You swallow hard, maneuvering your way through waist-high greywater. You’ve been down here many times, and it never gets easier, the chattering of rats, the cockroaches that fall from the ceilings and plop into the water with you, using you as a lifeboat. The cognizance that you’re not only swimming in the feces-water of Derry but quite possibly the remains of Penny’s last meal.
This was especially odd, though.
Despite the patter of dripping water, the tunnels are silent. As though all the creepy crawlies had fled from their sewer home.
Your biggest fear was dropping your light source into the water, the thought of aimlessly wading around Derry’s sewer system seemed like the worst possible way to go.
You clutch your phone tightly, climbing, crawling, and ducking under pipes and massive spiderwebs, until at last, you see the tunnel that would lead to Pennywise’s tower, just underneath what was once Neibolt house.
But before you could reach it, a loud groaning stops you dead in your tracks. The tunnels are…breathing… as if they are buckling under some sort of weight. A large splash echoes.
You listen carefully and heard, rushing water? Usually, these tunnels are stagnant.
You consider turning back, this didn’t seem safe.
But you are just as concerned for him as you are for yourself, so you enter the tunnel.
You wade along until you turn the corner, but instead of meeting the entrance to the tower, you are met with a wall of rubble. Massive boulders block your way. You move forward to inspect the debris when, to your horror, the water begins to swirl and rage beneath you as if a massive current had formed underneath.
You try to grab onto the wall in front of you, a big mistake.
Rocks fall from the wall, seemingly opening the flood gates and dragging you underneath.
You squeeze your eyes tight, lungs screaming from the pressure building around you. Suddenly, you are no longer drowning, but falling, hundreds of feet rolling and tumbling down what feels like a sharp slope.
Splintered rock and gravel dig their way into your skin and under your nails as you desperately reach for anything to slow your descent. But it’s no use.
You hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of you, and upon impact, you hear a sickening CRACK.
You shriek in agony at the feeling of bones snapping, the shards digging their way through your flesh. You turn over and vomit in shock, trembling violently.
Your vision swims in and out of focus.
At first, you didn’t recognize where you were, but now you see that you’ve fallen into a gaping chasm. Scrap metal, toys, stuffed animals and rotten foodstuffs litter the ground.
‘Is this…the tower room?’
But there was no time to think, really. The roar of rushing water was deafening, and you turn in time to see the cascade of rock and water tumbling from where you had just fallen. But more than that, rocks and the skeleton of Neibolt house are falling above you, too, several stories up, allowing light to filter into the chasm.
In a surge of adrenaline, you force yourself onto your legs, one of which was certainly broken, you realize, and you gasp in pain. There is no time to carefully maneuver the remainder of the hill, and so you stumble and run, barely avoiding collapsing walls and tumbling boulders.
You scream out for help that won’t come.
‘Shelter, I need shelter’ you force yourself to think, eyes darting back and forth, looking for a source of salvation.
The right side of the cavern caves in and collapses, a torrent of water several meters high overtaking it. You swivel left, head snapping back and forth, until your eyes settle on an indentation in the wall, maybe six feet up. You throw yourself onto the rocks, the water quickly catching up with you, nearly dragging you back down.
With all your strength, you pull your weight up into the tight crevice, sliding yourself in as deep as possible.
In a split second the crevice is blocked by collapsing rocks, and you are engulfed in darkness.
The sound is deafening. You slump back, but instead of dry ground; your hands feel moving water. You’re trapped, and water is beginning to overtake your shelter.
‘Instead of drowning out there, I’m going to drown in here’ you thought, heart slamming out of your chest.
You wedge your body further into the crevice, legs outstretched, desperately trying to find wiggle room.
‘This is no time to be claustrophobic, Y/N. Deep breaths’
You feel around with your foot, trying to find a way out. You feel several indentations, gaps in the wall, like…teeth?
You pull your leg back, removing the tattered sneaker. You feel around again.
‘Stalagmites…’ as if a lightbulb goes off in your head. ‘If I can kick through these, it might lead to a cavern’
You had to think quickly. If you kick too hard, you could possibly dislodge the rocks above you and you’d be crushed, but if you didn’t find a way out of here, you’d drown.
Suddenly the limestone gives way to your weight, but so does the weak rock above you. You shut your eyes and hold your breath, digging your heels into the ground to drag you forward.
Suddenly, your feet meet space and you use your elbows to push yourself the remainder of the way out. You slide out of the crevice, choking and gasping for air.
You wipe the dust and gravel from your eyes. It’s pitch black. Dead silent.
How you are alive, you don’t know.
Of course, you are still trapped, still to die alone in this cold, dark space. But at least for the moment, you aren’t in immediate danger. That’s what you hope, at least.
As your adrenaline wears off, the pain of your broken leg and shattered arm make itself known. The thick, damp air smells heavily of iron. Blood. You search for the source of your bleeding when you feel a large wedge of rock embedded between your ribs.
Your hand trembles as you feel around it, blood gushing from the wound.
“Aren’t I supposed to pray in a situation like this?” you murmur, taking short, quick breaths.
You remember when Pennywise had dismissed your notions of God and the afterlife. He had bared his teeth in disdain, whispering in a language you didn’t understand.
He translated to you; he was the only god that you should worship. He was the end and the beginning.
“Hey, so, since you’re all-powerful, you want to give me a hand here, Penn? You call out, jokingly.
With every passing moment, though, your dread grows, knowing that you would die here, alone.
You think of your friends, your family, and of course, Penn. Your throat is dry, and though no tears come, your voice comes out in wracked sobs.
“YOU’RE A GOD, REMEMBER?” You yell “EATER OF WORLDS? ISN’T THAT RIGHT, PENNYWISE?”
“I KNOW YOU’RE NOT DEAD, PENNYWISE!”
You truly believe that. You believe that this creature would somehow be able to save you, despite all the evidence pointing to his departure or demise.
Suddenly, the ground begins to vibrate, and a deep, almost bass-like sound begins to hum and reverberate in the cavern.
‘This is it’ you thought, shutting your eyes. ‘I’m going to drown’
But instead of a torrent of water, the cave erupts in a flash of light. Three small, beautiful lights manifest before you. You crawl towards their warmth, cupping them in your hands and holding them close. The lights hum deafeningly and explode in size, and you have to shield your eyes from their powerful glow.
Several seconds pass and you crack a single eye open.
At first, you think that you’ve been blinded, or maybe even killed.
Your body no longer feels heavy and broken, but light and weightless. As if you are…floating?
“Am I dead?” you whisper to no one in particular
The voice that responds is deep and distorted. Inhuman but entirely familiar.
“Sink with me, human” the voice echoes
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