Annie looked at Jake, who was now four inches from her nose and moving closer. She had never kissed anyone before, contradictory to what she told girls at school so they wouldn't think of her as a baby. Annie hated the thought of people looking down on her. Her real name actually, was Anastacia Reeves but that was just a bother to say with too many letters. Saying, "Oh yeah, my name is Anastacia how about you?" made her feel awkward and different and it was so much easier to just say Annie. There were a lot of Annies, it was a normal name. The boy who was trying to kiss her was Jake Clifton. He was admired by a lot of the girls for his "bad boy" nature and she was sure a lot of the seventh grade girls in her class would jump at the chance to be kissed by him. So it really wasn't that big of a deal. But then why was she nervous?
She pulled away from him and turned her head to the side. "Oh come on Annie," he complained, "when are you gonna let me kiss you? I heard that you kissed a lot of boys, are you too good for me or something?"
"No," she answered. "I just don't think I'm ready too..." she stopped suddenly. He was giving her that look, that 'you are such a baby' look. She hated that so much and if she had more nerve she probably would have grabbed him right there and shoved her whole tongue in his mouth just to prove that she could. But she didn't. She just stood there, her face growing hot and she knew she was blushing. She resented that even more than the look on his face.
She liked Jake enough, he was tough and cool. Nobody messed with Jake Clifton at her school, nobody. So she supposed this made him a bit of a bully, like when he would cast fear in the hearts of the meek with his tough guy threatening glare and they would be forking over lunch money before he even asked for it. And one time he and Andy Duchance beat the hell out of some geek who wanted to talk smack but he had always been nice to her, if you didn't count making her feel small. But she doubted he even wanted to do that because he was the one he had chosen and this was an honor any girl could dream of. Especially her, she had a crush on Jake since fifth grade, it was the bad boy thing that did it. All the girls wanted a "macho" guy to take care of them and she just fell into their mold. It just felt really good to know that instead of spitting in your hair or tripping you in the aisles he wanted to kiss you and even make you his.
She was a little confused about whether or not they really were an item. He never actually asked her out and he never called her his girlfriend but he would put his arm around her in the halls and sit with her at lunch, hold her hand under the table, and he made it clear to the other guy in the school to back off. He didn't like her having friends that were guys and he even got all puffed up when Andy would talk to her and he and Andy were best friends. And now he was trying to kiss her.
It took Annie a while to get Jake to even notice her. Last year she started hanging around him and his friends. She started talking like them and acting like them and she changed her whole wardrobe just for them. She now wore baggy jeans and wife beaters sometimes and then sometimes she wore more revealing clothes like short shorts and mini skirts and low cut shirts and tiny halter tops in the stead of her old frilly blouses and preppy skirts and bright colors. Annie had long brown hair she would spike, put in braids and was considering dreading sometime soon and starry blue-grey eyes, a nice enough face with a lean body and strong legs good for running and built arms good for punching, if she ever got in the position to want to hit someone. She started taking on the same reputation of Jake and Andy and all their friends as a badass girl and a teaser. Girls who hung out with the boys were the kind of girls that the bad guys wanted. And she had got herself with one.
"Ok, you know what," said Jake. He was also built, his muscular body was quite apparent with his wife beater and baggy jeans. He had intense blue eyes that fascinated her and frightened her at the same time, especially when he was angry. But now he seemed rather at ease. "Just forget it. We don't have to if you're not ready yet. It's not like we're gonna screw anyway it's just a kiss for Christ's sake and I can wait." She stared at him hard, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "Come on, let's go for a walk." He held out his hand and she took it. She really liked holding his hand. She didn't know why but it gave her a sense of power, like for others to see and then they would know that she was with bad boy Jake Clifton and no one would mess with her now, not like anybody really would because she was Annie Reeves-the girl who hung with the bad guys. The girl all the bad guys want. She smiled to herself and then thought, the girl who was afraid of a stupid kiss... she wasn't a badass, just a baby.
It had rained all night last night and there was standing water everywhere. In fact it had rained all through their Spring Break and now they were trying to enjoy the last few precious days of freedom. They were wandering around a part of Derry that was known as the Barrens, even though the name was a rather ridiculous one because this place was always lush and full of life. They sat down next to a drain pipe and he looked her in the eyes with all the intenseness that excited her about him and then he cracked a smile. "Truth or dare?" he asked her.
