Eddie heard the knock at his front door, signaling the arrival of Richie Tozier, his reluctantly-declared best friend.
"Eddie-bear, your friend is here!" Eddie's mom called from her well-worn recliner in the living room.
"I hear him, Ma, thanks," Eddie shouted back from his room. Eddie put the finishing touches on his costume—meaning he put on the latex gloves, strapped on the medical mask, and fit the surgical cap over his hair.
Eddie rushed to yank open the front door, but was stopped in his tracks by his mother just before he could do so, "Eddie, aren't you forgetting something?"
"Oh, right, Ma," Eddie said as he straddled over to give his mom a kiss on her cheek.
"Stay safe, dear. Don't stay out too late, and don't eat any candy or food given to you by strangers."
"But the whole point of trick-or-treating is to eat free candy from strangers."
"Eddie," Mrs. Kaspbrak said sternly, "you won't regret it when all your friends get poisoned or get razor blades in their mouths and you're the only healthy one left."
"Ma, that's not gonna- "
"It's always better to be safe than sorry, dear."
"Yes, Mama."
Eddie walked out the door, with one last "Goodbye" uttered from his mother.
"There you are, Eds. What took you so long?" Richie asked, fully costumed as Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies—he had the striped shirt, the clawed glove, the hat, only missing the facial makeup.
"Nothin', just had to finish up putting on my costume."
"Yeah, what the fuck are you dressed up as?"
"I'm a surgeon, Richie! They're very important members of our society. Without them- "
"Who gives a fuck about that? Eddie, whatever happened to you dressing up as Jason? Isn't that what we agreed on?"
"You agreed with yourself on that; I never said anything."
"C'mon, Eds, surgeons aren't scary. Or at least not normal surgeons. Maybe if you were some bloody, fucked-up zombie surgeon…"
"Not every Halloween costume has to be scary."
"But the best ones are!"
"And don't call me Eds!"
"Whatever. Let's get to Bill's already! That's where we're all meeting up."
Eddie and Richie each got on their bikes and started their way towards Bill Denbrough's house. On the way there, Eddie continued his defense of his choice of costume, "Besides, Richie, I already had most of this stuff lying around my house. It was just convenient. My mom always keeps a stash of gloves and face masks around, 'cause, y'know, germs. And this cap is just her shower cap."
"So not only did you not get a scary costume, but you're lazy, too? Wooow."
"Shut up."
"And you're wearing your mom's shower cap? Hope you don't get lice!"
"My mom doesn't have lice!"
"That's not what she told me when I fucked her!"
"Sometimes I really wonder how I don't go insane with you around."
Once Richie and Eddie made it to the Denbrough household, they were met with Stan waiting outside, dressed in clothes he'd be seen in on any other day.
"What the fuck, Stan? Why didn't you dress up?" Richie asked.
"I am dressed up. As myself. I didn't feel like wearing a costume."
"Why not?" Richie asked further.
"I couldn't think of what to dress up as. Besides, I'd look stupid."
"Uh, Stan? Hello? Everyone is wearing a costume tonight. We all look stupid! Now you look more stupid than the rest of us for not dressing up."
"Forget it. Let's just get Bill," Stan said, slightly annoyed.
Richie rang the doorbell to the Denbroughs' house. Once. Twice. Thrice.
"That's enough, Richie! I'm sure he hears you!" Eddie said.
Bill opened the door, completely clad in Dracula garb—the suit, the cape, the slicked back hair, the fangs.
"Big Bill goin' as Old Drac once again!" Richie declared in a cheery fashion.
"Well, yeah, i-i-it's a classic! Can't go wrong with the c-c-classics." As Bill walked out on the porch, he turned back and yelled into the house, "C'mon, Georgie, we're leaving now!"
Georgie came out shortly thereafter dressed in a pink bunny costume and holding a plastic pumpkin bucket for candy.
"Who invited the pipsqueak?" Richie asked.
"I did," Bill said matter-of-factly. "He's m-m-my brother, Rich."
"Really? You're gonna go as a bunny, George? That's not scary at all."
"I didn't want to dress up as something scary," Georgie said. "I don't want to scare anybody."
"But scarin' people is one of the best parts about Halloween," Richie said. "You know, besides the free candy."
