Someone screamed, but Max was too phased to hear it. All she heard was the roaring and popping of the flames below her, but something was off…

Max was floating. She was hovering in mid-air, feet still planted on the ground, but her body was at an angle. With a sudden blow she was thrown back over the logs behind her and she skid along the ground. Sharp pain burst through her elbows as the rocks and dirt skinned them. A burning smell filled her nose and it was instantly assumed that her face was melting or something, but it felt fine…

Max sat up in shock.

"El! Did you save me from the witch!?" Max gasped staring at Eleven, but El shook her head. Everyone else was staring at Bev… who was staring at her hands…

And the kid with the curly hair, who was now on his feet and gaping at Max. A bit of blood was flowing from the corners of his eyes and running in streaks down his cheeks. What was his name? Uh… Syd? No… Stan.

"If no one is going to speak then I will…" Richie's eyes were as wide as an anime's behind his thick lensed glasses. "What. The. Fuck!?"

The group was thrown into chaos as Beverly attempted to explain how it was an accident, Ben rubbed his burn mark and started to yell for his girlfriend.

"Leave her alone! She didn't mean to really hurt anyone!" Ben tried pushing past Joyce and Jonathan, but they wouldn't move.

Max who was wondering why her hair was singed since Beverly was holding it, and it was nowhere near the fire, Hopper tried to contain the panic, and Lian sat staring in complete and utter silence.

Bill got up from his place and grabbed Stan's arm as firm as he could, dragging him away.

"What was that!?" Bill hissed, stutter falling away like it never existed.

"I-I- Bill, I don't know… I didn't do anything. I-I-" Stan was the one who was sputtering now. He was just as flabbergasted.

"You stood up, your hand shot out, and Max goes flying across the fucking grass like a bird caught in front of a jet!" Then, with sudden concern he wiped some of the blood off of Stan's face with his thumb and brushed the mess of curls out of his eyes. "Why are your eyes bleeding?!"

"I don't fucking know Bill!" Stan wiped his eyes hastily and looked at his love. Real tears were forming now. "How do you know it was me?"

"I just do, okay, I—"

"No, Bill!" Stan snapped, "Intuition doesn't work like that. It will never work like that!"

"Stan—"

"No, shut the fuck up, Bill." Stan wiped his still streaming eyes. "It wasn't me. If there is no proof, then it's not true."

Stan walked back towards the people squawking around the fire, counting his steps meticulously as he went.

Max had to cut off six inches of her hair… her beautiful hair singed by the hands of the ugliest girl in the world. It disgusted Max.

"I think you look pretty, Max." Lucas said trying to make her feel better, but he knew it wasn't going to work. Maxine was miserable.

What really made her mad was that she's had to fight off Demodogs and a Mind Flayer from a different dimension, and what has Beverly done? Cut her hair so she fit in with the boys? Been abused? That's about it.

Max laid down on her sleeping bag after brushing her teeth with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a water bottle, and she stared up at the clear ceiling. The stars were out. Max found herself wondering if Beverly was out looking up at the stars with her telescope. Maybe the boy who saved her from the burning fire was there too…

She shook her head trying to clear these thoughts. She didn't care about Beverly. She didn't.

She… but she somehow did.

"Hello?" Eddie called out.

He looked around and saw nothing but tree's. He was lost.

Why the fuck would you go looking for an animal in the middle of the freaking night?! His mind screeched.

His chest and throat tightened up as the panic swept over him like a wave, washing him away and causing his vision to go dark for a minute. Not that it wasn't already dark or anything, but Eddie started to feel dizzy. He had lost all sense of direction at this point. All of it.

Big Bill had always called Eddie the 'Human GPS' for a reason, but now those hopes were lost. Just as lost as he was.

He kept walking. That's all he could do, well… besides pray that any bear that inhabited this area would refrain from eating him until he was dead. Eddie's mind jumped at this thought and his flight or fight response kicked in, causing his heart to beat fast, his palm's got sweaty, and his skin began to crawl.

I want Richie. A voice said in the back of Eddie's head. The baby side of him.

That was the side that made him want to be held by the Trashmouth and kissed sweetly on the neck. The side of him that wanted to go to Lillian in the night when he was scared and had another bad dream. The side of him that wanted more than Rich. He wanted Stanley and Bill too. He wouldn't mind cuddling with them, as long as they were clean and had recently taken a shower.

