Neibolt

There were only three short straws, and it was hard to believe that both Annie and Eddie had drawn two of them.

Bill stood on the porch, looking down at the proceedings with the air of a general about to march his soldiers off to war.

Richie, who had drawn the other short straw, grimaced slightly, looking up at Annie and Eddie as if expecting one of them to object.

Annie stared helplessly down at her own straw, laid flat in her palm, her stomach churning dangerously once more.

"Annie," Eddie put his hand on her arm, making her look up with a start. "You don't have to."

She furrowed her brow, looking at him in confusion, before looking back down at her straw, evidence that she did, in fact, have to go.

"He's right," Mike spoke up. "One of us will go." But even as he said it, his tone suggested that he really didn't want to go in.

Bev opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to do something really stupid like offer to go in Annie's place.

Annie chanced a glance up at Bill who was shifting impatiently.

Annie shook her head. "I'm going."

She knew the reason they were willing to let stay behind was because she was a girl which was stupid. If one of the boys had drawn this straw they definitely would have made him go.

"Annie-" Eddie began, but she cut him off.

"Eddie you're going in there," she told him. "So I'm going in there. That's just the way it is."

Eddie sighed but seemed resigned to the fact that there would be no talking her out of this. "Geez, Annie… "

She offered him what she hoped was a reassuring grin that elicited a gag of disgust from Richie.

"Get a room you two," he said snidely.

Eddie flushed, turning to glare at their friend. "Shut up, Richie!"

The other boy snickered and then, just like that, whatever lightheartedness they had somehow managed to generate was gone.

Richie swallowed. "I don't guess any of you guys want to offer to take my place and let me stay out here."

There were, predictably, no such offers and the three of them finally moved to join Bill on the porch. As they began to head into the house, Annie hesitated, turning to glance back at their friends, wondering if this would be the last time she ever got to see them.

Don't think about it, Annie thought determinedly, Almost as if on reflex, Annie reached forward to take Eddie's hand, just as they entered the house, the door creaking closed ominously behind them.

Annie glanced over her shoulder to look at it, certain that she hadn't touched it or done anything to make it close.

"Annie?" Eddie tugged lightly on her hand and she turned back to find the others looking at her in concern. She shook her head quickly.

"It's nothing," she said, not wanting to seem like a chickenshit, even though she felt like a chickenshit.

The inside of the house looked much how Annie thought it would, dirty and dusty and smelly.

"Fuck," Richie shook his head slowly, disbelievingly. "I can't believe I pulled the short straw. You guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks."

"Beep beep, Richie," Annie replied, not missing a beat.

They moved further into the house, peering carefully into the rooms that split off on either side of the entrance hallway. To the right was what Annie thought had once been a living room. A threadbare blanket laid in one corner, atop of which was what appeared to be an old, stained Penthouse magazine (Richie had stolen enough of these from his father to show them that Annie could identify one even from across a room). Mold had begun to crawl up the walls, staining what had once been rich red walls with dark spots. Over the fireplace was a large sign that read 'Good Cheer'.

Annie wasn't sure about that these days, but she could see the shell of what had once been a beautiful house. And yet… somehow the whole place had a dark, dangerous feel.

"Do you smell that?" Eddie asked, glancing back at her.

The distinct and unmistakable smell of must and something worse, something rotting. Annie curled her nose in disgust and nodded.

"Don't breathe through your mouth," Richie advised.

"How come?"

"'Cause then you're eating it."

Eddie gagged, sending Richie a glare but the other boy had stepped into the doorway of the room opposite the living room and froze. Slowly he stepped further inside and the others trailed after him.

This room was in even worse shape than the living room, with a busted in window through which a bush had begun to grow through, the branches gnarled and twisted and covered in thorns. A piece of paper had been caught in the thorns, and Richie now reached forward carefully to pull it free.

He raised it close to his eyes, trying to see it through the dim lighting, His eyes, already magnified behind his thick glasses, stretched even bigger.

He looks scared, Annie thought which was strange because nothing ever seemed to scare Richie, not really. Except for what happened in the garage earlier. That had sure scared him. That had scared all of them.

"Richie?" She prompted, tone gentle. "What's wrong?"

"It-it says I'm missing," he closed his eyes tight and then opened them again, almost like he had hoped that doing so would make all of this go away.

He turned the paper so that the others could see what was clearly a missing kid flyer. Sure enough, it was Richie's face plastered on the front.

