toA/N: Hey, everyone! I hope you are all having a great week so far. I apologize for taking a bit to update. I'm just about finished with Chapter 19, so I should have it posted sometime this weekend. After going over this several times, I decided to give this a rewrite. At the time, I had several ideas of how I wanted this to go and ultimately went with one I wasn't exactly happy with. Writers do have a tendency to second-guess their work. Plus, I was criticizing it as a reader. So, I have a better version in mind. It still has it's OOC-ness, though. :)
This is sort of a flash-forward of what is to come as it will tie in with a future chapter. Plus, I had this idea in my head of how Pennywise is like around animals. We never see him around any. So, why not explore this aspect a little.
Anyway, enjoy the read!
It's cold, frigid, really.
The December cold has finally settled upon Derry. There is a generous portion of early frost this evening. The tiny white diamonds captured the marmalade orange sun, which dipped towards the darkening horizon. The branches of trees have gone bare and flared. There are splotches of greenery from evergreens, pines, and blue spruces. The river is partially frozen, at least along the rocky edge and bank. The below-freezing water still trickled and muffled a roar. Even a light mist hung over the frigid waters.
A heavy sigh disturbs the serenity of winter. A puff of warm breath danced and swirled like smoke.
A young boy, around thirteen, stood stiffly while at the edge of the half-frozen river. His bright blues stare at a crimson ball with a frown.
"Why couldn't it stop in the grass? Fuck." The boy asked himself.
He shivers despite wearing his thick yellow coat. The boy starts forward to retrieve the ball only stops when he hears a yip.
Glancing over his shoulder, he sees a basset hound puppy staring at him. The little guy violently trembled yet still wagged its tiny tail.
The boy sighs, then snatches his wool hat. He approaches the pup to wrap them inside.
"It's the best I can do for now. My parents may not like that I brought you home, but you're not staying out here. It's too freaking cold. I can't even feel my own balls."
The puppy barks, watching his human friend retrieve the bouncy toy.
Jackson or Jackie, to his friends, noticed the puppy wandering around here for the last few days. He's been giving the pup some company by playing with it and sneaking table-scrapes to feed him. Jackson believes it is a stray or someone dumped him here. He didn't see a collar to bring them back to their owner, either.
He watches the cute puppy briefly then returns to the edge of the river.
The ball sat dangerously close to the water. It feels like the bouncy toy is coaxing the boy closer than he should.
Jackson knows what would happen if he were to step on the ice. He'll fall through. The boy doesn't want to get wet, but he also wants to continue playing with the puppy. Frankly, Jackson should be heading home. It's nearly curfew, anyway. He huffs loudly, his breath showing as another puff of dancing smoke. Jackson took one cautious step for the play toy but stops. He heard cracking from under his feet.
His breath labored, taking one more steady step.
Don't fall through, Jackson repeats to himself.
Another crack.
Jackson halts. His arms spread out to the side as if he were soaring above the clouds. He glances down. The crack is right at the bottom of his foot.
"Oh, shit," Jackson says out loud.
For a long while, it was only Jackson and the basset hound puppy. Of course, silence is always disturbed.
He takes a deep breath as Jackson got closer. A faint smile surfaced on his pink lips.
"Hello, Jackie," a penetrating, high-pitched voice disrupts the silence.
Jackson screams. The crack that was underneath him finally gives way. Thinking quickly, he is agile in batting the ball away and whirls around, escaping. He falls roughly on his belly with a grunt.
"Ow."
Silence befalls around him then. He huffs and pants, confused yet relieved. Jackson glances around for the intruder but didn't see them.
"Um," Jackson stalls, his voice soft and modulated. "Is anyone there?"
Nothing, not even a sound from the river behind him.
He groans, fear starting to bubble in his stomach.
"Oh, come on now! If someone is here, show yourself."
When no one has yet to show, Jackson became even more frightened. The one thing he hates more than that voice is getting sneaked up from behind.
Excluding the light whimpers from the puppy, Jackson thought it was silent.
There is a sound of approaching footsteps crunching on the frozen ground. His eyes scanned the openness and saw nothing still. Jackson then looks to his left, no one. Fear continued to boil in his stomach when he heard an eerie, low-pitched cackle. Someone is coming.
