𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 | 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬 ¹✓

[07] THE VANISHING CLOWN

"What they always talk about," Richie said, then smilied as the other boy handed him an ice cream. "Thanks, Eds,"

"I actually think it will end," Ben said quietly. "For a little while, at least."

"What d'you mean?" Beverly asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"So I was going over all my Derry research, and I charted out all the big events; the ironworks explosion in 1908, the Bradley gang in '35, and the Black spot in '62. And now kids being..." He trailed off. "I realised, this stuff seems to happen-"

"Every twenty-seven years," Bill finished.

"C'mon, let's find somewhere to sit down," Richie said, trying to brighten the mood. "I don't know about you guys, but it's pretty tiring to carry around a huge d-"

"Beep beep, Richie!" Verity said quickly.

◇

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Eddie said. "It comes out from wherever to eat kids for like, a year? And then what, it just goes into hibernation?"

Stan leaned forward, nodding. "Maybe it's like- what're they called? Cicadas. Y'know, the bugs that come out once every seventeen years?"

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed," Mike said quietly, his voice barely audible with the noise coming from the fairground. "He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing, an evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry."

Stan looked doubtful. "But, that can't be true.. Can it?"

"I think so. I mean, we've all known there's something weird about Derry, right?" Verity asked, and the others nodded in return. "I just get a bad vibe, like there's something going on behind the scenes. Something that only the kids are aware of.." She trailed off.

"It can't be just one thing though, we all saw something different." Stan said, looking at his friends' faces.

"Maybe. Or maybe it knows what scares us most, and that's what we see." Mike said, and Verity was slightly awed at how calm he sounded.

Bill turned to her. "Y-You said you s-s-saw something apart from your brother?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Our old neighbour," she looked at Stan. "Mrs. Andrews. I guess you could say she wasn't exactly friendly."

Stan scoffed. "That's putting it lightly. She was an old bitch."

"She always needed chores done, so my mom suggested I help her," Verity continued. "But my mom didn't know that she was pure evil. She used to do small things at first; she'd insult me and disguise it as trying to help me, y'know? Like, 'Don't eat that, Verity dear, you're a fat little thing already.' or, 'Oh dear, don't wear your hair pulled back like that, you're showing far too much of your face. Unfortunate little things like you shouldn't be on display.'" Her voice cracked, and Stan moved to put his arm around her. "After a while, it got worse. She'd pinch me where she knew the bruises wouldn't show, and when I had a growth spurt that summer she said 'My my, you've become quite lanky, dear. Perhaps you should stop that growing, or else you'll be far too tall. Boys don't like ugly, gangly girls.' I was only about eight or nine."

"Jesus," Bev said quietly.

"She died that winter, but even after she was gone I was still terrified of her. I had nightmares where she'd come back to get me, and that's exactly what happened when I saw her again that day."