A/N: Well, this chapter took a while to write, and still I'm not sure I like how it turned out. Some parts were pretty good, but others...

I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!

Review replies:

Boris Yeltsin: I hope it continues. :)

ETLW: XD. Maybe you'll like him this chapter.

Whispering: Okay. ;)

meguhanu: Thank you for that lovely comment, I hope you enjoy this one. It had its ups and downs, but I think I ended it well.

Kepler11c: Oh, sorry. I try to keep the story as clear as I can.

Son of Whitebeard: Yes it is. With him alive now, you get to possibly learn more about his character, or, more of what I think his character is like.

Blondie 20000: Thanks, I like it too. Hope you enjoy what's to come.

Chapter 4:

Emily stared at her reflection in the mirror.

It had been a couple days since school ended, since that incident...

The cuts and scrapes on her body were nearly healed by now.

She turned her focus on the 2-piece bathing suit she was wearing. It was black with dark purple flowers decorating it.

Yep. Today was it. She was officially 18, and she didn't know why or how Beverly had talked her into this.

Since her dad was away on unknown business, Beverly had decided to open her pool up for a little party.

Emily refused at first, of course, but Beverly had her ways of persuasion.

There was a sudden knock on her door.

"Hey. You gonna stay in there all d-day?" Bill asked from the other side of the door.

"Sure. Why not." Emily said.

"Wuss." Bill retorted.

"Jerk." She replied.

Taking a deep breath, she finally exited the confinements of the bathroom.

"Uh. Yeah. Now I know i-it was a good idea for me to come with y-y-you. Dressed like that?" Bill commented.

Emily rolled her eyes, before grabbing one of her shirts.

"You're only coming because mom and dad said too, because it's my birthday, so we should spend time with each other." Emily said.

"Yeah, and y-y-you're 18 now, going to a pool party. I'd be suspicious too." Bill said.

"A party consisting of two. Me, and Beverly. That's it. I don't even think I'm going to swim." Emily said.

"Oh. Speaking of, I hope you don't m-mind that I invited some p-p-people." Bill said.

Emily lowered her eyes into a glare, "You what?"

Not long after, a group of voices could be heard from down the hall.

Emily had only seen these newcomers a couple times, but she barely paid attention to them.

Soon, three more forms were invading her room.

Richie, Eddie and Stanley. All dressed in summer swimwear.

Emily stared at them incredulously.

She was suddenly glad they had decided to let Georgie stay home.

This was going to be fun...

"Come on, Emily. Cheer up. Yeah your brother's a jerk, but... At least they're too distracted right now to take your cake." Beverly said, who had come back from the house with a giant plate of a cupcake.

Emily had kept to her promise of not swimming, instead, she made herself comfortable on one of the old outdoor chairs for the past hour.

"Bev. You didn't have to..." Emily said, taking the plate of chocolate on chocolate cake.

A single candle rested in the middle, and was lit.

"Yeah I know. I should have made a whole cake." Beverly said, taking a seat next to her.

Emily gave her a look.

"Well? You gonna make a wish?" Beverly asked.

Emily scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, but focused on the candle.

The candle went out by one blow from her lips.

With that, Emily took off the candle, before peeling the cupcake from its plastic cup.

"What did you wish for?" Beverly asked.

Emily gave her a look of thought, as she took a bite of the cupcake.

"Nothing." She said simply.

"Oh come on." Beverly insisted.

"Really. I don't need anything. I'm perfectly happy with the way life is right now." Emily said.

Suddenly, a considerate amount of water was splashed upon them, from the pool.

Both girls grew rigid by the unexpected cool water.

Emily quickly focused on the 4 boys in the pool.

"Don't look at me, I-it was him." Bill said, pointing at Richie.

"Oh shut up, she knows it was you." Richie retorted.

With that, they each began dunking each other in the water.

Eddie had to get out when he was first dunked, easily running out of breath.

"Don't let him get away!" Richie teased, as they all ganged after him, off into the yard.

Emily shook her head, "Boys."

"What would we do without them?" Beverly agreed.

Since Emily's cupcake was now ruined from the water, she set it aside, before making herself comfortable in the chair again.

She must have dosed off for a second, thanks to the cool but soothing heat.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself staring up to the clear blue skies.

It was also oddly quiet.

She couldn't hear the boys playing anymore, and when she finally looked around her, Beverly was no longer sitting next to her.

Confused, Emily stood from the chair, looking around the strangely empty yard.

They wouldn't have just left her here if she had fallen asleep...?

Then, at the corner of her eye, a red glint caught her attention.

When she turned to it, she noticed a single red balloon floating at the corner of the house.

Just. Floating there.

Emily slowly began to get a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, but it was short-lived.

"Emily." A small voice sounded behind her.

She jumped, turning around, growing only slightly relieved by the familliar form.

Then, troubled.

'Georgie? What are you doing here?'

Of course, that's what she wanted to say, but... Nothing came out.

It was like a silent movie.

She stared at her brother questioningly, hoping that, with her eyes, he could tell her what was going on.

Suddenly, he began to tremble, a strangled choking sound emitting from him.

Worried, Emily tried to make go to him, but...

She couldn't move either.

It was like she was in a movie, but watching a movie at the same time.

She could only watch in horror as water began spilling from her younger brother's mouth, visibly struggling to breathe or even speak.

'Georgie!'

