Chapter 33
Pennywise returned to the sewers and headed back to his lair, holding a couple of bloody, dead squirrels in his hand. He had to admit, dead meat like those squirrels did taste good, but that was nothing compared to the taste of sinner's meat and blood. Pennywise returned to his lair and opened the steel door. When he went inside, his father and Henry were alarmed and Henry looked like he was ready to fight.
"Relax, it's me." Pennywise smiled.
Once he was in the light and showed his amber eyes, Pennywise's father and Henry calmed down. Pennywise's father was overjoyed to see his son in the grandson of one of the people that beat him; the best part was that the man in question was still alive.
"Wa ho ho, I'm so proud of you, Pennywise. You finally got him." He said, proudly.
"Yep, and don't worry, I have Mike under my complete control. He will not be able to fight back." He said, confident.
"I be careful, Pennywise. His grandfather managed to break free from my power, only for a couple of minutes. Who knows how long Mike will be able to break free from your power and…" Pennywise's father said, uncertain.
"Dad, relax, everything will be fine. I have Mike secured within his mind. It will take more than everything for him to break free. Anyway, here's some squirrels, dad." He said, assuring.
Pennywise gave them to his father. Calm, Pennywise's father took the squirrels and started to eat them. Henry got off the bed.
"Henry, check on the prisoners. If they're asleep, then go and rest." Pennywise commanded.
"Yes, master." He said.
Henry soon left the room, leaving Pennywise alone with his father. Pennywise's father gulped the big chunk of squirrel he ate.
"So, when are you going to kill him?" he asked.
"I'll kill him tomorrow morning, I want the old man to feel a little bit worried before I go for the kill." Pennywise answered.
"Excellent, I sure have taught you well." Pennywise's father said, impressed.
Pennywise couldn't help but smile at his father's compliment.
The Next Day
The losers club were still at the hospital and morning had just begun. Bill started to wake up and so was Richie. Slowly, Richie started to open his eyes and while his vision was a bit blurry, he slowly regained it. Richie got up slowly and was suffering from a massive headache.
"Ahhh." He grunted.
"Richie?!" Bill said, alarmed.
"Bill?" Richie said, slowly.
"Guys, wake up. Richie's awake!" Bill said, urgently.
Everyone started to wake up and Beverly and Georgie were the first to rush to the bed.
"Uggh, what happened?" Richie moaned.
"Richie!" Georgie said, excited.
He got on the bed and hugged Richie tightly.
"Aggh." Richie moaned.
"Be careful, Georgie." Beverly spoke.
"Richie, are you alright?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah…Yeah, I'm okay." Richie spoke.
He and Eddie hugged each other and Bill could tell that Richie was happy to see Eddie again. Richie let go of Eddie and could see the cast on his arm.
"Eddie, your arm." He said, concerned.
"It's nothing, I'm fine. How are you feeling?" Eddie asked.
"A little sore, but I'll be fine." Richie said.
As he said that, he rubbed his head to ease a bit of discomfort. Richie looked around; Bill, Beverly, Georgie, Eddie, Ben, Stanley, and Ale were here. All, except Ale, were overjoyed and relieved to see Richie. However, Richie noticed that Mike wasn't here and had a sinking feeling.
"Guys, where's Mike?" he asked, concerned.
The group looked at each other, each one unsure about what to tell him. They looked back at Richie.
"Richie, Pennywise has Mike. We found you in the alleyway where the butcher shop is, but by the time we got there, Mike had disappeared and you were there all by yourself." Beverly explained, gently.
"What?! No, No, No, No!" Richie said, frantic with concern.
"Richie, it's okay, Pennywise won't hurt Mike." Beverly reassured.
"No, it's not that. It's just…he made me watch." Richie said, tearing up.
"Made you watch what?" Beverly asked, scared.
"He made me watch…as he killed Patrick. He made me do it." Richie cried.
Stanley and Bill comforted him and looked at everyone else. The others were shocked and concerned, even Ale had a shiver run down her spine. As Richie started to calm down, Bill looked back at him.
"Richie, tell us what h-h-happened." He said.
"P-Pennywise lured Patrick deep into the sewers. When he was too deep, Pennywise cornered him and after a few minutes of Patrick using his hairspray as a flamethrower, Pennywise attacked him and stabbed him multiple times. He than went to the end of the tunnel and left my body for a bit. I blacked out for a bit, but when Pennywise possessed me again, I was standing over Patrick's skeletal body with a can of blood in his hand." He explained.
"It must've been the sinners blood, fear demons have to collect it." Ale spoke.
Bill looked to see if Richie's parents heard any of this. Thankfully, they were asleep and didn't hear a thing. Bill looked back at Richie.
"That's it, we're g-g-going to s-s-see Mike's gr-grandfather." He said.
"What?!" Ale said, shocked.
"Bill, he'll never talk to us." Eddie pointed out.
"He w-w-will n-now. Mike's missing and his gr-gr-grandfather must be w-w-worried s-sick. We need to f-f-figure out what's g-g-going o-on here and this all st-st-started with o-our grandparents!" Bill said, firmly.
"Okay but, what are we going to tell the cops?" Beverly asked.
"Yeah Bill, what am I supposed to tell them?!" Richie said, concerned.
Bill looked at Richie's parents again, they were starting to slowly wake up, so Bill leaned closer to Richie.
"Okay, Ale gave us a cover st-st-story to u-use. Here's wh-wh-what y-y-you'll s-say." He instructed, quietly.
After a few minutes, Richie's parents were fully awake and got up from the hospital couch. They looked over and could see the group surrounding Richie's bed, looking glad to see him finally awake. Richie's parents were overjoyed to see their son awake and rushed over to the bed.
"Hi mom, hi dad." Richie greeted.
"Oh my baby." Richie's mom spoke.
Richie's parents hugged their son tightly, as the kids gave them space. Unbeknownst to Richie's parents, the losers club and Ale were pretending that Richie had just woke up and looked at each other with uncertainty.
A few hours later
After a few hours of talking to Richie's parents and the police, the group and Ale left the hospital and headed towards Mike's farm. When they got to the farm, everyone got off their bikes and searched around for Mike's grandfather. While the group searched around, Ale got a whiff of something and went to follow the scent. She followed the scent trail and made it towards Mike's house, but when she got there, she saw blood splatter on the window.
"Guys." Ale yelled.
The losers club came and saw what Ale was seeing. Bill approached the door and turned the knob; it was unlocked. Bill opened the door and everyone went inside slowly. When they got into the house, they looked around and could see that the kitchen looked disturbed. The group got into the kitchen and were horrified by the sight. On the floor was Mike's grandfather, bloody, stabbed, and on the verge of death. There was blood everywhere, some kitchen jars were broken, and there was a shotgun with unfired bullets on the floor.
"Mr. Hanlon!" Bill shouted.
He crouched next to Mike's grandfather, being careful to not disturb the scene. Everyone else were too stunned to move.
"What happened?! Wh-Wh-Who d-d-did th-this?" Bill asked.
"M-M-Mike…M-Mike." Mike's grandfather choked.
"What…" Eddie said surprised.
"Are you saying Mike did this?" Beverly asked.
"St-Stay A-Away…" Mike's grandfather gasped.
After he said those words, Mike's grandfather slowly lost his breath and passed away. Everyone was upset and horrified by what they saw and Georgie, Beverly, Stanley, and Ben couldn't help but shed tears for the old man.