Chapter 31 Chapter 20 The Source of Magic Power

1 Tom Logan had a horrible dream about killing his biological father.He was still a little lucid in his consciousness, knowing how absurd the dream was; his father died when he was in the third grade.So he couldn't have killed his father.Dad, I didn't kill you!His consciousness screamed.Someone else—he struggled to wake up, but walked into a new dream.In the dream, he was plodding along a long, dark tunnel.His crotch hurt, and his face was shaved.There were others with him, but he could only make out vague shapes.Anyway, it doesn't matter who they are, the important thing is the few kids running ahead.

They must be punished.They must be punished. This swamp stinks.The water dripped down and echoed.His shoes and trousers were soaked.Those little bastards are somewhere in front of this maze of tunnels, maybe they thought--(Henry) Tom and his friends got lost.This is really a big joke.Because he had another friend, yes, a special friend who showed them the way... use…… (a balloon that glows like the moon) Something big and round that glows.At every fork floats a balloon with arrows drawn pointing to him and—(Beltz and Victor) Which tunnel should his invisible friend take.That's the right path, yes.He heard people ahead, heard their footsteps, their low voices.They caught up and were about to catch up.Waiting for them to catch up... Tom looked down at the switchblade still in his hand.

He felt a sudden pang of fear—it was like the horrific reports he'd seen on the weekend picture news.Your soul leaves your body and attaches itself to another person.He feels strange to his body, as if he is not Tom but—(Henry) Someone else, a young man.He was terrified and wanted to break free from this dream.Suddenly a voice, a comforting voice, whispered in my ear: It doesn't matter what time it is, it doesn't matter who I am.The important thing is that Beverly is up front, with them, my friend, you know what happened?She did something worse than smoking a cigarette behind your back.Do you know what it is?She and her old friend Bill.Dunbang is having sex!

real!She and that stutter!They - lied!he yelled.She dare not! But he knew it wasn't a lie.She pumps with a belt. (kick at me) crotch, escaped.Now she's behind his back, the bitch--(kid) The bitch lied to me.There was her good-looking one—first her, then that Dunbon.Whoever dares to meddle in their own business, even he will clean up together. Although he was out of breath, he quickened his pace.Ahead of him he saw a bright circle of light dancing in the darkness—a glowing balloon.He heard voices ahead, and didn't care that they were just children's voices.As the voice said: It doesn't matter where, when, or who.Beverly is up ahead.

"Come on, guys, run." Though it wasn't his own voice, but a child's, it didn't matter. Then, as they approached the glowing balloon, he saw his companion clearly for the first time.Both are dead.One has no head, and the other's face appears to have been torn open by claws. "We ran fast enough, Henry," said the guy with the torn face.The movement of his lips was terrific.Tom's screams shattered the nightmare, and he finally woke up.Fell out of bed to the floor. Where am I?Where the hell am I? He was aware of a faint white light that frightened him into thinking he was back in a dream again, the light cast by strange balloons.Then he remembered that the bathroom door was ajar and the fluorescent light was still on.When he arrived in a strange place, he always had to turn on the light; if he got up at night, he would not hurt his calf.

He finally returned to reality.It was a dream, a ridiculous dream.He is in a motel.This is Derry, Maine.He tracked his wife here, and in a nightmare, he fell out of bed.That's all. That wasn't just a nightmare. He trembled, as if the words were in his ears, not in his heart.It didn't sound like his own—cold, dark...drowsy, yet believable. He stood up slowly, picked up a glass of water from the bedside table, and drank it in one gulp.He ran his hair with trembling hands.It's only 3:10. go back to sleep.Wait until dawn. The strange voice came again: but the morning was full of people—too many people.Moreover, at this moment you can beat them down below.You can win right now.

down there?He remembered the dream just now: water, ticking in the dark. Suddenly the lights came on.He turned his head involuntarily and groaned in pain.There was a balloon tied to the bathroom doorknob.The balloon glowed an eerie white light.A blood-red arrow is printed on the balloon. The arrow is pointing to the door leading to the hallway. It doesn't matter who I am, the voice said soothingly.Then Tom realized that the voice was not coming from his head, nor from his ears, but from the balloon, from the center of that strange, lovely white light.The important thing is that I guarantee that everything will be to your satisfaction, Tom.I want to see her beaten; I want to see them all beaten.They used to get in my way... until it was too late.Listen, Tom.Listen carefully.Now they're all together...follow this balloon...

