it imagines.

bill.

this was supposed to be a normal day.
but it seems to slip through my mind that derry is not a normal place that grants normal days.
the slideshow begins normally.
i am still in my seat,
bill is on my left and beverly is on my right.
behind me are the rest.
i am front and center.
i am the easiest target.
when the slideshow begins to move on it's own,
showing pictures that become increasingly haunting,
i know the damned clown is around.
but i am frozen in my seat,
able to do nothing but sit and stare in horror.
"y/n!"
my breathing ceases.
from the pit of my stomach,
arises the primal urge to scatter until i am hidden safe.
instead,
i am still.
the clown in all its horror,
brought forth by the spoiled blood of cain himself,
reaches out for me in hopes of claiming my soul.
i almost let it.
until the piercing cry of bill breaks through the barriers of my contemplation.
i am ripped free from my paralyzed sitting,
just before i feel the hands of this venomed creature take me forever.
i move out of the chair and find that the projector has been kicked over by none other than bill.
the whirring of the machine slows,
every frame taking the clown away with it,
then it stops.
no sounds fill the room except the groups own heavy breathing.
then the spell in broken by riche's claim of,
"what the hell was that?!"
bill rushes to my side with a soft curse leaving his lips.
"jesus."
when he finds me through all the chaos,
he wraps his arms around me tight as though any second longer,
i will fade away from him.
i hold him back just as securely,
in fear that i might dissipate after all.
"i'm-i'm sorry,"
i begin in the faintest of whispers meant only for his ears.
"i don't know what happened. it was all...was all too fast. bill, i'm sorry."
my words are rushed but heavy with the weight of my sorrow.
bill kisses the top of my head,
then slowly moves down my temple,
to my cheek,
and finally allows for a kiss to be planted onto my lips.
it blooms in shades of crimson colored love and it covers me whole.
i am eased back home,
i am tethered to the earth again.
"i-it's okay,"
he whispers against the brush of my lips.
"you're sti-st-still here. t-t-that's all that matters to-to me."
i run my hands down the side of his face and nod.
"i'll always protect y-you,"
he promises.
bill takes the entirety of me back into his arms,
as though he might try to fix what is broken within.
is it possible?
does he know that he is absolutely correct?
that in this moment,
when his arms are enclosed around my shattered being,
i am becoming whole again.
i am sheltered from this world in the crook of his neck and know i will forever be safe in the arms of my devoted lover.
bill and i walk home together shortly after.
both of us have yet to stop trembling,
but we've gained a newfound strength in one another.
"i'll see you tomorrow?"
i ask now that we're standing at my doorstep.
"and e-every day after-after that."
he smiles and leans forward to seal his promise with a softened kiss to my lips.
all the bad in the world cease to exist when i'm here with him.
and when he pulls away,
i find that my body yearns for more.
so i entwine his hand with mine and ask,
"will you stay? i don't want to be alone."
bill peppers my knuckles with his blissful kisses then nods in reply.
and as we lay to sleep that night,
i find that i am tucked as far away from this desolate world as i can be and am finding a greater home in his embrace.
bill, too, washes away the cruelty of the world in the rise and falls of my chest until our breathing is one and the same.
"i love you,"
he whispers now.
my eyes are closing in on the peace i've salvaged,
gifted by the grace of my lover,
but his words are as clear as any confession.
"i love you too."