It was amazing how something so small, so simple, could freak somebody out so badly. And yet, looking down at that simple piece of paper, Annie had to admit that it was scary, how easily something could happen to one of them to cause them to go missing.

"Y-y-y-you're not missing, Richie," Bill said, hand on Richie's shoulder as he tried to calm down their friend who was now clearly panicking. Annie had to admire that about Bill, his ability to stay calm in the face of distress.

"That's what it says here," Richie snapped, shaking the paper violently. "It's my shirt! That's my hair! That's my face!"

Eddie's grip tightened on Annie and she looked up to see him watching Richie with a clear look of despair. Without taking his eyes off of their friend he reached into his fanny pack to retrieve his inhaler before bringing it to his mouth and taking a hit.

"Calm down," Bill said, still cool as a cucumber. "This isn't real."

Still not entirely convinced that that was the best argument that could be made, Annie nodded at Richie, offering him a reassuring smile. Whatever it took to get him to calm down.

"That's my name! That's my age! That's the date! What the fuck? It says I'm missing! Am I missing? Will I disappear?"

He was nearly hyperventilating now, sounding much the same as Eddie did when he was having an asthma attack.

They had hardly taken ten steps into the house and already this whole operation was falling apart.

Unsure of what else to do, Annie reached forward and grabbed the flyer, balling it up and throwing it over her shoulder, just as simple as that. Just another piece of trash decorating the floor.

Richie looked up at her in surprise and Annie gave one firm nod. "Richie," she said. "You're here, okay? You're with us. None of us are going to go missing."

"Right," Bill said immediately. "This isn't real. IT's playing tricks on you."

"Besides," Annie added, trying to lighten the mood. "If IT took you, you would just annoy IT so much that IT would bring you back."

A loud thump from above had all four of them jumping, tilting their heads back warily to look up at the ceiling.

"I guess you probably want to go up there to check out that noise, huh?" Annie looked at Bill.

That, she figured, probably went without saying. Of course, he would want to go towards the scary noise. Why wouldn't he?

"Shit," Richie sighed heavily as Bill started towards the stairs.

He turned to give Eddie and Annie a helpless look but there was nothing to be done about it.

"It's a squirrel," Annie whispered as they began to follow after Bill. "Or a raccoon. Or like… a deer."

Anything would be better than what Annie was thinking it might be, which was something really fucking scary.

No spiders, she thought. Or like… land sharks. Anything but those.

They had reached the landing of the stairs and were now looking down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, a door stood open, revealing a girl lying on the floor, looking dirty and disheveled.

"Oh god," Annie breathed. "Is that Betty Ripsom?"

The girl raised her head, looking down the hall at them, her eyes wide and terrified. "Hello? Hello? Help me please!"

And then, just like that, she was pulled out of sight with a gut-wrenching scream, and it was only Eddie's hand in hers that kept Annie from turning and bolting back down the stairs.

"Betty?" Bill rushed forward, Richie half a step behind him, but Eddie and Annie followed at a slower, more cautious pace.

None of this felt right. It all felt like… what?

There was a word there, something that Annie could not quite put her finger on.

Better figure it out quick, she thought. You might be dead if you don't.

"Annie?"

She paused, turning her head slightly when she heard someone calling her name. Eddie continued to move forward, his hand slipping out of her's.

"Annie… please. Help me!"

Yes, she recognized that voice, knew that voice well.

Turning fully, she peered into one of the bedrooms to her right, heart pounding in her chest.

She knew that voice, yes, but logically she knew that she should not be hearing it right now, knew that the owner of that voice was dead and buried.

And yet there she stood in the middle of that dank old bedroom, appearing as she had the last time Annie had seen her, in the same soft, blue dress she had been buried in, a wig of blonde curls placed upon her head.

"Amy?"

Perhaps it was the sheer desire to have her baby sister back, or maybe it was years of protective older sibling instincts kicking in, but suddenly Annie was moving forward into the room despite that logical little voice in her head screaming at her that Amy was dead.

"Annie?!" Eddie called after her, but as soon as she cleared the frame, the door slammed shut behind her, plunging her into darkness, except for the small amount of sunlight filtering in through the dirty curtains still hung up in the window.

She couldn't see anything, not really, and a cold feeling of terror washed down Annie's spine.

"Amy?" She called, furrowing her brows as she tried to see through the darkness.

A small giggle came in response, but it certainly didn't come from her sister.

