Chapter 34
The Losers club were horrified by what had just happened. Michael Hanlon, Mike's grandfather, was found bloody, beaten, bruised, and dead. Who was going to tell Mike when they found him, no one knows, but judging by what Richie went through, there was a good chance that Mike already knew. Bill looked around, there was broken glass on the floor and on the counter, there was blood spatter on all over the kitchen, and there was a damaged shotgun on the floor with empty, unfired, shotgun shells scattered all over the floor. It was clear that the shotgun had been damaged during the ongoing struggle.
"Bill, what are we going to do?" Georgie asked.
Bill looked at Georgie, he was wiping away tears, the others were either grieving for Mike's grandfather or were stunned by what had just happened, well except Ale. They all looked at Bill.
"He's right, Bill. What are we going to do?" Beverly asked.
"Pennywise has gone too far, this time." Stanly said, angry.
"Alright, alright. First, we'll call the c-c-cops a-and…" Bill said, calming down.
"Call the cops?! Bill, are you crazy?!" Georgie asked.
"Georgie's right. If the cops find out that Mike killed his grandfather, there's no way he'll get a fair trial." Richie spoke.
"Plus, the cops have been using DNA to solve murders, they're going to find Mike's all over the place!" Eddie added.
"True, but what's the motive?" Ben asked, skeptically.
"Who cares, Ben? One look at Mike and they'll have all the proof they need." Richie argued.
"He's right, Ben." Stanley agreed.
As the others talked about their options, Bill listened and thought hard about what to do. He knew that if they called the cops and waited for them, it would take hours for them to go out and find Mike. Finally, after some time, thinking, Bill had a plan.
"Come on, guys, we're leaving." He said.
Bill left the house with the others following him.
"But, what about Mr. Hanlon?" Georgie asked.
"We'll c-c-call the c-c-cops a-and…" Bill explained.
"And wait for them, Bill are you crazy?!" Richie protested.
"I'm n-n-not finished. We'll call the cops as an an-an-anonymous t-tip, we n-n-need to head to the s-s-sewers, Pennywise has gone too far." Bill explained.
The group got on their bikes and were about to ride off, but not before Bill remembered what happened last time and looked at Ben.
"Ben, do you have the ex-ex-extra m-maps?" he asked.
"Yep, I came prepared this time." He said.
"Good, lets go." Bill said.
The group rode off, heading down from the dirt road, and back on the street. Unbeknownst to them, they didn't realize that Ale had stayed behind.
A Few Hours Earlier
Pennywise was outside the house, he peered through the window to see Michael sitting on his sofa and loading his shotgun, it was clear he was worried. Pennywise smiled sinisterly, as his eyes glowed with pure delight. Pennywise approached the door and made sure that his eyes were Mike's. Once he opened the door, he made sure to behave, have the voice, and act like Mike.
"Hey grandpa, I'm back." Mike greeted.
"Mike, where have you been, I've been worried sick!" he said, concerned.
Michael put his gun down and rushed over to Mike, hugging him tightly.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Henry and his gang ambushed me on the way to the butcher shop. Bill and the others came to save me." He explained.
Michael let go of Mike, grabbed his shotgun, and headed to the kitchen.
"Oh, is that so. The butcher did call me to tell me that he didn't get the meat I gave you to deliver. What happened with that?" he asked.
"Yeah, Henry destroyed the meat, it got tainted, sorry grandpa." Mike explained.
"It's fine, I'll tell him that Bowers attacked you and that I'll give him extra meat with the meat you'll deliver tomorrow. Are you going to have any problems tomorrow?" Michael asked.
"No, I'll be fine, grandpa." Mike said.
"Alright then." Michael spoke.
He went to the sink and started to wash the dishes. Pennywise wasn't sure if Michael had noticed Mike's personality change or his choice of words, but he was sure that he was fooling the old man. Meanwhile, Michael had noticed Mike's unusual choice of words. Usually, Mike would refer Henry Bowers as just Bowers and he would never respond to questions like that. Something was wrong and Michael was fearing the worse.
