Pennywise, the Friendly Clown

A clown in a sewer

Finally. I was ready for school. I grabbed my bag, and swung the door shut. I threw my bag on my shoulders, and trudged off to school.
Walking was boring. I kicked stones, and picked up branches that stopped me in my path. I threw them in the river, or used them as walking sticks. When I found a better stick, I picked it up, and chucked the old walking stick away. I basically ended up looking like I was hiking. But with sticks, not ski rods.

I chucked my bag in my locker and grabbed my books for my first class. As I was walking to class, I bumped into April. No.
That wasn't April.
My face scrunched up in fear. This April had discoloured skin. Her eyes were a glazed white, and her bones were showing under her dissolving flesh. Who is this then? I was beginning to get scared.
Don't walk up to her! It's what happens in all of the horror movies! They go to the danger, and die! Just walk away, and you will be fine.
Just an illusion.
"April?"
So much for horror movie 101.
I tapped her on the shoulder. Her head rolled unnaturally in my direction, and she smiled. It was an eerie smile. The type of smile that a crazy person has. She opened her mouth. "Amy?" She mocked.
Then she vanished.
Just like that. I heard a small pop sound as April, (No, the creature), disappeared. It wasn't done with magic ninja smoke. It just, disappeared out of existence.
Poof!
I blinked a few times. Ok? Maybe a prank from the bullies.

Maths whizzed by, and I didn't see any sign of April. Then recess, I was alone. Humanities. Science. Lunch. Still no sign.
Then something weird happened in English.
"Ok class, you have to do a spelling bee today." Everyone groaned. "But you get a chocolate if ya win!" Then everyone was like, 'ok, sounds good to me.'
So it started. The first word that I got was balloon. That was easy. "B-A-L-L-O-O-N." yay! I made it to the next round. Everyone got their words. I got coffee next. I was correct, and made it to the next round. Mississippi? Ok? I spelled that one too.
"M-I-double s- I-double s-I-double p-I!"
Then it was down to the final four people. Two people in our class were going to win.
"Ok Andrew, spell float."
"F-L-O-A-T."
"Congrats, you are a winner. Now April, spell F-L-O-A-T." I was just about to say, "Um, April's not here." When the teacher said, "you are correct! Congrats!"
What? Creepy...
"Alex. Spell F-L-O-A-T."
We didn't have an Alex.
But there was an Alex who disappeared.
Three months ago.
A loud, 'you are correct!' Snapped me out of my thoughts. The teacher slowly walked up to me. "Amy, spell float."
"F-F-F-L-O-A-T." I stuttered. My hands were shaking. Why did she say Alex? April? That makes six people. I started to sweat.
"You are incorrect. You added in an extra two f's, which aren't in the word." She cackled. Yes. Cackled. It was a mixture between a giggle, and a cackle! Teachers don't cackle.
"Ok." I whispered as I sat down.
"Ok guys, now you are going to copy this down into your books. Open up, and get writing!" Her hand grabbed a stub of chalk, and wrote, float. My breath caught in my throat.
float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...
I shakily grabbed my pen, and wrote the same as what was on the board.
float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...float...

I ran to April's house. She had to be sick, or maybe she was playing a prank on me? I kept running.
I leaned against the porch, trying to catch my breath before April's parents answered. I heard the doorbell ring, and it was followed by footsteps. The the lock clicked, and the door swung open.
"Hi Amy." April's mother greeted.
"Hi, where's April, she didn't come to school today." I panted.
"She wasn't?"
"No."
"She walked off this morning. Do you have any idea where she would have gone?"
"No." I repeated.
"Come inside, we can talk." She stepped aside to let me in the house. I pulled my shoes off, and put my bag on the floor.
"Hey John! Amy said that April didn't come to school today!" April's Mum called out. I heard a faint, 'really?' And saw April's dad walk down the stairs.
"Thank you for telling us, Amy." Her dad smiled. "You can go home if you want, we will wait for her, and go and look for her if she doesn't." I knew exactly what he meant. Kids go missing a lot in Derry, and usually are found either cut up.
Or not found at all.
"Thank you." I stepped outside and waved to April's parents. Should I go looking for April? Yes, I will. It comes with risk though. But it's not like anyone will care.
So I walked off, checking corners, and knocking on people's doors for information. I walked to the mall, to see if she ditched school. Nope. I looked in the forest. Not there either. The only place I haven't checked is the sewers. I laughed to myself, but stopped. Actually, that's where a lot of kids are found. My heart started to beat faster. I ran to the sewers. And ended up facing a wide mouth of concrete. I took a deep breath, and walked inside.
The water echoed off the walls as my feet waded through it. I checked for any signs of anything. I am now sure that April has been taken. The moss on the walls was slimy, but I didn't care, same as I didn't care much about the smell. It wasn't that bad, it just smelled like dishwasher water, and salt. Ugh. I ended up at a fork in the path. Left, or right?
I didn't get to that decision.
"Hahahahahaha!" I froze, and held my breath. Someone was laughing. "Hahahahahahaha!" I heard it again! It echoed off the walls, and sounded quite distant. I then heard a slushing sound. Someone was walking in the water.
And it wasn't me.
It got closer. And I could hear the moving of fabric, and the breathing of the person who was walking slowly towards me. "Hahahahahahaha!" The laughter was clearer, and closer then it was before. I then saw a figure step out of the bend in the fork. It just stood still, not moving, or breathing. It was too still. I then heard a low chuckle behind me, and I spun around to see a six-and-a-half foot clown standing behind me. I screamed, and backed up. Wait, was the person still behind me? I turned away from the clown, and saw a miss-formed, diseased April, standing right in front of me. I screamed again, and backed up into the old fabric of the clown. I screamed once more, and turned around.
"Ahhh!" The clown mocked, and jumped back and waved his hands in front of his face like a scared Barbie doll. He then cackled, and walked close up to me, and bent down from his giant height right in front of my face. His breath wooshed in my hair, and it smelled of old blood, mixed with, fairy floss? It wasn't a good combination. And my face scrunched up a little.
He chucked again. "Is little Amy scared?" He said in a raspy, evil voice.
"No." I whimpered. He grinned, and stood up to his full height, and looked down at me. And suddenly, he was gone. I looked down, and there was April. Dead April.
"I didn't come to school today." She said. "I flooooaaaaated away." I tried to say something, but no words would come out of my mouth. "If you don't, you'll float too." April ran at me, one leg limping behind the other. I screamed, and ran to the entrance. I dodged April, and fell down onto the floor. And I got a whole, lovely mouthful of grey water. Yum.
I gagged, and pushed myself up, to see April stumbling towards me, repeating, floatfloatfloat. I screamed once more, and ran into the light. Nearly in tears, I ran as fast as my legs would go, and when I was brave enough to look back. No one was behind me. But that didn't stop me running, I was sprinting home like Bolt.
I opened the door, and collapsed on the floor. I gasped, heaving in precious lungfuls of air. I backed up in the corner, and cried.