She laughed. "Dare," she sighed. Nobody ever said "truth," that was the pussy thing to say. She wanted to prove she was tough enough for him, even if it meant doing what ever he asked. She kind of already knew what it was before he even asked.
"Kiss me," he said. It was actually more like a command, he was telling her to.
She swallowed hard. "Ok." He stood up and she brought herself to her feet. It was just a kiss, no big deal really. He got really close to her and put his hands around her hips. She felt so nervous her stomach twisted into a knot and she wanted to vomit. That would have been mortifying! They both would be scarred for life, she cringed at the thought. He put his head right up to hers and their lips locked. It was just a kiss, no big deal at all. She expected a simple peck but he was going for longer. She felt him slide his tongue across her lips, waiting for her to open her mouth. She didn't. Instead she pursed her lips together and then turned her face away. He looked at her with a bit of confusion on his face. She felt herself grow flushed. Had he really wanted to do that? She couldn't imagine having someone else's tongue in her mouth. It just didn't seem right to her. But this wasn't the Barney and Friends show, she was twelve-practically a woman.
He shrugged it off. "Just a kiss," he smirked. "Your turn."
"Truth or dare?" she asked.
He grinned. She was beginning to plan what ort of dare she might have him accomplish for her. It seemed pointless to even ask the 'truth' part because it was never answered.
"Truth," he announced.
She frowned. "What did you say?"
"Bet you weren't expecting that one," he laughed.
"But no one says truth!"
"I know," he grinned wryly, "that's why I said it." Sometimes she really didn't understand Jake at all.
"What can I ask you?" she questioned.
"Anything you want to," he replied.
"Ok. Tell me something that you haven't told anyone," she instructed.
"Something I haven't told anyone? Ok then," he answered. "Something I haven't told anyone is… Do you know where the Standpipe at that little park is? I've heard that it's haunted."
She laughed loudly. "Haunted?! You gotta be kidding! It's TRUTH or dare, not BS or dare."
"It is true," he told her. "This whole area down there is haunted by some real freaky crap. A lot of kids went missing or were found dead down here. They say that the drains underground are as wide as a subway line and there's something that lives down there. My brother Chad told me about it. That it pulls kids under and maims them. That's why they found that little girl in a drain, because it got her." His voice was low and mysterious. He sat down inside the drainage pipe and she frowned. "I never told anybody though, that I know about it. Not till right now… with you. And they say that if you get too close to a drain that whatever it is down there can get out and pull you in…"
"I don't believe in ghost stories," Annie said stubbornly. "How can there be something in the drain that could pull you down--"
"Hey," he cut her off. "What is that in there?" he was now sticking his head in the pipe.
"What do you see?" she asked.
"It looks like… a little boat…" he stretched his arm inside the pipe. "I wanna see if I can…" All of a sudden a bloodcurdling scream was escaping Jake's mouth and he was trying to pull his arm free. "It's got me! It's got me!" he bellowed. "Don't let me go under!!!" Annie started screaming, a piercing shrill escaping her own lips and she grabbed Jake by his free hand and tried to pull his forward. He jerked forward freely and easily as though nothing ever had him at all… He grinned maliciously.
"How dare you?" she shrieked. "You know you just about scared the piss out of me?"
He started laughing. "Oh, but if you had only seen the look on your face, Annie-O!" He doubled over in laughter.
"I could kill you right about now," she seethed. He kept laughing. She rolled her eyes. "You are so full of crap, Jake."
"Hey it really is haunted and I can prove it," he said solemnly. "There's some really strange shit that goes on there. I've heard a lot of people have died in there. Drowned like rats."
Annie shuddered as he said this. When she was six she left unattended in a community swimming pool and she went down in water over her head. She remembered trying to scream as the water filled her lungs and her world went black before she felt the strong arms of her older brother grab her and pull her back up. She has a terrible fear of drowning ever since. But that didn't mean she was buying into the crap Jake was trying to feed her. "How do you know for sure? Have you seen anything yourself?"
