Rudy walked in the middle of the road, whistling noises in the tune of 'bust a move' coming from his inhaler.
He approached the house on 219 Ocean Avenue, shivering to himself.
Rudy pulled his medicine case out of his fannypack, wanting to sort his medicine.
He felt the plastic container slip out of his hands, his medicine flying everywhere on the road.
He sighed, dropping to his knees, as he gathered his now tainted medicine from the dirty streets.
He almost had his last pill, when an unfamiliar hand covered in rotten bandages picked it up for him.
"Do you think this'll help me, Rudy?"
Rudy gazed up, his green eyes wide and full of an abundance of fear.
The face wasn't that of his fellow playmates, for it was beyond what he considered terrifying.
The man's face was demented and tormented, bandages covering his withered face.
It was a leper.
Rudy knew of many homeless men that took shelter inside the Ocean Avenue house of terror, known mostly as the Wharf Horse house.
Rudy stood up in terror, the leper approaching him closer.
Within an instant, the asthmatic boy bolted toward the gate of the house, turning back to gaze at the hideous beast once.
Scared wasn't anything to describe what Rudy felt.
He sprinted towards the metal fence, forgetting his pills and unknown placebos.
Rudy stopped a minute before he planned to climb under the gate, turned his focus over towards the house.
There was an upside down array of red balloons floating aimlessly in midair.
They floated upwards, revealing a ghoulish clown who's appearance would put Ronald McDonald to shame.
"Come join the clowns, Rudes. We all float down here, yes we do!"
The clown emitted a psychotic giggle that caused Rudy to shake with fear.
He turned to exit again, the earsplitting sound of the balloons popping filled his ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jocelyn entered her quiet bedroom, tossing her bag on her bed.
She noticed a small postcard with a photo of a lighthouse escape the bag and fall onto her carpet.
The blonde crept into her bathroom, avoiding her father's presence.
Her smile was bright as the sun as she read the poem.
Your hair is winter fire. January embers. My heart burns there too.
-Your secret admirer.
She quietly pondered to herself, questioning who the secret admirer may be.
It could've been Courtney, who always seemed sorta flustered around her.
It could've been Rudy, who was clearly having his first middle school crush.
Maybe it was Jimmy Jr, the one she shared vivid eye contact with at the quarry.
"Jocelyn."
The blonde was too encapsulated in her daydream to notice her voice being spoken, softly, as in a whisper.
"Jocelyn."
This time, Jocelyn noticed well, leaving the postcard on the floor and wandering toward where she heard the sound.
"Jocelyn."
It was coming from the sink.
The blonde's eyes peered into the drain, lime orbs full of curiosity and wonder.
"Jocelyn."
"Hello? Who's down there?"
A muffled chuckle was heard from the drain, almost as if the voice were choking on something.
"I'm Julie. I'm Tina Belcher. I'm Lenny DeStefano. We've changed."
Jocelyn's eyes widened as she heard the names, covering her mouth with her hand.
She silently walked into the living room, noticing her dad passed out on couch.
Jocelyn grabbed the tape measurer from the night stand, swiftly trudging back into the bathroom.
She eyed the drain once again, letting the ruled lines drop into its abyss.
Within minutes of letting in fall, the tape stopped with a soft noise.
Jocelyn pulled back the tape, watching in horrific awe as the end of the line was covered in crimson liquid and a long strand of hair, a chunk of her previously chopped curls, was attached to the end.
Her eyes were horrified.
The liquid was blood.
In an instant, the hair detached itself from the tape, instead it attached to Jocelyn's arm.
The blonde gazed in fear, watching both her arms behind slowly pulled towards the drain.
Within in ten seconds, every loose limb had bloody hair attached to it, pulling the lithe teenager slowly towards the drain.
She screamed out in fear, the hair being pulled tighter against her tall frame.
A bloody bubble begins to form at the top of the drain, almost as if it were preparing to explode.
It was almost as if someone had exploded and all of their blood had imposed onto the wall.
Jocelyn felt the warm liquid explode onto her face, covering the walls and every single inch of her body.
The blonde screamed out in fright, crawling into the corner of the bathroom where her postcard resided.
The sprinkler of blood began to go down and exit onto the drain, the sound of choking began to echo the bathroom.
There was only silence, Jocelyn sat in pure terror as she sobbed.
She noticed the door open slightly, her father appeared confused in the doorway.
"Joce, what's wrong?"
The middle aged man approached her, staring into her fearful eyes.
"The blood. It..it's everywhere..ca-ca-can't you se-se-se-see-"
"What blood?"
"The blood..a-a-all o-over the wa-wa-wa-"
"I worry about you Jocelyn, I really do. Now, what'd you do with your hair? Boys only like long hair."
He stood up, leaving Jocelyn in silence as she realized.
Her father couldn't see the blood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy Jr was passed out in his bed, a handmade portrait of Jocelyn by his side, rainwater from a hole in the wall causing the redness of her hair to fade onto the other side of the lines.
He woke up to the sound of thunder, groaning as he stepped out of bed to retrieve the bucket.
Stepping out into the hallway, he noticed a faint light coming from Andy's room, a room that he had entered in many months.
It was still in the same shape it was on that day in October, the green walls now faded with age, and all of the turtle memorabilia still on it's shelves.
Jimmy Jr noticed a small turtle Lego project that Andy had been working on and had anticipated on finishing during fall break.
He picked it up and held it, just for one moment, to see if any of his little brother's memories would imprint on him.
But unfortunately, Andy's scent has long disappeared without a trace.
The sound of light footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, Jimmy Jr left curiously.
He crept slowly into the hallway, following the trail of muddy footprints towards the kitchen.
The boy stood in the kitchen doorway, blankly, as if nothing was there.
Until,
Andy
Ran
Across
The
Kitchen
Jimmy Jr's eyes widened, dropping the turtle at the sight of his thought to be dead brother.
The basement door was wide open, the sound of water dripping echoed throughout the empty staircase.
Jimmy Jr's eyes focused on the bottom of the stairs, water standing still like a pond.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw him.
Andy.
It was Andy.
Andy Pesto.
His little brother.
It was really him.
Jimmy Jr's eyes filled with tears as his brother, the same yellow slicker tight on his body, stepped out shyly from the side of the shelves.
"I lost it Jimmy, I lost the boat."
The boy felt sympathy for his brother, knowing the last words he had said to him were awfully rude.
"I'm not mad Andy, not at all."
"Jimmy, if you'll come with me, you'll float too."
Jimmy had heard those words before, from someone, something familiar, but he couldn't put his fingers on it.
"You'll float too."
"You'll float too."
"You'll float too."
Andy's childlike voice became louder, almost unbearable.
"You'll float too."
"You'll float too!"
His face became distorted, terrifyingly.
The clown, that fucking clown Jimmy Jr had seen at the barrens, floated up from the water, sopping hair clinging to his scalp, lip syncing to Andy's screams.
"You'll float too!"
"You'll float too!"
Andy crashed into the water, almost as a belly flop.
Jimmy's face filled with fear as the clown stood up, it's large frame staring into his soul.
Pennywise began to vigorously shake as he sprinted towards Jimmy Jr, the boy bolting up the stairs, slamming the door tightly shut.
The clown's head slammed against the floorboards, his demon eyes rolling into the back of his head.
Author's note: thank you guys so flipping much for 100 Reads! This is very exciting for me and it's motivating me a lot to post regularly. Although I don't have exact dates which I will be posting chapters, I do plan to post more.
-Gracie