Tom listened to the voice in the balloon explain everything. When all was said and done, the balloon flashed its last light.Tom began to dress. 2 Audra also had a nightmare. She woke up suddenly, sat upright on the bed, panting heavily. Like Tom's, hers was a messy, frustrating experience.She also felt that she became another person—or attached her own consciousness to another person's body and mind.She was in a dark place with several people and felt a sense of imminent danger - they walked into the darkness on purpose, and she wanted them to stop and explain to her what was going on...but her avatar seemed to know, and Believe that all this is necessary.

She also felt that someone was chasing them, and she got up little by little. Bill was in her dream too, but as a child--with thick hair!She held his hand, faintly feeling how much she loved him.She was willing to follow him because she firmly believed that Bill would protect her and everyone else, that Bill, Big Bill would lead them out of danger and see the light of day again. But she was terrified. They came to an intersection of many tunnels, and Bill stood there, looking at one mouth after another—a boy with a plaster cast on his arm said, "That one, Bill. The bottom one."

"You, you, are you willing, willing, sure?" "yes." So they walked down that road and saw a small wooden door not more than 3 feet away, with a sign on it.She couldn't remember what kind of mark it was, but the mark frightened her so much that she jumped out of the man's body, the girl's (Beverly) body. She woke up, sitting upright on an unfamiliar bed, covered in cold sweat, her eyes widened, and panting heavily.She touched her legs, thinking that her legs must be wet and cold after being filled with water just now.But her legs are dry. She didn't know where she was - this wasn't her home.Nowhere - just hell with a bed, dresser, two chairs and a TV.

"Oh God, wake up, Audra—" She rubbed her face vigorously with her hands, and the painful giddiness subsided.She is in Delhi.Derry, Maine, she came here because Bill was here.Tomorrow she would meet him at the Derry Hotel.No matter what happened here, no matter what that new scar on his hand represented, they had to face it together.She was going to call him, tell him she was here, and meet him.After... oh... In fact, she didn't know what would happen next.That dizzy feeling made her feel extremely threatened.She thought of the dream she had just had, and felt an inexplicable fear.The town wrapped itself around her like a giant snake.She wished she had taken Freddy's advice and stayed away from everything here. She kept thinking about Bill, like a drowning woman clutching a mast, life savers, whatever-- (We're all floating down there, Audra) floating things. A chill spread all over his body.She hugged herself tightly, biting, and her skin was covered with goose bumps.For a moment she seemed to hear a voice in her head speaking loudly.It was as if a stranger was hiding there. am I crazy?God, am I crazy? No, her mind told her.Just disorientated.. jet lag.. over worrying about your husband.No one will talk in your head.Nobody—"We're all floating down there, Audra." A voice came from the bathroom.a real voice.And it's insidious.Insidious, nasty, evil. "You'll float up too." The voice smiled maliciously, and the giggling slowly died down, until it sounded like a clogged toilet.Audra cried out... I didn't hear those words. She said it aloud, thinking the voice would contradict her.but.The house was quiet, and the whistle of the train came from a distance. She suddenly needed Bill so badly that she couldn't wait until tomorrow.She slept in a standard motel room like the other 39.But she suddenly felt that everything here could not be tolerated.Nothing here is unbearable when you can hear all kinds of voices.too terrifying.She seemed to be slipping back into the nightmare from which she had just escaped. Feeling very scared and alone.Worse than fear and loneliness, she thought.I felt like I was going to die.Her heart was beating so violently that it was hard for her to breathe.She felt a sudden dread of confinement, and wondered if it was just a common physical discomfort: a heart attack, perhaps, or in progress. Her heartbeat stabilized, but she still felt uneasy. Audra turned on the small lamp by the bed and looked at her watch: 3:12.He might be sleeping, but that didn't matter to her right now—nothing but hearing Bill's voice.She wanted to