The Devil Within

Light It Up

Rachel....Raaachel...I'm coming to get you."

I felt long fingers on my throat, his hot breath beating down on me, I felt trapped. Utterly frozen in fear as his hands tightened their grip on my throat. I was choking. I looked up at the yellow eyes boring into my blue ones, the evil clown smiling wickedly before me.

"Time to float."

I woke up gasping, my whole body covered in sweat. I looked around in a panic, but soon relaxed when I realized I was still back in my own room. I glanced over at the clock, it read 6:30pm. Jeez, was I really asleep for that long?

The sudden sound of a knock on my door caused me to jump, but it was only my dad.

"Hey sweetheart, have a good sleep? Sorry to disturb you, but there's someone at the door for you," said dad.

I frowned, unsure of who could be calling around for me. I sat up and stretched, still feeling groggy from the long sleep I had. I got up from my bed and made my way down the stairs towards the front door, until I heard Susan call me from the living room.

"Your little friend's in here, Rachel!" Susan called out.

My heart skipped a beat, did she mean someone from the Losers' Club? It had to be! I ran into the living room and was immediately greeted by a familiar mess of curly hair and a smiling face, it was Stan.

"Stan! Oh my god, hey!" I said, excitedly. I rushed up to give him a massive hug, squeezing him tightly.

"Rachel! I'm so glad you're back!" he grinned, hugging me back just as tightly.

Stan had changed quite a bit over the years, he still had a bit of a baby face, but less so than when I'd seen him last. He was much taller now, I wasn't that short for a girl but Stan was still a couple of inches taller than me. Other than that, he still seemed to be pretty much the same nervous Stanley I'd grown to be great friends with. Out of the other Losers, I always felt that bit closer to Stan. Probably because he lived a couple of blocks down from my house, but I felt like I could talk to him about anything.

"How did you know I was back?" I asked.

"I was heading back from town and seen this new car parked outside your house, I figured it might have been you so I just had to call and see. I know it's...kinda weird and lame doing that," said Stan, laughing nervously.

"No, it's not lame at all. I'm so glad you did!" I said, grinning.

"I'm just glad you're back, we've all missed you," said Stan, giving a sad smile.

"I've missed you guys too!" I paused. "Say, wanna go get dinner at the diner and catch up on everything?"

"Sounds good to me," said Stan.

---

The diner was warm and comforting, the place hadn't changed a bit since I left. Including the menu. I wasn't complaining though, my usual was still on there and I could barely wait to chow down on some good food. I took a sip of my cola while Stan nervously twiddled his thumbs under the table, I could see there was a million questions on his mind and he wasn't sure which to ask first.

Stan cleared his throat. "So...I'm guessing LA sucked hard?"

I shrugged. "It wasn't all bad, I mean it was really different and new. LA is huge and there was just so much to see, but honeslty I would have enjoyed it more with you guys," I said, fiddling with the straw in my glass.

"Maybe we can all take a road trip down there someday," said Stan, his face softening.

"I'd like that," I said, smiling. "Dad enrolled me to start my senior year at Derry High, so looks like I won't be getting away from school that easily. Bummer."