You ran right into the girls' restroom near the back entrance of Derry High School.
You know?
The restroom with the busted mirror over one of the old, porcelain sinks that were lined up against the wall that was littered with graffiti and mean words that labelled certain girls of the school as 'sluts' or 'man-stealers'. With some names listed of girls who were probably grown women now, and whom probably graduated or dropped out long-since you arrived to the school.
Derry High School had been around for a long time, after all. And it was still the only high school in this small town you found yourself in.
Derry.
You stormed over to in the farthest corner of the room, standing in front of the sink there as your hands clutched tightly to the front of it. Your head bowing as you clenched your teeth, pressing your lips together to try and hold back the scream that was trying to escape your mouth.
You didn't scream.
But, a deep moan of anger and frustration choked its way out of your throat.
One of the two flourescant lights that served to illuminate the restroom flickered and buzzed softly on the ceiling above you, adding to the overall creepy atmosphere of the place. It's why you liked going to that particular restroom when you needed some time alone. It seemed like most of the other girls in your school avoided it like the plague, because they found it too off-putting.
Which meant that you could be sure to find quiet refuge and solitude there, when you needed it.
But, it wasn't exactly as quiet as it usually was. Along with the constant buzzing from the broken light above you, there was a soft and steady 'drip-drop' sound that you just couldn't ignore. Lifting your head a bit, you recognized the culprit. Someone-- possibly you-- hadn't turned the faucet of the sink in front of you off completely before leaving it, previously. Resulting in that miniscule flow of water that dropped into the sink.
You obliged to make it stop, twisting the cold water knob on the sink.
The dripping stopped.
The dripping from the faucet stopped--
But, now there were two more sets of water droplets falling into the dirty sink.
They were from you.
You lifted your head a bit more, making eye contact with yourself in the mirror. Your eyes had become a bit red. Watery. And you wiped away the thin streams of tears that seemed to trickle down your cheeks and fall into the sink beneath your head. Sniffling softly, you furrowed your eyebrows at yourself.
Oh, how you hated crying. You hated when others saw you cry. And you even hated seeing yourself cry.
But, you were under extreme stress, lately. Even more than usual. And your peers at Derry High School didn't make it any easier for you.
Another, strangled whimper sounded from your throat and you cringed as you heard yourself. Quickly turning the knob on the sink again to turn the water on full-blast. Because, if you couldn't stop yourself from crying like a pussy-bitch, at least you could drown out the sounds of it with rushing water.
Little did you know that you were inadvertantly giving a certain school bully a means of locating you by having the water running so ferociously and loud.
A certain bully who'd noticed you on your journey to the restroom without being spotted by you.
.......
Henry Bowers.
The boy who loved knives.
The boy who didn't love his 'friends', but loved the way that they followed him around like he was the second-coming of (anti-)Christ.
The boy who loved to torment and torture anyone he felt like he had the upper hand over. And... he had the upper hand over a lot of the young people in Derry.
That Henry Bowers.
He was currently stalking the quiet halls of Derry High. This was one of those rare instances when he wasn't surrounded by Victor and Belch and Patrick. Because, it was class time and the current class-period he was skipping out on didn't include his minions.
Henry decided in the middle of that boring lecture on 'The History of Derry' that he would simply ask to go to the bathroom and occupy himself alone while waiting for the classes for that period to end. Then, he'd link up with his gang-- The Bowers Gang-- and they could all skip the rest of their classes for the day.
And Henry knew that they'd do it. They did everything Henry told them to do.
