Eternal (Pennywise x OC)

Chapter 3

There was no mention of last night's incidents from Cassandra or Derek the next morning. Ana wasn't surprised at this point. Not wanting to start the arguments over again, she decided to leave it alone and not bring it up. She made breakfast for her sister and the kids, as Derek was off to work already by the time she hadn't gotten her tired body out of bed. She guessed that she had maybe slept for about an hour last night, and was surprised she could even fall asleep at all after everything that had happened.

For some reason, once the clown, Pennywise, as he referred to himself as, had left her bedroom and she had made sure the kids were fine, she had some sense of calmness. Nonetheless, her mind had been racing as she recalled last night's events, and now that she was awake again she couldn't help but think of the poor soul that he had referred to last night. Fed, as he referred to it. Ana was now sure that the missing girl hadn't just been taken somewhere.

She left the house shortly after eating, sure that Cassandra and the kids were fine, to try to get word of who had been selected as Pennywise's meal last night. As she walked around the small town, nothing really seemed amiss, something that Ana was coming to terms with. She wasn't even sure if it was worth the effort ask if anyone had heard anything.

Her wandering led her back to the carnival. It was too early for it to be open for the day, and the grounds gave off a much more ominous vibe now than it had at night, now that there were no noises or lights or sounds of laughter coming from it.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Walking through the nearly empty parking lot and up the gates, she caught the site of a few workers moving about their day. No cops, no yellow tape marking off a crime scene. She eyed the ferris wheel warily, remembering her sense of panic when she had first laid her eyes on that clown. Now it just seemed so unassuming and lifeless.

She heard the sound of a man wailing suddenly, making her head whip around to see where it was coming from. She followed the sound at a jog, not entirely sure she wanted to see what was causing the man's anguish. It led her to the bridge, where she found what she had been looking for.

The crying man was in a heap on the ground with a few people surrounding him, attempting to offer the man some sort of comfort. She slowed her pace and approached cautiously, not wanting to disrupt what was going on or cause any alarm.

"Adrian!" she could make out as she got closer. "I just love him so much! What am I supposed to do?"

"I'm so sorry Don," a woman rubbing his back was attempting to console him. "Those punk-ass homophobes will get what's coming to them."

"And if not, we'll take care of them," a man from the group chimed in.

Ana turned to walk away, knowing that she had been staring unapologetically at the group. As she turned she thumped into a warm body, causing her to yelp in surprise and jump back.

"Whoa, sorry miss," a tall black man said softly. "Didn't mean to scare you." He put his hands up in a none threatening gesture.

"No, I'm sorry," Ana said, finding her voice after nearly jumping out of her skin. It wasn't a scary clown. Just some regular guy. "I'm just jumpy this morning is all."

"Yeah, I can't blame you," the guy muttered, seeming almost to talk to himself more than her.

"Have you heard how this guy died?" she asked, hoping for some answers but not really expecting to find any.

"The story is that some guys jumped him and his boyfriend outside the carnival last night. Beat them both to a pulp and threw Adrian over."

"So...he drowned?" she asked.