Jackson gulps. The footsteps are approaching him from his right. He shudders then grabs the barking puppy for comfort.
"Uh, don't worry, buddy. I'll protect you," Jackson coos in false bravery.
The puppy yips and whines.
"Aw, what's the matter, Jackie? Are you frightened?" The voice questions in amusement.
He clears his throat, trying to act brave. "N-no, nope, not at all. Who are you? And where are you?"
They don't answer, which is unnerving yet annoying.
"Come on, man! Stop playing around," Jackson barks, fear evident in his voice now.
They cackle at his frightened voice.
"I thought you weren't afraid," they eerily reply.
Jackson sat rigidly in his spot while trying to find the person and remained to hold the puppy. The pup yips excitedly in one direction, which Jackson fails to notice.
"Where are you? You're freaking me out here!"
They laugh evilly and lowly, which trails off slightly.
"Hello! Where the fuck are you?"
Silence.
Jackson raggedly breathes, trembling.
"Over here," the voice answers.
He grimaces then slowly glances over his shoulder. There he stood, the person who spoke seconds ago. They are short in stature, their complexion ashen, and decomposed. Their features are dry and mummified with ghostly pale blue eyes. They also have long wiry white hair and wore an old, dusty suit.
It took him a moment, but Jackson makes a shrill scream.
"THE CRYPT KEEPER!"
He stumbles, toppling backward and lands square on his back, almost crushing the puppy.
The little animal scurried away from Jackson's fallen form only to return momentarily and licks his face.
"Did you have a nice trip?" The creepy, skeleton thing inquires then giggles evilly.
Jackson scrambles to get back on his feet only to get held down by the decomposed man's boney foot. For something so small, it has tremendous strength.
"NO! Get away from me!"
He struggles in throwing the Keeper off, except his attempt was futile. The Crypt Keeper lunges and holds him down.
"NO! No, stop, please! Leave me alone!"
Jackson hears a deep growl rumble from within The Crypt Keeper's chest. He sees its dry, cracked lips pull back in a toothy snarl.
He screams, fighting to get the thing off.
"Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear," the Keeper's voice changed into a deep, menacing tone.
Jackson proceeds to scream and thrash. He watches in stunned horror as The Keeper's jaw creaked and cracked open, growling lowly.
Seeing his human friend's distress, the puppy charges. The little canine jumps and bites at The Keeper's arm.
"Yeow!"
The pup growls and barks through the fabric.
The Keeper snaps his gaze off the frightened boy to the pup. His brows scrunched and pursed his lips tightly. The Keeper lightly shakes his arm, not wanting to hurt it.
"Let go," The Keeper growls lightly.
With his attention on the cute basset hound, Jackson got his opening. He upper-cuts The Keeper's jaw, who rightfully grunts from the impact. Jackson then squirms out from underneath him. With a swift kick to the chest, Jackson throws his attacker off.
The Keeper falls backward with a strangled, startled grunt of a cry. He crashes to the ground in a dusty heap where an audible "Oof," was heard.
Jackson doesn't hesitate to scramble to his feet while the puppy barks animatedly, creating a diversion for Jackson to escape. He sprints across the frosted ground, slipping and falling every few feet. As Jackson ran off, he proceeds to scream like a little girl.
"NO!" The Keeper screeched.
He goes to chase after his prey, only to fall. The puppy bit at the pant leg and tugged him to the ground again.
"HEY! You little pest, let go!"
The puppy eventually does and starts after Jackson. He abruptly stops, though, when the pup saw how far away his human friend had gone. He won't be able to catch up.
The Keeper growls angrily, slamming a fist hard onto the ground, which falls off from the impact. He glances at his hand, frowning deeply with a groan.
He snaps his furious golden gaze on the puppy, which stared helplessly at Jackson's retreating form.
"Thanks a lot! You made me lose my meal."
The pup watched as Jackson left. It whines, eyeing the horizon for the boy to return. When Jackson failed to come back, the puppy's tail conformed to his bottom and tucked between his small legs. The little guy trembles from the cold. He looks over at The Crypt Keeper transforming into the space-demon clown Pennywise. It stared curiously at him before the pup lowered its head.
