Chapter 27
The group returned to Eddie's house again and Eddie snuck out of the front door and got on Mike's bike. They rode back to Bill and Georgie's house, parked their bikes, then went inside the garage. Everyone looked around and took out various boxes and looked inside; any boxes that were considered useful were put on the table, those that weren't were put back on the shelves. The group took out newspaper articles and photo books from 1962 and looked at each one. As they flipped the pages, Bill came across old pictures with kids.
"Georgie, Eddie, do you r-r-recognize a-any of th-th-them?" he asked.
Bill pointed at one of the pictures, it was two boys, one looked like he was 6 and the other looked like he was 11, and both of them were standing next to each other and smiled. The picture was very old, it was in black and white, and the scenery looked like it was taken in the 30's or 40's. Immediately, Eddie didn't recognize the boys, but Georgie did. After all, it was the same picture that Georgie's been seeing. Eddie shook his head.
"Sorry Bill, I don't." he said.
"Yes…I do. It's them! It's the two boys, it's the same picture!" Georgie exclaimed.
"Are you sure?" Bill asked surprised.
"Yes, I'm sure, it's the same picture I saw." Georgie pointed.
He pointed at the picture and when Bill looked at it, his skin was cold with chills.
"Bill, is something wrong?" Beverly asked concerned.
"This…That's gr-great u-u-uncle George and gr-gr-grandpa." He spoke.
"What, are you sure?" Mike said surprised.
Everyone got behind Georgie, Eddie, and Bill and looked at the photo. They had to admit, Bill and Georgie's grandpa and great uncle did resemble a little bit of the two boys, and they could see the loving relationship that Bill and Georgie have as well. It was clear that Pennywise had a good reason to show Georgie that picture, but they couldn't figure out on why he targeted George or if there was more than what Pennywise was showing them. Georgie looked at Bill.
"What happened to grandpa and great uncle George?" he asked.
"G-G-Grandpa d-died when I was two, from p-p-pancreatic c-cancer. I never met great un-un-uncle G-George. A-A-According to grandma, he was k-k-killed i-in a c-c-car acc-accident by a dr-drunk dr-dr-driver." Bill explained.
"Oh my." Beverly said shocked.
"Yeah, it br-br-broke g-grandpa's heart, it's k-k-kind of the r-reason why d-d-dad doesn't h-have any s-s-siblings." Bill finished.
"But what about your grandfather, why would Pennywise show him along your great uncle George?" Mike asked.
"What do you mean?" Bill asked confused.
Mike turned the page of the photobook and found a picture with Bill and Georgie's grandpa and great uncle, along with several other kids.
"Eddie, do you recognize any of these kids?" Mike asked.
Mike pointed at the last five kids. Eddie took a hard look at each one, he didn't recognize the girl or any of the other guys, but he did recognize one. Eddie suddenly got chills.
"Eddie, is something wrong?" Stanley asked worried.
"This…This is my grandfather. I don't know how I couldn't recognize him." He explained.
Eddie pointed at the fourth boy in the picture, everyone looked and could see a bit of resemblance in Eddie's grandfather, and if anything, Eddie had more of his mother's traits than his father's.
"Where's your grandfather now, Eddie?" Bill asked.
"He's dead. He was killed in an rock climbing accident when my mom was little. That's sort of how this started, my grandmother made mom scared of nature and after what happened to my dad, my mom got me scared of germs." Eddie explained.
Stanley looked at the picture and realized that his grandfather was in the picture.
"Hey, that's my grandfather." He pointed out.
"Yeah I know, my grandparents are in the picture too." Beverly commented.
"So is my grandpa." Mike added.
"And I'm guessing that's Richie's grandpa." Eddie guessed.
He pointed at the red-haired boy in the picture, Richie had some features of his grandfather, and like Eddie, he had more of his father's traits than his mother's. Ben and Ale's grandparents weren't in the picture, Ben's grandparents didn't live in Derry and neither did Ale's. Bill thought about the plan Pennywise may have and thought the places he hit and how he could've got there. He looked at Stanley.
