It: Pennywise Takes ManhattanPart 1: It's Awakened
Chapter 1: Tommy and the Quicksand
The two Dawson boys, Tommy and Zachary, rustle pass the many trees and ferns of New York City's Central Park, and stop at a small clearing surrounded by slender trees and foliage.
"How far," little, 5-year-old, Zachary asks while following his older brother's footsteps—which come to an abrupt end.
While clearing his throat, Tommy puts his hands on the bush just in front of them both. "Welcome," he begins, "to my...kingdom!"
As if he placed it there himself, he rolls the bush out of the way.
Wonder flushes through Zachary's face. "A lake," he asks in excitement.
"Mhmm," Tommy nods.
"Can we..."
"Yup! We can totally fish in it."
"I've never fished before," Zachary shrieks.
It was one of those October days that never stopped sprinkling rain. That's one of the reasons why Tommy decided to bring his little brother, Zachary, along with him to the lake because not only would he be able to go fishing (fish like to come out in the rain), but his little brother would be spending the day with him and not at daycare where he'd have to pick him up late at night; around 8pm.
For what happened the past week really affected Tommy's feelings of walking alone at night. No one would believe him, that is if anyone would want to hear him talk—he has no friends and his parents are always so busy with work that they are basically non-existent to him. Matter of fact, the last time he saw them was when he stayed up late using his computer, when they came home at around 12pm. And having no friends was no problem to Tommy, either; he just doesn't feel the need for them. Sure he would be less lonely, but he likes his life right now. If people wanted to be his friend, he wouldn't mind, if not, then he doesn't mind.
Friends or not, he keeps himself company, whether it's being busy with school, or hanging-out at the park, or, most importantly, photographing.
Well...all was fine, except for the sightings of..."It". That's what Tommy would best describe it, for no other word would fit its meaning.
The strange sightings began on Tuesday and will hopefully end today (Friday) only because he will not be walking along the dark streets of New York to pick up Zachary from the daycare that resides 2 blocks away from his apartment building. Would this strange sighting follow him to this lake? That is not yet determined. Luckily, nothing unusual has happened...yet. No creepy shadow creature that he has been seeing the past week to induce fear on him as he does something as innocent as fishing with his younger brother.
This "creature" could only be described as a tall humanoid with long arms that touch the floor, dragging along the pavement. Yes, pavement. For Tommy witnesses "It" when it's across the street on the other side of the sidewalk where a pole of orange, blinking, light shines the ground of the pavement and road.
What's incredibly unsettling, now that Tommy realizes, is that he is not even sure if he was seeing what he was seeing...if that makes any sense. It could have honestly been shadows or his mind playing tricks on him. It could have very well been anything; a dumpster, a pole...anything! Moreover, the thing did not move once, so it must not have been "alive"...right? The fact that he could not even decide whether it was living or not truly terrorized him. How does that make sense? Unable to tell if something is alive?
Tommy was completely certain of one thing, though. This...thing...had long limbs that touched the ground. And when these limbs were clear from the moonlight, or the streetlights, he could see that they even dragged on the floor because they were still much longer. Furthermore, and this could just be the orange streetlights, the thing's flesh—if you would call it that—was colored orange. And that's disregarding the debate whether it was alive or not.
However, the walks back from the daycare with Zachary were nothing like that. "It" was not there to greet him, adding to his theory that it was all in his mind, or the shadows. Sometimes he thought he saw It within the dark alleys of the buildings...
Luckily, those creepy thoughts had vanished thanks to Zachary's background giggles, which pulled Tommy out of his day-dream and into the real-world.
"You have another bite!" Zachary shrieked.
"Sweet!" Tommy smiled back.
Without realizing, Tommy had caught 3 fish in only 10 minutes.
"Zachary, look at this one!"
But Zachary was too busy playing in the fallen leaves of the Autumn trees. He grabbed as many as he could in both hands and joyfully laughed while throwing them in the air. "Timmy, look!" Zachary yelled while jumping into a pile.
This specifically put a big smile on Tommy's face. Everyone, including himself, found it cute when Zachary called him Timmy instead of Tommy. It was their little cutesy thing.
The next hour was of Tommy teaching Zachary how to fish, something he self-taught himself just a few months ago. Although he didn't do the activity often, he was good at it.
The activity he was good at was photography. Matter of fact, he carried a camera everywhere he went. Even now, he's been taking pictures of Zachary playing with the leaves and water of the lake for the past hour. He enjoyed this particular picture of Zachary smiling at the camera while holding a large fish in both hands.
"Say cheese" would be considered Tommy's catchphrase.
Many times while walking along the crowded streets of Manhattan, he'd stop and take a quick snapshot of two strangers doing something; whether it being romantic or silly.
