Requested by @WeabooNerdOtaku!

I'm running. Running fast. Running as fast as my legs can carry me. It's there. . . . It's right behind me. . . . The Shadow Monster. The Mind Flayer. The creature of the Upside Down. I thought it was gone for good. I thought we defeated it. I thought I wouldn't ever see it again. But here it is, trapped in the sewers of Derry, Maine. God knows how that happened, but I guess it's not just Hawkins that's strange. {It's taking place in Maine because we need more recognition up here lol}

I run, run, run, picking up as much speed as I can, trying to find the exit. God, it's like a maze. I look behind me, only for a second, to make sure it's not right behind me. I want to take a breath, but I can't. I have to find Jonathan and get away before . . . it happens again. It can't happen again. It can't.

In the mere second I peer behind myself, I run into something—er, someone. Who in their right mind would also be down here?

"Sorry!" I exclaim, completely out of breath.

"My fault," says the boy. It's dark and hard to see, but I can make out his brown hair, maybe black. He holds an aspirator to his mouth, breathing heavily into it. On his arm is a cast, which has "loser" written in big letters. No, not "loser" . . . "lover". "Who are you? What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same questions," I say. "I'm Will Byers. My family is on a vacation here and my brother and I were playing hide and seek . . . until I found that thing."

"Eddie Kaspbrak," he says, "and I was down here with my friends when we got lost. I got separated from the others, and . . . Hang on, what 'thing'?"

"The . . . the Shadow Monster," I stutter. "The Mind Flayer."

"The what?" he asks. "Hang on, you didn't see it . . . Did you?"

"Of course I saw it," I say. "I just told you I did."

"No, no, no, no, no," he says, "it."

"What?"

"It!"

"What!"

He sighs, like I'm not catching on to what he's saying. In all honesty, I don't understand what "it" refers to. "It is this thing that feeds on children's fear," Eddie explains. "It can take any form it needs to scare kids to death. This 'Mind Flayer' you're talking about . . . Is it your worst fear?"

"I mean, yeah, the Upside Down and all," I say. He looks at me, confused, and I shake my head dismissively. Maybe I can explain later, but I don't think I want to die by some "It". "What do we have to do to get rid of It?"

"Just don't be afraid."

I scoff. "'Don't be afraid,' he says. How am I supposed to be not afraid!"

"I know it sounds hard," he understates. "I mean, dammit, I'm afraid of just about everything. But we know it feeds on children's fear, yeah? So, maybe children's courage can do the opposite?"

"And what if it doesn't?"

"I don't know; I'm just living off hope here, okay?" He puts the aspirator to his mouth again and breathes into it a couple times. "Shit, we gotta go!" He grabs my hand and pulls me along with him, running almost faster than I can. I look behind me and see a shadow growing on the wall in the dim light, but it's not the Mind Flayer. . . . It's It.

Jesus, how am I going to make it out of this one?

Sorry it's late.
Sorry it's short.
Sorry it's not one hundred percent accurate. I'll be surprised if it's even fifty percent accurate. I don't know IT well at all, but I did as much research as I could (thank you, Wikipedia and Steven King Wiki!), but I still don't know much about it. . . . All I can say is I hope it meets your expectations :)
Keep requesting!!! :)
Also GOSH DARN IT NOW I HAVE A CRUSH ON EDDIE AND BEVERLY