"Mom I have to get to Bill's house," I said, practically bouncing in my seat as she turned down our street.

"Relax Dani, I'm sure they'll understand you went to lunch with me." She laughed.

I kept my eyes focused on the houses as we passed them, already prepared to get out of the car and grab my bike. "I know, but I told them I'd be there at 12:20 and it's almost 12:30. Wasn't it you who taught me to always be punctual? If you're not 15 minutes early, you're late?"

"Well, the 15-minute rule was your father...but yes we did raise you and Benny to be punctual. Though you never seemed to be punctual around us." She turned into our driveway and looked at me. "I still don't understand why you didn't want me to drop you off at Bill's house. He lives right around the block."

I threw open my door and unbuckled my seatbelt. "Gotta go, mom, I'll see you later and thanks for lunch! Love you!" I closed the door and ran towards our porch, jogging up the steps and grabbing my bike.

I jogged back down the stairs, placing the bike down onto the grass, getting on it and riding away. I could only imagine that my mom was probably glaring at me from riding my bike on the grass, I know how she hates when I do that– especially after it rains, but I really didn't care right now. I was already running late to Bill's house and today we were going to figure out this...mess once and for all. I didn't bother to see my mom back out of our driveway or leave the house, my full focus was pedaling as fast as I could to get to Bill's house. When I reached his house, I saw everyone's bikes spread out on his driveway and the garage door opened. I got off my bike and tossed it to the side, running to the garage. 

"Sorry I'm late, my mom wanted to go to lunch."

"I-It's fine. We were just setting up t-t-the map." Bill said, nodding his head towards the map on his garage wall. I'd come to learn from Richie that Bill's dad worked as an electrician for Bangor Hydroelectric– Derry's main hydropower company– which is how he has access to all of these maps. Apparently later after Georgie's disappearance, Bill would make mock replicas of the sewer systems and try to figure out what happened to his little brother. It got him grounded a couple of times, but Richie said it never stopped Bill from trying.

I walked into the garage as my friends were blocking windows to prevent the light from coming in so we could see the projector better. Mike closed the garage door and we all grouped over by the projector. Ben handed Bill over a few of the slides that he had brought with him as everyone took their seats. I sat down next to Eddie and in front of Richie, bending my knees and resting my elbows on them. "Everybody ready?" Bill asked, looking at us all.

"Let's do this," Mike replied as Bill popped the slides into the projector.

With each slide he popped into place, an overlay placed itself over the map. I watched intensely as the older version of Derry's streets and pipes overtook the most recent. When Bill was done, we all stared at the vision in front of us in silence. "Look, that's where G-G-Georgie disappeared, there's the ironworks..."

"And the Black Spot," Mike added.

"They're all connected..." I said, tilting my head.

"Everywhere IT happens, it's all connected by the sewers. They all lead up at the-"

"Well House," Ben interrupted, staring at the maps.

"The Well House..." I whispered under my breath, looking away from the map and back at Ben. "Ben the research you did on Derry, the original townspeople– the ones who signed the charter...didn't you say that the only thing left of them was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the Well House?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it started from town out to the Well House."

I stared back at the maps in shock. Suddenly, all of the incidents that Ben had researched didn't seem so...coincidentally random. Even back then, when there were no sewer lines– a mystery led over to the Well House. I could feel the hairs begin to stand on the back of my neck, this was getting freaky. "IT's in the house on Neibolt Street," Stan said, looking at Bill.

"You mean that creepy ass house where all the junkies and hobo's like to sleep?" Richie asked, in his Richie fashion.

I heard Eddie unzip his fanny pack and turned to see him bringing his inhaler out and taking a hit from his inhaler, sucking in the tubed air as if it was the only air in the room. He leaned forward taking deep gasps. "Eddie are you okay?" I whispered, putting my hand on his back and rubbing small circles.

"I hate that place, I always feel like it's watching me," Bev said, staring at the map with a creeped out look on her face.

"That's where I saw IT," Eddie said, breathing heavily. "that's where I saw the clown."

I scooted closer to Eddie, trying to calm him down. "Deep breaths Eddie, come on."

"Th-Th-That's where IT lives," Bill said, staring at the map.

Everyone's eyes were so focused on that map, that I bet if we really tried and somehow had superpowers, we'd be able to burn a hole into it. In one single spot too– 29 Neibolt Street...or what used to be the Well House. "I can't imagine anything wanting to live there," Stan said, sounding so...out of touch.

