Alicia taped another picture over the ugly red words. It was a copy of one of her previous drawings which she had lost in the sewer, depicting Georgie Denbrough's yellow raincoat with his name printed inside the collar lying on a wet street next to a storm drain. She had devoted the past few days entirely to her art in an effort to refill the bare space on her walls and cover up the note Pennywise had left her. She had succeeded in the latter, but the former would be much harder. She of course had purchased a new sketchbook, though she still missed her old one at times. Her injury was hardly noticeable anymore. The doctor had told her that the wound had been fairly shallow and thus had not posed much of a threat. He cleaned it up and bandaged it and gave her a prescription and that had been the end of it. Obviously, Alicia's mother had been upset but after Alicia had promised her that she'd be spending the majority of the remaining summer indoors, she had calmed down and left the subject alone.

It was her mother's day off that day and she was in the kitchen preparing lunch when the doorbell rang. Alicia heard her mother yell "I'll get it!" and rush off to answer the summons. Alicia wasn't too bothered; she was thoroughly invested in her drawing at that point. After a couple minutes, she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Yeah!" she answered absent-mindedly, and the door swung open.

Alicia assumed it was her mother and continued her sketching. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of feet move over to her hung drawings. Strangely enough, they did not look like her mother's feet. Dragging her eyes away from her work, she looked up. As soon as she saw who it was, she jumped to her feet in a panic, letting her sketchbook hit the floor with a dull thud. Bill Denbrough stood with his back to her, staring stiffly at the picture of his little brother's raincoat. He rounded on Alicia suddenly, a look of betrayal in his deep blue eyes.

"H-how did you know what Georgie was wearing the day he died?" he demanded, jabbing an angry finger at the drawing.

"Please, it's not what you think!"

"How did you know?" Bill repeated harshly.

"I-I..." Alicia felt as if the walls were caving in on her. She had never intended for things to go like this. She felt like a cornered rat. She had to tell the truth. She swallowed hard, feeling as if she was going to cry. "I was there. I saw Georgie get pulled into the drain."

Bill looked down at the floor.

"You ssssaw him..." he echoed. He gaze snapped back to Alicia, feeling red-hot. "You saw him get p-pulled into the sewer. That means...that means you could have helped him!" he accused, his voice rising to a shout.

"No, Bill! I couldn't! I was terrified out of my mind!" Alicia said pleadingly, "You have no idea!"

"I've f-f-faced It too!" Bill snapped, "I know what it's like. All this time—I could have had my l-little brother with me; I could have had a whole family. But now I can't, because you were t-too much of a coward to help Georgie!" Bill stepped forward, dealing Alicia's sketchbook a vicious kick and staring her straight in the eye as tears coursed down her cheeks. "All this time," Bill said, sounding on the verge of tears himself, "I thought it was m-my fault my little brother was dead. But it was yours!"

He turned abruptly and strode out of the room. Alicia's mother was standing in the doorway; she looked surprised as Bill brushed past her. She turned to her daughter.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Alicia said, ducking her head and rushing past her mother so she wouldn't see the tears on her face. "Bill, wait! Where are you going?"

Bill flung open the front door, not bothering to look at Alicia as he replied, "I'm going to the well house. It got Beverly."

"Beverly?" Alicia queried but Bill was already gone. Alicia raced out onto the porch, leaning over the rail and shouting at Bill as he mounted his bicycle, "You can't go there alone!"

"I won't!" Bill snarled, "I'm going with my friends. After all, that's what friends are for; they help each other. B-but most importantly, they can trust each other."

Alicia opened her mouth to protest but Bill was already pedalling away at a furious rate. Alicia dove back into the house and pulled on her shoes. Her mother came down the hall and spotted her.

"What are you doing?" she asked in confusion.

"Mom, I need a flashlight!"

"What for? Lunch is almost ready—"

"Forget about lunch! This is urgent!"

Alicia finished pulling on her shoes and raced into the kitchen to find a flashlight.

"Honey, are you okay? What's this about?"

Alicia made an exasperated noise as she dug a flashlight out of one of the kitchen drawers, "I don't have time to explain, Mom!"

She raced back down the hall and jumped out the front door, her mother in hot pursuit.

"Wait!" her mother cried, "Where are you going?"

Alicia bounded down the street, yelling a "sorry" over her shoulder. She hurried down to the Kaspbrak residence first and knocked on the door. A sobbing Mrs. K answered.