"Well there's one way for sure to find out," he was grinning in a malicious kind of way. "Why don't we go down there and check it out for ourselves to see if it really is haunted? If we don't see anything I owe you a coke, if we do see something you owe me another kiss… a real one."
She frowned. She didn't want to give in but then she didn't want to really see anything either. Sure she had heard a few stories about the Standpipe herself but she had never believed them. Then again, she didn't want to get too close to it either. "I don't kn-"
"What's wrong?" he asked in that malicious kind of way. "Are you scared? Scared I'll win?" he laughed. "Don't you wanna prove me wrong? Come on Annie, I dare you."
"Fine," she snapped. "You wanna see it so bad? We'll go down there, but I think we're a little too old to still believe in ghost stories."
So they walked down there and stopped solemnly in front of the Standpipe. "Now what?" Annie wondered aloud. "Why don't you go inside?" Jake flashed her that grin once again.
"Why don't you?" she shot back. "You're the one who wants to see something so bad. So why don't you just go inside and tell me if you see anything. Then we'll get to see who is right… and who is dead." She tried to shoot him back that malicious grin of his but it felt kind of empty. The last thing she wanted was for him to be hurt (or worse) but he was the one who wanted to prove his stupid point so bad and she wasn't about to go in there, haunted or not it was creepy.
"Alright, I will," he said determinedly. And he did. He marched right up to the Standpipe and opened the door. She shuddered compulsively as she watched him disappear inside it. like there was some part of her that knew something wasn't right even though she really couldn't point it out. Babies believed in ghost stories and she was trying to prove that she wasn't one… not only to Jake but to herself.
Inside the Standpipe it was dark, cold, and it smelled of rain and rotting leaves. Jake decided it was probably pointless to go inside here looking for something when he could see where he was going. It would have been better if he had brought a flashlight or something. He wondered why he had even bothered to go in, why he felt like he had so much to prove. Maybe he just really wanted to impress her. That girl drove him crazy. At first it seemed like she was trying too hard but now she was being standoffish and she hadn't even wanted to kiss him! So here he was about to get himself killed over a dumb girl with braids in her hair named Annie Reeves.
He jumped at a sudden sound. It sounded like a low growling of some sort of vicious animal. He couldn't see, but he heard it. And he felt something grab at him, like a claw. A foul smell filled his nostrils. "Who's there?" he demanded. He was answered by a cold, bubbling laughter.
You'll die if you try to fight us, a voice colder than ice snarled at him. So why don't you join us, Jacob? Oh you'll like it down here because we float. And you can float too! We all float… We all…
He screamed. He had been running in place for a few seconds before he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. Suddenly the room was full of what felt like balloons, literally thousands of them. It was crammed air tight with them and Jake regrettably remembered one thing: he was allergic to latex. The rubber was touching him all over and it felt hot, like it was burning him. His face was on fire and his eyes were watering uncontrollably. His ears were filled with the shrill sound of balloons squeaking together and as he applied pressure on the door, which was jammed, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think about anything besides getting away. Finally it budged and as he dashed away to make his escape he was followed by thousands of blood red balloons that seemed to be tagging him. There had to have been at least fifty thousand! And that voice, that cold bubbling sound which he heard in the Standpipe was laughing quite ferociously now.
Annie ran towards him and she looked panicked. When he looked into her eyes all the balloons let go of him at last and floated upward, drifting lazily into the sky.
"What did you see?" she demanded, breathlessly. "I heard you scream!"
Jake was still trying to catch his breath. "Did… you… didn't you… see them?" he clutched the stitch in his side as he tried to regulate his breathing where his skin was still burning and his eyes still watering from the harsh feeling of latex.
"Didn't I see what?" she looked at him skeptically.
"Balloons!" He exclaimed. "There were fifty thousand red balloons and they came out of the Standpipe! They were chasing me…" he stopped dead when he caught the look on her face which brought him back to the realization of how ridiculous he must have sounded. She didn't believe him… but more importantly she hadn't seen them. For sure he must be going crazy he didn't want her to think so.
"I think you're screwing with me," she replied doubtfully.
He managed a nervous laugh. "Yeah, you're right. I was screwing with you. I just wanted to see if you would really fall for it."
"Well, I didn't" she rolled her eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?" she then looked hardly into his eyes and asked seriously, "Did you really see anything in there?"