I let out a soft chuckle, of course, Stan would be the one to make note of just how unclean the house was. When obviously the rest of us were focused on something much different. I felt Eddie shift from underneath my hand and he stood up directly in front of the projector, blocking the maps. "Can we stop talking about this? I-I-I can barely breathe. This is summer, we're kids–" he took sharp gasps and his eyes went wide as he stared at us all. "I can barely breathe– I'm having an asthma attack–"

I slowly started to get up. "Eddie, come on...calm down. Just take deep breaths and you'll be okay."

"NO! No Dani-" he looked at all of us again before turning towards the map and ripping it off of the wall. "I'm not doing this."

"What the hell?!" Bill yelled. I don't think I've ever really seen him angry up close...and boy it was a little scary. "Put the map back."

"Eddie, come on, just put the map back," I said, walking towards him.

"Nuh-uh, no way." He said, shaking his head as the wall behind him turned white– the projected map slides disappearing.

Suddenly, it grew dark in the garage, the projector switching slides. We turned towards the projector to see it switching slides again...by itself. When it stopped, a family picture of Bill's came into view. We stared at the wall in silence, none of us knew how it had switched. And then the projector clicked again, switching to another picture for only a few moments before clicking again. It was constantly clicking, changing slides. 

"What happened?" Bill asked, looking down at the projector.

"Guys, what's going on?" Mike asked, equally as freaked as he bent down to the projector to see if a switch was malfunctioned.

"Eddie, give me the map back," I said, holding my hand out to it.

"No, I'm not doing this Dani– no way in hell are you either."

I reached for the map and he pulled it away, turning his body. "Give me the map Eddie, now." I wasn't playing around with him anymore. I could feel myself get agitated at my cousin and it was all I could do not to lunge and grab the map.

"Fine!" He shouted, throwing the map onto the floor and walking away towards the group of friends.

I huffed and walked over to the side where he had thrown the map down and picked it up. "Guys..." Bill said, an eerie silence quickly taking over.

We all looked at the wall to see a picture of Bill and Georgie on a fishing trip. The little six-year old's smile was almost haunting at this point. The projector switched again, this time ending on a family picture of the Denbrough's standing outside of what looks to be a church. "Is that your mom?" I asked, pointing at the woman figure on the far right. It was a woman for sure, but her hair was blown in her face.

"Yeah...but I don't think I've ever seen this picture..." He replied, his breath shaky. "Georgie..."

The projector continued to click, zooming into the picture and onto Georgie's face. Knowing that this little boy was possibly dead and yet this freaky incident of the projector was zooming into his smiling face gave me the chills. "Bill..." Stan said, just as equally scared as we were.

The projector continued to click rapidly as if it was switching slides, again and again, only it wasn't. It was zooming into the picture, first on Georgie's face and then on the woman next to him. It was almost as if we were watching a slow-motion movie, the hair moving, a woman's face screaming– and then the clown. His demonic smile and yellow eyes peeking from beneath the strands of red hair. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Richie screamed, scrambling towards the projector. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

I could feel my breathing getting quicker as the slides continued to click and the hair moved more out of the clown's face. I blinked slowly, trying to convince myself that this wasn't real– I was just seeing things. But the clown was there each time I blinked. The hair was completely out of the clown's face, his eyes and smile bearing into us through the projected image as if he was feeding off of the fear. "Turn it off!" Stan begged, backing away.

"Dani!" Eddie yelled.

I couldn't help but just stare at the image in complete and utter fear. I could feel the tears burn in my eyes as my experience in the store played through my mind. His evil laugh and smile, the nonchalant wave at me– his taunting nature...the red balloon. I thought it wasn't real– but it is. It really is. The projector stopped clicking, finally settling on the portrait of the smiling clown. Silence took over the garage as we stared at it in total shock and fear. Suddenly the projected image was thrown off of the wall and I turned to see Mike hunched over, breathing heavily. He must have pushed it off its stand.

The projector blinked continuously, showing the clown's face and then showing a picture that blurred the clown to look as if he was leaving. When it blinked again– nothing. Just a plain simple background was left. The only thing you could hear was all of our labored breathing– we were absolutely terrified. "Is it over?" Stan asked weakly, barely inaudible. I could only hear him cause in the ruckus of it all, he had moved a little bit away from me.