"Well, I don't think it's very nice to scare people," Georgie replied innocently.
"Believe me, I could dress you up in the scariest costume imaginable, and you still wouldn't be able to scare anybody, George!" Richie said, cracking up at his own statement. "So you got nothing to worry about."
Georgie huffed and put his hands on his hips in response to Richie's remark, staring daggers at him.
"Hey, Ben's here!" Stan announced, and the group made their way toward the new arrival.
Bill lowered himself to Georgie's level and told him softly, "D-d-don't listen to Richie, Georgie. We don't take a-a-anything he says seriously. That's why we call him the Trashmouth."
Georgie giggled at this, but still couldn't shake off the feeling of insecurity and embarrassment.
Ben came covered from head to toe in "bandages".
"The Mummy!" Richie shouted. "We got another classic over here!"
"Yeah," Ben replied quietly. "It was pretty easy. Just needed a lot of toilet paper. I did some research on actual mummies from Ancient Egypt, too. They're actually pretty interesting. The Ancient Egyptians believed that a person's body had to be preserved in order for them to move on to the afterlife. And in the mummification process, they actually removed all of their internal organs. That is, except for the heart, since- "
"Hey, yeah, that's nice and all, but, uh…Molly's here," Richie said as he pointed behind Ben. Ben obediently shut up and turned around.
And of course, by "Molly", Richie meant Molly Ringwald. And by "Molly Ringwald", Richie meant Beverly. She was dressed in a short, black dress and a black, pointed witch hat.
"Hey, guys, how's it goin'?" Beverly said as she joined the group. "Sorry if my costume's not much; this is all I could manage to get."
"T-t-that's okay, Bev. You look great," Bill said.
"Thanks, Bill. So do you. You all look great, actually!"
"Really? Even Stan?" Richie pointed out. "He's not even wearing a costume!"
Beverly laughed at Richie's dramatics. "By the way, my dad doesn't even know I'm out with you guys."
"He doesn't?" Ben asked. "Then where does he think you are?"
"I told 'im I was going to Gretta Keene's Halloween party!"
"But Gretta hates you," Richie said.
"He doesn't know that."
"Good point."
Georgie was slightly startled when he heard a loud "Boo!" come from behind him in conjunction with a pair of furry claws wrapping around his waist. He looked over his shoulder and was met with the mangy, toothy face of a werewolf. But the beastly face was torn off by its own claws to reveal the face of Mike Hanlon. The monstrous head of the werewolf was nothing more than a rubber mask.
"Mike! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, Georgie," Mike said genuinely. "I was just playin' around."
"Hey, glad you could m-m-make it, Mike!" Bill said.
"Glad I could be here!" Mike replied. "So, we ready for some trick-or-treating?"
"We've all got our pillowcases in hand, I think that's a good indication to start," Ben said.
The first house they went up to had a scarecrow sitting out on a bench beside the front door. All the Losers walked straight up to the door with ease, but Georgie stayed back near the sidewalk.
"C'mon, Georgie," Bill said. "What's the matter?"
"That." Georgie pointed towards the scarecrow. "I know he's just a guy pretending to be a scarecrow, but then he's gonna pop up and scream when we don't suspect it."
"Georgie, you got nothing to worry about with these guys," Richie said. He walked up to the guy pretending to be a scarecrow and kicked him straight in the balls. The guy moaned in pain as he toppled over the side of the bench. "See? What'd I tell you?"
This caused a burst of laughter to bubble up from Georgie as a smile curled up his face.
Everyone got their candy from the first house, then carried on their way to the next one, the "scarecrow" still curled up in a ball on the ground, clutching his crotch.
The next house they came to was teeming with screams, shrieking laughter, and preteens with terrified expressions on their faces.
"What's going on here?" Stan asked.
"This is the Corcoran's place," Eddie answered. "They always set up a haunted house in their garage every year."
"The best haunted house in the neighborhood!" Richie said. "Every year, they somehow manage to make it even scarier than the last!"
Some of the Losers glanced nervously at each other in response to Richie's description. They were desperately hoping he wouldn't want any of them to go inside. But…
"So? You guys up for it?"
"No!" Georgie said, panicking. "No, I don't wanna go in there! Please, don't make me go in there, Billy! Please!"
