Disclaimer: I do not own IT or any of the characters. That all belongs to the awesome and talented Stephen King. I only own my OC and other characters I make up along the way.

A/N: Okay, so I know I said the next update wouldn't be until September, but the new trailer that was recently released inspired me to write more. We got to see more of the Losers' Club and we got to see Pennywise. ^.^ *Eeeep* I gotta say it just made me even more excited to see the movie! So here's a short second part for the prologue. It's still taking place before the main events that happen in the movie, but I hope you guys still like it! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, even if was full of angst, and you'll see why towards the end...anyways enjoy!

*Important*

There is talk about self-harm and suicide in this chapter. If that bothers you, I'm sorry. It stirred up some hard emotions within me, especially since I was listening to the 13 Reasons Why original score and the Life is Strange soundtrack. It just made everything more intense.

"Just remember," he told her. "If you run from me, I will pursue." ― Nenia Campbell, Fearscape

Chapter 2: The first scare

Depression for Gwen had always been a complex feeling to fully grasp.

At least it used to be.

She did know the feeling of sadness, even before Chase's death. After all, it was only natural for a person to get sad from time to time. Life was full of gloomy moments, especially when you're young and in your adolescent phase. There were plenty of times when she'd been sad, but never had she been depressed. As in full on, wouldn't eat, locked away in her room for hours, not really wanting to talk to anyone, type of depressed.

The reason why was because nothing too horrific happened in her life to make her feel that way.

Not until Chase's unexpected death.

Once she heard the devastating news of his passing, the delayed train of overwhelming feelings hit her hard. What made things even worse was that Chase's death was ruled as a suicide.

The person who ended up finding his body early on the next day saw how both of Chase's wrists were slashed wide open. Now one might have looked passed the thought that maybe this wasn't what it appeared to be at first glance, but the piece of shard glass found close to his lifeless body covered in his blood gave the final proof that it was indeed a suicide. The police didn't help get rid of this thought, since the final report said that he ultimately died of blood loss due to self-harm.

Gwen right away did not agree with their conclusion.

The way Chase died just didn't make sense to her.

A feeling within her told her that something was seriously off.

The Chase she knew―the Chase she had strong feelings for―was not suicidal. He never showed any signs indicating he was contemplating ending his life. To her he was filled with so much life and she knew that he had lots to live for. He had a family that loved him and a bunch of friends at school. He was classified as a golden boy in the town of Derry, who was liked by almost everyone.

So why did he decide to suddenly end his life? And on the night they were supposed to have their first date?

It was questions like these that forever haunted Gwen's thoughts, and it wouldn't be until the following year, when the chaos began, that she would discover the real reason for what caused Chase's death.

Until that day of revelation, Gwen would be left in an emotionally impaired and broken-hearted state.

For although she had doubts about Chase committing suicide, the fact remained that he was no longer alive.

He was gone.

And that impacted her dearly. It was too much to deal with, let alone to talk about.

Gwen almost didn't even go to his funeral because of that. Just being in the same room with his lifeless body made her heart ache and it made her want to cry hysterically.

But at the last minute, she found the strength to go.

Gwen didn't like to think about the funeral service. All she could say was that a lot of people showed up offering their condolences. For Chase's family of course. None of them knew how close she was to Chase. Well, except for Francine. But everyone else that was there just thought she was another one of his classmates. They didn't know she was the girl who harbored strong feelings for him. That she and him were supposed to meet up the night he died. It wasn't until after the service that she finally told this to Chase's family. In a way she hoped this would end the nonsense about Chase's death being a suicide, but sadly her piece of information didn't make much of a difference. Chase's death was still ruled as a suicide.

The only difference now was that her family knew why she'd been so down in the dumps. Why she spent so much time in her room, alone and crying. Why she no longer hung out with her friends from school. Except for Francine, but that was only because her blonde haired friend was not an easily ignored person. She made it her personal mission to get her out of the house every once in a while. But for the following weeks, Gwen was emotionally distant from her family.

