Chapter 32

At the hospital, Richie was laying on the hospital bed, unconscious, had an IV in his arm, his clothes were switched to a hospital gown, and was a bit dirty. Bill, Georgie, Beverly, Eddie, Ben, and Stanley were sitting in chairs, wondering and thinking about what to do.

"Bill, what are we going to do?" Beverly asked.

Bill didn't answer, he was too troubled by the recent events to hear Beverly.

"Beverly's right, we've managed to come up with some excuses on how Eddie and Richie disappeared, how we found Georgie, and how Beverly and Ben got hurt, but now things have changed, and the hospital has Richie's clothes. Once they discover that it's Patrick's blood, what are we going to tell them?" Stanley asked, worried.

Bill didn't answer that time either, but he knew Stanley was right. If the cops find out that Richie killed Patrick, than it was game over for him; Richie would spend the rest of his life in prison. Bill was lost on what to do and was feeling frustrated by everything that has happened. Suddenly, Ale came into the room, holding a soda can.

"Alright, I have some good news. I overheard some of the nurses and cops talking, and they think Bowers killed Patrick and that Richie must've been forced into helping. If we play our cards right, than there's a chance that we can help Richie avoid prison." She said.

Ale sat down on one of the chairs and started drinking her soda. The group were hopeful about this, if they could make a cover story that would add up, than there was still a chance. All they had to do was come up with a cover story that would help answer some questions. Suddenly, Richie's parents entered the room and rushed towards Richie's bed.

"Oh my God, Richie." Richie's mom whispered, shocked.

They both stood next to Richie's bed and were just overjoyed to see that Richie was alright, but were upset by the fact that he was unconscious and dirty. Bill, Eddie, Ben, Stanley, Beverly, and Georgie got up and looked at each other, wondering on what to tell Richie's parents. Richie's father looked at the group, than at Bill; enraged.

"What the hell happened, Bill?! You told us that Richie was sleeping over with you guys!" he yelled.

The group flinched, Bill realized that his cover story for where Richie was, was falling apart.

"M-M-Mr. T-T-Tozier…" Bill began.

"Mr. Tozier, Mrs. Tozier, can we talk to you for a minute?" a nurse spoke.

Everyone looked to see a nurse and a police officer outside, Richie's parents looked at their son, then at the loser's club, than walked out of the room. Everyone, except Ale, looked at Bill.

"Bill, what exactly did you tell Richie's parents?" Beverly asked.

"I t-t-told th-them that Richie was g-g-going t-to help me with a s-s-summer pr-project. I told them that R-R-Richie would be sp-sp-spending the n-night at my house for a f-f-few d-days." He explained.

Greaat. Now Richie's parents are not only going to find out that Richie killed Patrick, but they're going to think that he's been missing this whole time and that we've been lying about it! I bet that the blood found on Richie's clothes already matches Patrick's!" Stanley said, panicked.

"Did you not literally not hear me about what I said about Bowers?!" Ale said, annoyed.

Everyone looked at Ale.

"Oh, do you have a better idea on what to tell them?" Stanley asked, annoyed.

"Yes, tell them that Richie left to go get something and that after a while, you went to search for him and found him like this." Ale explained.

The group was impressed, Bill thought this could actually work, but Georgie and Stanley weren't convinced.

"Okay, but how do we explain the rest, we've been blowing off calls for the past few days?" Georgie asked.

"Here, tell them this…" Ale begin.

Meanwhile

Mike started to wake up and as he did, his head hurt and was feeling a bit dizzy.

"Ugh, what happened?" he moaned.

Mike regained his vision and looked around. He was still in the alleyway, but Pennywise wasn't there. Mike suddenly got a sinking feeling; something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The surrounding area was quiet, a little too quiet.

"Georgie! Ale! Bill! Beverly!" Mike called out.

Suddenly, a door started to rattle. Mike jumped in surprise and looked to see an old door next to him. However, the door wasn't rattling; instead, the door was intense knocking and pounding. Than, smoke started pouring from underneath the door and the door started to barely open. Fire could be seen from the cracks and soon, burnt, smokey hands were trying to push the door.

"MIKE! MIKE! MIKE, OPEN THE DOOR!" a male and female voice screamed.