"That's okay, Georgie, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to," Bill replied calmly.
"I can stay out here to watch Georgie while you guys go inside!" Stan said without a beat of hesitation.
"No, I don't want you to go in there, Billy!" Georgie urged as his eyes started to well up with tears.
"It's okay, Georgie, I'm going to be safe; it's all fake."
"Please! Don't go!" Georgie cried.
Bill looked at all the other Losers solemnly. "C'mon, guys. Let's go. Let's not exclude Georgie. He's part of the group, too."
As the group made their way to the next house, Richie complained, "Bill, I wanted this to be a fun night out with the group. I didn't want to babysit as we go to the tamest houses in the neighborhood!"
"I know," Bill told Richie quietly, not wanting Georgie to hear this conversation, "but I just want my brother to be happy. I don't want him to get scarred for life or anything."
"But that's what Halloween is all about, Bill! It'll maybe even toughen him up a little bit. Lord knows he needs it."
"R-R-Richie, just s-s-stop. Don't talk about my brother. Please."
"Okay, okay, jeez. Just tryin' to help, Big Bill."
"Well, thank you, but you're not."
The next house was relatively tame compared to the first two—just a couple of jack-o'-lanterns, some spiderwebs strung over the doorway, and some gravestones out on the lawn.
"You can do this house, right Georgie?" Bill asked.
"Uh-huh," Georgie responded succinctly.
The Losers went up and rang the doorbell. A man came out with a bowl of candy and handed a piece out to each of them after the routine "Trick-or-treat!" was uttered.
The seven older kids then made their way back to the sidewalk and continued onto the next house. That is until they heard a frustrated, high-pitched voice call out, "Wait for me!" Georgie came trudging along behind them, his little bunny feet shuffling back and forth in quick succession. "You guys left without me!"
"Sorry, Georgie," Bill apologized as he took his brother's hand with his own.
The group traveled to about a dozen or so houses more when Georgie's bucket started getting a little too heavy to carry. "Billy, can I keep my candy in your pillowcase? My bucket's full."
"Sure, Georgie." The younger Denbrough sibling proceeded to dump the contents of his pumpkin bucket into the elder's pillowcase, making the bucket empty once again.
"You filled your bucket already?!" Eddie questioned.
"Yeah, how'd that happen?" Richie asked. "I have barely enough candy to cover the bottom of my pillowcase."
"I don't know, they just give me a lot of candy," Georgie answered honestly.
Richie glanced at Georgie's candy stash within Bill's pillowcase. "Damn, they're giving you all the good stuff, too! I'm gettin' all the crappy candy."
"Yeah, same here," Beverly said.
"At least you guys are actually getting candy," Stan said. "Most of the houses don't give anything to me."
"That's because you're not wearing a costume, Staniel," Richie replied flatly. "Go figure." He then turned his attention back towards Georgie. "Alright, George, what's your secret?"
"I don't know! Honest!"
"Okay, we'll see about that. At the next house."
Said next house was adorned with orange Halloween lights all around the rim of the house, and paper decorations of bats and black cats were pasted along the wall of the porch. It was here that Richie's investigation was put into motion. The Losers all got their candy first, then when it was Georgie's turn to get candy, they all hid behind a corner of the house and watched the scene unfold.
"Trick-or-treat!" Georgie exclaimed.
"Aaawww! Aren't you just the cutest little thing!" the woman at the door said in a baby voice. "Here you go, cutie pie!" she said as she dropped about six or seven fun-sized candy bars into Georgie's bucket.
"She's playing favorites!" Richie loudly whispered. "They all are! That's why Georgie's been getting more candy than anyone else! Maybe him wearing that stupid bunny costume wasn't such a dumb idea after all."
"Oh, well," Ben said. "He's a kid. Just let him have it."
"No! If I'm gonna be stuck babysitting, I at least want my proper pay in candy!"
Georgie then came skipping around the corner in childish glee. "Oh, there you guys are! I thought you just ran off from me, like you always do."
"Sooo, that's your strategy, huh? Play up the old 'cute card'. I'm on to you, George," Richie said.
"What? What are you talking about?" Georgie asked, confused.
"Forget him, Georgie," Beverly said. "Richie's just being a whiny grump."