"Annie!" She heard Eddie call her name again and whipped around to face the door, automatically reaching to open it only to find that there was no doorknob there, only smooth wood.

A trap, she realized. It feels like a trap!

"Eddie!" She called her friend's name, slamming helplessly on the door with her palms.

He didn't respond and, a moment later, she heard her friend's cry of fear.

"EDDIE!"

She tried slamming her shoulder into the door as if that would do anything, but Annie was too small to really have any effect and all she got for her trouble was an aching shoulder.

Where were the others? Where was Richie? And Bill? They would make sure Eddie was alright, wouldn't they? And then they would come to retrieve Annie from this room and-

She heard that giggle again from behind her and turned around, facing the darkness once more.

"Amy," She called out shakily, though she knew now, for sure, that that had not been Amy.

"Annie," A horrible voice rasped, sending a chill up Annie's spine. And then a hand wrapped around her ankle and she let loose a scream that rivaled every single one that she had ever heard from a horror movie.

Looking down, she was able to make out Amy but this was not the Amy she had seen moments before. This Amy was horrible. Her skin had taken on a sickly pallor and one eye was missing now. Annie could see where maggots had been feasting on her flesh. She smiled up at Annie and all of her teeth were blackened and rotting.

And her hand, her goddamned hand with it's rotting skin and yellowed nails was wrapped around Annie's ankle.

"No!" Annie yelled, trying to pull her leg free and move away at the same time, but Amy had a vice grip on her and all Annie managed to do was crash to the ground. "No!"

"Why do you get to live?" Amy rasped, peering up at Annie with terrible dead eyes. "Why do you get to live but I had to die? It's not fair!" She began to crawl up Annie's body and the smell of her suddenly reached Annie's nose, making her gag. This was what that rotting smell was, it had been Amy.

"Mommy and Daddy loved me more! You should have died Annie. They would be happier if you had died. Nobody wants you around, not Mommy or Daddy or Bill or Eddie. But it's okay, Annie Bell because once you're down here with me you'll float. We all float down here, Annie!"

She was face to face with Annie, peering down at her with a sickly grin, and Annie sobbed, feeling tears flood down her cheeks. Amy was right, of course, and hadn't Annie always suspected it? Everybody had always loved Amy and Annie was just her big sister. The others only hung out with her because they felt sorry for her. Bill didn't even like her, had never liked her. And Eddie-

No! Eddie was her best friend, her best best friend. Even when Annie had thought she couldn't depend on anyone else, she could depend on Eddie. Everything else might have been true, but not that. Never that.

But it was so hard to keep that one good thought at the forefront of her mind when Amy was bearing down on her, wrapping one hand around Annie's neck and tightening it.

Her grip, surprisingly strong, kept tightening, and no matter how Annie tried to draw in a breath she couldn't. This was it, this was how she was going to die. The world around her began to darken, black spots flashing across Annie's vision and she could feel herself slipping away.

And there, through the darkness, there was one clear thought, bright as the flame of a candle. This was it, this would be her saving grace. She's not real, Annie thought desperately. She's not real. Don't think about it. Think of something else, anything else.

But what? Movies? Books? Music? She was grasping at straws but suddenly the idea of music took hold. Annie loved music, had always loved music, couldn't sleep without a vinyl playing on her record player. She just needed something to calm her down, to make her think straight because this wasn't real. Bill had said so and, more importantly, Stan had said so and Stan was always coolly logical.

"There's a port on a western bay," Annie began, her voice raspy and barely audible due to the hand closing around her throat, but as she began to sing her favorite song something shifted. "And it serves a hundred ships a day. Lonely sailors pass the time away and talk about their homes."

She kept her eyes firmly shut as that stifling fear began to recede, leaving Annie with a sense of calm. That awful grip on her throat slowly let go but still, Annie didn't open her eyes.

"And there's a girl in this harbor town and she works layin' whiskey down, they say, Brandy, fetch another round, she serves them whiskey and wine."

A distant cry of fear had Annie's eyes flashing open and she sat up, looking around the room. It was considerably lighter now, and Amy was gone. Annie's head hurt like hell, and her throat ached something awful, but she was alive. Somehow, miraculously, she was alive.

There came that cry of fear again, one that Annie recognized, and suddenly she was scrambling to her feet, rushing over to the door.

Eddie!

The doorknob had returned, she saw, and she turned it now, wrenching it open to reveal that long hallway. She could hear Eddie's screams of fear now and didn't waste a second rushing out into that hall and down the stairs, thinking of nothing but getting to her best friend.

