Chapter 19

In Richie's mind

Richie started to wake up and as he did, his head was spinning, his vision was blurry, and he was confused. As Richie's vision started to improve, his stomach dropped when he saw what was in here.

"Oh shit." He whispered horrified.

The room was full of clowns. Ancient clown dolls you wouldn't find in a circus or store, but rather, in a antique shop or a haunted house. Richie looked around, there were clowns everywhere! Clown paintings and clown dolls, big and small, were all around him; causing Richie to breathe heavy and his heart beating faster. The lights were flickering and as Richie looked around, he hesitantly touched one of the clown dolls to see if it was real and if it would attack him. Thankfully, it wasn't.

"Stupid clowns." Richie mocked.

Suddenly, a curtain fell and revealed a small child-like casket. The door lifted itself, revealing a missing poster of Richie and had the word "FOUND" written in blood.

"Oh, fuck." Richie said horrified.

He slowly approached the casket and as he did, he could've sworn that he heard a couple of clown heads move. A million thoughts raced through Richie's head, but only two remained. 1. Was this a predicament of the future? or 2. Was this another one of Pennywise's sinister tricks? Richie approached the casket and looked inside to see a blanket covering something small. He took the blanket off and saw a doll-like version of himself with patches on its face and maggots in each one. Feeling disgusted, Richie slammed the casket door shut, but suddenly, a tall clown jumped out of it and landed on top of it. The clown made a sinister smile and made a motion that looked like he was pressing a button or something.

"Beep beep, Richie" the clown said.

Richie backed up, horrified and eyes wide. The clown rushed at him, grabbed him, and slammed him on the wall of the room. Richie screamed as tentacles came out, held his arms, legs, and head back and everything around them turned black; save for the light in the middle of the room. Richie struggled to break free, but the tentacle's grip was too tight. Tears streamed from Richie's eyes as the clown got closer and stroked his cheek. Fear turned to anger, when the clown gave a sinister smile. The clown backed up a few feet and took out a pipe and a pot.

"Is this what you did to Eddie?" Richie asked; struggling to break free.

"Oh trust me Richie, what I did to Eddie is nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you." The clown answered sinister.

"So, you must be Pennywise." Richie said guessing.

"Yes, and now that I have you, I can continue with my plan." He said smirking.

"Wait what plan?" Richie asked serious.

"You'll see." Pennywise answered.

He put the pipe close to his mouth, opened it really wide, and made a sound that sounded like wind coming in. Richie's eyes turned white and white mist started leaving his mouth and entered the pipe. White, milky liquid exited the pipe and poured into the pot. After a few minutes, the last bit of mist left Richie, his eyes turned back to normal, and the tentacles let got of Richie. He landed on the ground and tried to get up, but he was horribly weak. As Pennywise approached him, Richie's mind went blank.

At the hospital

The next day, Eddie's head started moving a bit and started opening his eyes. His vision was blurry and his head was spinning. After a few moments, Eddie's vision became clear and he started looking around. He realized that he was in the hospital and when he looked around, he saw Bill and Beverly were sleeping together with Georgie on top of Bill. Mike sleeping on his side on one chair and Ben and Stanley were sleeping together on another couch. Pain struck Eddie's head; causing him to flinch in pain and rubbed his head a bit.

"Uhhh, what's g-going on?" Eddie asked confused.

"Ah, you're awake." A voice spoke.

Eddie looked over at the far right corner and saw Ale putting away the magazine she was reading and looked at Eddie.

"Ale, what are you doing here?" Eddie asked surprised.

"Well, your friends needed my help to track you down and so, I did." She said.

"And, how long was I missing?" Eddie asked.

"Three days." Ale answered.

"Three days?! But how did I…" Eddie asked surprised.

"You were found in the sewers; all bloody and bruised." Ale answered.

Pain struck Eddie's head again when she said that. As he rubbed his head, Ale was chuckling in amusement.

"So, I guess everyone wanted to stay here and keep an eye on me?" Eddie asked guessing.

"Yep." Ale smiled.

She got up and went behind the couch Ben and Stanley were sleeping.

"So, wh-wh-where's Richie?" Eddie asked.

"It's best if your friends tell you. Rise and shine!" Ale smiled enjoyably.