The Tozier girl felt awful for doing this, especially with how she'd been treating Richie. Out of everyone, she'd been ignoring her younger brother the most. It was a silly thing but she felt guilty for breaking the pinkie promise she made about having a horror movie night with him. Richie never complained about this, but Gwen knew he was let down. The main thing that made her feel like a terrible person was the distress she was causing him due to how she had been acting lately. She was cold, distant, and overall just not her normal talkative self. But how could she be herself? With her emotions all over the place, Gwen couldn't find a way to sit down and explain to him what the hell was going on with her. In fact, she didn't talk to anyone about Chase. Not really anyways. Not to her parents, or even to her best friend Francine. It just seemed impossible to do so now. Just thinking about discussing Chase's death was too much for her.

The emotional struggles she dealt with at home were one thing, but school struggles were a whole other story.

Now the school had set up a small memorial area for Chase, close to his locker. Although it was meant to be a nice gesture, for Gwen it was just a reminder of how Chase was dead and no longer alive. She should have gone a different way when heading to her next class, but she didn't. When the bell rang, she walked the same hallway Chase would have taken to get to their English class. The hallway that now held his memorial area, and when Gwen got close, she couldn't help but stop her walking to stare at it.

Although pained by his departed memory, Gwen had to admit it was a beautiful memorial. The students at the school had a picture of him and different types of flowers and cards surrounded the small area. Proof that Chase was indeed liked by the students and even the faculty members.

Gwen wanted to remain strong but she couldn't. She felt tears in her eyes, and seconds later they were going down her cheeks. The sounds of oncoming footsteps had her panicking. Even more so when they stopped near her. The hallways were empty (or so she thought), and she figured no one would get to see her have another one of her emotional moments. But apparently she'd been wrong. Composing herself she turned to face where the footsteps had stopped. She immediately frowned when she saw who was standing close to her.

Victor Criss.

Although Gwen was not happy to see him, she was relieved that he was alone and not with his imbecile friends. If they had all been there seeing her cry they sure would have had a laugh. But it was just Victor and he certainly wasn't looking at her with any malice or amusement. He was just silently staring, taking in her crying form. This had Gwen on defense. "What?" She muttered as she hurriedly wiped her tears away.

Victor continued to silently stare at her for a few more seconds before shaking his head. "Nothing. It's just..." he drawled, unable to find the right words to say to her. Truth be told he felt somewhat awkward that he was actually talking to her. Not that he would ever admit that aloud―especially to her.

"What? You've never seen a girl cry before?" Gwen blurted out.

Victor gained his own composure once he heard this. He rolled his eyes but it was done halfhearted. "Of course I've seen a girl cry before. Who do you think you're talking to?" After saying that to her his tone of voice turned into one of slight bewilderment. "It's just, I didn't know you and him were a thing."

"We weren't." Gwen quickly said, her voice wavering a bit. "We were just friends." But we could have been more.

Victor took in her words. He analyzed her outer form carefully and through that he was able to figure out that there was more to her answer. "You guys were close friends." He ended up earnestly saying instead of asking her.

Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. "What does that even matter to you?" She asked him.

Victor made sure to give her an unreadable expression. "It doesn't." He replied, trying to sound indifferent.

Gwen wasn't buying it. She might have not liked Victor, but for some odd reason in this rare moment her dislike was disregarded. Her gaze on him became profound. "It sure seems like it does." She softly told him.

Sensing that their conversation was taking a rather sentimental turn, Victor, not wanting her to see his true feelings, decided to dive back to his bully type demeanor. "Well, you're wrong, Tozier." He said, making sure to emphasize her last name with a tone that indicated aversion.

And just like that things between the two teenagers went back to normal.

Gwen felt foolish that she lessened her dislike towards him. She reminded herself that he was Victor Criss, one of Henry Bowers' accomplices. He happily partook in the bullying done on her younger brother, but strangely never joined the teasing done on her. She wanted to hate him, but hate didn't come so easily like it did with Henry. If anything Victor Criss just confused her. She narrowed her eyes. "What are you even doing here then?" She asked him.

Victor remained cool at her question. "I was just making my way to class." He easily explained. "This is the school hallway after all."

Gwen just mildly shook her head. Deciding it was time to end this unexpected encounter with Victor Criss of all people, she turned to leave.

"By the way, I'd avoid going through the north hall after school." Victor suddenly said, catching her attention. She glanced over her shoulder to look at him. He was giving what she guessed was a serious look. "We're gonna be hanging there."