spend the night with him.If Bill was around, she could calm down and keep those nightmares away.She took the phone to Huang Zai, found the number of the Delhi Hotel, and dialed it. The operator connected her to Bill's room.The bell rang once, twice, three times... six times.No sooner had the seventh bell rang than the line went dead. "Nobody answers the phone." "It's bad luck." Audra said feeling even more frightened and uneasy. "Are you sure you didn't mistake the room?" "Ah, yes," said the waiter, "Mr. Dunbard had an internal call five minutes ago. He answered it. He must have gone to the man's room." "Oh, which room is it?" "I don't remember. I think it was 6 floors. But—" She hung up the phone.She felt a little disheartened, it must be a woman.The woman called him...and he went to find her.Oh, what now, Audra?How should we deal with this? She felt that the tears were about to burst out, her eyes and nose were sore, and the tears were in her throat.No anger, at least not yet...just the sadness of loss, of abandonment. Restrain yourself, Audra, you're jumping to conclusions like this.In the middle of the night, you had a nightmare and now you find Bill with another woman.But that doesn't have to be the case.All you have to do now is sit up - you can't sleep right now anyway.Turn on the lights and finish reading the novel you brought on the plane.Forgot what Bill said?This is the best hypnotic.Stop being neurotic.That book is enough to read till dawn.That—the light in the bathroom suddenly turned on.The lock clicked and the door slammed open.Her eyes widened, staring at the door.Heart pounding against chest. The low voice came out: "We are all floating below, Audra." The last word turned into a long, muffled scream, and finally into that half-smiley, horrible, clogged toilet poof. "Who's there?" she screamed, flinching back.That's not imagination, not at all.You won't tell me - the TV is on.She turned sharply and saw a clown in a silver coat with orange buttons jumping around on the screen, his eyes were just two black holes.When the oil-painted lips grinned, she saw teeth like razor blades holding a bloody human head.The eyes were rolled up and the mouth was open, but she could see clearly that it was Freddie's head.The clown laughed and danced.It shook the human head, and the blood splashed on the TV screen, making a hissing sound. Audra wanted to scream, but all he could get was a low moan of pain.She grabbed the skirt and purse that were hanging on the back of the chair, rushed to the corridor, and slammed the door shut.She was panting heavily, her face turning pale.She put her purse between her feet and hurriedly put on her skirt. "Fly." There was a low giggle from behind.She felt a cold finger touch her bare heel. She screamed and jumped up.Fingers with bare bones were groping under the floor, and the nails were split, revealing the bloodless fingertips. With her schoolbag on her back, Audra ran barefoot towards the door at the end of the corridor.She was frightened to death, and all she could think about was finding the Derry Hotel, and finding Bill.She wants to find him, and let him take her out of this town and everything that happened here. She ran into the parking lot quickly, found her car in a panic, and ran over in a hurry.She rummaged through her purse but couldn't find the car keys.She became more and more frightened and took the Kleenex. Cosmetics, loose change, sunglasses, and chewing gum were all messed up.She didn't even notice the man sitting in the driver's seat of the battered Ford parked opposite.She thought she must have left the key in the room.She can't go back there, can't. She felt the hard jagged metal under a box of mints, grabbed it, and breathed a sigh of relief.She fumbled the key into the lock.At this moment, a hand suddenly fell on her shoulder.She couldn't help screaming.A few dogs barked in the distance, and everything returned to calm. That hand, as hard as steel, dug fiercely into her shoulder, turning her body around.She saw a swollen, distorted face with a fierce gleam in its eyes. She wanted to speak, but couldn't.The hand tightened its grip, digging into the flesh. "Didn't I see you in the movies?" Tom Logan whispered. 