Of course, Yves is missed. The news is devastating. For a boy that was bullied so badly he had to switch to the pitiful shelter of the conglomerate-grades Christian school, he had bounced back in many a heart and mind.
Otherwise, life is quiet. Suspiciously so. Your caretaker's eyes glide over your injuries as if they were never there, and you are left to bandage and nurse whatever you have on your own. Kids, though. They do double takes, ask where you took a fall. Del has it the worst off the bat, but luckily the sucker marks dissipate after two days. Do you tell anyone about what happened to you? Do you tell each other?
You decline the invite to play in the Barrens again with Beverly and Ben and the others. They understand, the news is the pits and they aren't in a playful mood either, but they insist that you're welcome again later. You hang up the phone with a squirmy, guilty feeling in your gut. It just doesn't feel right.
How is life going for you? Are you meeting up again? Where are you spending your summer days, if not together?]
[jen does tell the others what happened. it's frightening, to risk talking about it, when no one else has believed her.
but they were there when yves was found. they saw what happened to him. they helped move his body, something so awful that she hardly even wants to admit to herself happened. and it felt, when that was happening, that del was brave and forceful and knew what to do and andy was kind and hugged her.
so she tries to trust them, and tells them. how she went home and couldn't get back inside, and this probably makes her sound insane, but a car with no driver was chasing her, it was trying to run her over, and she has the bruises to show for it but no one seems to believe her.]
And no one would let me back inside. The people in this town... they only want us in by curfew so they don't have to think about us.
[ yeah, he'll tell the others, but no one else. if only because the claw marks leave him limping for a few days and he nearly gets caught shoplifting bandages from the store, and needs help covering.
he'll spend the summer being as far out of the house as possible - which maybe is an insane choice considering the rampant child deaths, but at least it's not stuck in that basement, stuck underground in a place with no light and no way to tell if that box is still there. still waiting to be opened again. he hasn't been sleeping well. if he's getting any rest at all, it's during the day, catnapping. it's making his moods worse. ]
[ del has been paranoid about water ever since. he doesn't wash his hands before meals anymore; his showers last exactly as long as it takes to get clean and not a second longer, and he keeps the drain plugged with a rubber stopper until he gets out. he waits outside the bathroom whenever bax showers too, just in case anything sounds off. they keep the baseball bat within their reach whenever they go to sleep now. bax mostly sleeps okay, trusting that his big brother will protect him. del barely sleeps at all because he knows he probably can't.
he tells jen and andy, but no one else, and he makes bax swear he won't say a word to anyone else either. he explains how he heard yves's voice from down the pipes, and waner's, and others, and how he would have just thought he was off his fucking rocker if he didn't have the injuries and bax's account of what he saw so clearly telling him otherwise. ]
Rather be in a real prison than this shithole town.
[ at least then they'd only have to worry about being attacked by other inmates and guards. he could handle that. ]
[likewise, she will try to avoid being caught outside alone at night. but she doesn't rush to try to make it home before curfew. instead, she practiced on the lock on the back door, found some tools in the garage, untouched for a long time, and worked at it until she could loosen a screw in it. and now when she leaves in the morning she takes out the screw and puts it back in at night so she can latch it after her.
she's not going to depend on viconia. she can let herself in now, if she needs to. but this way, she can spend more time with andy and del. make plans with them, talk about what they're finding.
she listens to their stories and will help them, too. offer to distract the clerk at the store while andy steals bandages, offer to stay with bax if there's ever any day where there's some reason del can't be there. for a girl who was so resistant and standoffish, it's a drastic change, but... all she needed was some proof, that these were people she could trust. either you have people who love you and will fight for you or you don’t. for better or for worse, these are the ones she has.]
I think I saw something. A... a clown, with balloons. [she knows that's the stupidest part, the one detail she held back. it sounds absolutely babyish to be afraid of a clown. there's no way to explain, to someone who didn't see, what was so terrifying about it.]
He was telling me to come play with him - to come play with Yves. [we all float down here.] Whatever killed him, I think...
