"What are you smiling about?" Stanley stared at him. "She called you a dumbass."
Eddie's smile only grew bigger. "I know. Ali Sumner called me a dumbass."
***
in which ali sumner befriends a group of outcasts and finds herself harassed by ronald mcd...
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TWELVE: Balloon
Words: 877 (including non-story related words such as these)
Author's Note: ooooh finally some horror shit ***
Ali couldn't figure out what the heck was going on.
She hadn't realized just how many balloons there were. There were at least hundreds of them line up along the streets like that.
They weren't even in the sidewalks, just out in the streets. Ali thought it odd how there were absolutely no vehicles around. Sure, traffic was slim but it it wasn't nonexistent.
She had been following these balloons for so long, she had exited Ben's street and two more and was now on Neibolt Street.
By the time Ali had reached at least the fiftieth balloon, she had relaxed a bit. There was currently a festival in Derry around here. Maybe these balloons were a part of the festival get-up.
As she reached her seventieth balloon, she had grown bored and decided her theory was correct. She rolled her eyes at her expense. All that paranoia for nothing.
She began to walk away when suddenly, a small voice whispered to her.
"Ali..."
Ali froze in her tracks. A shiver ran down her spine.
She put a hand down her jean pocket and felt around for her bottle of mace. When she found it, she fished it out and turned around, the mace in front of her.
Ali opened her mouth to call out asking who it was, but she had watched enough horror movies to know whoever it was wasn't going to pop out and greet her with a warm welcome and hug.
Her finger on the spray nozzle, ready to blind whoever even dared touch her, she walked backwards and continued on until-
"Ah!"
Ali turned around quick, about to spray whoever or whatever she had bumped into, when she stopped.
A small kid with black hair stared at her in horror.
"Wait! Ali, no! It's just me! Don't...spray...?me..?"
Ali put the mace down and stared back at him. "Eddie! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Um, going home?" Eddie replied, his voice higher than normal, obviously shaken up. "We all left after you did. What are you doing here?"
Ali looked around. The balloons. They were gone.
What the shit?!
"I..." Ali was bewildered. "I was going home too...Eddie, did you see any balloons around here?"
Eddie blinked and gave her an odd look. "No...? What balloons?"
Ali was convinced she was going crazy. She debated whether or not to tell Eddie but decided against it. She saw the look on his face after Ben told them about his research. He was jumpier than all the group combined. This would scare him shitless.
"Nevermind." Ali shook her head.
Eddie shrugged. "You take Neibolt home, too? I never knew that. I don't see you when walking home."
"I don't..." Ali said slowly. "Just...I thought I saw...I thought I saw something."
Eddie looked at her. "Are you okay? You look scared."
"Yeah, fine." Ali nodded. She took a step forwards but she clashed into Eddie.
Eddie stumbled and something clattered to the ground.
"Oh, fuck." Eddie dived down after them to pick them up. "Fuck, my mom's gonna kill me."
"Shit, sorry, I-" Ali began to say but then she noticed the things that clattered to the ground were pills. "So. You just carry pills around with you or somethin'?"
Eddie nodded. "They calm my nerves. I take them when I'm stressed or something."
Ali joined him in scrambling after his dozens of pills.
"Were you stressed?" Ali flicked off as much dust and dirt as she could off the pills.
Eddie paused a bit then sighed. "It's stupid. I just kept thinking about that thing Ben told is about Derry and I guess I got kinda freaked out..."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ali said quietly.
Ali turned to look at him but instead, her gaze caught on to something behind him.
It was a house. A giant house.
It looked abandoned and haunted even, straight out of a Stephen King novel.
The windows were shattered, walls were peeling, wood was splintered and the whole house just looked like it was falling apart. Ali noticed the door was slightly open and she shuddered.
"Creepy house." Ali commented.
Eddie turned to look at it too. "Yeah. I walk bu it everyday. Doesn't get any less creepier."
Ali plucked another pill off the ground when Eddie let out a sudden whimper-gasp.
Ali turned around to look at him. "What?"
He was staring up at something in front of them, his mouth gaping in horror and his eyes wider than Ali had ever seen them.
Ali turned to look at what he was staring at.
She couldn't even gasp.
Standing in front of them was...Ali didn't even know. A leper? A zombie?
Ali didn't care though. It was the face she was staring at.
It was beaten, bruised and burnt, its skin was peeling off and you could see patches of disgusting bloody flesh.
But most of all, it striked familiar to Ali. Ali knew that face. She had seen it and she had loved it before.