"Eddie!" She yelled, following the sounds into the kitchen.

She froze in the doorway, eyes widening as she processed exactly what it was she was seeing.

Eddie laid on his back, looking miserable and terrified, while that awful clown stood over him, lips pulled back into a dangerous smile to reveal wicked sharp teeth.

He's trying to eat him, Annie realized, a sick feeling churning in her gut.

Not Eddie! Not Eddie!

"NO!" Annie roared, reaching down to seize a piece of drywall that had fallen to the floor in crumbled bits and chucking it at that damned clown. It hit him squarely in the back of the head.

The clown turned slowly to look at Annie, sizing her up. "Be patient Annie Bell," he told her. "You're next."

"NO!" Annie yelled again, shaking her head. "LEAVE HIM ALONE! LEAVE ALL OF US ALONE!"

And then, not knowing what else to do, she grabbed another piece of drywall and threw it again, this time hitting him on the forehead.

This seemed to piss the clown off, who rose to his feet, forgetting about Eddie for the moment in favor of more annoying prey.

"Annie, no!" Eddie yelled, but Annie ignored him, skirting around the edge of the kitchen, keeping her eyes set on that damned clown. She didn't know quite what she was doing, but she knew she had distracted him from Eddie and that's what mattered.

"You think you're scary?" Annie asked, raising her chin high, trying to appear tough, trying to appear bigger than she actually was. "Fucking Ronald McDonald is scarier than you, motherfucker!"

IT lunged at Annie suddenly, making her yelp in surprise and fear and pain as IT shoved her back against the wall hard by the throat, making it difficult to breathe.

"ANNIE!"

Before IT could do anything worse though, IT froze, looking slowly up at the ceiling. A moment later came the sound of thundering footsteps and Bill and Richie entered the room, looking in shock at the clown who turned ITs head to look at them, huffing as if they had upset IT.

"This isn't real enough for you, Billy?" IT asked, his tone light and simpering. "I'm not real enough for you?"

"Holy shit!"

"It was real enough for Georgie!" With that, IT released Annie, allowing her to slump to the floor, sucking in a desperate breath as IT lunged at Bill and Richie. Before IT could reach them, Bev burst in through the back door, the others close behind, and swung an iron fencing rod into ITs head, effectively stopping IT in ITs tracks.

The group hurried into the room, half of them hurrying over to check on Eddie while the other half rushed to Annie's side, even as she tried to shuffle over to Eddie's side, thinking only of getting to her friend and making sure he was okay.

"Get Eddie! Get Annie!" Someone yelled. Stan and Mike crouched down next to Annie, gripping her by the arms and helping her to her feet. She immediately shrugged them off, hurrying to Eddie's side.

"Eddie," she said his name softly, falling to her knees at his side and reaching for him, eyes brimming with tears. They had gotten separated and look at what happened. They had both nearly died.

IT had straightened up now and turned to face them, lumbering forward as if to head towards Bev, who had backed into a corner, eyes round with terror. Suddenly IT lashed out to IT's left, slashing Ben across his belly, letting loose with a deranged sort of giggle before beginning to back out of the room, giving them a flourishing bow as IT went.

"Let's get outta here!" Mike yelled.

That was not as easy as it sounded, however. For the first time, Annie noticed that Eddie's arm was bent at an unnatural angle and Ben was bleeding profusely from his stomach. Her own throat throbbed painfully. They had been put through the wringer and, if that wasn't enough, Bill rushed after IT as IT disappeared down the hallway.

"Bill NO!" Eddie yelled at him, clearly hurt and in pain.

"Eddie," Annie breathed again, trying to draw his attention back to her. He looked up at her with wide eyes, and she pressed her forehead against his, drawing in a sharp breath. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I'm sorry!"

This was all her fault. If she hadn't foolishly gone chasing after her dead baby sister then she and Eddie wouldn't have been separated. Eddie might not have gotten hurt then.

"BILL!" One of the others yelled. "We need to go!"

Richie came rushing over to crouch on Eddie's other side, just as Bill came running back into the kitchen, seeming out of breath.

"I'm going to snap your arm back into place," Richie told Eddie who turned to look at him as if he were crazy, shaking his head vigorously.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He snapped, but this didn't seem to deter Richie who gripped Eddie's arm firmly.

"One, two, three… "

"Richie, don't!" Annie cried but it was too late and he jerked his hands, causing Eddie's arm to give a loud, painful sound.