[ no it doesn't sound stupid it's absolutely terrifying to see a freaking clown? in the middle of town with no explanation? ]
I think whatever killed Yves talked to me too. Through the radio. It said it killed him and it was going to kill me too.
[ he ... doesn't want to scare them by mentioning it had namedropped the both of them as well. but he's looking around furtively enough maybe they can guess that part. ]
[ oh, this part of what jen's describing freaks him out way worse than the car part did. ]
That's—
[ that was the part he'd still kind of been able to tell himself was probably just him losing his mind from stress that night, but...
he swallows nervously, glancing briefly at andy before looking back to her. ]
I didn't see a real person, but. This... stupid little cross stitch cat thing on the wall, it changed. To a clown with a balloon, and it was moving. Pointing at me and laughing.
Friends do help though. When times are tough and you can't trust anyone else, you have each other. You share what you know, which may be very little, but even those slivers make you sharper than the people around you. You chat about your fears awhile, grateful to not be alone, and feel the cool balm of relief once you confess them. You don't have to carry this alone.
There is something else. Maybe less important, because it's only ever dreams, and they don't make much sense to you even while you're sleeping, and they're half gone when you're awake. Why bother bringing them up at all?
Jen dreams about a man. A lumberjack, from the way back in the day times, when Derry was a logging town proper. He got awful mad when his friends were killed by the big money men in town — his friends only wanted fair shares. Better conditions. Logging was rough work. But they had them killed, and the lumberjack retreated into the woods.
Then one day he comes back. He goes into the bar, which is packed to the gills, and brings his axe to the back table where the rich men are playing cards. He hacks them up on the spot. Everyone else keeps drinking their beer and chatting away. They let the lumberjack kill them and they don't notice it's happening. All the while, a few bars away, there's a clown juggling, doing cartwheels, playing tricks.
Andy dreams about a different bar. This one's a bit out of the way and yet it's hopping. The floor is packed down dirt and the construction is ramshackle but the music and the food are hot. It's a bar made by and for black folks, no doubt about it, but white folks have come to join the fun too, and they all dance with crazy spins and dips as the band plays themselves into a sweat. Fun stuff.
Until a gang in white hoods come along. They set the bar on fire, and people are screaming. Burning up. Some pitch out of the windows in time, but something goes wrong with the door, and a whole pack of people pile up behind it in a panic, clawing to get out and going nowhere as the flames take them. The crazy thing is, at one point there's a massive bird. A bird with balloons tied to its wings. It floats down and picks up a man as he runs away from the carnage, and carries him off.
Del dreams about a bank robbing gang, back in the Depression days. They pull into town while low on supplies, incognito-like. They go up to the gun store and ask for a whole lot of bullets. The proprietor says, sure, I can get you a whole lot of bullets. Come back tomorrow.
They come around the next day, and damn near the whole town is there, armed to the teeth. Everyone fires on them, shoots them until their bodies are no better than perforated meat. Even the girls. Vigilante justice at its peak. Sometimes he thinks he sees a clown in there shooting too. Leaning too far out of a window, or hiding behind a car, casting no shadow as he helps blast them to high hell.
It makes sense though, in a way. You're scared, so you're having fucked up dreams. You saw a clown, now you're seeing clowns.
(Mike was writing a book)
It doesn't matter.
You kick around for awhile, even if it's hard to lighten the mood. You agree to help Del pick up Bax from his friend's birthday party. They could have cancelled it, but everyone had agreed that maybe a little levity was needed, and most of the kids Bax's age were young enough not to know Yves themselves. Derry wasn't a huge city, but it wasn't a small town either. Not everybody knew everybody.
When you get there, you don't find Bax. The party's over and everyone has left or is leaving, but no one seems to know where he is.
You can check some of the usual spots? Maybe split up? There's the Aladdin theatre, there's good shows on, maybe he wandered over there with a pal? Or City Centre, with the center park and the Paul Bunyan statue and delightful stores around? Or maybe grassy Bassey Park, where kids of all ages like to play?
He can't have gone far. He's not stupid. He can't have.]
