2nd Chapter – Memories
At sixty-four, the head librarian of Derry's public library was no stranger to nightmares. A recent one sees him reliving a suppressed memory of being chased. The twelve-year-old is fleeing something through the ruins of the Kitchener Ironworks but no matter how hard he looks, the pursuer is nowhere in sight. Every now and then, something blots out the sun for a second, but no matter how strong his curiosity, the boy refuses to look up.
He runs into a great overturned chimney stack and stops in his tracks: seemingly waiting for him is a pale little bald man with haunting black eyes wearing a 'fifties doctor's smock.
"What's chasing me?" he asks the little man in desperation. "What does it want?"
The little bald man remains silent and points to the sky directly above him.
The boy-librarian shakes his head in defiance, "I can't."
The strange man continues to point but still the boy refuses to look. Eventually, the little man breaks his silence with unmoving lips: [You must… Look your fear in the eyes… Do not let it hold you down… Tell your tale… For your story is yet unfinished…]
2
For the fourth time this week, Mike Hanlon wakes in a cold sweat. I'm too old for this, he scolds himself. If I loose anymore sleep, I'll start seeing things, hearing things…
[See the turtle of enormous girth…]
The utterance causes Mike to snap his head around to his bedroom door. I know that voice… instantly, his mind begins to conjure long-suppressed images of spiders and turtles and birds.
(Oh, my!)
[Upon his back he holds the Earth…] this second input is unfamiliar to him. Similar to the first, but soothingly feminine. Before he could comprehend anything more, the owners of the voices stepped into the open from either side of the doorframe, standing not much taller than the middle of the frame itself. The eerie twins were almost too much for the elderly man to bear.
Luckily, Hanlon was still sitting up in his bed when he began to sway to the left. Impossibly, Valkyrie had crossed the room to prevent the gent from hitting his head on the steel headboard.
Visibly shaking, Mike Hanlon placed his elderly hands over his elderly eyes. "The turtle is dead," he began to utter hysterically, and turned to face his visitors. "It said so… sköldpadda… Dead!"
Lachesis stepped forward from the doorway and nodded, and although Mike didn't see it, it seemed he felt it though, for he looked up. [That's why we're here, Mr. Hanlon.]
[To set everything right,] Valkyrie finished.
[To awaken your memories,] Lachesis added as an afterthought.
The short-timer raised a brow in perplexity, and then shook his head like a child, the pursuing shadow in his dream rising from the back of his mind. "I-I can't," he told the apparitions, unknowingly echoing his dream-self.
Lachesis smiled, [You must,] he repeated.
Valkyrie: [Look your fear in the eyes] Lachesis: [Your story is yet unfinished.]
[Natalie Deepneau will come and see you today,] Lachesis continued. [Tell her what you can, shield her from nothing. You wrote a journal in the eighties: use it.] The fate reached into his pocket and tossed a little something that glittered to Hanlon, [If that fails, try this.]
[Sweet dreams, Mr. Hanlon.]
The little bald doctors cast each other a glance and disappeared with a thick pop.
Mike Hanlon unfurled his fingers: resting on his palm was a round, hastily made silver bullet.
3-Nineteen Fifty-eight
[That's who you've chosen?] Atropos sounded mildly disgusted. [A four-eyed jester just begging for an arse-kicking and a stringy little Jew who'll be knocked over if the fat kid sneezes? You must be fucking kidding me! These kids won't stand a fucking cha -]
[They have heart,] Clotho cut him off quietly. [It's all they'll need, trust me for a change.]
[They will all have the same motive in the end,] Lachesis added, falling into step between the short-time boys. [An unspoken desire to send It back to the Deadlights.]
Without warning, the bespectacled boy yelled a nonsensical sentence (something to do with a Y-pool and bellybutton lint,) broke into a run and lumbered down the path to where Bill Denborough, Eddie Kaspbrak and Ben Hanscom crouched next to their second dam. The second boy, who Atropos had now affectionately dubbed "the Runt", struggled to catch up to his friend.
The fates arrived in time to hear Bill and Eddie introduce the newcomers as Richie Tozier and Stanley (Atropos: [he suits "runt" better.]) Uris.
[Seven down, two to go,] Clotho muttered proudly as the boys began to make their acquaintance.
[Who're the last two?] Atropos asked sarcastically. [Tweedledum and Tweedledee? Or maybe the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse? A fine fucking tea party this is tur-]
[Shut up,] Lachesis interrupted. [You agreed to this, nobody made you come, quit bitching.]
Atropos turned to Clotho, mock-shock written on his face. [are you just gonna stand there and let that little shit talk to me like that?]
[Why not?] The Purpose shrugged. [He's right: we can't make you cooperate, it was your choice.]
4
[How often have you done this?] Valkyrie asked as they stood at the foot of Sean Carpenter's bed.
[About three times too many,] Lachesis replied after a pause. [Ralph Roberts, Lois Chasse … and you. Stand back, this is delicate.]
Valkyrie observed silently as her companion strode over to the left side of the teenager's bed and climbed up. Crouched next to the still form, he placed his outstretched hands over the boy's chest and closed his eyes. Slowly, Lachesis' aura began to blend with the boy's light blue one, in short pulses at first then gradually the aura changed to a deep turquoise as the doctor's gold merged with it.
The moment Lachesis removed his hands, Sean Carpenter's eyes flickered open and he seemed to look directly at Valkyrie, then to Lachesis. It wasn't until he shook his head tiredly and rubbed his face that she realized he couldn't see them yet.
In the next room they could hear his little sister dreaming the nightmares of the haunted. [We should really check on her,] Valkyrie stated as Lachesis jumped off the bed.
[No, we shouldn't,] he answered bluntly. [Sophie Carpenter doesn't need us just yet.]
***
[Damn, we should've kept that Danville kid a little longer,] Lachesis muttered as they made their way to the next house: Natalie's best friend Charlotte and her brother Kyle were hopefully to be the last two kids to see Pennywise for what It really was. [He would've been perfect.]
[You know we couldn't possibly have changed that,] Valkyrie replied. [The Gunslinger needed him more than us.]
[Yeah, I know,] Lachesis sighed. [He would've made this so much easier for us, though. There'd be no need to place Natalie in danger again, particularly after the sacrifice Ralph made for her.]
[Don't be so sure about that. After what you've told me about this thing, do you really think we could've gotten Patrick into the Deadlights and kept him alive long enough to actually draw It?]
[It would've been difficult, yes, but definitely possible. Come on, last stop for the night, then home.]
5
After bidding him goodnight, Valkyrie watched Lachesis slip into his chamber and wished it would be so easy for her. For some reason, she had been experiencing strange dreams of familiar faces and foreign names. Who were Priam, Iapetos and Ma'at? Instead of retiring to her own room, she strolled outside to a red-barked tree that she remembered was no higher than herself on the day of her Becoming. Now, the tree seemed to compete with the one that acted as an entryway to her home. Now, it always seemed to be a good place to think. She ran a hand over the black mark someone had left in the trunk as the names cycled through her mind. Priam… Iapetos… Ma'at… Ma'at… Priam… Iapetos…
She couldn't help but think of what she had witnessed Lachesis doing that night: hijacking sleep from Short-Timers… Is it possible that an All-Timer is doing that to me?