Pennywise, who is now even more, frustrated glared at the saddened puppy. He pursed his lips tightly that his nose wrinkled.
"He's not coming back, you know."
The puppy's sad, clown-like face stares up at him.
"Oh, don't give me those sad puppy eyes!"
The pup continued to stare sadly at him.
Pennywise growls lowly in return.
Eventually, the basset hound pup glances away, sulks and whines. The puppy's tiny legs wobbled some from the fall but are not terribly injured.
Pennywise watched the pup retreat with a scowl. He sees it head straight for a brush. Curious, the clown follows. When Pennywise got closer, he saw something that actually depressed him. Inside the thick bushes is a large box torn at the corners and worn. Surrounding it is tethered cloth, animal bones, and remanents of the puppy's mother. His heart drops. He assumes the mother fought to protect her pups from the wild and got severely injured. Pennywise silently observed the lonely puppy huddle in a corner, shaking violently from the bitter cold.
He frowned when Pennywise recognized something. The puppy reminded Pennywise of Ruth. She is not the same since he rescued Ruth from the adults. Well, since recently. He roughly shakes his head to rid himself of the memories. Ruth is currently in a depressed state, and Pennywise hates it for her. He never likes seeing his companion gravely wounded, both physically and in spirit. It's psychological, too. Ruth doesn't laugh as much anymore, nor does she get a joy out of his daily scares. She doesn't even smile brightly at him, either. The month before now and just several days to Christmas put an invisible wedge between them.
Pennywise misses his bright beacon of life.
He eyes the lonely basset hound puppy with a frown still. It's just like how he met Ruth. She was lost and all alone, a lot like the puppy right now. The dead mother is a symbol of Ruth's late father protecting her from the evil of which was Jordan.
Poor thing, he thought.
As Pennywise stared, a thought, well, an idea slowly came to mind. His eyes widened, which sparkled, and a faint smile began to surface. He is quick to pivot around and walked upon the left behind woolhat. Pennywise snatches it off the cold ground, shaking it lightly to get rid of the frost. He even grabs the crimson ball Jackson carelessly left.
With Pennywise no longer staring at him, the puppy whines. His small black eyes stare at the cardboard, breathing shallowly. He shivered then curls into a ball. The pup's ears twitched from the sound of bones popping and snapping. He then hears approaching footsteps, which stopped close to his worn-out shelter. There is then a soft whistle, which caught the puppy's attention. It snaps his gaze to the source, finding a male off to the side and crouched low. He then sees a hand but is not reaching for him.
"It's okay, buddy, I won't hurt you," they spoke softly and calmly, yet upbeat.
The pup glances around the edge, seeing the male gently smiling and not looking him in the eye. He doesn't see the towering man as a threat. The puppy makes a slight whine and slowly creeps forward. His tail wagging and beating at the cardboard.
"Come on," the male urged lightly, smiling softly still. He makes a breathy laugh, mimicking a dog laugh.
The puppy quickly leaves the cardboard box to sniff the male's hand. He then makes a satisfied groan and bumps its head against their arm. The male gently stroke's the pup's back and neck.
"Good boy," the male praised.
They gently scoop the puppy and lightly wraps them in the woolhat. It didn't particularly care for getting picked up but welcomed the immediate warmth. The male held him close against their chest, encasing the baby dog inside their coat. He barks, its little tail continuing to wag and licks at their chin.
The male couldn't help but grin and chuckle.
"Alright, that tickles. Let's get you out of the cold. I'm certain Ruth is going to love you."
The pup yips happily, snuggling close to the male's chest with a grin.
Pennywise grins down at the little guy, hugging it close to keep the pup from falling. A shiver quakes through his body that he shook violently.
"Brr. Why couldn't I have crash-landed of what would have been Florida? Damn, it's cold here."
He then makes his way home back to Ruth with a puppy in tow. Pennywise took a few steps until he slipped on the frosty ground, landing on his back with a grunt.
"Ow."
The puppy barks lightly while licking at his chin, causing Pennywise to groan.
Irritating pup.