Mike couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was his parents, he never thought he would hear their voices again. He was only six when they died and seven years later, that memory still haunts him. Suddenly, everything went dark around Mike, than a light appeared in the middle. Two people stepped in front of the light, Mike recognized their warm smiles as his parents.

"Mom, dad…" he greeted.

Mike ran over to them and gave them a big hug. Mike's mother and father hugged him back and seemed overjoyed to see him again.

"Oh Mikey, my baby, we've missed you so much." Mike's mother said.

"I missed you too." Mike said.

Mike suddenly realized what was going on and it started to make sense. He let go of his parents and he backed up a bit.

"Pennywise has possessed me, didn't he?" Mike asked, scared.

Mike's parents looked at each other, than at Mike.

"Yes sweetie, he has." Mike's mother spoke.

"No…no, no, no, no! This is bad, I…I have to fight him, I have to regain control. He already made Richie kill Patrick, who knows what he'll make me do or worse, who he'll make me kill." Mike said, panicked.

"Mike." Mike's father spoke.

"Mike, calm down sweetie." Mike's mother said, sternly.

Mike started to calm down and take a couple of breaths. His mother was right, he wasn't going to get anywhere if he started to panic, he needed to calm down. His parents gave him a sweet smile and started to hug Mike again.

"Aww, sweetie. Everything is going to be fine." His mother said.

However, unbeknownst to Mike, his parents eyes revealed demonic amber eyes.

"Besides, it'll be fine since you're going to live. We've been dead for years, for because of you." Mike's mother said, growling.

Mike eyes went wide with terror and he backed up a bit. His parents looked demonic, their eyes glowed amber, their teeth turned to fangs, and their fingernails changed to claws. Suddenly, they were ignited on fire, turning them into black, angry, and vengeful spirits. With ultimate speed, the two spirits grabbed Mike and pinned him on the wall. Mike screamed in terror, but stopped when he realized that he wasn't feeling any burning pain. Tentacles appeared and wrapped Mike's arms and legs tightly. Mike struggled to break free, but it was pointless, they were too tight. Mike looked and saw the spirits back towards the light and with a flicker, the two spirits morphed and changed into that of a seven foot, demonic clown. Mike's eyes went wide with terror, as the demon clown smiled sinisterly at him.

"Hello Mike, how did you like my show? Pretty great, right?" The clown greeted.

It suddenly made sense, the demon clown in front of Mike was none other than Pennywise himself and this whole thing had just been a ploy to cruelly play with Mike over the grief of his parents and the fear of fire. Mike didn't dare answer and Pennywise could see that his victim wouldn't give him the satisfaction he wanted.

"No matter, this will keep you in your place." Pennywise smiled.

He took out a metal pipe and a pot, and place the pot on the ground next to him. Mike wasn't intimidated, but he was confused.

"What's that, something to torture me with?" Mike asked.

"No, much worse." Pennywise smiled, grimly.

He raised the pipe to his mouth, opened it wide, and made a sound that sounded like wind coming in. Suddenly, Mike's eyes turned white and white mist started leaving Mike's mouth and it entered the pipe. Then, milky liquid exited the pipe and poured into the pot. After a few minutes, the last bit of mist left Mike and his eyes turned back to normal. The last drop of milky liquid entered the pot, than the tentacles let Mike go. Mike dropped to the ground and he tried hard to get up. Chains came out of the wall and chained Mike's hands and feet.

"And to make sure you ever think about fighting back." Pennywise said.

Another chain came out and chained Mike's neck. Pennywise was more confident than ever that he wouldn't have any problems with Mike. He approached Mike and leaned into his ear.

"Now that you're secured, I can finally deal with your grandfather." Pennywise whispered.

"NO! Please, leave my grandfather alone!" Mike screamed, pleading.

He struggled as best as he could, but it was useless. Mike was laying on the ground, terribly weak, and soon, his mind went blank.

At the farm

Pennywise stood a few feet from Mike's grandfather's farm. He couldn't believe it, he had complete control over the grandson of one of the people that beat his father. The thoughts of what he would do to him were glorious, the blood, the pleads for mercy, it was all so glorious. Down the street, there was the Bower's residence. Pennywise knew about the long feud between the Hanlon's and the Bowers and figured he could instigate the flames one more time. Pennywise pondered if he should kill Michael now or wait till tomorrow. Considering his father's hunger, he decided that he would kill Michael tomorrow. Now, he just needed to get some food and bring it back to his father.