"Someone really needs to deal with Henry, the way Patrick was handled." Mike spoke, sinisterly.
"Oh, how should they "handle" Henry?" Michael asked.
"How do you think? Patrick was stabbed, wasn't he?" Mike asked.
Bingo, that was the red flag. The news never said anything about Patrick being stabbed. However, that didn't mean that Mike could've heard this from someone in town. Word was spreading and everyone was getting nervous, but just in case, Michael looked at the mirror and his stomach dropped. Just as he feared, Mike's reflection showed not his, but that of Pennywise. Michael looked away quickly, not sure if Mike saw him, but Pennywise sure noticed and was waiting to strike. Michael slowly reached for his shotgun.
"But yeah, Henry really needs to be stopped." Mike spoke.
When he turned around, there was his grandfather, pointing his shotgun at him. Mike looked confused and was starting to get scared.
"Grandpa, what, what are you?..." he asked, scared.
"Get out of him." Michael spoke.
"What?" Mike asked confused.
"Get out of him, IT! I know that's you inside of Mike, did you think I'd forget this? This is the same shit you pulled on me and my friends, all those years ago! I'm only going to say this once, get out of my grandson, NOW!" Michael shouted.
When he said that, it was like Mike had dropped some sort of act he had and just revealed his true colors. Mike was no longer scared and he had that "looks like the cats out of the bag" look.
"Okay, you caught me, but let me ask you something, are you really willing to shoot your own grandson?" Pennywise asked, sinisterly.
Pennywise revealed his glowing eyes to Michael, which didn't faze him, to say the least. Pennywise took out the knife he had, which startled Michael. The knife was still covered in squirrel blood, but Michael didn't know that. He thought it was human blood, which caused Michael to sweat with nerves.
"What…what did you?..." Michael spoke.
"This? Oh, nothing personal. However…" Pennywise spoke.
He raised the knife and placed it dangerously on Mike's neck. This alarmed Michael as he knew that if Pennywise cut Mike's throat, he wouldn't be dead physically, because of Pennywise's spirit, but would be dead spiritually, especially when Pennywise leaves Mike's body.
"Put the shotgun down, Michael, NOW!" Pennywise demanded.
"No way. Give me one good reason why I should trust you not to slit my grandson's throat?" Michael asked, cautious.
Mike slowly approached Michael, his smile more sinister than ever. Michael backed up, not sure what IT was planning. Surprisingly, Pennywise was the first to drop the knife, catching Michael off guard.
"I'm going to ask again, Michael. Are you willing to shoot your own grandson?" Pennywise asked again.
"I can shoot him in the arm. It'd give him enough time to fight you." He answered.
"Oh, you think Mike will fight this? I've got him locked inside his own mind." Pennywise smiled.
He suddenly grabbed the shotgun and threw it in the kitchen, this caught Michael off guard and he didn't know what to do. Pennywise realized he didn't need a weapon to kill Michael, he would just use his fists, the same way his father was beaten.
"Let me ask you something, Michael, do you know who I am?" Pennywise asked.
"The hell kind of question is that IT?!" he shouted.
"Wrong. Look in the mirror, Michael." Pennywise spoke.
Slowly and cautiously, Michael looked in the mirror and saw the demonic reflection again. However, after a closer look, he realized something, the reflection in the mirror wasn't the demon he saw all those years ago, it wasn't the same one that possessed him either. Suddenly, Michael remembered he and Audra's conversation.
"He has a son, Michael." He thought.
"Wait, that means Audra was…" Michael realized.
He didn't realize that he had said this out loud, but it didn't matter, it was all Pennywise needed to hear. Then, he leaped and attacked Michael. Pennywise was on top of him and gave him a few good punches. Once Michael got over the shock, he kicked Pennywise off of him and now Michael was on top of him, trying to figure out someway to get this demon out of his grandson.