June 1962

10-year-old Sarah sat on the swing set in Derry's park. She was having fun swinging in the air as high as the swing would let her, but even that didn't seem high enough. At one of the benches sat her big sister, Lauren. At 17, Lauren was enjoying her summer before her senior year of high school. She had already started applying to colleges and gotten into a few, but hadn't decided where she wanted to go yet; all she knew for sure was that wherever she went, she wanted to make a difference for other girls.

Lauren had a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird sitting next to her on the bench. It was the required reading assignment for her upcoming advanced English class and she decided it was time to start reading it, even if that made her kinda nerdy.

"Come on, Lauren!" Sarah shouted at her sister. "Come and swing!"

Lauren smiled at Sarah's excitement. "Let me read a chapter or two and then I'll join you."

"Oh, all right," Sarah replied, sounding a little disappointed. She then continued swinging and her disappointment was quickly forgotten.

Lauren opened up the book and started reading. Within seconds, the book had captured her full attention and she didn't look up when she heard Sarah squeal with excitement as she launched herself off the swing midair.

"Be careful, Sarah," Lauren said dismissively, not looking up from the book.

Sarah giggled and shook her body to recover from her hard landing. That was the furthest she had ever jumped and she wondered if she could go any further in the future.

Suddenly, Sarah heard a twig snap in one of the nearby bushes. She stretched as far as she could without moving to try and see what had made the noise, but didn't see any animals running away from the bushes. Sarah glanced over at Lauren, who seemed enamored by the book. Grinning to herself, Sarah jumped down from the swing set and walked over toward the bush. Lauren didn't look up.

When she reached the bush, Sarah knelt down on the ground, searching for a sign of whatever had made the noise. She didn't see anything, but heard another twig snap.

"Where the heck are you?" she whispered.

"What are you doing, Sarah?" Lauren suddenly called.

Sarah jumped in shock. She looked up and saw Lauren had stopped reading her book and was looking up at her.

"Just looking for whatever made the twigs snap," Sarah replied. "I think it was an animal or something, but I don't see anything."

"Well, don't go too far, now," Lauren chided. "We don't want to be late for dinner. 15 more minutes, all right, kiddo?"

"OK," Sarah said, sounding annoyed. She waited until she saw Lauren open the book again and continue reading before she turned back to the bush. She pushed some more twigs out of the way, but still didn't find the source of the noise.

"Sarah…" came a voice in a harsh whisper. Sarah looked around quickly, but didn't find where the voice was coming from. It sounded faint, but close.

"Is someone there?" Sarah asked, trying her best to hide her fear.

"Sarah..." the voice repeated. "Come on back here, Sarah."

Sarah hesitated. She glanced back at Lauren, who was absorbed in her book again. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Sarah pushed the bush aside some more and eventually pushed past it. She was now on the edge of the park, near where the baseball diamond stood. She looked around, but didn't see anybody.

"Hello?" she called.

"Over here!" the voice replied. "Over by the trees!"

Sarah walked nervously over to the trees, which led into the Derry woods. She had barely reached them when suddenly she saw the face of a clown.

"Oh!" Sarah screamed.

"Hi, Sarah!" the clown exclaimed in a childlike voice that made a cold chill run down Sarah's spine.

"H-how do you know my name?"

"I know lots of things about the children of Derry."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Pennywise," It said with a goofy smile. "Pennywise the Dancing Clown."

"Are you with a circus or something? I've never seen you at any of the birthday parties."

"Yeah, yeah, a circus," said Pennywise, who glanced around nervously, which Sarah didn't notice. "Do you like circuses?"

"Yeah."

"Well how about you come with me and I can take you to the circus, Sarah?"

Sarah took a brief step backward at this suggestion. "Um…I'm not supposed to go anywhere with strangers, Pennywise."

"Oh, come on, Sarah, you can trust me. I'm a clown! Clowns are nice people!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not supposed to go anywhere with anyone who isn't my sister. Besides, it's almost dinner time and I'm ready for dinner."

"You're right!" Pennywise exclaimed, licking his mouth. "It is dinner time. And you know what I'd like to have for dinner, Sarah?"

"No…" Sarah replied, taking another step backward.

"You!" It shouted before leaping out of the trees and revealing its full self. Pennywise laughed madly before opening its mouth and revealing its carnivorous teeth and roaring at Sarah, who screamed as loudly as she could.

Lauren immediately looked up from her book when she heard the scream.

"Sarah?" she yelled as Sarah screamed again. "Sarah, what's going on?" She stood up, throwing the book down and forgetting all about it. She glanced around the park, but didn't see her sister anywhere. "Sarah, where are you?"

Sarah let out another scream before she shouted back an answer. "By the baseball diamond!"

Lauren turned and ran toward the baseball diamond, reaching it in seconds, though it felt like an eternity. When she finally stopped running, she saw Sarah running away from a creepy looking clown.

"Sarah, over here!" Lauren cried. Sarah looked over at her and started running toward her sister, screaming as loudly as she could. Sarah was faster than the clown and reached Lauren in seconds, rushing into her arms. Suddenly, the clown sped up, his face full of glee.

"Who the fuck are you?" Lauren demanded.

Pennywise giggled madly again. "I'm Pennywise and I'm ready to have some dinner!"

Just as It lunged toward them, Lauren pushed Sarah away from her and intercepted Pennywise, barely managing to push him away.

"Sarah run!" she screamed as Pennywise recovered and started walking toward her again.

"No, Lauren!" Sarah shouted.

"Go, now!" Lauren retorted as she punched Pennywise in the face. "Get out of here! Go and get help! I'll hold him off!"

"Lauren!" Sarah cried as Pennywise kicked Lauren over and Lauren fell to the ground.

"Go right now, Sarah! Go!"

Sarah, tears streaming down her face, nodded at her sister and turned, running as fast as she could. When she reached the bush again, she crouched down under it to hide and peered through it. She watched as Lauren and the clown fought for several seconds before the clown suddenly grabbed Lauren by the neck and lifted her off the ground. The clown shook Lauren roughly until she stopped moving. Then, It laid Lauren's unconscious body across its arms, turned around and walked back into the trees, appearing to vanish almost instantly.

"Lauren!" Sarah cried, pushing past the bush again and running to the edge of the woods. "Lauren!" she yelled again, searching around for any sign of her sister. "No, Lauren! You bring her back her!"

She continued shouting into the trees for about a minute. When she had shouted herself hoarse, she stopped, coughing loudly. When her cough fit stopped, she glanced around the trees some more, but there was still no sign of Lauren.

Sarah then turned and ran back to the park, screaming as loudly as she could to get someone's attention.

"Help! Help!" she screamed. "Help me, please! My sister's been kidnapped! Please, help me!"