[ he doesn't want to scare del. that's the important part. he can't panic, because it will scare del, and someone has to stay calm. it's harder and harder to stay calm at all, at any time, when his dreams are filled with fire and screams. ]
We should split. See if we can't cover more ground, yeah?
[ andy will lace his shoes tighter, and run off in the direction of whatever is furthest away. Maybe the Bassey Park. He's the tallest, he's got the longest legs, so he can get there the quickest. Turn around and catch up with the others if Bax isn't there. ]
[Andy chooses Bassey Park. It's a decent day out. Not the best, some overcast up high, but it makes sense for kids to want to play outside.
He doesn't find Bax, but he does find three other kids: Beverly, Ben, and Stanley. They're holding ice creams and they were in deep conversation, but noticing the look on Andy's face they approach, apprehensive.]
Hey, Andy! What's wrong, kid? [Beverly ventures. Ben looks worried behind her, sensing something deeper in the other boy's expression than a lost kite or a dropped dollar bill. Stanley, who always looks like a little adult in his fully buttoned shirt and trimly tied shoes, frowns a polite frown, but there's a sharp look to his eyes that says he's following Ben's train of thought.
[ andy has to pause to catch his breath because he bolted the entire way here, heaving like a bellows and fighting the stitch in his side. reaching down to try and fix the part of trainers where the sole has started to come loose.
he hates the looks. the way they already seem to know. the pity. the fear. he thinks about a great bird, swooping down to pluck someone off the face of the earth and fly off. ]
... Have you seen Bax?
[ it feels sickening to say it. like a confession of sin. ]
Stanley speaks up.] That's Del's little brother, right? The really tall kid, from third grade? No, we haven't seen him. But...
[The three look between each other. Something sharp and alert passes between them. Then they look to Andy, hesitating. It's as if all four kids are too wary to speak a shared truth aloud.
It's Ben who steps forward.]
But we'll look for him. You never know...Anything could have happened. So we'll look. If he's not here then we'll check the playground by the school, maybe the library?
[The other two nod. Beverly balls her hands into fists and Stanley—
(Please tell them)
Stanley gives Andy a nod.]
And don't tell the police yet. Or any grown ups, for that matter. Not until we're sure. They might not be able to do anything.
[Beverly almost opens her mouth. Then she shuts it, and instead touches Andy's arm softly.]
We better hurry. If we find him, we'll keep him at the library. All right?
[All three nod, and set off on their mission. Perhaps nothing needs to be said at all. They pitch their ice creams into the trash on the way, and set off at a sprint.]
[she doesn't really believe that, though. kids around here don't seem to go missing for benign reasons, not ever. but she will try to push those thoughts away.
she will head to the theater. that seems maybe the least likely place he'd go; surely he wouldn't have wandered off, knowing how much del worries him. but at least they'll be able to say they checked, know for sure. so she'll run there, ask to be let in just to look around.]
[She goes to the theatre. It's good timing too, the show hasn't started yet, and there's two familiar faces out front — albeit ones she hasn't talked to since school let out. Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak look up and wave when they see her coming. The former perks up and pops to his feet with a bright grin, as he always does when he sees her, the latter catches better sight of her expression and his face pinches.]
Wot's all this then, wot's all this? Wot 'ave we got 'ere, are you— [Richie starts in a terrible English accent, but Eddie slaps a hand over his mouth.]
Shut up, Richie. Hey, Jen, wassamatter? [He releases his pal, who clues into the mood for once and pushes his glasses back into place.] You look like you've seen a ghost.
[she definitely hesitates. she doesn't know these kids - only vaguely, from that one day of playing, from a few interactions, probably most of them being unpleasant. if richie is happy to see her that seems like a personal problem on his part. the other children in this town don't feel quite as oblivious as everyone else, seem to take the threats seriously at least, but that doesn't mean they're all trustworthy.
on the other hand, maybe she does know them...? or maybe it feels like she does...?
she does tell them.]
We can't find Del's little brother. Have you seen him?
[Whatever personal problems Richie may or may not have are beside the point. He's at attention now. For serious, once she mentions the missing boy.]