"Yo! Can you climb that pretzel statue and pretend to bite it. Why? Cuz it's for my school project. Thanks!"
"Excuse me, sorry for interrupting your guys' first kiss, but can you do it again for my camera?"
Tommy puts down the camera and continues to fish while Zachary continues to play and make background noise, which Tommy did not mind whatsoever; it kept him company, and was cute.
The sky now turned from a light blue to the colors of fall itself; red, yellow, orange. Sunset had arrived.
"I think it's time for bed."
"I know, Zach. Let me just catch this one last fish," Tommy begged while a big tug on the rod pulled him into the water. Good thing I took off my shoes and socks, he thought.
As the fight with the monster-fish grew, Tommy's attention towards his brother had vanished. "Hurry, Timmy! I have to pee!"
"Hold up," Tommy replied with a small twist of his head to Zachary's direction to show acknowledgment of where he was standing.
As the night and fight grew, Tommy's anger of this fish increased.
"Ugh! How big are you? I'm not even gonna eat you, dude. I just wanna hold you!" He yelled to no one but the fish.
"Timmy!"
"Almost done, I swear!"
But something else had caught Zachary's attention now. It was of a sly giggle heard from the woods, which were pitch-black now.
He paused to understand if he really heard what he heard. Then another giggle came to clarify...followed by a deep, yet child-like, voice saying "Hiya, Zachy!"
From Zachary's position, he could only see the large, dark, bushes in front of him and the increasing amounts of leaves dropping to the floor based on the high winds now arriving.
A breeze flew out of the dark woods towards Zachary, bringing the smell of ice-cream and popcorn to his nostrils. He couldn't help but lick his lips and smile.
"Want a balloon?" The same anonymous voice said within the darkness. In response, Zachary looked behind him to see Tommy still wrestling with the fish, creating many loud splashing noises of the water. "Fuck you fish," was the level Tommy was at with this catch. And with that said, Zachary felt it safe enough to sneak off towards this mystery voice and its claim of a balloon.
It came to the point where Tommy knew that he might have to get much deeper into the lake. He was about to take off his t-shirt, when his fishing-rod had been swept into the water. Welp, he thought.
He lifted his legs out of the muddy ground and began to paddle his way to the shore, where his shoes, socks, and, most importantly, camera laid.
"Zach, it's time to go," he called out while slipping on his socks and shoes.
While wrapping the camera strap around his neck, he called out once more "Zach."
He began to worry when his brother was nowhere in sight. "Zach..." he shouted in a worrisome voice. It was quiet for a few seconds, only the sounds of the strong wind and crickets chirping had filled his ears. Finally, a response was given. Well...only a scream of his younger brother saying "Timmy!"
His heart immediately rushed. "Zach!" He yelled while running in the direction of his scream, which lead into the dark forest. He hit his head on many low branches, and the bushes had scratched his legs all over, but he continued to push forward to the direction of the scream, all the while screaming "Zach!"
The wind clogged his ears as he ran, and the camera, which was strapped around his neck, continuously banged on his chest after every leg movement made.
Then he arrived in a large clearing of the woods, where the ground was a mixture of dying grass, leaves, twigs, and dirt. Mud, even. It wasn't even raining, but there was lots of mud. The surrounding trees of the clearing were thick and, apart from the season, were covered in many green leaves.
Just ahead of Tommy was his brother...who was, for some odd reason, frozen still; not making any movement. From what he could see, the wind was blowing his tears across his face.
"Help me!" Tommy heard Zachary whimper through the roaring wind.
As Tommy slowly walked closer to him, he saw why he did not move a muscle. For Zachary was stuck in a medium-sized puddle of quicksand.
"Oh shit," was Tommy's immediate response, followed by "Zachary grab my hand!"
"I can't!" Zachary cried.
"What do you mean you can't?!" Tommy asked in sheer confusion and frustration.
Zachary paused to swipe his hair out of his eyes (the wind was growing stronger). "'Cus something's in here with me!"
Tommy disregarded what he had said and tucked his hands under Zachary's armpits. He was about to pull him out when a deep voice in front of him had said "I wouldn't do that."
Immediately, Tommy retracted his arms in fear and looked up. There was no one...or at least no one he saw. He checked behind himself, not expecting to see anyone since the voice had came from in front of him.
"Zachary...umm...did you hear that too?" He asked for reassurance.
"Yes," he replied joyfully. "That's the clown that was gonna give me a balloon."
Tommy was puzzled with his response. Literally any other response would have been fine. Even "No, you must be losing your mind if you heard someone say that in the middle of the forest" would have been better.
With raised eyebrows and shell-shocked eyes, Tommy asked with sternness "What clown?"