He had just wanted someone.

His flashlight began to flicker and make a humming sound. Eddie shook it and hit it on the palm of his hand, but it didn't do shit. It kept turning on and off inconsistently.

"Oh, crap, no, no, no, no. SHIT!" He cursed as it went out completely. The darkness swelled and tears welled up in Eddie's eyes and he pushed them away, annoyed.

'What a baby!' A voice echoed around him. 'Look at the queer cry! Boo hoo hoo.'

The voice was very familiar. It cracked and changed tone and pitch with every word. It wasn't the clown, right? No, It couldn't be here. Bill once said that It was Derry. That's where It resides. It can't move, right?

"It's not real Eddie. It's not real." He whispered to himself. "It's just your head."

'Is it though, Kaspbrak? Is it really?' The voice echoed again.

The flashlight flicked on again and Eddie was face to face with a split. A split in the tree in front of him. There was a long stretch of vine like things coming from it. The opening pulsated… like it was alive…

Like it was breathing. Heavily. A soft glow protruded from it as well, a type of ugly aura.

Eddie found himself unconsciously stepping closer to this mess of slime and webs. The light. The material that breaths. It was as alive as Eddie. As conscience as a human.

'That's nonsense, Bill.' Eddie heard Stan say in the back of his head. That was from an argument a while back. Bill was talking about the possibility that It wasn't dead, and Stan flipped. He began to yell at Bill and Eddie was caught in the middle of it, covering his ears because he didn't want to hear it. 'That's bullshit! You're bullshit!'

Bill had cried that night.

Stan did too.

He was about three feet from the entrance by now. It whispered his name. The things in the trees did, I mean. The things with the faces that open into jaws with many teeth. The flower-like things.

'There is one for all of them!' It giggled from the darkness behind the web. 'There is one that looks like you, one that looks like Richie, and another for Miss Marsh…'

Eddie slowly stuck out his hand to touch—just one touch—the web. To feel the—

With a sudden bang, a white gloved hand shot out of the web, barely missing Eddie's own arm. He gasped and fell backwards with a thud.

The tentacles began to move on their own, wrapping around his bare legs. Eddie almost laughed at the realization that he wasn't wearing pants, just briefs, but under these circumstances there was no laughter to come out.

He scrambled up as he saw the figure emerge from the slimy gate. It had a silver suit, orange hair, orange pompoms, and a painted red smile. IT. It was back and worse than fucking ever.

Eddie fell back again and felt the squelch of the goo underneath his thighs.

'Come on Wheezy. Come play with your good friend Pennywise.' It croaked as it reached for him, but Eddie scrambled to his feet again. 'We can talk about our love for Richie Tozier. How cute he is… how much you wish for a blow job! I can give you one you know! I can!'

It's face changed into the leper, just like it had a few years before. The rotting flesh stinking up the air around him even more than the gate did.

Another cackle cracked through the air and Eddie began to run, leaving his flashlight behind.

A scream woke the entire camp. Richie recognized that scream as Eddie's and bolted upright in his sleeping bag, instantly awake, his heart racing. Stan and Bill did the same, but Rich was first out the tent flap.

Eddie, the voice in the back of Richie's head screamed, but he refrained from saying it out loud.

Eddie came running through the break in the trees covered in head to toe with a slimy substance that shone in the moonlight. He collapsed on the ground and Richie sprinted over to him.

"EDDIE!"

The boy was sobbing for air and shaking, his tears leaving clean streaks on his soft cheeks. Richie ignored the slime and wrapped his arms around his child.

"Someone go get his damn aspirator!" Stan commanded. Bill ran off back towards the tent.

"Holy shit, what happened!?" Dustin exclaimed.

"We don't know. Let's just get his inhaler to him so he can breathe." Stan pushed the slimy hair out of Eddie's eyes and looked at him. Eddie looked terrified and shaken.

"Someone go for a midnight run?" Richie whispered in Eddie's ear. This seemed to calm the small boy down a bit, and he let himself relax in Rich's arms.

Bill was back with the aspirator, held it up to the asthmatic's mouth, and told him to take a deep breath.

The problem was when Eddie could breath again, he said he had no story to tell.

Everyone else was great at picking up this lie.