Oh shit. Uh. [He looks to Eddie, who meets his eyes with a slight panic. Richie looks back to Jen, suddenly a live-wire.] One sec!
[He darts into the theatre, past the slacking usher who is chatting up the pretty teenage ticket clerk. Eddie shakes his head in the meanwhile.]
The show doesn't start for another twenty minutes, there's barely anyone in there. We were just waiting around because we're waiting on a few extra guys. It's Bax, right? Tall kid?
[Richie reappears in a clumsy flash of knees and elbows, gasping.] It's just that fuck Peter Gordon and his girlfriend in there. No kids. Shit, you think something happened to him?
[Eddie pulls out his aspirator and gives himself a whiff, looking pale already.] Don't fucking panic! We'll take a look around downtown. All right Jen? And if we find him we'll march him up to the diner and we'll order him a grilled cheese, and we'll make him sit there until his brother can come give him shit. If not...
[Richie's rarely looked so serious.]
Then we'll find you. And we'll keep looking after that, until the little joker turns up. Jeeeee-sus Christ. [He looks to her, hesitating.] Just...don't go near the water while you're looking. Okay? Kids can slip and stuff. Drains too.
[He's trying to sound casual, but there's a steely undercurrent to it. A grave warning.]
[she hears that. but also, she famously cannot swim, so even in a 1950s AU, she wouldn't be doing that anyway.]
It's Bax. And... I doubt he would have wandered off to see a movie. He wouldn't want to worry Del. So something bad might have happened.
[so she's not very surprised when they don't find him in there. she's not panicking, because she's choosing not to, but there's something very relieving in the way that they take her seriously, snap to attention, immediately have plans in motion. she'll just nod along.]
I'll look for you at the diner later, just to be sure. I won't go near the water. [she takes a deep breath, thinking about the grave way they're talking. they know.] ...Thank you for helping.
[ jen's words are nice but they're a lie. he knows they don't believe it. and it doesn't matter whether andy panics or not because del already is. he always is. ]
Yeah.
[ is the only sound he manages to get out, his mouth dry like sawdust. he clenches his fists and just... runs, as fast as he can with his short strides.
fuck fuck fuck. he wants to beat up that kid's parents for letting any of these kids out of their sight. they knew what happened to yves and the other kids, they knew there was a threat lurking out there. it just further proves what jen had said, what they'd all already known. that the grown-ups here don't give a shit about them and they've got to fend for themselves in this horrible world because no one else is going to.
he wonders if there'd been a clown at that party. he really doesn't want to wonder that.
he races off toward city centre, to the park and the paul bunyan statue they used to climb on, and he tries to pretend that the blur to his vision is just because he's so damn fast, not because his eyes are welling up in panic and guilt, because he already knew they couldn't trust these shitty adults, so why the hell did he just leave his brother in their care and expect things to be okay? ]
[It's hard to climb on more than Paul's boots, being that the statue's twenty feet high on a six foot pedestal, but kids do it all the time anyway. Can't keep them off, really, and that includes Bax. Sometimes kids play apple jacks on the square around him, sometimes they read comics or eat sweets in his shade.
It doesn't seem to be the case today. The only kids there are one he knows from school — Bill Denbrough, a friends of Ben and Beverly's — and Mike Hanlon, who he knows from plain sight. Even if he attended the same piddling school as Yves, there was no flying under the radar when you were the only black kid in town.
They're walking their bikes down the lane, but both slow when they catch sight of Del's face.]
Whoa, whoa, where's the fire? [Mike asks, holding up a peaceable hand to slow Del's rush.]
Del, w-w-what's w-wrong? [Bill's stutter gets in his way all the time, but he stands steadier than most kids. Meets Del's eyes with a surety that makes you feel seen.
He'd know this panic, after all. His brother was the first to die.
[ he comes to a stop, reluctantly, and struggles to catch his breath. ]
It's...
[ he looks at bill and the words catch in his throat. running into him feels like it's an omen, almost, like he's looking in a mirror at who he's about to become, who he'd give anything not to be. ]
Bax is— I'm lookin' for him. [ he can't bring himself to say he's missing, even though it's written all over his face. ] Y-you haven't seen him, have you?