"Am not! I just want to get the proper amount of candy that I deserve."
"Then you should really be gettin' no candy at all!" Mike said, snickering.
"Very funny," Richie deadpanned.
After five more houses, Georgie was already at the halfway mark in his bucket.
"Are you kidding me?!" Richie cried out. "Georgie, if you're getting more candy than all the rest of us, can you at least share it?"
"Hmmm…nope!" Georgie said gleefully.
"Come on! You already have enough candy to last you a year! My stash won't even last me into December."
"Well, that's too bad for you. But I earned my candy, so I'm keeping it all."
"Earned it? You literally didn't do anything to get it except look cute! Which you don't even have to try to do!"
"Why, thank you, Richie! I appreciate the compliment!" Georgie said. Beverly chuckled.
Richie rolled his eyes. "Okay. How 'bout this: this next house, you'll go in front, instead of the back like you usually are. Then, when they see your 'preciousness', they'll be so moved that they'll give all of us more candy!"
"It's worth a shot, I guess," Georgie said.
"Trick-or-treat!" the gang said in unison as the door to the next house opened. Georgie was front and center with his pink bunny costume and beaming smile plastered on his face.
The old lady who answered the door said, "Oh, how cute!" with a wrinkly smile rising up her face. She seemed to be speaking to Georgie in particular when she said, "Such a lovely costume you have!" The woman then glanced at the older kids, and her smile fell. "Aren't you all a little old to be doing this?" The enthusiasm she expressed in her voice prior was not present in this statement. She then proceeded to give only one piece of candy to everyone, including Georgie.
Once she closed the door on them, they began to walk away from the house, and Richie said somewhat loudly, "That bitch! She still only gave us one piece of candy! Even with the cute one at the front, clear as day! She hated us! Well, all except Georgie."
"Hey, don't look at me! She only gave me one piece of candy, too! Thanks a lot, Richie; your stupid plan made me get less candy than I normally get."
"Oh, big deal," Richie dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Hey, you really should be grateful, though; this candy she gave us is utter crap! The less you have of it, the better."
"Yeah, what even is this?" Eddie asked in disgust.
"Probably old caramels she had sitting around in her house for decades," Stan said.
"Why do old people always give out the worst candy?" Richie said. "When will they learn?"
"M-m-maybe they do it on purpose," Bill said. "Maybe they just r-r-really hate kids."
The next house they went to was in a cul-de-sac. As usual, the older Losers went in front of Georgie to collect their candy first. By the time Georgie got the chance to go up to the door and yell, "Trick-or-treat!" the others were already on their way back on the street.
The man at the door dropped a handful of assorted candies into Georgie's bucket, and the small boy politely said, "Thank you," in response. But when Georgie turned around to start walking away, he was met with a looming dark figure before him, at the threshold between the sidewalk and the beginning of the pathway to the front door. It was a towering, grim reaper-like being—with a skull for a face and a long, black robe that reached the ground. Georgie gulped. His heart started pounding rapidly. There's no way he's going back straight ahead. He'd have to take a side route.
Georgie looked to his left and saw a creepy ghost hanging from a clothing line, ebbing and wavering in the wind, looking for its next victim to haunt. Can't go that way. Georgie looked to his right and saw a mean-looking werewolf, bearing his razor-sharp teeth, looking like he might enjoy Georgie as a tasty evening dessert. Yummy, sweet, little boy. Can't go that way, either. Georgie's heart started pounding even faster as he realized his options were limited. Maybe the friendly man at the door could help him out?
"Uh oh, looks like your trapped!" The man at the door said, chuckling as he closed the door on Georgie. Some help he was. Why, oh, why did Bill and the others always have to run off without him? Why did they always have to leave him alone, ripe for the monsters' pickings? The three ominous figures all continued to stare at Georgie, threatening eyes lingering on the tiny morsel that he was.
Finally, Georgie mustered up as much bravery as he could. "I'm brave. I'm brave. I'm brave," he repeated quietly to himself. Georgie would just have to pick the lesser of three evils. That ghost doesn't look quite as bad as the others. Georgie would just have to run between it and the grim reaper.