3 Without saying a word, Beverly and Bill got dressed and went straight to Eddie's room.On their way to the elevator, they heard a phone ring behind them. "Bill, what's your phone number?" "But, maybe, yes, yes," he said, "maybe, he, one of them called, called." He pressed the button to go upstairs. Eddie opened the door for them, pale and tense.The pose of the left arm is special and reminds of the old days. "I'm fine," he said, "Take two pills, it doesn't hurt too much." But it was obvious that he was not doing well, and his lips were blue with fright. Bill saw a man lying on the floor behind him.With just one glance, he understood—it was Henry.Bowers, he's dead.He walked past Eddie and crouched next to the body.Henry’s eyes were half-opened, and his gaze was aggressive.With clotted blood in his mouth, he seemed to howl.Those hands are like claws. A shadow cast down.Bill looked up. It was Beverly.She looked at Henry expressionlessly. "He was always chasing, chasing, stalking us," Bill said. She nodded. "He doesn't look old. Did you notice that, Bill? He doesn't look old at all." She turned her head sharply to look at Eddie, who was sitting on the bed.Eddie looked old, old and worn out.The arm rested on the leg and was useless. "We've got to call a doctor for Eddie." "No." Bill and Eddie objected in unison. "But he's hurt! His arm—" "Same as last, last, last time, time, time," Bill said.He stood up, took her arm, and looked into her face. "Once we're out, out, once I, I, we startle, startle, move this town, town, town—" "They'll arrest me for murder," Eddie said deadpan, "or even arrest us. Or detain us. Or something. Then something will happen. Incidents like that only happen in Derry. Maybe we'll all end up in jail, and a sheriff goes crazy and shoots us all. Maybe we'll die from corpse poison, or we'll hang ourselves in jail." "Eddie, that's outrageous! It's so—" "Really?" he asked back. "Remember, this is Derry." "But we're adults now! Of course you don't think... I mean, he's here in the middle of the night... and assaulting you..." "Use, what do you use?" Bill said. "Where's the knife, knife, knife?" She lay on the ground and searched under the bed for a long time, but couldn't find a knife anywhere. "Don't look for it." Eddie's voice was still weak. "When he tried to stab me, I slammed the door and squeezed his arm. He dropped the knife and I kicked it under the TV. Now it's gone. I've looked for it." "Be, Be, Beverly, call and call some of the others," Bill ordered. "I think I can hold Ai, Ai... Eddie's arm in place." She looked at them, then at the body on the ground.Thinking that any sensible policeman would understand what was going on in the house.It's been messed up here.Eddie's arm is broken.The man is dead.This is clearly self-defense against burglars.Thinking of this, she suddenly thought of Mr. Ross again.She stood up, looked at it, folded the newspaper and went into the house. Once we get out... once we startle the town—it reminds her of Bill when he was little, pale and tired and kind of crazy.That's when Bill said Derry was it.Understand?Wherever we go... they don't see it, they don't hear it, they don't know it when it catches us.Don't you understand what's going on?All we can do is try to finish what we have started. Beverly stood there, looking at Henry's body, thinking: They both say we've all become ghosts.It all started again.everything.When I was young, I could accept it, because almost all children are elves.But—"Are you sure?" she asked Bill desperately. "Bill, are you sure?" He sat on the bed with Eddie, gently stroking his injured arm. "Difficult, difficult. Don't you believe it?" Bill asked her back. "After the one, one, everything that happened, today, today?" Yes.Everything has happened.Those horrible things that happen at the end of the party. A beautiful old woman turned into a shriveled, ugly old lady before her eyes. (my father is my mother) Strange thing that happened tonight at the end of that string of stories in the library.all of these. And... her heart was screaming at her desperately to stop what she was doing now, to stop it all with reason.If not, they're sure to go to Banron tonight and find that pumping station "I don't know," she said, "I just—don't know. Even after everything that happened tonight, Bill, I still feel like calling the cops There's nothing wrong with coming. Maybe—" "Call, call, call him, them," he repeated, "let's see, see, see what they think, think." "Ok." She called Rich first, then Bens.Both said they would be here soon.But no one asked what happened.She looked up Mike's phone number and dialed it.But no one answered, and after a few rings, it hung up. "Try, try, try map, map, library," Bill