Pennywise's Neverland

Chapter thirteen: New Home pt 2.

The door creaked open, and Georgie felt his heart drop as he took in the scene before him.

They stepped into a massive, sprawling room, its walls and floors coated in a blindingly bright shade of pink. The color was sickly sweet, almost pulsing, as if it were alive, seeping into everything within. The room was chaotic, cluttered with toys of every kind: worn-down dolls with painted-on smiles, twisted jack-in-the-boxes, tattered stuffed animals with missing eyes. Scattered across the floor in a random array, some heaped together in piles, others lying abandoned on patterned rugs that stretched across the room in mismatched shapes and colors.

Georgie's gaze swept over the room, a cold sense of dread curling in his stomach. There was no other door in sight, no visible exit, just the expanse of pink stretching endlessly around them, trapping them within this strange, nightmarish playroom.

Finn moved close to him, his presence a comfort in the overwhelming chaos. Georgie cast a grateful glance at him, and Finn nodded, his jaw set, his eyes wary as he scanned the room, his gaze lingering on the clown standing in the doorway.

"Oh, don't be shy!" Pennywise cooed, spreading his arms wide, his smile stretched into a grin that showed far too many teeth. "This is all for you, Georgie. My little paradise. And I'll be here to make sure you have the best time."

Georgie shuddered, clutching Finn's arm as they took a few hesitant steps forward, the damp, spongy floor yielding slightly under their feet, a sensation that only added to the room's unsettling atmosphere. Sofia, on the other hand, skipped past them, her small face lighting up as she made her way over to an old, chipped tea party set in the far corner. She sat down, arranging the cracked cups and mismatched plates with a delighted grin, seemingly oblivious to the room's wrongness.

Pennywise's gaze followed them, his eyes bright with an intense, unnatural gleam as he watched Georgie and Finn. But he made no move to approach, simply standing in the doorway with that wide, gleeful smile. He gave a small, mocking bow, his voice dripping with faux kindness. "I'll let you boys have some time alone. After all, friends need their privacy. I'll be around."

With that, he backed out of the room, his laughter echoing as the door creaked shut behind him, leaving them alone in the oppressive silence. Georgie released a shaky breath, his shoulders slumping as he looked around, trying to process the twisted playroom, its bright, garish decor clashing with the heavy sense of dread that filled the air.

Finn guided him over to a quieter corner, away from the piles of toys, his hand steady on Georgie's shoulder as he sat him down on an old, worn rug. Georgie felt himself relax, if only slightly, as he met Finn's gaze, the familiar presence grounding him in a place that felt anything but safe.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked quietly, his voice laced with concern.

Georgie nodded, though his heart was still racing, his mind reeling from the sheer strangeness of it all. "Yeah, I just... I don't know where we are. Or what he... what it wants." His voice was barely a whisper, the fear pressing down on him like a weight he couldn't shake.

Finn's face darkened, a shadow of something grim passing over his expression. "I don't know exactly," he admitted, his voice low. "But I know this much-Pennywise isn't just some... man, or even a monster. He's something else. And this is his lair."

Georgie swallowed, his throat tight as he looked around again, his gaze lingering on the toys, the garish pink walls that seemed to close in on them with each passing moment. "What happened to you? The bruise.. how'd we get here, Finn?"

Finn's expression hardened, his jaw clenched as he glanced toward the closed door, his voice barely above a whisper. "The Dealer. He gave me this little souvenir before I left. But, there's something else, Georgie.. He's dead. Pennywise took him down-wiped out the entire ring, all of them." He paused, his gaze distant as he continued with a slight tremor "Everyone's dead, every single one and I thought- I thought he got you too.."

A cold shiver ran down Georgie's spine, the reality of it sinking in. The Dealer, the man who had orchestrated so much of their suffering, was gone, replaced by something far more sinister. The thought should have brought some comfort, some sense of justice, but instead, it filled him with a deeper, more primal fear. Whatever Pennywise was, it was beyond anything he'd encountered before.

"What.. I," Georgie said, his voice barely a breath, the weight of the words pressing down on him, cold and unrelenting. "So it's just us?"

Finn nodded, his expression grim. "Looks that way. And as long as he's got us here, we're at his mercy." He paused, glancing over at Sofia, who was happily chattering to herself as she poured imaginary tea into cracked cups, blissfully unaware of the horror lurking just outside the door.

"But he likes to play," Finn added, his voice steady but low, "and as long as we keep giving him that, we've got a chance. We can keep him... entertained. Maybe buy ourselves time to figure something out."

Georgie looked at him, searching Finn's eyes for any sign of a plan, any sliver of hope he could cling to. "Do you... do you think we could escape?"

Finn hesitated, the silence stretching between them before he finally spoke, his voice soft, resigned. "I don't know, Georgie. I really don't. But we'll find a way to survive and I'll do my best to find any cracks in this place."

"Okay.. okay.. yeah."

Sofia, oblivious to the tension that hung between them, called out cheerfully, holding up a chipped cup in their direction. "Come play, guys! We're having tea!"

Georgie managed a faint smile, though the fear still gnawed at him, dull and unyielding. He gave Finn a small, hesitant nod, and together, they made their way over to the tea set, sitting down beside Sofia as she poured them each a cup of invisible tea, her face lit with a joy that felt haunting in the midst of their dread.

But even as they played along, pretending to sip from empty cups, Georgie couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on him, watching, waiting, studying his every movement. The clown might not be in the room with them, but he knew, deep down, that he was never far, that they were trapped in his world now, where every game, every laugh, was twisted to feed its dark, insatiable hunger.

And as they sat in the mockery of a tea party, Georgie felt the faint pulse of hope he'd clung to slip further away, replaced by a fear that ran deeper, sharper, a fear that whispered that no matter how hard they tried, they were already caught in a game they couldn't win.