But before Zachary responded, Tommy was given the feeling of being watched. Therefore, he gazed toward the forest once more. Being that it was night, he squinted to make out figures and outlines of objects. His eyes swooped past the forest to see: trees, leaves, bushes, ferns.
Then he saw it. "It"! It was just a few trees ahead in the forest in the same direction the voice had came. It stood standing behind the tall slender trees many yards away from him. Even now, he couldn't decide if it was alive or not. He began to think about its long arms. Then he stopped, telling himself that it can't be alive; therefore, does not—no, cannot—have arms.
He looked back down at Zachary, trying to block It out of his mind, and with haste says "Alright, Zachary. I'm gonna pull you out, then we're both gonna run home fast. Can you run, or do you want me to carry you?"
"I wouldn't do that," the deep voice had spoke again.
"Who's saying that?!" Tommy snapped. "What the fuck do you want?!"
"Don't act like you don't know who," the voice replied with a giggle.
Terrified, Tommy had quickly lifted Zachary about an inch total out of the quicksand, dropping him back in with failure; this caused Zachary to sink a few inches more.
"Zachary, why didn't you try?"
"I told you I can't!"
"It's just quicksand! Don't be afraid." But Tommy meant this more for himself, for he was extremely afraid right now of..."It".
He wiped his long, curly, hair out of his eyes, which the wind blew wildly, and stared at Zachary, who had twisted his head around to look towards the forest.
Tommy wanted to scold him for getting distracted, but he couldn't help but ask "Do you see it too?"
"Yes..."
This made Tommy feel a little better.
"And...it's coming closer," Zachary whispered.
This, however, panicked Tommy greatly, causing him to look at It again.
Zachary was right. It was coming closer. Tommy saw It begin to walk forward in his direction. It walked with an exaggeration of the long, dragging, arms that touched the floor. As if it somehow knew that this particular feature of it really creeped-out Tommy. Fortunately, it stopped...unfortunately, it stopped in a position where the moonlight shined it, so Tommy could now see the outline of the figure, even though it was still somewhat far away.
He could see its bald head and the long arms and legs. Shockingly, it wiggled its long arms once more, as if to, once again, show Tommy how long and creepy they are.
"What the fuck do you want?!" Tommy yelled through the thick wind.
The thing's only response was to wiggle its arms again.
"I'm warning you," Tommy nervously shouted.
Then the thing began to walk slowly forward again, but this time it didn't stop. It came to the point where in just a few steps forward, Tommy would be able to see its face. But for now, where it stands gazing down at them both, only a dark shadowed figure is seen through the foliage of the bushes and trees.
Tommy wanted to run away, but that'd mean leaving Zachary by himself to face this beast.
"If you don't step back," Tommy hesitated, "I'm going to get physical." He hoped that It didn't hear the shake within his voice; whereas, Zachary had no problem letting them both know how distressed he was from the quicksand; he began to cry in fear of sinking more.
Tommy gained enough courage to look away from It and say to his brother "Zachary, grab my hand now. We're getting outta here."
"Nope," It said within the . An eerie, dark, almost child-like, voice.
Tommy wanted to ignore It, but he couldn't help but say "What do you mean no?"
"I said 'nope', not 'no'," It said, giving a small chuckle afterwards. Then It took a step forward (1 more and Tommy will be able to see It's face, which he doesn't want to).
"Don't—"
"Don't what, Timmy?"
Tommy's stomach deepened with fear, and his throat became dry.
"It's Tommy, not Timmy," was the only thing he could think of replying.
"Uuuh, I like Timmy better."
"I don't care what you like, creep! Now, go away!"
Without warning, It finally moved out of the shadows and stood still just on the other side of the quicksand.
But what shocked Tommy was the fact that the creature, with long arms and legs, a balded head, that had been stalking him the past week, that he just saw within the shadows of the forest...was not standing in front of him. No. What had came out of the shadows, and stands in front of him now, is a clown.
As if a cat, for instance, casted the shadow of a dog was the only way Tommy could explain it to himself. However, in this case, it was of a clown casting the shadow of a "thing" with long limbs.
He was glad that he did not see the facial features of the "thing", but was much more upset than glad at the fact that in front of him stood a clown taller than him; the clown was around 6 and a half feet.
It wasn't the large forehead of the clown, or the red markings reaching down the cheek to its mouth, it was of the fact that it was drooling saliva while looking down at them both with a big smile.
Fortunately, the quicksand was around 6 feet long, so there was that much distance separating the clown from Tommy.
Silence fell between Tommy. He did not attempt another rescue at Zachary, or speak to the clown. The only sounds were of the wind, the quicksand churning, and Zachary's discomforting whimpers and cries.
