Tʜᴇ Dᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴀ Dᴇᴍᴏɴ | (IT)

Red Balloons

Avira's POV

I stood up quickly and looked at the balloon floating in the distance. My mind begin to race with curiosity as the balloon seemed to weave its way through the trees towards me.

Bill looked over his shoulder at where I was looking. "What's wrong A-Avira?"

"Yeah why do you look so alarmed? It's not like you saw Eddie's mom naked or something," Richie said, earning a smack upside the head from Beverly.

"The balloon," I mumbled, pointing. Ever since October last year, I always saw red balloons. But lately, something, or someone would whisper my name every time a red balloon was near me. I think I'm going crazy, but this town is weird. It's always been weird and I can't wait for the day that I leave. 

Everyone turned and looked at where I was pointing, but as they did, the balloon floated behind the trees and out of their sight. I sighed and sat down again. "Just never mind. Forget it." I must be going crazy.

"Are you sure?" Eddie asked as a cold breeze blew past them. He took out his inhaler and puffed the medication into his mouth.

"Yeah its fine," I said, waving my hand. "Just my crazy imagination."

A low giggle suddenly came from the trees. My eyes changed to blue as I stood up and moved so I could look into the trees. No one was there. I sat down again as Ben began pulling out papers and folders out of his bag. They hadn't seemed to notice my reaction, and I was thankful for that.

"School's out for summer!" Richie said in a stupid accent, looking at the folders.

"This isn't school stuff," Ben replied as he flipped through some papers.

Richie grabbed some papers and began looking through them. "Whats with the history project?"

Ben began explaining what the papers were and handed them around. As the papers were passed to me, I noticed a  clown, holding red balloon. IT looked so familiar.

Stan must have noticed the look on my face because he asked, "Is everything okay Avira?"

"Yeah, you've been acting kinda weird Avi," Bev said, taking the papers from me.

I sighed. "Guys I'm fine. I just recognize a lot of the stuff and things that have happened in this pictures, that's all..."

"Your eyes..." Eddie whispered. Shit.

"I th-thought you had green eyes," Bill said. I could sense the hint of suspicion in his voice. He looked at me curiously as I racked my brain looking for an answer.

"Her eyes change color a lot from the light. It's fine guys." Richie said before i could open my mouth. "You're acting like you've seen a ghost."

Everyone went back to talking about the pictures and some place called the Black Spot.

"Why is it all murders of missing kids?" Richie asked, flipping through pages.

"Derry's not like any town I've ever been in before..." Ben said softly. "They did a study once; turns out people die or disappear 6 times the national average."

Everyone went silent. "You read that?" Beverly asked.

"And that's just grown ups. Kids are worse, way way worse. I've got more stuff, if you wanna see it," Ben said. Eddie shook his head frantically but Bill nodded.

Everyone put their clothes on and grabbed their things. We started riding out bikes to Ben's house. We dropped our bikes in the front as we follow him inside. We walked to his room, and fell into silence when we saw the pictures and news paper articles taped to the walls.

Ben and Richie started talking about the Charter of Derry Township. "91 people signed, but they all disappeared that winter without a trace," Ben said.

"The entire camp?" Eddie asked, looking at the images on the walls.

"There were rumors of Indians, but no sign of an attack. Everyone just thought it was the Plague or something... but its like one day everyone woke up and left."

I listened to Ben's quiet voice talk. I was looking at an image on the wall. In the image, people were lined up to sign in a book. But on what side of the image, blended in with the people, I noticed a clown. The clown. It was the same clown I had seen in Ben's other images.

"The only thing left was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the Well House," Ben finished.

Everyone started talking until Bill said. "W-where was the Well House?"

"I don't know. Somewhere in town, I guess," Ben replied. "Why?"

"N-no reason."

After hanging out at Ben's house, we all went out separate ways. I began walking home with my bike. The wind started to blow harder as I walked down the street. I walked past Richie's house, then Beverly's apartment. I thought I heard a scream, but I pushed that thought aside and continued down the street.

"Avira," I heard a voice call. I turned around, but no one was there. I turned around again, only to see the red balloon a few meters away from me. "Avira, come here." The wind blew my dark hair into my face. I pushed my hair back and saw the balloon floating away.

I took a deep breath and started following it. My mind raced, asking myself what was wrong with me. But my curiosity wouldn't stop. I tried to reach for it, but every time I tried it moved farther away from me. I stopped and looked around. I was in the Barrens. I was standing in front of the sewer entrance, the balloon hovered a few feet away.

I slowly made my way into the sewer. I gagged from the stench but continued to walk, using the balloon as my guide. I turned the corner and saw the balloon hovering next to a closed off area. A dead end. I looked around, nearly panicked and confused.

"Welcome home Avira..." A low voice whispered, then giggled. I turned around abruptly, but before I could see where I was or the scenery around me, I felt my weight fall forward. My head hit the metal bars and I fell unconscious.