C H A P T E R 16
E D I T E D
1243 WORDS
I stood there, emotionless. Why was he only addressing me?
"I won't hurt you, now." The clown said, twiddling his large finger closely to my face.
"I've let you go twice. I wont kill you now. I'll kill you soon, but not now." He grinned.
I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I was just in shock. This was real, all of this was real.
"And for the rest of you." The clown snickered, raising his hand as sharp, scaly, clawed nails peaked out through the white fabric.
"You must have so many questions." He continued, turning in circles, inspecting each kid slowly and detailedly.
"But I don't like to bore you with all of that stuff. So I might as well let this," He said, raising a small glass of red liquid,
"Do the talking." He finished before breaking the bottle in half with only his two fingers as red liquid powder flew everywhere.
It was blinding. My entire eyesight was just red. It flew in the air, and the only thing I was able to see were my hands, the wall behind me and Thomas.
Eventually, the red fog died down and the clown was gone. Everyone was holding onto someone, fearing what would've came out from that dust. But fortunately, it was nothing.
"What the hell!" Thomas shouted, his voice squeaking,"I can't do this!" tears flew down his face.
I placed my hand on his shoulder as he quickly brushed it off.
"I'm bringing Ben with me, and we're leaving." Thomas said sternly.
"He obviously isn't well enough to get up" Ella marked.
Thomas cut in harshly, "he's got down before, he could manage himself."
"Thomas, stay." I said. He turned a blind eye to me.
"Please, for me." I said, noticing another tear fall down his freckled cheek.
"We won't be able to beat this." Thomas said, looking up at the group, "I won't be able to defeat him." He said.
I shook my head, "No, Thomas. C'mon, we can do it together. All of us. We have the numbers."
I felt bad for him. We put him in this situation. We should've just let him go the instant we met him. We should've told him he was just imagining things.
Honestly, I knew how he felt. Looking into the eyes of whatever was just tooling with me was more traumatic than any fight my parents had. Accepting the fact that in one swipe, I could have died, was harder than any second chance I took in asking my father a simple question.
If the other boys hadn't told me anything– if the other boys hadn't helped me out that day with Bowers, maybe I'd be at home. With my mom watching her favourite game show.
But if none of this had happened, I wouldn't have been able to have met Stanley.
I snapped out of my thoughts. Thomas still appeared to be persistent, No, you don't understand." He whispered.
"What don't I understand?" I asked him.
"He's..." He paused, "He's trying to get inside me" Thomas croaked.
His eyes turned a bright yellow, Thomas gagged loudly before his mouth closed, and his eyes returned to their normal, tree dark brown.
He looked around at the silent group before sprinting off someplace else, grabbing Ben's bad arm while he paced himself.
Ben screamed out in pain as we all ran after Thomas, who was now dragging Ben's busted body across the disgusting water.
We all shouted at Thomas to stop. What the hell was wrong with him?
"I can't stop, he won't let go of me" Thomas shouted back, still sprinting as fast as he was when he started.
Water was flying everywhere. In my face, on my back. But suddenly, I heard something.
"Take a left"
My eyes widened. Stanley's voice was in my head– I wasn't crazy.
"Turn left!" I shouted at the group
Thankfully, they didn't even hesitate to do so. We all continued to follow Thomas who did, in fact, take a left.
Eventually, Thomas hauled to an unexpected stop.
Thomas' back was to the group. We all stumbled around each other, trying to catch our breath. Thomas just stood there, his spine straight up looking at a large locked door.
"What is that?" Beverly whispered. Everyone's heads snapped to the door.
"Thomas" Ella said harshly, stepping in front of everyone.
"Thomas, turn around." She ordered, not a pint of fear in her voice.
"Thomas. Turn around!" Ella shouted, aggravated. She had gotten her wish as the sound of Ben's arm splashed onto the ground, and Thomas' head turned all the way around. However, his body stayed away from us.
"What the..." Eddie whined.
I just stared in disgust at Thomas' practically dismembered body. His head was just looking at us like he normally would, but his body was just still. Frozen.
"You called?" Thomas chuckled, but not in his usual voice. His voice was now deep and raspy, almost as if he was being choked.
That's when it came to me: he was being choked.
"We need to find Thomas." I said loudly for everyone to hear, "Because this...this isn't Thomas."
"Well, Grab your weapons you idiots!" Ella shouted from behind me. I didn't have a bat, I dropped mine awhile back, so I was basically unsafe and unsecured from this thing.
"Hello, Amy." 'Thomas' smiled as I approached him.
"What did you do with Thomas." I spat.
His head flew back to its original position. I stepped back a little bit before I felt something poke my back, a bat.
Bill was smiling at me weakly as he handed me a small, black bat. I smiled at him before taking the bat with my two hands.
"You want Thomas?" He rolled, "Well, he's right here." he said, bringing his entire body around. His eyes flashed a bright blue, which seemed to have knocked me out.
All I saw was blackness. And then a spark of light. And finally, a voice.
"The metal door. Open it. Help us."
The voice wasn't Stanley, but instead, Thomas. Although my heart told me that this wasn't real, and that they weren't really in my mind, my heart told me otherwise.
I knew it was Thomas and I know knew what I needed to do.
I felt my heartbeat race through my ears. It was going so fast. The sound was getting unbearable. And just like that, I woke up.
"Amy?" The sound of Mike's voice was heard through my ringing ears. I groaned, my eyes struggling to open from their tight squint. When I finally was able to open them, I came to realization of what was happening, I quickly attempted to get back onto my feet–
"Woah, calm down" Mike said, rubbing my back.
I stumbled around, my breathing uneven and congested. My legs felt like pool noddles while my knees clicked together like pond stones.
"You're safe" Eddie assured me.
"W-We need to get through that door." I whispered to him, my eyes glaring at that mysterious metal entrance.
"What?" Eddie said, his voice dropping, "Why?"
"Thomas told me." I replied.
"I agree, that door seems like the only possible way out." Ella said, grinning at me before we both started walking towards the door. The others followed.
"How do we g-get i-in?" Bill asked.
Ella hummed, "We break the door down."