This whole situation had been confusing, and the best thing Tommy could do is react to whatever this clown would do. So he stood waiting for the clown's first move, if he had any, for the clown continued to smile at him with no intentions of breaking eye-contact.
"Timmy, I think it's time for you to leave."
A facial expression of confusion/anger/fear entered all at once within Tommy's face, followed by the words of "Uhhh, excuse me?! You leave, you fucking creep!"
"Well, I'm just starving," the clown said with an unnatural giggle.
This urged Tommy to attempt another quick rescue to Zachary, but failed when he grabbed Zachary by the hands and, unbelievably, a hand in the quicksand had pulled him back in.
"What the fuck was that!" Tommy cried, trying his best to ignore the creepy clown standing right in front of him. Just as he tried to ignore the thing that stalked him earlier when he first discovered his brother in the sand.
If I don't see it, it isn't there, Tommy tells himself. If I don't see it, it isn't there. If I don't see it, it isn't there!
He tried once more to pull Zachary out, but two more beige-colored hands had grabbed him around his overalls and pulled him back in, making Zachary scream in pain.
"I told you! Something is in here with me!"
Tommy freaked out, not knowing what to do. His eyes were on the verge of crying. From his brother's predicament and the unexplainable hands.
"Do it! Grab him again!" The clown urged.
Tommy felt the saliva of the clown land on his forehead, causing him to look once more...he wish he hadn't. For the clown was smiling a big, toothy, smile, just like a child, and only one of the orange-colored eyes stared at him; the other stared at Zachary.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" He kept hearing the clown mumble as he sat on his knees trying to think of any other solutions to this...predicament.
Quickly, Tommy grabbed a large stick and stabbed it into the sand, swishing it around. He wiggled it around to see if anything would happen, but nothing did...for a few seconds.
Then, something had grabbed the stick, prompting a tug-o-war of the two. What ended the battle was the fact that a hand had popped out of the sand, scaring Tommy, making him drop the stick; the stick was then pulled in and under the sand.
"Ah!" Zachary yelled.
"What?!"
"They're grabbing my feet!"
Tommy dived his hands into the quicksand, trying to scoop it out, but it was like scooping water. But he didn't give up. No. He tried and tried, all the while Zachary crying and squealing in pain.
"I don't know what to fucking do!" Tommy cried, giving up. The quicksand had covered his clothes completely, now.
Sadly, there was no point in helping, for many hands had covered Zachary's whole body, leaving just his teary face visible for Tommy to see. All the beige-colored hands had turned into black, ashy, dripping an oil like substance, hands that tried to feel every inch of Zachary's sinking body. Some of the fingers had entered his ears and nose. Multiple times his eyes were poked. No child deserved to feel this discomfort.
And when Tommy would try to attack these hands, they burnt his skin.
"Timmy! They're gonna pull me down!"
"No...no they're not! Just keep looking at me! I'm gonna get you outta there!"
"Timmy, I love you! I had fun today!"
"Me too! But I'm gonna save you, don't worry!"
In a matter of seconds, Zachary's sinking body had completely sunk—no, was pulled—into the quicksand. The only thing left in the quicksand was of bubbles. Tommy could do nothing but cry and continue to dig through the sand, but to no avail.
Then he felt it...the staring eyes. For he had forgotten about the clown. The stranger.
The creepy man dressed in a clown suit in the middle of the woods at nighttime.
Tommy's head slowly moved up to view him. But it wasn't the clown he was staring at, now. It was the "thing" that had been stalking him, illuminated by the moonlight. It!
And now that he could fully see it, he knew what this "thing" was. It's something that petrified him as a child. Something that he's seen only through a computer screen. The Slenderman. A tall, faceless, man in a suit, with long arms that reach the floor. And this was much taller than the 6 foot clown. Furthermore, it had leaned its slanted head down to look at him; and although he couldn't see any facial features or expressions, Tommy knew that it was smiling at him. Like the clown smiled at him...
Matter of fact, Tommy knew this was the clown. And what brought this theory all together was what it had said—no, what "It" had said.
"Don't you love these long arms, Timmy?"
And with that said, Tommy felt a hand lay on his left shoulder and give a tight squeeze.
Without turning back to look at what touched him (even though he knew it was It somehow), or wondering how It spoke to him without a mouth (the Slenderman has no facial features), or where his brother went, or how those hands came out of the quicksand, he ran away. Ran as fast as he could home. Past the dark, slender, trees and the big ferns and bushes. The branches had scratched his face as he ran, but it didn't matter.
But the entire time he ran through those woods, he could've sworn he heard the chuckling of the clown. All the while thinking of his brother's crying eyes and his innocent little kid body getting dragged down under the void of sand by the impossible demon-hands.