He swallowed. "No."
She shrugged. "Well, in that case I guess I owe you a kiss."
He focused in on her soft, pouting lips which from them awaited his prize for lying to her. Then he shifted his eyes upward to see the tiny flecks of a swarm of balloons, like scarlet birds, growing smaller and farther away into and endless grey sky.
She pulled away from him and turned her head to the side. "Oh come on Annie," he complained, "when are you gonna let me kiss you? I heard that you kissed a lot of boys, are you too good for me or something?"
"No," she answered. "I just don't think I'm ready too..." she stopped suddenly. He was giving her that look, that 'you are such a baby' look. She hated that so much and if she had more nerve she probably would have grabbed him right there and shoved her whole tongue in his mouth just to prove that she could. But she didn't. She just stood there, her face growing hot and she knew she was blushing. She resented that even more than the look on his face.
She liked Jake enough, he was tough and cool. Nobody messed with Jake Clifton at her school, nobody. So she supposed this made him a bit of a bully, like when he would cast fear in the hearts of the meek with his tough guy threatening glare and they would be forking over lunch money before he even asked for it. And one time he and Andy Duchance beat the hell out of some geek who wanted to talk smack but he had always been nice to her, if you didn't count making her feel small. But she doubted he even wanted to do that because he was the one he had chosen and this was an honor any girl could dream of. Especially her, she had a crush on Jake since fifth grade, it was the bad boy thing that did it. All the girls wanted a "macho" guy to take care of them and she just fell into their mold. It just felt really good to know that instead of spitting in your hair or tripping you in the aisles he wanted to kiss you and even make you his.
She was a little confused about whether or not they really were an item. He never actually asked her out and he never called her his girlfriend but he would put his arm around her in the halls and sit with her at lunch, hold her hand under the table, and he made it clear to the other guy in the school to back off. He didn't like her having friends that were guys and he even got all puffed up when Andy would talk to her and he and Andy were best friends. And now he was trying to kiss her.
It took Annie a while to get Jake to even notice her. Last year she started hanging around him and his friends. She started talking like them and acting like them and she changed her whole wardrobe just for them. She now wore baggy jeans and wife beaters sometimes and then sometimes she wore more revealing clothes like short shorts and mini skirts and low cut shirts and tiny halter tops in the stead of her old frilly blouses and preppy skirts and bright colors. Annie had long brown hair she would spike, put in braids and was considering dreading sometime soon and starry blue-grey eyes, a nice enough face with a lean body and strong legs good for running and built arms good for punching, if she ever got in the position to want to hit someone. She started taking on the same reputation of Jake and Andy and all their friends as a badass girl and a teaser. Girls who hung out with the boys were the kind of girls that the bad guys wanted. And she had got herself with one.
"Ok, you know what," said Jake. He was also built, his muscular body was quite apparent with his wife beater and baggy jeans. He had intense blue eyes that fascinated her and frightened her at the same time, especially when he was angry. But now he seemed rather at ease. "Just forget it. We don't have to if you're not ready yet. It's not like we're gonna screw anyway it's just a kiss for Christ's sake and I can wait." She stared at him hard, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "Come on, let's go for a walk." He held out his hand and she took it. She really liked holding his hand. She didn't know why but it gave her a sense of power, like for others to see and then they would know that she was with bad boy Jake Clifton and no one would mess with her now, not like anybody really would because she was Annie Reeves-the girl who hung with the bad guys. The girl all the bad guys want. She smiled to herself and then thought, the girl who was afraid of a stupid kiss... she wasn't a badass, just a baby.
It had rained all night last night and there was standing water everywhere. In fact it had rained all through their Spring Break and now they were trying to enjoy the last few precious days of freedom. They were wandering around a part of Derry that was known as the Barrens, even though the name was a rather ridiculous one because this place was always lush and full of life. They sat down next to a drain pipe and he looked her in the eyes with all the intenseness that excited her about him and then he cracked a smile. "Truth or dare?" he asked her.
She laughed. "Dare," she sighed. Nobody ever said "truth," that was the pussy thing to say. She wanted to prove she was tough enough for him, even if it meant doing what ever he asked. She kind of already knew what it was before he even asked.
