Alien - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Floating ❯ Part 3 : Love ( Chapter 4 )

My one-month recovery was finally over. It was August and that meant that school was starting soon. I walked down the stairs for the first time in awhile and saw my mom making pancakes.

“Morning Sweetheart, how is your leg?” My mother had gotten a job at the local diner in a town over to help pay the bills. She had learned to make some of the best pancakes I have ever had. She usually didn’t get home until late, but today was her day off.

“I’m doing better. Can you drop me off at the library later? I want to grab a book,” I said half asleep. I was telling the truth. My leg did feel better. I stopped taking the pain medications because they were making me puke so I just let nature take its course.

“I can take you to the library after you eat the pancakes I made for you,” She said almost singing. I sat down and grabbed a fork from the middle of the table. She set the pancakes down in front of my face and smiled. That was weird, she usually wasn't this happy.

“Mom, where's the butter?” She pointed me in the direction of the butter. I grabbed it and spread the butter on my pancakes. 

Once I finished, I thanked her and ran back up the stairs to take my shower. I turned on the water but nothing came out. I hit the showerhead, and it sputtered, but still nothing came out. I waited and waited. Finally water started coming out slowly at first but then more and more water started shooting like daggers against my back. The water was cold. They had cut our hot water so we only had cold water. It wasn't freezing but it wasn't warm either. I didn’t take a long shower.

I got dressed and found my mom downstairs. “Mom, I think i'm going to take my bike to the library. You stay here and rest,” I said smiling. She turned towards me and thanked me. I grabbed my bike and left the house. I realized I hadn't ridden my bike since the incident. I remembered everything once more and it gave me a shiver down my spine.

It was another nice sunny day. The leaves were starting to turn brown. As I was riding my bike, I looked up to the sky and saw a cloud. My hands started getting sweaty, and my brain started pounding in my head. I could swear that the cloud was in the shape of the clown. I looked down at my hands to find sweat dripping from them. I looked back at it and found it looked more like a tree. My brain stopped thumping and my hands dried back up like a sponge. False alarm, I thought to myself. 

I hadn't seen or heard from the clown since the Neibolt house. I hoped that he had moved, but I knew deep down that he hadn't. 

When I finally got to the library I found it packed with people, but that’s ok because I wasn't there to stay. I looked to the back past all the books to find the painting that always gave me the creeps. It was a painting of a woman holding a baby near a well. I always felt like it was watching me.

 I was there to find the History of Derry book. I wanted to see if I could connect the clown to anything.

I walked up to the librarian and asked, “Ma’am, do you have a history of Derry, book here?” I pointed to the books.

“Oh, sorry kid. A kid named Ben Hanscom checked it out earlier this summer and hasn't given it back.” She smiled directly at me and directly into my soul. I was starting to get the creeps so I walked out of the library and back to my bike. 

Ben Hanscom had been the other new kid. We had moved here at the same time but we lived too far away to get to know each other. He seemed cool though, I said in my head as my bike speed foreword. 

I got to my house pretty quick as it was mostly downhill going back to my house. I parked my bike on the side of the house and ran back up the steps. When I got to the house the door was half cracked open. Weird, I thought, she must have forgotten to close the door when she left. The lights were off. My heart started to beat faster and faster. I yelled, “Mom, are you in here?” No reply. I started to get scared. I felt for the light switch on the wall. I found it and flipped it on.

I tried screaming. Nothing came out, not even a squeak. When I turned on the light, there laying on the floor was my mother. Her midsection had been taken from the rest of her body. She had bite marks all over the rest of her body. I fell to my knees. I couldn't believe it. The clown had taken the only family I had left. I just wanted to sit there and cry. 

I looked at her once more and saw a message written with her blood on our new white wallpaper. It said, “ Three down one more to go. From your best pal, Pennywise the Dancing Clown.” I felt my body fill with rage. All I wanted to do was kill that damn clown. I knew I had to call the cops though so I picked myself up enough to call the police. I took the house phone and called them.

“Yes, hello what is your emergency.”

“My m-mom is dead.” 

“Don’t call here again. Otherwise you will float.” The person on the other end started laughing. I couldn't hold in my anger anymore, I grabbed my bike and peddled to the house where the clown lived. The house on Neibolt Street.

I was turning the corner on West Broadway when I saw the Losers' Club. There were six of them that I could see. The ones that I knew were Bill, Ben, Richie, and Stan. There were two more. I had never seen one of them before; he was black and had a belt around his body like an ammo carrier. The second one was a  little shorter than everyone else. I decided that I would follow the Losers' Club, because maybe they knew where to go. 

I saw Bill putting some of the fence posts in his bag. I didn’t know what they planned to do with it. To be honest I didn’t know what I was going to do either. I heard a big crash as Richie had tried smashing a bottle. It didn’t break. He had broken off the whole bottom of it. It was only the barrel at the top of the bottle now. I laughed for the first time in awhile. 

