Part 2 –

"I propose a toast to the losers." Beverly said lifting up her drink

We all followed and all met in the middle with our drinks

"To the losers." We all said in sync, all of us in high spirits

Eddie and Richie grabbed each others hand and started to arm wrestle, I watched them amused because it was obvious who would win

Richie briefly let Eddie think he was going to win before slamming his hand down, taking Eddie's with it claiming victory.

"Noooo!" He shouted

I laughed "Nice try Eds."

"Okay you try with me." Eddie said, holding his hand out

"Eddie, it's one thing getting beat by Richie I really don't want to have to show you up by beating you too."

He smiled "We'll see."

"Okay...."

I grabbed his hand in mine, the first time we had contact in years. The all too familiar feeling of sparks hitting at the sign of any contact with this boy

I looked at him and I guessed by his sudden change of face he felt it too

"Well come on then!" Richie said pulling us both out of thought

"Erm yeah right." I said

"3, 2 ,1!" Richie said and me and Eddie both tried out hardest to slam the other persons hand down first

"Hey Eddie your mum is here!" Richie said

Eddie got distracted and looked at the door, giving me a good chance to win

I quickly slammed his hand down and cheered

"Oi asshole! You made me lose!" He said looking at Richie

Richie shrugged and laughed

"Thanks Richie." I smiled and hi-5'ed him

"Cheaters." Eddie mumbled

The waitress came over with a bowl full of fortune cookies

I grabbed mine and slowly opened it and frowned at what was on it

I looked around the table to see what everyone else got but people were too busy with their own conversations to even notice.

I noticed Ben frowning, but not at the fortune cookie but at Billy and Beverly talking. I remember that cute little kid having the biggest crush on Beverly back in the day, I guess true love doesn't actually die.

"All these memories of people that I don't even remember forgetting." I over heard Billy and Beverly's conversation.

"I mean it's weird right? Now that we're all here it just comes back faster and faster. I mean all of it." Ben said

"Yeah when mike called me I threw up... isn't that weird? That I got nervous, like I got sick then I threw up. I feel fine now I feel relieved to be here with you guys. Why is everyone looking at me like this?" Richie asked scanning the group

"When Mike called me I crashed my car." Eddie said

I frowned "Are you okay?'

He nodded "i-I just felt this sudden feeling of nerves come over me, and I guess a little bit of shock to hear from you again. I just don't know how to explain it."

"I mean I hear ya, my heart was literally pounding right out my chest." Ben said

"I thought that was just me..." Beverly said

I looked at Mike hoping he had answers why we were all feeling like this

"Fear." He said looking at billy "Fear is what you felt."

"Why do we all f-f-feel it?" Bill said "Mike you remember something we don't?"

"Something happens to you when you leave this town. The further away the hazier it all gets, for me I never left. So yeah I remember, I remember all of it." He said sternly, looking over at everyone

A lump formed in my throat, I closed my eyes for a brief second when a clown popped into my head

I opened my eyes "P-Pennywise." My voice was low, but everyone still heard it

They all looked at me, them all remembering the horror that happened all those years ago when we were just kids

"Oh that fucking clown!" Eddie mumbled

"Oh shit." Ben sighed, I think in that moment we all realised. Realised why Mike probably called us all here today

"Mike you said you wanted our help with something, what was that?' Billy said

We all looked at him hoping that Pennywise wasn't the reason. We all acted brave 27 years ago but that doesn't stop us from being scared now.

"There's an echo here in Derry. It bounces back every 27 years-"

"What are you talking about?" Eddie said, his breathing got faster

"Hold on hold on listen. We thought we stopped it then, we thought it was gone." He grabbed a book and started flipping the pages

"Mike.." Richie said

Eddie next to me grabbed his inhaler and started to panic

"Hey it's okay." I said, placing my hand on his arm trying to calm him down

He shook his head "I remember what that clown did to you, to all of us."

