to note that 27 years have passed from each major tragedy in Derry, and this is the year with the missing children."

"Yeah…you're right," Richie said, slowly nodding and taking in every word.

"My grandfather says this place is cursed," Mike piped in, "and that there's a special being wreaking havoc among us."

"That's impossible," Stan said, "that one being could cause years of inflicting wounds."

As the group departed from the building wall and made their way over to the nearby park, they all sat down in front of the town's Paul Bunyan statue, everyone was thinking of Stan's words.

"You know," Eddie said with his hands wrangling together, "I saw something that may have been what Mike was talking about."

"Okay, like what?" Ben asked.

"I saw a leper as I was walking down Neibolt Street a while back; it was in front of an abandoned house. It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life."

"A while back? Kind of around the time that my bathroom was infiltrated," Bev said.

"When…when was that?" Mike asked.

"Towards the beginning of summer."

Mike nodded after hearing Bev's answer. "I saw something, too…something that symbolized way too close to home for me."

After a few seconds of silence passed, Mike opened up. "My parents were burned alive when I was only a small child. When the firefighters tried to get to them, they only saw bones…and I saw many, many hands and heard a cackle when I was delivering meat…around the same time you two experienced your horrors."

"Mike, I'm so sorry," Stan said before continuing, "I…I saw…a lady, shortly after disappointing my father when practicing for my Bar Mitzvah. She was from a painting, and her face was…disheveled."

"So, the majority of us has seen something out of the ordinary," Ben said before sighing, "I saw a headless person while I was in the library, the same day I ran into Richie."

"No shit, really?" Richie asked, to which Ben nodded solemnly.

"Ha-have you seen an-anything, Richie?" Bill asked to which the teen shook his head.

"Have you?" Bev asked Bill.

"Ye-yeah…I saw G-Georgie floating in m-my basement, along w-with some…clown."

Eddie's face lit up. "Now that you mentioned that…I saw the clown the same day I saw the leper."

Richie looked from Bill to Eddie, then back to Bill, frustration mounting inside.

"So, there's something out there," Mike said, "and it's kidnapping humans, but mostly children…and it's leaving us in some sort of fright. Quick – what's everyone's fear."

"W…Why?" Richie blurted out as the anger got to him.

"Just to understand where we all stand…like for me, it's being trapped and burning inside, like my parents."

"My biggest fear…is being abused…again."

Bill looked over at Bev and offered her a hand to hold.

"Thank you," she responded as she gripped his hand.

"My biggest f-fear," Bill said, "is ne-never finding G-Georgie."

"Mine's never getting this weight off, even after puberty hits," Ben said solemnly.

Stan sighed. "Mine's…mine is failing my father."

"For me, it's…germs," Eddie said as he scratched his head.

"Really? That's it, because—"

"Yeah, I know that germs are all around me, fuckface! What are you afraid of?"

Go on, answer your special friend…

Richie didn't need to hear his conscience at this time.

"Me?"

Everyone was awaiting the teen's answer, and as he turned around, he found one.

"Clowns."

Eddie scoffed. "You're in for a rude awakening, friend."