"Stanley, what h-h-happened to your gr-grandfather?" Bill asked.
"He…He killed himself. To this day, my dad still doesn't know why." He explained.
"Surely he left something behind, right?" Ben asked confused.
"No, my grandma found him in the bathtub with his wrists slit and blood on the wall that said "IT"" Stanley explained.
"IT? Are you sure?" Georgie asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Stanley assured him.
"But…how could your grandfather write "IT", if he already knew Pennywise's name?" Mike asked confused.
"Isn't it obvious, something else happened in that park." Ale spoke.
The group looked at her, if what she said was true, than whatever happened in that park was good enough for Pennywise to take revenge. They looked at the picture again, they knew their grandparents stopped Pennywise from killing his final victim, but if something else happened in that park, than they need to figure out who's alive and who's dead.
"Okay, let's r-r-remember th-that our grandpa a-and gr-gr-great un-uncle are dead." Bill spoke.
"My grandparents were killed in a car accident." Beverly said.
"My grandfather's still alive." Mike added.
"My grandfather was killed in a rock climbing accident." Eddie said.
"My grandfather killed himself." Stanley said.
"And what happened to Richie's grandfather?" Georgie asked confused.
"If I remember right, Richie said something about him being killed in a studio accident." Eddie answered.
"Alright, so it's just Mike's g-g-grandfather we n-need to pr-pr-protect." Bill pointed out.
"And our grandma, Bill. Don't you remember Ms. Granger saying that she was involved too?" Georgie pointed out.
"She did say our grandparents were involved." Stanley agreed.
"Yes, but she d-d-didn't s-say who." Bill argued.
"Still, we can't just leave her unprotected." Mike pointed out.
"Hey guys, look at this." Ben spoke.
He took out a map, a detailed map of Derry, and started hanging up.
"Mike, can you close the garage, please?" Ben asked politely.
Mike nodded and went to close the garage door. Ben went into his backpack and started taking out slides.
"Bill, can you get the projector?" he asked.
"S-S-Sure." He answered.
Bill looked through the shelves and finally found the projector. He took it out and started setting it up. Ben looked through each slide until he found the one he wanted. He gave the slide to Bill and when he placed it in the projector and turned it on, it showed a not so detailed map of the sewers. It overlapped the Derry map and both showed the many locations with sewers underneath them. Ben marked the map with circles and labels and everyone sat down and looked at the projection.
"Ben, what are we looking at?" Stanley asked confused.
Everyone else was confused, they weren't sure what they were seeing. They looked at the markings and wondered on what some of them had to do with Pennywise and could recognize the other marks.
"Look, that's where G-G-Georgie disappeared." Bill pointed out.
"Yeah, and that's where Eddie disappeared." Beverly added.
"And this is where Patrick was killed." Stanley added.
"And this would be where Richie disappeared." Mike added.
"But what do the other marks have in common?" Georgie asked.
"This is the ironworks factory and this is the blackspot nightclub. In 1902, the factory would've explode if the boiler room hadn't been shut down. When they went in, they found a child, unconscious. Experts say that the whole factory would've exploded if the child hadn't turned off the boiler. When they asked the child on how he knew what to do…" Ben explained.
"Let me guess, he didn't remember." Stanley guessed.
"Yep, and in 1932, a branch of the KKK was about to burn the blackspot nightclub, when they were found the way Patrick was found; nothing but bones. A child was found unconscious near the scene, covered in blood. When asked about what happened, he remembered hearing voices saying to burn this stink in place to the ground. After that, the police stopped investigating." Ben finished.
"Okay, what's the point?" Ale asked uncaring.
"There are other incidents, but they all have one thing in common, major incidents were avoided." Ben explained.
"So Pennywise acts like a g-g-guardian an-angel to the t-t-town, but wh-why?" Bill asked wondering.
"Ale, do you know?" Georgie asked.
"The more victims, the merrier." Ale said cryptically.
"I'm worried, Bill. Something happened in 1962, but whatever happened either changed it or it was already prevented. My point is that something might happen." Ben said concerned.