The Tozier girl automatically knew what he meant by we're. It was a forewarning of some sorts to her. Yet again, she was thrown into loops by Victor. The same exact feeling she got when he saw her at the diner and said nothing to Henry or Belch about her presence, returned. He was actually helping her out. But why? She frowned as she continued to look at him. "I don't understand you." She blurted without even thinking.

Victor gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

Gwen blanched. She quickly averted her gaze. "Nothing. Never mind." She muttered, as she now faced forward again.

And without another word, or looking at each other again, they both parted ways.

Gwen took Victor's warning and made sure to avoid the north hall after school.

She took a different way to head towards the field. She ended up going to softball practice but only because Francine was there to make her go. If it weren't for her, Gwen would have missed another practice. And mostly likely if she had skipped again the coach would have probably benched her for the rest of the season. So she was grateful for Francine.

Practice ran a bit longer today due to Gwen trying to catch up on the plays she had missed. Once practice ended it was starting to hit the late afternoon mark. Politely declining a ride back home from Francine, Gwen decided to walk home. When not locked away in her room, Gwen had been taking long walks throughout town. For some reason this calmed her down. Lessened her own distress. Usually when softball practice was over she took a shortcut to get home, but today she decided against the shortcut. She chose to take the longer way because it allowed her to pass by Chase's house.

Well, old house.

After the funeral, Chase's family quickly made plans to move from Derry. They no longer wanted to live in the town where their son committed suicide. Not that Gwen blamed them, but that just meant whatever was left of Chase's stuff was now gone. She knew it wouldn't do her any good to pass by his old house. It would have just made her emotional, like his memorial at school, but yet here she was gazing at his now empty house.

Although now empty the house still had charm. It was a two story middle class type of house, and it was blue.

Blue...Gwen thought to herself as she continued to stare at the house. Blue is such a nice color. Chase's eyes were blue...and they were so lovely.

"Gwen?"

A young male voice broke her thoughts. Gwen right away knew who this voice belonged to.

"Stan?" She asked as she turned to her side, and right away did she see him.

Stanley Uris, or as Richie liked to jokingly call him, Stan the Man, stood a few feet away from her. Personally Gwen liked calling him by his abbreviated name. Which was just Stan. Now she knew Stan because he was one of Richie's closest friends. Although she herself liked to consider the curly haired Jewish boy a friend as well, given the sisterly fondness she had for him. Except since they had a bit of an age difference between them, they weren't exactly close friends, but she couldn't deny that they had some form of friendship going on. She liked how mature and level headed he was for his age. He was the complete opposite of her brother Richie, and that made her wonder how they were such great friends. Whatever the reason, she was glad for their friendship.

Stan felt his heart start to race when she turned to look at him. "Hi." He sheepishly said to the older girl.

Gwen managed to give him an honest smile. "Hey." She wasn't really surprised to see him. He did after all live on this street. He must have seen her from his place.

Her smile got to him but that was just a given because it always did. This time it got to him more because it had been a while since Stan had actually seen her smile. As of late she had been feeling pretty down. So seeing her look happy started to make his face warm up. He felt foolish that he was acting like this. He figured that his crush on her would have gone away by now, but it hadn't. If anything it just grew. She was still the girl he harbored a secret crush on and because of that he felt ridiculous. He was glad no one knew of his crush on her. Well, no one except for Richie. But that was only because Richie figured it out on his own. Although he was known for his flippant ways, Richie wasn't a complete fool. And Stan himself wasn't as discreet as he wanted to be whenever he was around Gwen. So Richie was able to paste things together. Since then, Stan became more careful with hiding his feelings for her. He still remembered what Richie had said when he first figured it out. He made a face and shook his whole body as if he had bugs crawling all over him. "I can't believe you like my sister. Come on man? She's my sister. Blah..."

Even though Richie was trying to make the conversation less serious and awkward, Stan didn't think his facetious attitude was helping. If anything it just embarrassed him more about how Richie knew of the crush he had on his older sister. Luckily for him, Richie didn't tell Gwen about his crush on her. His bespectacled best friend only teased him whenever they were alone.

As he gazed at her Stan saw how she was wearing an outfit indicating she had just finished softball practice. Still, he decided to ask her. "What are you doing?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "Just passing through."

Stan tilted his head a bit. "But you usually take a different street home."

This surprisingly made Gwen release a low laugh. "Very observant, Stan." She said making the young boy blush, but it went unnoticed by her. She was too busy looking at the now empty blue house. "Decided to take the long way today." She said, now sounding serious.

