darkest fears

Adelaide quickly rushed with the losers to Beverly's house. Bill wouldn't tell them why he just seemed worried.

They stopped to see the red-head sitting on some steps. Right, when she saw them she jumped off the steps and rushed down them.

The boys were shouting but Adelaide just let her bike drop. "You made it," she said as she stopped in front of them, out of breath. "I need to show you something."

"What is it?" Ben asked.

"More than we saw at the quarry?" Richie asked and Adelaide nudged his side.

"Just shut up!" Eddie yelled. "Just shut up Richie!"

"My dad will kill me if he finds out..." Beverly trailed off. "If I have boys in the apartment."

"We- We'll leave a l-lookout," Bill stuttered. "R-Richie stay h-here."

The rest of them let their bikes drop, besides Richie, they started rushing towards the steps with Beverly. "Woah, Woah, Woah!" Richie yelled. "What if her dad comes back?"

Stanley turned to look at him, "Do what you always do. Start talking!"

"It is a gift."

The losers and Beverly rushed up the stairs and she lead them to the bathroom. When the door opened it revealed blood everywhere.

Eddie covered his mouth, mumbling quickly. "Holy shit..." Adelaide said.

"You see it?" Beverly asked.

"Yes," Eddie said.

"What happened in here?" Stanley asked.

"My dad couldn't see it... I thought I was going crazy," Beverly said.

Adelaide just stared with fear. Ben shook his head. "Well if you're crazy," he said. "Then we're all crazy."

"We-we can't leave it like this," Bill said.

So they didn't they cleaned all the blood up. Dumping the bloody water in the tub.

—

The losers began riding their bikes again, Beverly coming along until suddenly Bill stopped. "Hey isn't that the homeschool kids' bike?" He pointed out.

They could all see a bike on the ground. "Yeah... it's Mike" Eddie said.

"We have to help him," Beverly said.

"We should?"

Beverly nodded. "Yes."

They all dropped their bikes and began running. When they finally got to Mike, Bowers was on top of him about to hit him with a rock.

Beverly had thrown a rock at them, distracting Bowers. "Nice throw," Stanley added.

"Thanks," Beverly said.

Mike began to rush over to them, climbing through the water, Adelaide offered him her hand and helped him up by them.

They all picked up rocks and stared Bowers and his friends down. "You losers are trying too hard," Bowers said. "She'll do you. You just have to ask nicely, as I did."

Beverly stared at him and Adelaide looked away. "It's okay Bev," Ben reassured her.

"Don't worry Adelaide, I haven't forgotten about you either," Bowers said, realizing her looking away. Suddenly, before anyone else could say anything, Ben threw a rock at Henry.

"What the fuck?" Bowers said.

More rocks were thrown. "Rock war!" Richie screamed, getting knocked over by a rock. Adelaide threw a rock at Henry and dodged one thrown at her. The rock war went on for a while until Bowers and his friends ran off.

They all stood there, sweat dripping down their face and out of breath. The losers began to walk, helping Mike get up the hill. Before they all agreed to ride to the park.

The park

"So let me get this straight," Eddie said slowly. "It comes out from where ever to eat kids for like a year? And then what? It just goes into hibernation."

"Maybe it's like, what do you call it. Cicadas? Y'know the bugs that come out once every seventeen years."

Everyone had a weird situation with something abnormal recently. All besides Richie.

"This is a little insane," Adelaide said.

Mike shrugged. "My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," he said. "He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people that live in Derry."

"But it can't be one thing," Stanley explained. "We all saw something different."

Adelaide looked down, getting a side-eye from Bill. "Adelaide, what d-did you see?" He asked.

Adelaide looked up at him, and Richie bit his lip. "I didn't-"

"You d-did," Bill said. "You already c-c-cleared that up, so w-w-shat was it?"

"Water, water just started filling my room that's all," Adelaide explained. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Before Bill could speak up, Mike did. "Maybe that's right," Mike said. "Or maybe it knows what scares us most and that's what we see."

"I saw... a leper," Eddie explained. "He was like a walking infection."

"But you didn't," Stanley said, Eddie turned to him annoyed. "Because it isn't real. None of this is. Not Eddie's leper, or Bill seeing Georgie, Addie with the water. Or the woman I keep seeing."

"Is she hot?" Richie joked.

"No!" Stanley snapped. "No Richie she's not hot! Her face is all messed up, none of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams."

"I don't think so I know the difference between a bad dream and real-life okay?" Mike said.

"What did you see?" Eddie asked, "You saw something too?"

"Yes," Mike said. "You remember that burnt-down house on Harris Avenue?"

Adelaide nodded. "Yeah."

"I was inside when it burned down," Mike explained. "Before I was rescued my parents were trapped in the next room, pushing and pounding on the door. Trying to get to me. But it was too hot. When the firemen finally found them, the skin on them had melted down to the bone."

"We're all afraid of something..." Adelaide said quietly.

"You got that right," Richie said, turning around and looking around.

"Rich, what are you afraid of?" Eddie asked.

He turned back to them, fixing his classes. "Clowns."

Adelaide looked up finally, she had been picking at the grass. Stanley sighed. "Addie, can you please tell us why you're afraid of water?"

She stared at him, before looking at Richie and back at Stanley. "You know I said I didn't want to."

"I know you said you didn't want to when we were younger," Stanley said. "But now because of all of this, I think we deserve to know."

Adelaide sighed and looked down, before nodding. "A few years ago... that foster kid that was staying with us, Christine Patterson, my sister basically... we went to the quarry to swim. My parents were gonna surprise her with adoption papers and all of that, so I got her out of the house. She had never gone to the quarry before so she didn't know you have to jump a certain way and far enough out. I didn't though, I didn't tell her that. I was just used to going with you guys. So Christine just jumped, and she landed wrong. Broke a few ribs. She couldn't swim well with broken ribs so she started screaming for me to help her. I just stood there, frozen in fear. I didn't know what to do. She was fine for a few minutes, staying above water but I think her muscles began to give out and she went under. I realized I had to save her, so I finally jumped in and... and I couldn't find her. They recovered her body, 2 broken ribs, she was dead... I had to tell my parents and Aiden the whole story and... everything was different since then. Entirely my fault."

Bill stared at her. "W-what about the car crash?" He asked.

"My parent's coverup story, they didn't want to know Christine, a swimmer drowning. It would ruin their name and reputation."

"We're so sorry," Eddie said.

Adelaide shook her head. "Don't pity me, please" she told them.

"We aren't, but we're allowed to feel bad about what happened," Eddie explained.

Adelaide sighed and brought her knees to her chest. One of her secrets was out, Stanley was suspecting the next one. It was just a matter of time before her friends figured everything else out.

A/N:
I'm really trying to get back into writing. Wrapping up a few stories so I can start some new ones. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!