un: klapbak

[clussy]

(Eddie had debated on whether or not to share this piece of information. But what the natives had said weighed on him heavily, and he felt like if he didn't and something were to happen...

He wasn't so sure he could live with that guilt.)

I asked one of the natives if bad things from our homes could come to this place. They said it was possible.

maybe some of you will think I'm crazy. Or the adults won't believe it. The adults in our town didn't believe anything and they didn't want to pay attention to what was happening. they didn't care about all the missing kids. I don't care if you believe it or not. some stuff exists whether or not people want to believe it does. me and my friends took care of it before and we'll do it again if we have to. we made that promise.

our town had this fucked up evil in it. and im not talking hellfire church-evil stuff either. I'm talking like...fear. real fear. maybe even the thing that made Fear

IT knew what you were afraid of. no, not your 'kind of' fears like thinking spiders are gross. i mean the kind of fears you dont even tell your best bud about. the kind of fears you don't even tell YOURSELF about cause the shame's so bad. IT knew you and IT fed off those fears. i guess it liked how kids tasted best when they died in terror

IT ate them too. im not saying it like sucked out their soul. no. IT would

(Eddie has to stop here. To breathe. To focus. He touches his own arm, closes his eyes, and counts.)

i cant explain how you'll know when you'll see IT
you'll feel
like you have to go towards something real bad, real scary
you'll know you shouldn't but you HAVE to...and maybe you'll be lucky like we were
like i was. and be able to get away when the fear gets bad enough.

IT takes the shape of a clown the most when ITS just existing normally. IT only changes when its hunting. IT can come through pictures or sinks or anything. i dont know what ITs limits even were

sometimes IT called ITself Pennywise the Dancing Clown. IT told me its name was Bob Gray when IT talked to me. And sometimes you could hear that carnival sorta music.Sometimes it'd lure you in with the smell of popcorn. IT sometimes had balloons. A lot of balloons. I don't know. It lived in the sewers and

I want to say we beat IT for good but we didn't. i'm not sure if IT can BE beaten.

I dont know if IT'll ever show up here
but don't trust things to be what they seem. don't.

and maybe realize the monsters you know might come here too. please be careful.

Comments

[clussy]

(Jake you were just too good for this entire world. For Eddie.

It's not an incorrect assumption. Gardening was soothing, and in a very strange way, a little empowering for a boy who had always been told he couldn't play outside. It felt wonderful and freeing to be able to get his hands dirty and be around all these plants. He hadn't worried about allergies once since entering the greenhouse and he held onto that feeling with all he had.

And now he could share that private, empowering feeling with Jake.

Sometimes Eddie forgets that things like holding your friend's hand should be weird. He does it with all the ones he cares about. Though if his fingers slip a bit more invasive between Jake's, that's neither here nor there.

He gives Jake a small look, and doesn't answer right away. Instead he leads him over to some of the fruit trees and winds through them until it was hard to remember that they were in a greenhouse at all and not just a regular forest. He reluctantly lets go of Jake's hand and sits down against the base of one of the trees, looking up at his friend.)

(I dunno about that. IT isn't here yet so these people might be saying they want to help, but adults literally couldn't see IT a lot of the times. Or if they did....I don't know. I'm not holding out on hope though. I can't afford to.)

(There's a soft waver in his voice, but he realizes he hadn't really answered Jake's question.)

(Better.)

(He wasn't alone anymore and that was real nice.)

[waystation]

_{[This deep in, he realizes the greenhouse is quite a bit larger than he thought on the inside. He looks up at the canopy of tree branches and the muted light diffusing through the pool's skylight, confident in Eddie leading him. He looks back when Eddie states he's not putting much stock in the promises of aid. He understands it, but he doesn't agree with it, not when the wear isolation puts on Eddie is just as bad...]}

( It's a start. )

<sub>[On both counts.

He gives Eddie's hand a squeeze. They don't always need words to communicate a point--that he's here for Eddie.]</sub>