The projector blinked again, making the garage go black before coming back on a few moments later and the clown was coming through the screen– only he was three times his original size. A growl erupted from his throat and everyone screamed. I felt as if all of my blood turned cold and I couldn't move. "DANI!" Eddie yelled, trying to get my attention.

The clown turned his head towards me, his smile showing off his sharp teeth. I couldn't breathe and I definitely felt like I couldn't move. It was like I was literally frozen in fear. I looked at Stan who was now in the clown's sights. I could feel my adrenaline begin to build and I ran towards him, pushing him out of the way. When I turned back around, the clown was crawling out of the screen right towards me. I felt someone grab my arm and pull me away as the clown made a sudden turn towards a different corner. "Are you fucking insane?! What the hell were you thinking?!" Richie yelled, holding onto my shoulders.

"I-I-" I could feel the tears continue to burn in my eyes, rendering me speechless.

Bev screamed loudly, grabbing all of our attention. The clown was leaning directly in front of her, it's jaws open and drool coming out of his mouth. Richie looked at me and looked back at Bev. "Don't move, I swear to God if you fucking move Dani."

I watched as he ran with the boys towards the garage door, trying to lift it up– but it wasn't budging. My body began to shake as the screams of my friend and the images of the clown and my dad's incident-filled my brain. The sun lit up the garage as the metal door made a clunk once it reached the top. Bev sat there against the wall, her face in her hands. She pulled them away and looked at the wall–her eyes wide. She slowly stood up as if her knees were jello and looked at the group of boys. She walked over to them, patting Ben on the shoulder and giving mike a thankful smile before turning to Bill and giving him a hug.

I slowly made my way over to my group of friends, rubbing my arm nervously. There really was no denying what we all just saw– IT was real and we knew it. Stan looked at me with worried eyes and I just nodded subtly, not wanting any attention on myself. "IT saw us!" Eddie panicked, bringing his inhaler up to his mouth. "IT knows where we are."

"IT always did," Bill said, looking at us all– determined. He walked out of the garage and to his bike. "S-So let's go."

"Go?" Ben asked as if he was hoping that Bill wasn't suggesting what we thought he was. "Go where?"

"Neibolt," Bill replied, taking a deep breath. "That's where Guh-Guh-Georgie is."

I could feel my heart twinge and I looked at my friends– all of us with the same look on our faces. We knew that Georgie was gone, but Bill wouldn't believe it– he couldn't. When I first moved here, I empathized with him. When I lost my dad, I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that he wouldn't be walking through the door at dinner every night. But this...this is different. A criminal murdered my dad. A clown...thing...killed Georgie. I could come to terms with my dad's death, but Bill couldn't come to terms with Georgie's. Which is why I think I would always understand Bill because I can't imagine what it's like to not know the circumstances of your loved ones death...but I know what it's like to lose a loved one. 

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and nodding at Bill. "I'll go."

"After that?" Stan asked, looking at me as if I was absolutely nuts. Maybe I was, but I could understand Bill's need for answers.

"Are you crazy? You couldn't even move in there!" Richie said, looking at me with the same look as Stan before turning to Bill and sighing. "I mean, it's summer. We should be outside and–"

"If you say it's summer one more f-fucking time," Bill huffed, bringing his hand up to his head as if he wanted to just pull his hair out in frustration.

He turned towards his bike, grabbing it and getting on it turning around to look at us all. I looked at my friends, no one budging. I shook my head and left the group, someone grabbing my hand. I turned around to see Richie giving me a 'what are you doing' look. I tugged my hand away from his grip and walked over to my bike, picking it up. I got onto my bike and looked at Bill, giving him a small smile. "I'm not letting you do this alone."

He smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Dani." I think he knew why I was doing this. Bill was a smart guy, but he was constantly underestimated by his peers and his parents ever since Georgie died. "Come on, let's go."

We both set our feet onto our bike pedals and rode down his driveway. "Bill! Dani! Wait!!" Bev called out.

Bill and I didn't bother to turn around, we didn't need to see our friends still standing there in a group in the driveway. If we had, I think it would have hurt Bill more than me. I was doing this for him, he needed someone by his side– since he seems to think that our friends don't believe him, or think that he's crazy. I think they'll show up and come after us, we are friends after all.

The losers club to be more exact. And we're never alone.