Georgie took a deep breath, then dashed as fast as his little bunny feet would carry him diagonally across the lawn between the ghost and the grim reaper, screaming as loudly as he could while doing so. He did it! He made it back onto the black asphalt of the cul-de-sac! But Georgie's relief was short-lived, as when he turned around, he noticed that the large, robed figure was now following him, making his way towards him! No, this can't be happening! This doesn't happen in real life! It only happens in those scary movies that Bill watches. Right? Georgie saw the older kids up ahead in the distance, so he once again made a mad dash as he shrieked in terror—this time, running toward the Losers while simultaneously running away from the eerie, dark stalker.
"Billy!" Bill turned around at the sound of his little brother screaming his name, and he was met with Georgie running straight up to him with tears in his eyes. Georgie grabbed tightly around his brother's waist and said, "It's coming to get me, Billy! It's coming for me!"
"What is?"
"That!" Georgie pointed to the tall grim reaper.
"That? It's j-j-just a costume, Georgie," Bill placated.
The hooded figure took off its skull face, revealing a regular human face, and the cloak was lifted to reveal two teenagers underneath—one sitting on the shoulders of the other. That's why he had seemed so tall.
"Sorry," the teen on top said. "We didn't mean to scare you that bad."
Georgie wiped his tears away as he started to calm down. He said to Bill, "You left me alone with the monsters. You always leave me behind."
"I'm sorry, G-G-Georgie. We won't do it again."
"Give me a break," Richie said. "Why do you gotta be such a scaredy cat all the time, George? Your big brother's not always going to be there to protect you your whole life."
"It's okay, Georgie, d-d-don't listen to Richie. He's just been in a b-b-bad mood this whole night."
"No, he's right," Georgie said glumly.
"Why don't we just g-g-go home? I think we've ha-had enough for one night."
Georgie nodded in response.
On their way back, the group passed by the Corcoran's haunted house again. Georgie stopped in front of it.
"Georgie, come on," Bill said. "D-d-don't you want to go home?"
"I wanna go in there," Georgie said.
"What?! What are you talking about?" Eddie said in confusion.
"Yeah, I thought you didn't want to go in there," Ben added.
"I know, but…I want to prove that I'm not a scaredy cat. I want to prove that I'm brave."
Bill looked at Richie with a face that said, You know this is all your fault, right?
"A-a-are you sure, Georgie? It's going to be really scary in there."
"I'll be okay, Bill. You'll see."
"Well, let's go in, I g-g-guess," Bill said. "Let's all go. For Georgie." All the Losers made their way into the entrance of the haunted house, with Georgie at the front of the line.
"How did I get dragged into this?" Stan questioned quietly to himself.
Bill grabbed ahold of Georgie's little hand, but Georgie slipped it out from Bill's grasp.
The haunted house started off as a long, narrow hallway, completely pitch black. "I'm brave. I'm brave. I'm brave," Georgie repeated softly. Suddenly, Georgie felt a hand grab him by the ankle, and he was pulled up against the wall! Another hand grabbed his shoulder! Another grabbed his arm! He could hear the otherworldly moans and cries of the lost souls whom these hands belonged to. Georgie yelled a high-pitched screech as he writhed out from the grasp of the hands.
"G-G-Georgie!" Bill cried out. "Are you alright?"
"I can't see a damn thing in here!" Mike said.
"I think that's point, Mikey," Richie said in a wisecracking tone.
But Georgie didn't hear the others. All his mind was concentrating on were the hands. And the eerie screams of the souls. And trying as hard as he possibly could to escape. And he did! He had managed to yank himself free!
Georgie ran out of the dark, claustrophobic hallway, and into a larger room with a strobe light. With every blink of the light, Georgie could get a sense of his surroundings piece by piece. There were cob webs along the walls…and glimmering candelabras…and…a coffin. Two. Three? But that wasn't all. The coffins…they were…open. But that wasn't all. They were…empty. As if something had just crawled out of them.
The moaning returned. And so did the hands. But Georgie didn't feel them this time. He saw them. They were dirty, and infected, and decomposing, with bits of flesh flaking off. The hands had belonged to undead corpses—some on the ground, crawling, while others were standing on their feet, slowly stepping forward. But they were all making their way toward Georgie. They had trapped him in a corner. Georgie had nowhere to run. So, he simply collapsed on the ground, held his legs up to his chest, and started to scream and cry. With every flash of the strobe light, the zombies got closer. They were inches away from Georgie's head, some were even drooling on his bunny feet. So long, Georgie brain. You're about to become zombie food.