She tipped the couch over and Ben and Stanley fell to the ground; immediately waking them up. Ale did the same thing to Mike, Bill, Beverly, and Georgie; all of them immediately woke up. Everyone moaned and groaned in pain and got up. Everyone started rubbing their arms, shoulders, or elbows to ease the pain. Stanley gave an enraged glare at Ale.

"WHAT THE HELL, ALE?!" he yelled.

Ale just smiled and pointed at Eddie. Everyone looked over to see what she was pointing at. All but Georgie were shocked and surprised.

"EDDIE!" Georgie exclaimed.

He climbed onto the bed and gave Eddie a big hug. Pain struck all over his body.

"Soft Georgie, soft." Eddie pleaded.

"Oh right, sorry." He apologized.

Georgie softened his hug and everyone else was overjoyed to see Eddie awake.

"Boy are we glad that you're awake." Mike said.

Bill, Ben, Stanley, Beverly, and Mike gathered around Eddie and gave him a soft group hug. Eddie smiled warmly and moved his only good arm around Mike and Georgie. After a few moments, everyone let go and backed up a bit to give him space. Pain struck Eddie's head again and he started rubbing it to ease the pain.

"So, what h-h-happened?" Eddie asked.

"You were possessed by Pennywise again, Eddie. After I gave you a hug in my room, Pennywise was regaining control of you and…" Georgie explained.

"Oh God, Georgie, I'm so sorry." Eddie said tearing up.

He hugged Georgie without trying to hurt himself. Tears streamed from Eddie's eyes, all the way down his cheeks.

"It's okay Eddie, I'm not mad." Georgie said comforting.

Eddie let him go and wiped his tears away. He smiled at Georgie, but noticed the bruise on his neck and remembered that he also hurt other people. Eddie looked at Beverly, stood up a bit, and hugged her.

"I'm so sorry Beverly, I never wanted to hurt you, I swear, but he made me do it and I was forced to watch." He said crying.

"It's alright Eddie, I'm not mad. I forgive you, I promise." She said comforting.

Georgie's overjoyed expression changed to being concerned, Ale was alarmed. And everyone else's expressions changed to shock and horror. Eddie looked at Bill, concerned that Bill was angry that he had hurt Georgie.

"I'm so sorry Bill, I didn't mean to hurt your brother, I swear I wasn't…" he said apologizing.

"No, no it's alright, I'm not m-m-mad, I promise, but you remembered all of that?" He said reassuring but confused.

"Yeah, I couldn't control him, but I didn't mean it." Eddie said.

"Hm, strange." Ale commented.

"Why is that strange?" Stanley asked.

"Well, as sadistic as demons are, fear demons don't usually show their victims what they're doing, it gives the "the less you know, the more you are safe" persona." Ale explained.

"So why is Pennywise making us watch then?" Georgie asked.

"If I had to guess, this is more than just trying something new. This looks like personal gain." Ale guessed.

"But why would this be personal gain?" Beverly asked.

"Well, if I had to guess, it seems like he wanted payback." Ale said guessing.

"Yeah but from what?" Mike asked.

The group wondered for a bit and was thinking about what could've caused Pennywise to cause these horrible crimes. After a few moments, a sudden realization came across Eddie's face.

"The picture." He whispered.

"What?" Bill asked.

"The picture. Pennywise kept showing me flashes of Richie and this picture of a 11-year-old boy standing next to a tree near the forest. He was smiling and the scenery looked like the picture had been taken in the 20's, 30's, or 40's." Eddie explained.

"I saw a picture too." Georgie spoke.

"Really? W-W-Why didn't you t-tell me?" Bill asked.

"It slipped my mind for a bit, but when Eddie came into my room and told me about the picture, it came back to me. I've been meaning to tell you." Georgie explained.

"What did the picture look like?" Beverly asked.

"There were two boys, I think they were 6 and 11. Anyway, they were smiling and standing next to each other at a street where the buildings looked like the year was in the 20's, 30's, or 40's." Georgie explained.

Bill begin to think. He felt like he had seen a picture like this, but he wasn't sure. Bill remembered that there was a box of old family photos in the garage. When Eddie got out, Bill would take him and Georgie to the garage to look over some old photos and see if they could recognize anything.

"Georgie, Eddie, if I s-s-showed you some old p-photos, would you recognize something?" Bill asked.

"Yes, I think I would." Eddie said.

"So would I." Georgie said.

"Good, so where's Richie?" Eddie asked.

"Richie is well, um…missing." Beverly said.