[What an omen, indeed. At least it's an empathetic one. His eyes go steely at once, and he casts a look around them. Gauging the situation. Mike's face falls, though he tries his best to hide it.]
Oh, fudge... [Mike says faintly.] Do you think he could be in town, or outside?
...C-c-ould've gone anywhere. You up to ch-check N-Neibolt Street? K-K-Kid could have g-gone to s-s-see the train t-tracks.
[Mike looks unsettled, but he nods all right.] And if we find him, we'll bring him back up here. To the soda shop, they're open late, there's always kids in there.
[Both of them look back to Del, and Bill's eyes flick between the other boy's. Bill's tall for his age while Del may be quite short, but somehow locking eyes now feels like an even match. For better or for worse. Deciding something very serious, he gives only one piece of advice. It doesn't make much sense.]
I-if you s-see something strange out there, you g-g-gotta run, or you g-g-gotta use y-your imagination. [His jaw sets and his shoulders square.] Th-that's the only w-w-way kids can g-g-get out of a mess.
[ use your imagination? he's not even sure what that means in this context, but he's also afraid to ask, because that means acknowledging the something strange that he desperately wants to pretend none of them will encounter.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
holyspirits) wrote2025-03-09 04:46 pm
1958, PT II
Of course, Yves is missed. The news is devastating. For a boy that was bullied so badly he had to switch to the pitiful shelter of the conglomerate-grades Christian school, he had bounced back in many a heart and mind.
Otherwise, life is quiet. Suspiciously so. Your caretaker's eyes glide over your injuries as if they were never there, and you are left to bandage and nurse whatever you have on your own. Kids, though. They do double takes, ask where you took a fall. Del has it the worst off the bat, but luckily the sucker marks dissipate after two days. Do you tell anyone about what happened to you? Do you tell each other?
You decline the invite to play in the Barrens again with Beverly and Ben and the others. They understand, the news is the pits and they aren't in a playful mood either, but they insist that you're welcome again later. You hang up the phone with a squirmy, guilty feeling in your gut. It just doesn't feel right.
How is life going for you? Are you meeting up again? Where are you spending your summer days, if not together?]
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but they were there when yves was found. they saw what happened to him. they helped move his body, something so awful that she hardly even wants to admit to herself happened. and it felt, when that was happening, that del was brave and forceful and knew what to do and andy was kind and hugged her.
so she tries to trust them, and tells them. how she went home and couldn't get back inside, and this probably makes her sound insane, but a car with no driver was chasing her, it was trying to run her over, and she has the bruises to show for it but no one seems to believe her.]
And no one would let me back inside. The people in this town... they only want us in by curfew so they don't have to think about us.
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he'll spend the summer being as far out of the house as possible - which maybe is an insane choice considering the rampant child deaths, but at least it's not stuck in that basement, stuck underground in a place with no light and no way to tell if that box is still there. still waiting to be opened again. he hasn't been sleeping well. if he's getting any rest at all, it's during the day, catnapping. it's making his moods worse. ]
The whole place is a prison.
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he tells jen and andy, but no one else, and he makes bax swear he won't say a word to anyone else either. he explains how he heard yves's voice from down the pipes, and waner's, and others, and how he would have just thought he was off his fucking rocker if he didn't have the injuries and bax's account of what he saw so clearly telling him otherwise. ]
Rather be in a real prison than this shithole town.
[ at least then they'd only have to worry about being attacked by other inmates and guards. he could handle that. ]
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she's not going to depend on viconia. she can let herself in now, if she needs to. but this way, she can spend more time with andy and del. make plans with them, talk about what they're finding.
she listens to their stories and will help them, too. offer to distract the clerk at the store while andy steals bandages, offer to stay with bax if there's ever any day where there's some reason del can't be there. for a girl who was so resistant and standoffish, it's a drastic change, but... all she needed was some proof, that these were people she could trust. either you have people who love you and will fight for you or you don’t. for better or for worse, these are the ones she has.]