My heart sunk, making me remember too.

"All these years I've looked at that scar on my leg, thinking how I got it. It was Pennywise. Back in the sewer." I mumbled

"Look." Mike said showing the book "A week ago, Adrian was slaughtered-"

"Dude...' Richie said

"There has already been witnesses okay, there is more! More children-"

Everyone around the table started to talk over him, panicking. Coming up with crazy theories to just stop the reality of the real one

"M-maybe it's just someone else? There's been murders before right?" I asked

"Just let him explain, let him explain." Ben said

Mike nodded and looked back at me "Yeah, there has. But this is different. It's the same as it was 27 years ago. Children going missing, body parts being found. We might have changed it, like it changed us but it didn't stop, it just bounced back. We made an oath, that's why I brought you back that's why you're here. To finish it for good." He said

"Well that shit got dark fast. Thanks Mike." Richie said opening his fortune cookie

I looked back at mine, still confused what it meant. Normally there's a sentence on there or some random quote but there was just 1 thing on there.

"Well my fortune cookie just says 'could'." Eddie said

"They don't know how to do fortune cookies here.. Mine just says 'guess'."

"You wanna throw that over here." Bill said standing up, he collected everyone's fortune cookie words and placed them on the table

I stood up and looked

Could

It

Not

Guess

Cut

I frowned at all the words, this made no sense

"It's a message..." Mike said

"Guess it could not cut." Richie sid

Everyone started shouting out sentences they thought was the real one, none which made sense

"Could not guess cut it."

"It could not guess." Eddie said

"It could not cut."

Everyone started talking over each other, confused by the words in front of us

"Maybe theres a few missing? Or this is just a prank?'

"This is what it does..." Mike said

I looked over to see Beverly just sat there, sadness in her face, looking like she was about to cry

"Beverly?' I asked

Everyone stopped and looked at the woman sat sown. A word in her hand that she hadn't passed over yet

"What is it?" I asked

She placed the word down, a tear falling down her face

Bill grabbed the word and placed it down

I covered my mouth with my hand as I read the real sentence

*I guess Stanley couldn't cut it :)*

I looked around the group

"Guys what does that mean?" I asked

Everyone looked like they had seen a ghost, all the colour drained from their faces

"Why does it say Stanley?" Eddie asked "Someone else fucking answer me!"

Before anyone else could say anything else the table moved

We all quickly took a step back, the table started to move, all the fortune cookies started to shake

"Shit." I mumbled

One fortune cookie fell out, it started to crack open

I grabbed onto Eddies hand, without even thinking. But he didn't pull away instead he just grabbed on tighter

Some weird grey thing broke out, all 8 legs poking out, then a head appeared on it. It looked like a baby's head. Eddie started to gag next to me, as the baby head cried

"What the fuck is that?' Richie asked

Then all the fortune cookies started to break with it, weird things coming out of each one

"Hey hey! It's looking at me! Why is there a fortune cookie looking at me!?" Richie shouted

"i-I can't do this." Eddie said

All the things that came from the fortune cookies started to come towards us, Eddie grabbed me and we both backed up into the corner with ben next to us

"Holy fucking shit!"

We all tried to hit the things away before there was burning black liquid coming out the bowl, consuming the table

I turned around and jumped when I saw a floating head in the fish tank

"It's not real!" Mike shouted "Guys it's not real! It's not real!" He kept repeating himself. He grabbed the chair and started to hit the table with it over and over

"it's not real!" he shouted for the last time before the waitress came over

"Everything alright?' she asked, she looked around the table, her face didn't show any emotion even though she just witnessed Mike go crazy

"Erm yeah.. cool. Can we have the check please?" Richie gave her a little smile

She nodded and walked away

We all calmed down and I looked down to see Eddie was still holding my hand

He noticed too and quickly let go

"Sorry." he mumbled

I nodded and we all payed the bill and left the table

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