But then, the zombie closest to Georgie was violently pulled back. Pulled back by a tall, lean figure. It was hard to tell at first from the strobe light, but Georgie quickly recognized him to be his older brother, here to come to his rescue.
"What the hell is your problem?" Bill yelled with ferocity at the zombie. "He's just a little kid, for fuck's sake!"
"Okay, dude, chill out!" the "zombie" said nervously. "I wasn't going to do anything to him!"
"I don't f-f-fucking care! How the hell do we get out of here?" Bill asked, still visibly angry.
"I'll show you, just calm down." The "zombie" kid turned on the regular lights to the room, then went to turn off the strobe light. He walked them down another hallway, then opened up a hidden door. The Denbrough brothers ended up outside again, at the side of the garage. "Next time, don't bring your baby brother along." The kid shut the door behind him.
"Baby brother? I'm not a baby," Georgie said sadly.
"Don't w-worry about him; at least you're ou-out of there."
"Oh, Bill," Georgie said, starting to cry, but trying his best to suppress it, "I'm so sorry! I tried to be brave. I really did! But I just…couldn't."
Bill pulled Georgie into a warm, understanding hug. "That's okay, Georgie. You at least went in there. That's a s-s-super brave thing to do!"
"Yeah, but I didn't feel brave. I was scared, Bill. I was super scared."
"R-r-remember the Cowardly Lion from the W-W-Wizard of Oz? Remember what he learned? Just because you're sc-scared doesn't mean you're not b-b-brave. Bravery is about moving forward despite b-b-being scared."
"I guess you're right. But I couldn't even move forward through the entire haunted house; I only made it to the second room."
"Well, at least you made it there, right? S-s-sometimes we just have to take things in baby steps, Georgie. Or sh-sh-should I say little steps? You're not a baby a-a-anymore, after all." Bill smiled at his brother, and Georgie let out a little laugh. "Oh, and I'm sorry you had to hear me swear back there. Don't repeat anything I said, okay?"
Georgie laughed some more. "Okay, Billy."
The rest of the Losers had exited out the way they came in. "What's wrong, Bill? We heard you yelling in there," Mike said.
"Yeah, you sounded really mad," Stan added.
"Oh, it was n-nothing, I guess," Bill answered.
The Losers could see that Georgie's eyes were puffy and red, as if he had just had a long cry. They could infer what had happened from there.
Richie kneeled down to Georgie's level and said, "Hey, George, I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you tonight. I shouldn't have called you a scaredy cat and all that. If you're not ready for something yet…well, that's alright. And you were very brave for even going in there at all. Can you forgive me, buddy?"
"I suppose," Georgie said with a playful smile as he reeled Richie in for a hug.
"C'mon, Georgie," Richie said, standing back up, "what d'you say we go back to your place and gorge ourselves in candy while we watch cartoons?"
"I'd say that's a great idea!" Georgie replied enthusiastically.
It was then that Georgie and Richie finally started seeing eye to eye on that night—the best thing about Halloween was definitely, certainly, without a doubt, the candy.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I chose Dracula, a witch, a werewolf, and the Mummy as the costumes for the Losers as a little reference to the book, since those are all forms that It takes in the book, and in the case of Beverly and Ben, It appeared to them in the forms of the costumes they wear in this story. I chose Freddy Krueger as Richie's costume, because there was actually an idea for It to appear as Freddy Krueger in the 2017 movie, since it takes place in the 80s rather than the 50s, so that was another little Easter egg. And Eddie dressed up as a surgeon because I honestly couldn't think of anything else he would be XD Of course, Georgie was dressed up as a bunny because I wanted him to go as the least scary thing someone could be for Halloween.
Fun fact: Georgie's experience at the house in the cul-de-sac with him being left behind and the grim reaper following him is actually something that happened to me when I went trick-or-treating with my family when I was around four years old. It's a memory that's so deeply ingrained in my mind that I had to use it somehow in my writing. I'm not sure if there were actually two people stacked up on each other, or if that's just my memory making things more exaggerated than they were, but either way, I thought it made for a good dramatization.