I think I saw something. A... a clown, with balloons. [she knows that's the stupidest part, the one detail she held back. it sounds absolutely babyish to be afraid of a clown. there's no way to explain, to someone who didn't see, what was so terrifying about it.]
He was telling me to come play with him - to come play with Yves. [we all float down here.] Whatever killed him, I think...
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I think whatever killed Yves talked to me too. Through the radio. It said it killed him and it was going to kill me too.
[ he ... doesn't want to scare them by mentioning it had namedropped the both of them as well. but he's looking around furtively enough maybe they can guess that part. ]
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That's—
[ that was the part he'd still kind of been able to tell himself was probably just him losing his mind from stress that night, but...
he swallows nervously, glancing briefly at andy before looking back to her. ]
I didn't see a real person, but. This... stupid little cross stitch cat thing on the wall, it changed. To a clown with a balloon, and it was moving. Pointing at me and laughing.
CW: mentions of racism, hate crimes
Friends do help though. When times are tough and you can't trust anyone else, you have each other. You share what you know, which may be very little, but even those slivers make you sharper than the people around you. You chat about your fears awhile, grateful to not be alone, and feel the cool balm of relief once you confess them. You don't have to carry this alone.
There is something else. Maybe less important, because it's only ever dreams, and they don't make much sense to you even while you're sleeping, and they're half gone when you're awake. Why bother bringing them up at all?
Jen dreams about a man. A lumberjack, from the way back in the day times, when Derry was a logging town proper. He got awful mad when his friends were killed by the big money men in town — his friends only wanted fair shares. Better conditions. Logging was rough work. But they had them killed, and the lumberjack retreated into the woods.
Then one day he comes back. He goes into the bar, which is packed to the gills, and brings his axe to the back table where the rich men are playing cards. He hacks them up on the spot. Everyone else keeps drinking their beer and chatting away. They let the lumberjack kill them and they don't notice it's happening. All the while, a few bars away, there's a clown juggling, doing cartwheels, playing tricks.
Andy dreams about a different bar. This one's a bit out of the way and yet it's hopping. The floor is packed down dirt and the construction is ramshackle but the music and the food are hot. It's a bar made by and for black folks, no doubt about it, but white folks have come to join the fun too, and they all dance with crazy spins and dips as the band plays themselves into a sweat. Fun stuff.
Until a gang in white hoods come along. They set the bar on fire, and people are screaming. Burning up. Some pitch out of the windows in time, but something goes wrong with the door, and a whole pack of people pile up behind it in a panic, clawing to get out and going nowhere as the flames take them. The crazy thing is, at one point there's a massive bird. A bird with balloons tied to its wings. It floats down and picks up a man as he runs away from the carnage, and carries him off.
Del dreams about a bank robbing gang, back in the Depression days. They pull into town while low on supplies, incognito-like. They go up to the gun store and ask for a whole lot of bullets. The proprietor says, sure, I can get you a whole lot of bullets. Come back tomorrow.
They come around the next day, and damn near the whole town is there, armed to the teeth. Everyone fires on them, shoots them until their bodies are no better than perforated meat. Even the girls. Vigilante justice at its peak. Sometimes he thinks he sees a clown in there shooting too. Leaning too far out of a window, or hiding behind a car, casting no shadow as he helps blast them to high hell.
It makes sense though, in a way. You're scared, so you're having fucked up dreams. You saw a clown, now you're seeing clowns.
(Mike was writing a book)
It doesn't matter.
You kick around for awhile, even if it's hard to lighten the mood. You agree to help Del pick up Bax from his friend's birthday party. They could have cancelled it, but everyone had agreed that maybe a little levity was needed, and most of the kids Bax's age were young enough not to know Yves themselves. Derry wasn't a huge city, but it wasn't a small town either. Not everybody knew everybody.
When you get there, you don't find Bax. The party's over and everyone has left or is leaving, but no one seems to know where he is.
You can check some of the usual spots? Maybe split up? There's the Aladdin theatre, there's good shows on, maybe he wandered over there with a pal? Or City Centre, with the center park and the Paul Bunyan statue and delightful stores around? Or maybe grassy Bassey Park, where kids of all ages like to play?