I saw the guy with the ammo take what looked like a bolt gun and put one of his ammo cartridges in. I saw Bill get up and walk to the door. I decided to move a little closer and moved three bushes forward. There was one more bush covering me otherwise I would have been seen. 

The group all stepped into the house except who I think was Stan. I couldn’t tell what they were saying but they convinced him. Then they all disappeared into the house. I stayed put for a couple more seconds to give them a little more of a head start. That's when I saw Henry Bowers get out of his car. He was seemingly drenched in blood. I looked to where he came from and saw that he had killed two of his friends. They were skinned from what I could see. My God, I think he is a lunatic now, I said in my head. I saw him step into the house and disappear. 

I also gave him a few seconds before I stepped out from the bush. I shook my leg because it had fallen asleep. When I could feel it not tingle anymore, I ran up to the front door. I put my right foot on the first floor board then I put my left foot on the next one.

The inside of the house was just as bad, if not worse than the outside. The inside gave me the chills and made me feel uneasy. I looked to my left and saw the biggest number of spider webs I had ever seen. Inside the webs was a hand that looked like it had been chewed on for ages. There was a piano on my right side. I saw the lid of the piano open. I walked to the piano and closed the lid. I walked over to the next room. I looked back at the lid and saw that it was open again. I started to sweat.

A scream pulled me from the piano. I followed the sound. I found myself in a kitchen. I could see a white fridge with what I could only guess was blood dripping from inside. I didn’t dare open it. I saw a door that took me downstairs to the basement. I laid down on my stomach and watched as Henry Bowers had the bolt gun to the black kid’s face. I heard someone yell “Mike” and assumed that that was his name. I saw Henry pull the trigger, but Mike had moved his face away from the bolt. My fist was clenched and was now turning white. I unraveled my fingers. I saw Mike's hand move and find a rock. Mike swung the rock and hit Henry right in the forehead. Henry started staggering. Mike backed up and charged like a rhino. He knocked Henry down into the well. I couldn’t see him, but I could tell that it was deep. I had to cover my mouth so I didn’t gasp out loud. I didn’t know how to feel. They had killed a man. 

Mike started to climb down the rope. I heard murmuring from the well but couldn't tell what was being said. When I couldn’t hear them anymore I got off my stomach and brushed my pants off. I started walking down the stairs when a step broke and my foot disappeared into the step. I pulled my foot out but not before it was cut in several places. I finally made it to the well and peered down. I couldn’t see the bottom. It was too dark. I smacked myself on forehead, in all my rage I had forgotten to grab a flashlight. I thought about going back home and sitting on the couch waiting for someone to notice that my mother was dead when I heard another scream come from inside the well. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I grabbed the rope and headed down the well.

I saw an opening in the side of the well and decided that they had gone through here. My hands had started to blister from the rope. I felt if I did anymore climbing my blisters would start bleeding. I headed down the hole. I thought about what I would do when I got to the Losers' Club and based on their screaming, Pennywise. I decided I would think about that when the time came. I had finally reached the end of the tunnel and found a three foot drop from the tunnel to the ground. I looked back once more and decided there was no going back. I put my feet down and jumped. I landed with a splash and  was suddenly standing in some sort of water. 

I felt something hit my leg and I jumped. I looked at what had touched my leg and found a skull. When I found that skull, many more started popping out of the water. I started running to the nearest dry land. I tripped on what I thought was a pelvis and took a mouth full of water. This made me throw up. When I finally finished throwing up I heard screaming. “Stanley.” was all I could make out as the whole sewer was ringing from it. I got up following the sound and came across a door that was half open. I peered inside and found the Loser’s Club running into another tunnel screaming, “Bill”. 

I spotted a flashlight that one of them must have left behind. I grabbed it. I found myself in a much bigger room than where I had been. In the middle was a pile of chains hanging from the ceiling. I could see water dripping from them. I thought I must have been in some sort of sewer. The water had thinned and now I could see the ground. I walked over to the chain and wiggled it. It didn’t make a sound. It was silent. I took the chain one more time and slammed it against the other chains. Still no sound. More and more water started to drip out from the top.

The flashlight went out. I hit it, and it turned back on. I continued following the screaming. Then the screaming stopped. I spotted the door that they must have gone through swung open. I decided to try and find a different way in. I turned right and found another door. I pushed on it and it swung open revealing the back of what looked like a mound of toys. I looked up, my leg started to shake, and my hands started to become sweaty again. My mouth went dry and I crumbled to the floor.