Eddie gasped, eyes widening in pain as he lurched forward, trying to pull his arm from Richie's grasp.

"We have to go! Now!" Stan told them, and she was inclined to agree, getting to her feet and helping to pull Eddie up as well, who leaned against the others heavily. Together, the group managed to maneuver him outside and back around to where they had left their bikes.

The sooner they got there, the sooner they could leave, and Annie would be happy to never see this fucking house again.

Eddie's mother turned to face them, nostrils flaring with anger as she pointed an accusing finger at them. Reflexively, Annie shrunk back.

"You, you did this!" The woman snapped. "You know how delicate he is!"

She turned back to Eddie, ushering him into the station wagon before slamming the door shut behind him. The boy stared miserably out the window at his friends.

Annie felt as if she might start crying any second now, and if she had it her way she would be riding to the hospital with them. But Mrs. Kasprak would never let that happen, especially not now.

"We were attacked, Mrs. K!" Bill told her, but she shook her head sharply.

"No! Don't try to blame anyone else!"

"Mrs. Kaspbrak, I would never do anything to hurt Eddie," Annie told her earnestly, clasping her hands together over her chest, almost as if she were begging the woman to believe her.

Mrs. Kaspbrak scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You think I don't know all about girls like you, Miss Jackson?" She asked. Annie shrunk slightly under her intense glare. "You've been trying to steal Eddie from me since you met him!"

Annie wasn't sure what was with this delusion Mrs. Kaspbrak had that Annie was trying to take Eddie from her, but she had hated Annie ever since they first met. Now, she probably felt like that hate was well-placed.

Mrs. Kaspbrak pulled her keys from her pocket and began to fumble through them, trying to find the right one, but before she could, she accidentally dropped it. Bev started forward to grab them for her.

"Get back!" Mrs. Kaspbrak snapped, making Bev flinch back. She sneered down at the redhead. "Oh, I've heard of you, Miss Marsh… and I don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son."

She started around to the driver's side of the car and Bill made as if to follow her, still trying to explain everything.

"Mrs. K, I-"

"No!" She glared at Bill, stopping him in his tracks. "You are all monsters, all of you! Now Eddie's done with you! You hear? Done!"

And with that she climbed into the car and sped off, leaving the group to stare after it. Annie felt like her heart had shattered. Would Eddie listen to her? Would he blame them for getting hurt? What if-

"I saw the well," Bill said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. W-w-w-w-we know where it is

and next time we'll be better prepared."

Annie narrowed her eyes slowly. Was Bill implying that they try to fight IT again?

"NO!" Stan yelled, catching everybody by surprise. "No next time, Bill. You're insane!"

"Why?" Bev scoffed, looking at him incredulously. "We all know nobody else is going to do anything!"

"W-we can go back and s-s-stop IT before anybody else gets hurt," Bill added.

"No."

Everyone turned to face Annie, who stood there glaring at Bill, jaw clenched. She couldn't recall ever being so angry in her life. First Bill forced their hand, gave them little choice but to follow him into that hell hole. Then Eddie had nearly gotten killed and he was suggesting they do it again.

"IT nearly got Eddie," Annie continued, her voice quivering with barely suppressed anger. "Do you understand that, Bill? Eddie would be dead now if I hadn't gotten to him. Hell, I nearly died and you want us to go back? No. Absolutely not!"

"A-Annie we have to-"

"We don't!" She shook her head, clenching her hands into fists. "We don't have to do anything. You only want us to go in there because you think you'll get Georgie back but you won't Bill, and you're only going to get the rest of us killed too!"

"I k-know your scared Annie but-"

"Eat a dick, Denbrough!" Annie snapped, making him recoil slightly in shock. The others watched her with wide eyes as well. "Of course I'm scared. We're all scared. This thing has nearly killed me four fucking times Bill and it almost got Eddie and I can't- I can't-" She broke off, getting all choked up. She swept her arm harshly across her eyes, wiping away unshed tears, before striding past the others to retrieve her bike.

"Fuck you, Bill!" She said as she swung her leg over.

"Annie, where are you going? We need to-"

"I'm going to the hospital." She told them, not making eye contact. And then, without looking back, she began to pedal away, leaving her friends in her wake.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:So this is actually one of my fave chapters and I'm super pleased that it's finally posted so please, let me know what you guys think! As always a big thank you to everyone who has followed or reviewed this story!