said.He had removed the rails from the two small windows and secured Eddie's arms with bathrobe straps and pajama pants straps. Before she could find the library number, there was a knock on the door.Ben and Richie come here together.Ben was in jeans and his shirt hadn't been fastened yet; Richie was still in his pajamas, scanning the room with alert eyes. "God, Eddie, what—" "Oh, my God!" Ben exclaimed.He had already seen Henry lying on the floor. "Ah, ah, hush, hush!" Bill said sternly. "Close the door, the door!" Rich closed the door and stared at the body. "Henry?" Ben took a few steps cautiously and stopped, as if afraid of being bitten.He looked at Bill helplessly. "You, you, you say, tell," he said to Eddie. "Mom, mom, mom's stuttering, getting worse, getting worse, worse, worse." Eddie simply told everyone what happened.Beverly was still looking up the number for the Derry Public Library and dialed.She thought maybe Mike had fallen asleep.But I didn't expect: just after the second ring, someone answered the phone.It was a voice she had never heard before. "Hello." She looked at everyone and motioned for them to be quiet. "Is Mr. Mac Hanlon there?" "Who are you?" the man asked. She licked her lips nervously.Bill looked at her anxiously.Ben and Rich looked around warily.There was an ominous premonition in her heart. "Who are you?" she asked back. "You are not Mr. Mac Hanlon." "I'm Sergeant Andrew Reidmacher of Derry Police," said the man, "Mike. Mr Hanlon is now at the Derry Family Hospital.He was attacked just now and was seriously injured.who are you?I need to know your name. " But Beverly barely heard the last sentence.Shocked, dizzy, and paralyzed, she sat there. "Is he seriously injured?" She heard her voice faint.Bill was standing beside her now, holding her shoulders; Ben was standing beside her, and Richie was there.She immediately felt sincere gratitude.She held out a hand, and Bill took it, and Rich's hand was on Bill's, and Ben's was on Rich's.Eddie came over too and put his good hand on top. "Please tell me your name," Riedmacher asked again.At that moment, the fear planted in her by her father and husband almost made her blurt out: I am Beverly.Marsh. I'm at the Derry Town Hotel.Please call Mr. Nell over here.There is a dead man here, and we are all terrified. But she said, "I'm afraid...I'm afraid I can't tell you. Not yet." "What do you know?" "Knowing nothing," she was shocked, "what makes you think I know all this? God!" She closed her eyes, held Bill's hand tightly, and asked again: "Will he die? You said so much to scare me, right? Is he really going to die? Please tell me." "He's badly wounded. If it scared you, miss, it should. Now I want to know who you are and why—" As if in a dream, she saw her hand floating in the air and hung up the phone.She looked at Henry's body in the distance, as if she had received a cold slap in the face, and was startled.One of Henry's eyes was closed, and the other eye was still bleeding from the shattered eye. Henry seemed to wink at her. 4 Rich pretended to be a reporter from the "Delhi News" and called the hospital to find out about Mike. He hung up the phone, eyes closed. "God!" he shouted hoarsely. "God! God! God!" He seemed to push the phone to the ground, and his hands dropped limply.He took off his glasses and wiped them on the front of his pajamas. "He's alive, but in a serious condition," he told the group. "Henry stabbed him like he was cutting a Christmas turkey. There was a slash in a femoral artery and he was almost bleeding out, but he was alive. Mike managed to find a hemostat, or he'd be dead by the time they found it." Beverly began to cry.For a moment the only sounds in the room were her crying and Eddie's heavy breathing. "Do you still want, think, report, report, call the police, call the police, call the police?" She walked around Henry in a big circle and walked into the bathroom, took a towel, soaked it in cold water, and put it on her hot cheek so comfortably.She felt that now she could think clearly again—not rationally, but clearly.It dawned on her that if they tried to think rationally, rationality would kill them. She came out of the bathroom and looked at Bill. "No," she said, "I don't want to call the police. I think Eddie is right—we're going to have accidents, and we're going to die.But that's not the real reason. "She looked at the four of them. We swore," she said, "We swore."Bill's brother...Stanley...everyone