Again, nothing came out.

With how aggressively she was fighting herself to move, the only thing she was getting out of it, was extreme lightheadedness.

Her brother was lying helplessly on the concrete floor by now, which slowly drew her attention to something else in the distance.

At the back of the yard, behind the bushes, stood a tall figure.

Despite his bright clothing, he blended well with the bushes.

She could see the familiar clown, grinning, sinister and visibly entertained by the scenes.

The dizziness within her suddenly became too great, and then...

She was falling.

...

"Emily! C-can you hear us?"

"She's not breathing."

"I think she's dead."

"Shut up Eddie."

"Okay... I'm going to try it."

Emily could hear multiple voices talking around her, and it took her a while to identify each one.

It took her even longer to even find the strength to open her eyes.

When she finally did, her vision cleared to an unexpected sight.

One of the boys was leaned over her, his face a little too close to hers, and it was coming closer.

Emily's eyes widened at the scene, before she managed to lift her arm, a fist readily meeting whoever's face was invading her bubble.

"Ow!" The boy fell back at the pain, holding his nose, "Jesus... fucking Christ. What was that for?! Ah, I think you broke my nose."

Emily slowly sat up, her head still slightly spinning at the action.

"Depends on what you think you were doing." She managed, rubbing her head.

Only to realize, it was slightly dripping wet.

Then, she looked herself over, noticing her clothes were soaking wet as well.

Emily looked up at the group of concerned faces.

"W-what happened?"

"You... Went into some kind of trance. One minute I was talking to you, the next, you were focused on something, and you started walking around. You never said anything. You walked over to the edge of the pool, still focused on something. You were a little unstable, then... You just suddenly fainted, falling right into the pool." Beverly explained.

Emily stared at her with complete confusion.

"Bill got you out, but you were unconscious and we couldn't tell if you were breathing, so, I tried to do CPR. What good that did for me." Richie continued on, who had since grabbed a towel, covering his nose, that was visibly bleeding.

"I'm sorry about that... I..." Emily started, but paused again when visions or... Memories began to fill her.

Georgie... The clown...

"W-w-we should probably get home now. it's getting l-late." Bill suddenly spoke up.

Emily looked up at him, he looked concerned, but most likely wouldn't believe a word she said.

He'd tell her it was all some dream.

... Maybe it was a dream?

After quiet goodbyes, Bill and Emily had split from the other boys, and were walking home.

The sun was slowly beginning to disappear from the clear skies, turning slightly gloomy.

"Are you okay?" Bill asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah." Emily said quietly.

"No you're n-not." Bill said immediately, stopping their walk, "Okay. N-now I don't know what's been going on with y-y-you these last few days, but... I-I'm starting to get worried. Y-you could have died." Bill said.

Emily scoffed, "Don't be dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic... L-l-look. Let's say for a second, that I believe eerything you t-tell me."

Emily glared at him, "If you're not going to truly believe me, then what's the point in telling you anyway?"

"Em." Bill grabbed her arm before she could walk off, "P-please. I'll listen, I promise. What did you see?"

Emily stared at his genuine concerned expression.

Until this moment, he had always blamed all the mishaps on her.

Now...

Emily took a deep breath, in hopes to keep the tears back

"When I didn't meet you guys up after school, it was true, Henry was going after me, but I was lured into a place to hide untl he was gone. But, then... It was there. The same thing that tried to take Georgie. He said he wasn't going to leave me alone until he found out what I was afraid of. Then, at the pool, I thought I had fallen asleep, and when I woke up, you guys were all gone, then, Georgie was there. I... I watched him die, and I couldn't do anything... I don't think I've ever felt as helpless and scared as I did-" Emily couldn't go any further, tears were falling by now, "Why me? Why is this happening to me?"

Bill didn't answer, instead, he pulled her into his arms, letting her cries be muffled into his shoulder.

Emily, for the most part, was not expecting this. She expected him to scoff at her, tell her to stop being so dramatic, or better yet, come up with such ridiculous stories.

Instead, she was offered comfort, from him.

"It's fine. E-e-everyone is fine." Bill said simply, as he continnued to, nearly, hold her in his arms.

The sun had to have fully disappeared from the sky when Emily finally found the strength to stop crying, slowly pulling away from Bill's, no doubt, soaked shirt.

"I hate feeling like this." She complained, wiping her eyes.

It was true.

She was the oldest of the three, emotions like these rarely affected her anymore.

Or so she thought.

"J-j-just because you're the oldest, doesn't mean y-y-you aren't allowed to express emotions. N-no matter how old or m-mature we think we are. We all have a b-breaking point." Bill said.

Emily sniffled, forcing a smile, "Gee. When did you start acting all grown up?"

"Shut up." Bill rolled his eyes.

"No. I like this side of you." Emily laughed, "Thank you, for listening."

"Any time, sis. Now, we should probably get h-hoe. I think m-m-mom and dad had something planned f-for tonight." Bill said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Great. Just what I need, another party." Emily sighed.

She knew they were probably going to have dinner somewhere.

Together, the two resumed their trek back to the house.

An unnoticed pair of eyes watched them in the growing darkness.

A/N: The end of this chapter.

I wanted to post this sooner, but... Fanfiction has been giving me problems as of late. It wouldn't let me load the website, or get to my page. It took about 1 day and a half before it started working again.

Anyway, it should be good to go now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.