Her change of voice and the way she was staring at the house in front of her made a light bulb go off in Stan's head. "He was nice." He softly said, catching her attention. He continued to speak once she was looking at him. "Whenever I talked to him he never seemed annoyed with the topics I brought up. With my bird book collection and all."

Gwen's face lit up with even more nostalgia. "Yeah, he was nice." She quietly said.

There was a moment of silence between them but it wasn't awkward or anything. It was peaceful.

"You should probably continue making your way home." Stan said, being the first to break the silence. His voice was more on the serious and worried side. "It's getting dark." He gazed up towards the sky after he finished saying that.

Gwen found the way he sounded worried about her well-being to be adorable. He was acting more like a concerned parent than a young kid. "Alright." She replied, and then started walking down the street. She made sure to glance over her shoulder one last time. "Catch you on the flip side, Stan." She said before turning to face forward again.

With a blush on his cheeks, Stan bid her a farewell as well.

It was night time now, and the Tozier girl was still making her way home. She would have gotten home an hour ago, but after leaving Chase's house and her conversation with Stan, she stupidly decided to stop for ice cream. Although as she knows now that wasn't such a good idea considering the ice cream place was even further away from her home, and the only way back was to go through the long way.

Shit, maybe stopping by for ice cream wasn't such a good idea.

Normally, Gwen wouldn't mind walking home at night but for some reason she was getting the serious chills right now. And it wasn't because it was cold. Something just didn't feel right.

The neighborhood she was walking through was eerily quiet and completely empty. Some of the street lamps above her weren't working and the ones that were kept flickering on and off. This only unnerved her more. She quickened her pace, inwardly telling herself to remain calm.

It's okay. Just five more minutes of walking and then you'll be at home.

Gwen jumped and gasped when the street light above her went off as did the right and left side. It was completely dark from where she was standing and she could not see what was to the right or left side of her. She once again tried to remain calm, but her thoughts brought her no comfort.

Having had enough of this, Gwen decided to cross the street to where there was some lighting. Just as she was about to do so, a shiver went down her spine. Something told her to look in the dark, and against her wishes, that's what she did. At first she couldn't necessarily say what it was, just that in the dark she was able to see something...red...and that it was coming her way. It wasn't until a few more seconds of staring that she realized it was a red balloon. It was a red balloon and it was slowly floating towards her.

Gwen should have ran, ran far away while she had the chance, but for some reason she didn't. She was in some sort of trance state as she stared at that red balloon. It captured her absolute attention but she wanted more than anything to look away from it. But something subconsciously wasn't letting her. Her breathing was getting heavier and once the balloon was in front of her, her stomach was doing the same weird flips it did when she'd been at the diner.

Something wasn't right.

Gwen could feel that something was about to happen...

No sooner than she thought that the red balloon in front suddenly popped, making her let out a scream.

Gwen for sure thought that her unexpected scream would have drawn attention, but nobody came out of their houses to investigate. This deeply unnerved her but not as much as what happened next.

"Gwen..."

The shiver, or should she say shivers, returned, making her panic. Had someone actually called her name from the dark? If so, who? As far as she could tell she was the only person here. She tried convincing herself that it was her mind playing tricks on her. That the strange red balloon was the cause of this. Nobody had called out her name. It just wasn't possible.

"Gwen.."

Gwen's dark eyes widened when she heard her name being called out again. This time no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. Someone had called her name. Someone who was hiding in the dark. Whoever this was, she did not recognize their voice. They sounded childish but at the same time they didn't. It was weird but in a creepy way the voice almost didn't sound human.

This was indeed a fear inducing situation, but for some reason, out of nowhere, she decided to reach for the Turtle necklace she was wearing. Touching it immediately made her heartbeat go back to normal. It soothed her. As soon as she started to feel less scared there was a sudden popping sound coming from right next to her. That caused her to jump a little from surprise. By now, Gwen got a better handle of herself, allowing her to gain the mental strength she needed to finally run away.

Gwen didn't stop running until she made it inside her house. Glad that none of her family members were there to witness her ruffled up state, she slid down her front door, taking in and letting out air. Although she was now safely inside her house a disturbing thought lingered in her mind. Which was that she could have sworn she heard laughter coming from behind her the whole time she was running.