else...and now Mike.I'm ready, Bill. " Bill looked at the others. Richie nodded. "Okay, Bill. Let's fight." "Looks like it's getting worse. We're down two people now," Bane said. Bill said nothing. "Okay." Ben nodded. "She was right. We swore." "Ai, Ai, Eddie?" Eddie smiled wretchedly. "I guess someone's going to have to carry me down that ladder again, huh? If there's a ladder in there." "But no one threw stones this time," Beverly said. "They died. All three died." "Shall we act now, Bill?" Richie asked. "Yes, yes, yes," Bill said, "I think, it's time, time, time." "Can I say a few words?" Ben asked suddenly. Bill looked at him and smiled. "Please, please, please." "You're still my best friends," Ben said, "regardless of the outcome. I just...wanted to tell you that." He looked at everyone present, and everyone looked at him solemnly. "I'm glad I remember you guys," he added.Richie burst out laughing.Beverly giggled too.Then everyone was laughing, looking at each other like they used to, even though Mike was lying in the hospital, probably dying or already dead, even though Eddie's arm was (again) broken, even though it was still dark night. "Haystack, you can really talk." Richie smiled and wiped his eyes. "He's supposed to be a writer, Big Bill." 5 They got into the limousine that Eddie had borrowed, and Richie drove.The mist floating on the ground became thicker, lingering in the streets and alleys like smoke.In the sky overhead, the stars were bright...but with his head against the window, Bill thought he heard thunder in the distance.Rain is brewing in the sky. Richie turned on the radio. "Shut it off, Richie," Beverly said softly. Richie's hand to turn off the radio was in the air. "Please continue to listen to Richie. Dorje's most wonderful rock singing!" The clown laughed wildly, screaming over the guitar accompaniment. "Lock the channel and stay tuned for the rock specials. These songs are off the charts, but they will always be in our hearts. You will always follow it! Come on everyone! Below we play all the big hits! All the big hits If you don't believe me, please listen to tonight's special guest DJ, George. Dunbang! Tell them, George!" Suddenly Bill's younger brother's cry came from the radio. "You let me out and it killed me! I thought it was in the cellar, Big Bill, I thought it was in the cellar, but it was in the sewer. It was in the sewer, and it killed me, and you let it Kill me, Big Bill, you make it—" Richie snapped off the radio.He pushed so hard that the knob fell off and hit the floor mat. "The rock shows in small places are boring," he said.His voice trembled. "Beverly's right, we won't listen. What do you think?" No one answered.The street lamps reflected Bill's pale, glazed, thoughtful face.They all heard another faint rumble of thunder in the western sky. 6 Still that bridge. Richie pulled over by the bridge.They got out of the car, walked to the railing, and looked down. It's still the old Ban Lun. 27 years on, nothing has changed here.Dirty trees, low bushes glistened in the swirling morning mist.Bill thought: I guess this is called eternal memory.All of this or something like this, you look at it at the right time and from the right angle, the image that makes your mood surge.Everything I saw was so clear that all the events that happened in between disappeared.If desire is the circle that bridges the world and the need, then the circle is already formed. "Come, come, come," he said, climbing over the railing.They followed along the gravel-strewn embankment.When they got down to the bottom, Bill was amused by his habit of checking to see if the silver arrow was still there.The Silver Arrow is now leaning against Mike's garage wall.It's as if the Silver Arrow wasn't part of the operation, though the way it came about seemed odd. "T-Take us there," Bill told Benth. Ben looked at him, and Bill understood the meaning of his gaze.It's been twenty-seven years, Bill, still dreaming—then he nodded and walked into the bushes. The path—their path—was overgrown.It was with difficulty that they passed through a thorn.There was the sound of crickets all around.A few fireflies dotted the dark night.Bill guessed that the children must still come to Barron to play, but they had their own secret passage. They came to the clearing where the underground club was.But now there is no more space here.Shrubs and dull dwarf pines grew here and there. "Look," Ben whispered, walking across the empty