 The kids. The missing kids. The missing kids were floating. They were floating up. The clown wasn't lying. They were floating to the sky. The sound of a bolt gun snapped me out of my daze. I peeked around the toys and saw them, the Loser’s Club. There was another person, a girl with them. I thought to myself, how the hell did she get in here? I saw a little kid that I recognized laying on the floor. I recognized him. He was Bill’s brother, Georgie. Good, they found him. But how did he survive down here with no food or water. I got my answer a few seconds later. 

The kid started to shake. Then one arm grew, then the other. Then his legs started to grow one by one until it was Georgie with the clown's body. Then the Georgie head fell off and the clown’s head grew into its place. The clown sat up and almost floated onto his feet. One of the boys started screaming “Kill it Bill, kill it.” I saw Bill point the bolt gun straight between the eyes of the clown. 

Bang. Nothing came out of the bolt gun. I was starting to think I should go help them when I saw the dent in the clown's skull. Fragments of its forehead fell off but instead of going down, it floated up. The clown tilted his head back and more and more blood flew straight up. 

I felt a pain under my left foot. I looked down and saw that I was standing on a toy jet. This used to be somebody’s, I thought, but now it is stuck in this shit hole forever. I decided to pocket it. I looked back at what was unfolding in what I think was a sewer. Pennywise now had Bill in his arms and was holding his chin like he was about to snap his neck. 

“Let him go,” the girl said as she backed up. I could hear the tremble in her voice. She was scared, like all of them, including me.

“No, I’ll take him,” The clown paused. “I’ll take all of you. I’ll feast on your flesh as I feast on your fear.” He wagged his finger. The memories flooded back of when Pennywise and I first met after my father died. “Or, you’ll just leave us be. I will take him, only him and then I will have my long rest and you will all live to grow and thrive and lead happy lives.” 

My leg gave way and I fell on my arms in the place where I was hiding. I felt my face hit the wet pavement. I started getting a ringing in my ear. I put my hand over my ear and pushed. I looked back at what was happening to find that the Loser’s Club had started fighting IT again. I couldn’t hear anything but ringing, but I could see what was going on.

Richie now had a bat. I saw Richie take the bat and smash the clown in the face with it. Then Mike tried swinging at the clown, but when Mike almost hit him, the clown opened his mouth and a bunch of charred arms came out of his mouth and grabbed Mike's pole. I felt something drip on my hand and looked up. It was coming from one of the kids. They were starting to float down. I looked back and saw that the clown was getting beat left and right by the kids. The clown stopped and turned towards one of the kids I didn’t know and spewed a green looking liquid. I saw him say something as he kicked the clown in the head making him fall backwards. I saw him turn into something else. It looked like a person. The girl in the group screamed and stuck the pole down the clown’s throat. The clown spit it out and started to crawl back.

I saw the clown flip into what looked like an opening in the ground. I looked back up at the floating kids and saw that they had started to fall down more rapidly. My hearing was starting to come back. The ringing had stopped for now. I saw the Loser’s Club start to fall back. I heard them all sigh at once. I told myself, they won, they did it without you. You didn’t need to be here. But if I wasn't here I never would have known that the clown was dead. I would have lived the rest of my life in fear. I watched as Bill sat there crying with his brother's raincoat in his hands. I took the toy plane out of my pocket and turned it over in my hand. There was writing on the right wing. It read Timothy Jenkins 7. I could only guess that that meant that he was seven years old. He never got to finish elementary school. I decided to remember Timothy even though I had never met him. I met his soul here. 

I saw the Loser’s Club go out the same way they came. I could tell that they didn’t just win because they were stronger or faster. They won because they loved each other. How did my mom put it? “Love is the strongest thing on earth.” They all walked out holding each other. I saw Richie, and from when they were yelling, I think his name is Eddie, holding hands in the back of the line. I knew I would never have friends like that who loved each other and never wanted to let go. I cried a little as they were walking out, I was suddenly jealous of Bill, Richie, Ben, Stanley, Eddie, Mike, and the girl whose name I didn’t know. I was jealous that they had someone to love, whereas everyone I loved had been taken away from me.

I got up from behind my cover and stretched my legs. I moved to the center of the room and looked up. More than 600 kids who would never have families started drifting down. I knew they were dead but a little bit of me hoped that maybe just one was still alive.

I looked at where the clown had retreated to and peered down into the hole. I yelled down into the hole, “Welcome to Derry, Bitch.” I laughed. I was talking to a dead clown that was maybe 600 feet underground. My mind switched back to reality and my body went sad again. I didn’t have anywhere to go. No one to call family.

“No. Welcome to Derry, Bitch.” I snapped out of my daze. I told myself that it was just my imagination. I started to bring my head out of the opening when the clown jumped out and with his sharp yellow fangs around my head pulled me into the darkness of the hole with him.

Darkness. Complete and utter Darkness.