He can't have gone far. He's not stupid. He can't have.]
no subject
We should split. See if we can't cover more ground, yeah?
[ andy will lace his shoes tighter, and run off in the direction of whatever is furthest away. Maybe the Bassey Park. He's the tallest, he's got the longest legs, so he can get there the quickest. Turn around and catch up with the others if Bax isn't there. ]
no subject
He doesn't find Bax, but he does find three other kids: Beverly, Ben, and Stanley. They're holding ice creams and they were in deep conversation, but noticing the look on Andy's face they approach, apprehensive.]
Hey, Andy! What's wrong, kid? [Beverly ventures. Ben looks worried behind her, sensing something deeper in the other boy's expression than a lost kite or a dropped dollar bill. Stanley, who always looks like a little adult in his fully buttoned shirt and trimly tied shoes, frowns a polite frown, but there's a sharp look to his eyes that says he's following Ben's train of thought.
Do you tell them about Bax?]
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he hates the looks. the way they already seem to know. the pity. the fear. he thinks about a great bird, swooping down to pluck someone off the face of the earth and fly off. ]
... Have you seen Bax?
[ it feels sickening to say it. like a confession of sin. ]
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Stanley speaks up.] That's Del's little brother, right? The really tall kid, from third grade? No, we haven't seen him. But...
[The three look between each other. Something sharp and alert passes between them. Then they look to Andy, hesitating. It's as if all four kids are too wary to speak a shared truth aloud.
It's Ben who steps forward.]
But we'll look for him. You never know...Anything could have happened. So we'll look. If he's not here then we'll check the playground by the school, maybe the library?
[The other two nod. Beverly balls her hands into fists and Stanley—
(Please tell them)
Stanley gives Andy a nod.]
And don't tell the police yet. Or any grown ups, for that matter. Not until we're sure. They might not be able to do anything.
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I wasn't going to.
[ the police never do anything for anyone. grown ups never do anything for any of them. ]
... Hey, have you--
[ No. Better not to mention it. The rest of it. ]
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We better hurry. If we find him, we'll keep him at the library. All right?
[All three nod, and set off on their mission. Perhaps nothing needs to be said at all. They pitch their ice creams into the trash on the way, and set off at a sprint.]
no subject
[she doesn't really believe that, though. kids around here don't seem to go missing for benign reasons, not ever. but she will try to push those thoughts away.
she will head to the theater. that seems maybe the least likely place he'd go; surely he wouldn't have wandered off, knowing how much del worries him. but at least they'll be able to say they checked, know for sure. so she'll run there, ask to be let in just to look around.]
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Wot's all this then, wot's all this? Wot 'ave we got 'ere, are you— [Richie starts in a terrible English accent, but Eddie slaps a hand over his mouth.]
Shut up, Richie. Hey, Jen, wassamatter? [He releases his pal, who clues into the mood for once and pushes his glasses back into place.] You look like you've seen a ghost.
[Do you tell them about Bax?]
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on the other hand, maybe she does know them...? or maybe it feels like she does...?
she does tell them.]
We can't find Del's little brother. Have you seen him?
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Oh shit. Uh. [He looks to Eddie, who meets his eyes with a slight panic. Richie looks back to Jen, suddenly a live-wire.] One sec!
[He darts into the theatre, past the slacking usher who is chatting up the pretty teenage ticket clerk. Eddie shakes his head in the meanwhile.]
The show doesn't start for another twenty minutes, there's barely anyone in there. We were just waiting around because we're waiting on a few extra guys. It's Bax, right? Tall kid?
[Richie reappears in a clumsy flash of knees and elbows, gasping.] It's just that fuck Peter Gordon and his girlfriend in there. No kids. Shit, you think something happened to him?
[Eddie pulls out his aspirator and gives himself a whiff, looking pale already.] Don't fucking panic! We'll take a look around downtown. All right Jen? And if we find him we'll march him up to the diner and we'll order him a grilled cheese, and we'll make him sit there until his brother can come give him shit. If not...