space of memory.He tugged something out.It was they who picked it up from the garbage dump and used it as the water gate on the roof of the clubhouse.Throw it there, as if no one has touched it for a long time, and it is covered with vines. "Forget it, Haystack," Richie muttered under his breath, "it's been too long." "Take, take, take us there, Ben," Bill said again, standing behind him. They followed Ben, away from the void that no longer existed, toward the Kentucky River.The sound of running water became louder and louder. But it was only when they almost fell into the river that they saw the river: the edge of the river bank was already tangled with various plants.The embankment collapsed beneath Ben's feet, and Bill grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back. "Thank you," Ben said. "You're welcome. From, in the past, you pulled, pulled me up. Go, go this way, way?" Ben nodded, and led them along the weedy embankment and through the dense bushes.Thinking about bending over and slipping through thick trees when you were only 4ft 5in tall.Oh everything has changed.The lesson we have learned today is that the greater the change, the more things will change. His foot caught on something and he fell with a thud, nearly hitting his head on the concrete column of the pumping station.The post was almost completely buried in a clump of rye.When he stood up, he realized that his face, arms, and hands had all been scratched by blackberry thorns.Blood trickled down his cheeks. He leaned over to see what had tripped him, probably a tree root. But that's not the root.It was the iron cover over the manhole, and someone had lifted it off. Of course, Ben thought.We did, 27 years ago. But he knew that was impossible before he could see the fresh scratches on the rust.The water pump broke down that day.Sooner or later someone will fix it and put the lid back on. He stood up, five people gathered around the column, and looked inside.They could hear the faint sound of dripping water.Other than that there was silence.Rich brought all the matches from Eddie's room.He lit the whole box and threw it in.They saw the damp walls of the columns and the silent pumps.Nothing more. "It might be a while," Richie said uneasily, "it doesn't necessarily happen to be—" "Must be recent," said Ben, "since the last rain." He took a box of matches from Richie, polished one, and pointed to the fresh scratches on the iron cover. "There's w-wh-something down there," Bill said, as Ben shook out the match. "What is it?" Bens asked. "Look, look, can't see, clear, clear. It's like a leather, leather, belt. You and Ricky help me turn it over, turn it over." They grabbed the iron lid and turned it over like a giant coin.Beverly lit a match, and Ben carefully picked up the leather bag under the iron cover.He is carrying the belt.When Beverly was about to shake out the match, she suddenly saw Bill's face and the match burned her fingertips, and she woke up and threw the match away. "Bill, what is it? What's the matter?" Bill couldn't take his eyes off the torn leather bag with the long suspenders for a long time.他突然想起了他为她买这个皮包的时候，那家皮具店的收音机里正在播放的那首歌的名字——《夏夜》。顿时觉得口干舌燥。 这又是一个小把戏、幻觉。她在英格兰。这只是一个鬼花招，因为它害怕了，对，当它叫我们回来的时候，它也许不像从前那么自信，肯定是，比尔，理智点儿——世界上有多少长背带、刮破了的皮包呢？一百万个？一千万个？ Maybe more.但是这样的只有一个。他在布尔班克皮具店为她买了这个包，当时后面屋子里的收音机正在播放着《夏夜》这首歌。 “比尔？”贝弗莉摇晃着他的肩膀。 “比尔，出什么事了？”理奇低声问道。 比尔尖叫一声，从贝弗莉手里抓过火柴，擦亮一根，猛地从班恩手里拉过那个皮包。 “比尔，上帝，怎么——” 他拉开皮包，把所有的东西都倒出来。掉出来的都是奥德拉的东西。那一刻他简直失去了控制。在面巾纸、口香糖、化妆品中，有一盒奥德拉最喜欢的薄荷糖……还有她签约《阁楼》的时候，弗雷迪送给她的镶嵌着珠宝的粉盒。 “我妻、妻、妻子在下面。”他说着，跪在地上把所有的东西都塞进包里。他无意识地捋了捋早已不在的头发。 “你的妻子？奥德拉？”贝弗莉瞪大了眼睛，惊讶极了。 “她的皮、皮、皮包。她的东、东西。” “上帝啊，比尔，”理奇低声说，“那不可能，你知道——” 他拿出她的鳄鱼皮钱夹。打开来，伸到理奇面前。理奇有点着一根火柴，看到一张他在好几部电影里都见过的脸庞。奥德拉的加州驾照上贴的那张照片不像电影里那么漂亮，但是毫无疑问是她了。 “但是亭、亨、亨利死了，维克多、贝尔茨也死了，谁抓住了她？”他站起来，目光灼热地看着大家。“谁抓走了她？” 班恩拍着比尔的肩膀。“我想我们最好下去查个水落石出，嗯？” 比尔看着大家，好像不知道班思是谁，然后他的眼睛明亮起来。“对、对，”他说，“艾、艾、艾迪？” “比尔，我真的为你感到难过。” “你能爬……爬上来吗？” “从前爬上去过。” 比尔弯下腰，艾迪用右臂钩住比尔的脖子。班恩和理奇用力推着他，直到他的双腿能钩住比尔的腰。比尔慢慢地抬起一条腿，迈进圆柱口的时候，班恩看到艾迪紧闭双目……那一刻，他觉得自己听到从树丛那边传来世界上最难听的冲锋号角。他转过身，想着会看见亨利他们3个穿过浓雾、穿过树丛追踪而来。但是他只能听到微风吹动竹林树叶沙沙的响声。如今他们的死敌已经都死了。 比尔抓住粗糙的水泥圆柱口，一步一步摸索着往下走。艾迪把地搂得死死的，他几乎喘不过气来。她的皮包，上帝啊，她的皮包怎么会到了这里？it does not matter.但是如果你就在这里，上帝啊，如果你正在听着我的祈祷，就求你保护她平安无事吧，不要因为我和贝弗莉今晚所做的一切，因为那个夏天我所做的一切而让她受苦…… 是那个小丑吗？如果是，我不知道是否上帝能救了她。 “我很害怕，比尔。”艾迪低声说。 比尔的鞋已经触到冰凉的水洼。他爬下去，想起了这种感觉，阴冷潮湿的味道，想起了这个地方带给他的压迫感……还有，他们遇到了什么事情？他们怎么走过这些下水道？他们到底去了哪里？ 又是怎么走出去的？他还是一点也想不起来；他想得起来的只有奥德拉。 “我也、也怕。”他半蹲着，冰凉的水灌进他的球鞋和裤管，他不由得皱了皱眉头。他把艾迪放下。他们站在深及小腿的水洼里，看着其他的人一个一个爬下梯子。