The Flea and the Acrobat
One moment you had been sat by the pool grieving a friendship with Nancy that had somehow become tainted. Now you are ... Wherever here is.
You run to Barb, dropping down the ladder into the pit that had been the Harrington's pool. Her feet still bare. That's when the thing appears. It's cold white and slimy looking. It growls as it charges at Barb. She screams at you to run. She's heavy in your arms as you try to haul her to the ladder, her body injured from her fall from the pool's edge to the bottom. You run up the ladder and try to pull her up with you.
It fucking pulls her out of your arms.
Barb screams for you to run again. But you can't leave her. She drowns without water as the monster smothers her.
The congealed white head of the monster roars. A claw swipes your left calf. Your hands slip and slide as you scramble up the ladder. It watches you, salivating over your fear as you struggle to escape. It doesn't bother following you as you run, it doesn't need to, it will always know where you are. And now it knows what your blood smells like.
You bolt yourself in the bathroom you had been in with Barb just hours earlier. Which is when the tears come. Barb was dead and you had run away. You sink to the floor. It's cold, just like everything else in this place.
It was cold and you felt exposed like you had been on out at sea in a storm. But there was no wind. The air was close but chilled your bones. Everything was covered in a mucus you were doing your best not to touch.
You aren't sure how long you stay hiding behind a locked door that you know won't really protect you. Whilst curled up on the tiles you had thought of Will. What if this horrible, horrible night helped you find him? The thought of his, Dustin's, and the rest of the Party's smiles convinced you to get up.
The gash in your leg burns. You've wrapped it up as best as you can with the least disgusting looking towel you could find. Walking is slow and treacherous, each step threatening your collapse onto the floor.
"I'm doing this for Will," your voice scratches.
The Harrington's don't live far from the Wheeler's. If you were Will, your best friend's house wouldn't be a bad place to hide. Slowly, you stumble across the neighbourhood.
The Wheeler's house has always been full of life. Your first real friendship since moving here had been with Nancy. So many evenings had been spent here; working on projects; having singing competitions into hairbrushes; babysitting your younger brothers; games and movie nights; helping with dinner. There had always been such a hubbub of people. What with you, Nancy, and Barb, as well as Dustin and the rest of the Party. Plus any people Mr and Mrs Wheeler had around. Mrs Wheeler had welcomed you straight away; the two of you shared baking tips and poking fun at Ted together.
Here, the house is silent. Your memories echo off the walls and fade into the darkness that surrounds you. There is nothing here.
"Will?" your voice is a whisper. You clear your throat of all the particles that have plagued your breath and your vision all day.
"Will!"
He's not here. If you retrace his steps from that night when he disappeared, maybe you could see something, understand something.
Or maybe this place has nothing to do with his disappearance at all.
The damp air, stress, and lack of food and water make it impossible for the wound on your leg to heal. You wished you were better at first aid. First you had let Barb down, her hand had been dripping blood into the pool, and now this. You can't even look after yourself and you think you can find Will in this place?