"Kiss me," he said. It was actually more like a command, he was telling her to.
She swallowed hard. "Ok." He stood up and she brought herself to her feet. It was just a kiss, no big deal really. He got really close to her and put his hands around her hips. She felt so nervous her stomach twisted into a knot and she wanted to vomit. That would have been mortifying! They both would be scarred for life, she cringed at the thought. He put his head right up to hers and their lips locked. It was just a kiss, no big deal at all. She expected a simple peck but he was going for longer. She felt him slide his tongue across her lips, waiting for her to open her mouth. She didn't. Instead she pursed her lips together and then turned her face away. He looked at her with a bit of confusion on his face. She felt herself grow flushed. Had he really wanted to do that? She couldn't imagine having someone else's tongue in her mouth. It just didn't seem right to her. But this wasn't the Barney and Friends show, she was twelve-practically a woman.
He shrugged it off. "Just a kiss," he smirked. "Your turn."
"Truth or dare?" she asked.
He grinned. She was beginning to plan what ort of dare she might have him accomplish for her. It seemed pointless to even ask the 'truth' part because it was never answered.
"Truth," he announced.
She frowned. "What did you say?"
"Bet you weren't expecting that one," he laughed.
"But no one says truth!"
"I know," he grinned wryly, "that's why I said it." Sometimes she really didn't understand Jake at all.
"What can I ask you?" she questioned.
"Anything you want to," he replied.
"Ok. Tell me something that you haven't told anyone," she instructed.
"Something I haven't told anyone? Ok then," he answered. "Something I haven't told anyone is… Do you know where the Standpipe at that little park is? I've heard that it's haunted."
She laughed loudly. "Haunted?! You gotta be kidding! It's TRUTH or dare, not BS or dare."
"It is true," he told her. "This whole area down there is haunted by some real freaky crap. A lot of kids went missing or were found dead down here. They say that the drains underground are as wide as a subway line and there's something that lives down there. My brother Chad told me about it. That it pulls kids under and maims them. That's why they found that little girl in a drain, because it got her." His voice was low and mysterious. He sat down inside the drainage pipe and she frowned. "I never told anybody though, that I know about it. Not till right now… with you. And they say that if you get too close to a drain that whatever it is down there can get out and pull you in…"
"I don't believe in ghost stories," Annie said stubbornly. "How can there be something in the drain that could pull you down--"
"Hey," he cut her off. "What is that in there?" he was now sticking his head in the pipe.
"What do you see?" she asked.
"It looks like… a little boat…" he stretched his arm inside the pipe. "I wanna see if I can…" All of a sudden a bloodcurdling scream was escaping Jake's mouth and he was trying to pull his arm free. "It's got me! It's got me!" he bellowed. "Don't let me go under!!!" Annie started screaming, a piercing shrill escaping her own lips and she grabbed Jake by his free hand and tried to pull his forward. He jerked forward freely and easily as though nothing ever had him at all… He grinned maliciously.
"How dare you?" she shrieked. "You know you just about scared the piss out of me?"
He started laughing. "Oh, but if you had only seen the look on your face, Annie-O!" He doubled over in laughter.
"I could kill you right about now," she seethed. He kept laughing. She rolled her eyes. "You are so full of crap, Jake."
"Hey it really is haunted and I can prove it," he said solemnly. "There's some really strange shit that goes on there. I've heard a lot of people have died in there. Drowned like rats."
Annie shuddered as he said this. When she was six she left unattended in a community swimming pool and she went down in water over her head. She remembered trying to scream as the water filled her lungs and her world went black before she felt the strong arms of her older brother grab her and pull her back up. She has a terrible fear of drowning ever since. But that didn't mean she was buying into the crap Jake was trying to feed her. "How do you know for sure? Have you seen anything yourself?"
"Well there's one way for sure to find out," he was grinning in a malicious kind of way. "Why don't we go down there and check it out for ourselves to see if it really is haunted? If we don't see anything I owe you a coke, if we do see something you owe me another kiss… a real one."
She frowned. She didn't want to give in but then she didn't want to really see anything either. Sure she had heard a few stories about the Standpipe herself but she had never believed them. Then again, she didn't want to get too close to it either. "I don't kn-"
"What's wrong?" he asked in that malicious kind of way. "Are you scared? Scared I'll win?" he laughed. "Don't you wanna prove me wrong? Come on Annie, I dare you."