[Richie's rarely looked so serious.]
Then we'll find you. And we'll keep looking after that, until the little joker turns up. Jeeeee-sus Christ. [He looks to her, hesitating.] Just...don't go near the water while you're looking. Okay? Kids can slip and stuff. Drains too.
[He's trying to sound casual, but there's a steely undercurrent to it. A grave warning.]
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It's Bax. And... I doubt he would have wandered off to see a movie. He wouldn't want to worry Del. So something bad might have happened.
[so she's not very surprised when they don't find him in there. she's not panicking, because she's choosing not to, but there's something very relieving in the way that they take her seriously, snap to attention, immediately have plans in motion. she'll just nod along.]
I'll look for you at the diner later, just to be sure. I won't go near the water. [she takes a deep breath, thinking about the grave way they're talking. they know.] ...Thank you for helping.
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Richie smiles. It's not as dopey or as shit-eating as his usual grins. More earnest now, even in spite of the mounting dread.]
Anytime, schweetheart.
[Eddie punches his arm.]
Stop doing Humphry Bogart, asshole, let's go find that kid.
Right. Bye, Jen.
[Eddie nods.] Later, Jen!
[The pair dart off.]
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Yeah.
[ is the only sound he manages to get out, his mouth dry like sawdust. he clenches his fists and just... runs, as fast as he can with his short strides.
fuck fuck fuck. he wants to beat up that kid's parents for letting any of these kids out of their sight. they knew what happened to yves and the other kids, they knew there was a threat lurking out there. it just further proves what jen had said, what they'd all already known. that the grown-ups here don't give a shit about them and they've got to fend for themselves in this horrible world because no one else is going to.
he wonders if there'd been a clown at that party. he really doesn't want to wonder that.
he races off toward city centre, to the park and the paul bunyan statue they used to climb on, and he tries to pretend that the blur to his vision is just because he's so damn fast, not because his eyes are welling up in panic and guilt, because he already knew they couldn't trust these shitty adults, so why the hell did he just leave his brother in their care and expect things to be okay? ]
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It doesn't seem to be the case today. The only kids there are one he knows from school — Bill Denbrough, a friends of Ben and Beverly's — and Mike Hanlon, who he knows from plain sight. Even if he attended the same piddling school as Yves, there was no flying under the radar when you were the only black kid in town.
They're walking their bikes down the lane, but both slow when they catch sight of Del's face.]
Whoa, whoa, where's the fire? [Mike asks, holding up a peaceable hand to slow Del's rush.]
Del, w-w-what's w-wrong? [Bill's stutter gets in his way all the time, but he stands steadier than most kids. Meets Del's eyes with a surety that makes you feel seen.
He'd know this panic, after all. His brother was the first to die.
Do you tell them about Bax?]
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It's...
[ he looks at bill and the words catch in his throat. running into him feels like it's an omen, almost, like he's looking in a mirror at who he's about to become, who he'd give anything not to be. ]
Bax is— I'm lookin' for him. [ he can't bring himself to say he's missing, even though it's written all over his face. ] Y-you haven't seen him, have you?
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Oh, fudge... [Mike says faintly.] Do you think he could be in town, or outside?
...C-c-ould've gone anywhere. You up to ch-check N-Neibolt Street? K-K-Kid could have g-gone to s-s-see the train t-tracks.
[Mike looks unsettled, but he nods all right.] And if we find him, we'll bring him back up here. To the soda shop, they're open late, there's always kids in there.
[Both of them look back to Del, and Bill's eyes flick between the other boy's. Bill's tall for his age while Del may be quite short, but somehow locking eyes now feels like an even match. For better or for worse. Deciding something very serious, he gives only one piece of advice. It doesn't make much sense.]
I-if you s-see something strange out there, you g-g-gotta run, or you g-g-gotta use y-your imagination. [His jaw sets and his shoulders square.] Th-that's the only w-w-way kids can g-g-get out of a mess.
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he nods and swallows. ]
...Right. Thanks.
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CW: Child murder, cannibalism
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CW: Child murder, cannibalism, gore, animal attack
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