"Mrs. K, is Eddie here?" Alicia asked quickly.

"No!" Mrs. K wailed hysterically, "He left to join your stupid gang! I told him not to go!"

She broke down into a fit of sobs.

"Oh no..." Alicia muttered, her thoughts racing.

Her only choice was to move on to the next house as quickly as she could. She soon developed a stitch in her side, which only served to slow her down a little. She was becoming increasingly panicked as time passed. Her heart was thudding in her chest from overexertion. She tried Ben's house next, and when nobody answered, she raced off to the arcade in hopes of finding Richie. She had no such luck, and after concluding that she was already much too late, she made the decision to go to Bev's flat. Maybe Bill had been wrong, maybe Bev hadn't been captured after all and she could tell him herself that she was alright. Was it possible this whole thing could have been a misunderstanding?

She arrived to find the door unlocked. She took a cautious peek inside, and when no one was to be seen, she entered. She started down the hall slowly, a feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach. She peered into the sitting room but there was no sign of life there either. She looked up to see the doorway to Bev's bathroom cracked open. She put her hand on the doorknob and pushed it open.

She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. A man was lying dead on the bathroom, blood pooled around his head. Etched on the walls in dark red lettering were the words "You die if you try."

So it hadn't been just a misunderstanding. Bev was really in danger.

Alicia raced down to the house on Neibolt as quick as her aching legs could carry her. Her wound had started to throb by the time she got there and she hoped that it would be able to hold out for what she needed to do. She barged into the old house and found that the rope she had previously used to get into the well had been hung over the center of it by a metal hook in the ceiling. Alicia figured the Losers must have put it there, which meant she could be well behind them. She prayed that they would be alright. She lowered herself down and found that her trail of drawings were still there. She whipped out her flashlight and followed them back to the cistern. The door was standing open, and Alicia could hear shouts coming from beyond it. She followed the sounds until she saw the Loser's Club all standing in a group armed with an odd assortment of weapons and staring fixedly at one thing. Alicia crept up to them unnoticed, wondering if Pennywise had not yet appeared, or if they had succeeded in driving him off as Bill had hoped. As she reached the edge of their circle, she saw what it was they were looking at. Beverly was standing over a crouching Pennywise, holding a rod down his throat. She let go of it and stepped back. Pennywise abruptly spit out the rod, causing the Losers to all break out into a string of alarmed curses. But instead of attacking, the clown started to back away toward a large basin-like opening in the cistern floor. Alicia was shocked; he was actually whimpering, his face screwed up in a fashion that made him look as if he were about to cry. Bill took a step toward him.

"That's why you didn't kill Beverly," he said suddenly, "Because she wasn't afraid. And neither are we. No...you're the one who's afraid now, because you're going to starve."

Bill picked up the rod Beverly had dropped and came at Pennywise in a threatening manner. Alicia crept a little closer; the other Losers could see her now but they said nothing. Pennywise backed up a little further, suddenly giggling.

"Not afraid, eh, Billy?" he chuckled, his eyes finding Alicia, "Well, I know one of you still is."

Billy turned to look at Alicia just as she reached his side. He looked confused but all he did was tighten his grip on the rod and face Pennywise again. The clown, still chuckling, flipped himself over the edge of the basin, hanging onto the sides tightly.

Alicia could hear him muttering something as she and Bill took a step closer, "He thrusts his f-f-fists against the p-p-p-p-p—"

Bill raised the rod to strike and Pennywise let his fingers slip a little. His blue eyes met Alicia's, an almost pleading look in them. The look abruptly changed, however, and one of his hands shot out to grab her ankle. Alicia shrieked and Bill reacted quickly, bringing the rod down on Pennywise's hand. At the same moment, the other Losers rushed forward. But as Richie rushed to help along with the rest of them, he tripped up over his own feet and bumped into Bill, knocking him off balance. Bill's arms flew outward in an attempt to steady himself, the rod in his hand waving wildly through the air. The rod struck Alicia with a stunning blow, and for a split second time seemed to stop. She stood there, teetering on the edge of that black abyss with Pennywise grinning up at her. She felt herself start to fall; she heard some of the Losers shout. Pennywise let go of the edge just as she tumbled forward, reaching out his arms and grabbing her in his hold. The last thing Alicia heard was Beverly screaming her name.

Then everything went black.