Ｓｔｕｔｔｅｒ [ｂｉｌｌ ｄｅｎｂｒｏｕｇｈ ｘ ｒｅａｄｅｒ]

ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀɪʀꜱ

♧♧♧

We had previously been lured to Ben's bedroom by the work he showed us earlier. I was anxious to see what else this kid had. All of us rushed up the narrow staircase, urgent to see his collection.

"I heard he has a roller coaster, a pet chimpanzee, and like, some old guys fucking bones!" Richie exclaimed.

"That's so cool!" Eddie yelled, lightly punching Richie on the arm as we pushed through the doorway.

The walls were covered in papers big and small. There were newspaper clippings, old legal documents, and even some new missing posters from not too long ago. Did he take those off of the lampposts? I looked around, taking in all of the new information. There were way too many papers to say that this happened for normal reasons.

"Cool, right?" Ben asked. His smile was bright. He looked proud of his work.

"No, no, nothing cool..." Richie mumbled, adjusting his glasses. He loomed over a stack of papers, filing through them individually. 

"This is cool," my brother noted. He was standing over what I assumed to be Ben's desk. His eyes widened as he processed what he was reading. "Wait, no, no it's not."

"Hey, what's this?" Stan asked, pointing his finger to a piece of paper on the wall. He drew all of our attention towards him. We were all huddled in a small circle, practically standing on each other to get a view of the small thing.

"That? It's the charter for the Derry township," Ben said, making his way to the front of the group. He pointed out a few things that were important parts of the page, tracing his finger over the lines.

"Nerd," Richie laughed, earning an elbow nudging from me.

"It's actually pretty interesting. Derry started out as a beaver trapping camp."

"Still is, am I right, boys?" Richie held up his hand for a high five, but Stan pushed it away.

"Ninety-one people signed the charter for Derry, but later that winter they all disappeared without a trace," Ben said. A strange feeling crept over me as I looked over the page.

"The entire camp?" Eddie asked, shaking the sweat from his hands.

"There were rumors of Indians, but no sign of attack. Everyone thought it was the plague or something. It's just like everyone woke up one day and started to leave," Ben nodded.

I shook my head. The story Ben was telling us was starting to creep me out. I looked at the floor.

"The only evidence was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house," Ben informed.

"Jesus Christ," Eddie said, running his fingers through his dark brown hair.

"Where the w-well house?" Bill questioned from behind. I turned to face him, looking at him funny. He had a sort of determined look on his face.

"Somewhere in town, I guess," Ben started, "Why?"

Bill made us all agree to meet up at his house in the early hours of tomorrow afternoon. He had an idea. And though he didn't explain to us what that was, I had a hunch of what it could be.

♧

I laid the towel over my shoulders to keep my shirt dry and reached into the middle drawer of my dresser for my hairdryer. I'd taken a much-needed shower and smelled like Dove instead of quarry water. I reached under my desk to plug in my hairdryer. Just before I turned it on, there was a faint knock at my door.

"Yeah?" I asked, sitting down in the desk chair. I waited patiently for a response, twisting the chair from side to side.

"Can I come in?"