"Fine," she snapped. "You wanna see it so bad? We'll go down there, but I think we're a little too old to still believe in ghost stories."
So they walked down there and stopped solemnly in front of the Standpipe. "Now what?" Annie wondered aloud. "Why don't you go inside?" Jake flashed her that grin once again.
"Why don't you?" she shot back. "You're the one who wants to see something so bad. So why don't you just go inside and tell me if you see anything. Then we'll get to see who is right… and who is dead." She tried to shoot him back that malicious grin of his but it felt kind of empty. The last thing she wanted was for him to be hurt (or worse) but he was the one who wanted to prove his stupid point so bad and she wasn't about to go in there, haunted or not it was creepy.
"Alright, I will," he said determinedly. And he did. He marched right up to the Standpipe and opened the door. She shuddered compulsively as she watched him disappear inside it. like there was some part of her that knew something wasn't right even though she really couldn't point it out. Babies believed in ghost stories and she was trying to prove that she wasn't one… not only to Jake but to herself.
Inside the Standpipe it was dark, cold, and it smelled of rain and rotting leaves. Jake decided it was probably pointless to go inside here looking for something when he could see where he was going. It would have been better if he had brought a flashlight or something. He wondered why he had even bothered to go in, why he felt like he had so much to prove. Maybe he just really wanted to impress her. That girl drove him crazy. At first it seemed like she was trying too hard but now she was being standoffish and she hadn't even wanted to kiss him! So here he was about to get himself killed over a dumb girl with braids in her hair named Annie Reeves.
He jumped at a sudden sound. It sounded like a low growling of some sort of vicious animal. He couldn't see, but he heard it. And he felt something grab at him, like a claw. A foul smell filled his nostrils. "Who's there?" he demanded. He was answered by a cold, bubbling laughter.
You'll die if you try to fight us, a voice colder than ice snarled at him. So why don't you join us, Jacob? Oh you'll like it down here because we float. And you can float too! We all float… We all…
He screamed. He had been running in place for a few seconds before he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. Suddenly the room was full of what felt like balloons, literally thousands of them. It was crammed air tight with them and Jake regrettably remembered one thing: he was allergic to latex. The rubber was touching him all over and it felt hot, like it was burning him. His face was on fire and his eyes were watering uncontrollably. His ears were filled with the shrill sound of balloons squeaking together and as he applied pressure on the door, which was jammed, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think about anything besides getting away. Finally it budged and as he dashed away to make his escape he was followed by thousands of blood red balloons that seemed to be tagging him. There had to have been at least fifty thousand! And that voice, that cold bubbling sound which he heard in the Standpipe was laughing quite ferociously now.
Annie ran towards him and she looked panicked. When he looked into her eyes all the balloons let go of him at last and floated upward, drifting lazily into the sky.
"What did you see?" she demanded, breathlessly. "I heard you scream!"
Jake was still trying to catch his breath. "Did… you… didn't you… see them?" he clutched the stitch in his side as he tried to regulate his breathing where his skin was still burning and his eyes still watering from the harsh feeling of latex.
"Didn't I see what?" she looked at him skeptically.
"Balloons!" He exclaimed. "There were fifty thousand red balloons and they came out of the Standpipe! They were chasing me…" he stopped dead when he caught the look on her face which brought him back to the realization of how ridiculous he must have sounded. She didn't believe him… but more importantly she hadn't seen them. For sure he must be going crazy he didn't want her to think so.
"I think you're screwing with me," she replied doubtfully.
He managed a nervous laugh. "Yeah, you're right. I was screwing with you. I just wanted to see if you would really fall for it."
"Well, I didn't" she rolled her eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?" she then looked hardly into his eyes and asked seriously, "Did you really see anything in there?"
He swallowed. "No."
She shrugged. "Well, in that case I guess I owe you a kiss."
He focused in on her soft, pouting lips which from them awaited his prize for lying to her. Then he shifted his eyes upward to see the tiny flecks of a swarm of balloons, like scarlet birds, growing smaller and farther away into and endless grey sky.