IT31 || 31 days of IT

6 - Glitch

It started with the birds. One would just randomly hover in the air for just a few seconds before reappearing with the others. Then, it was the rain. One moment, it would be down pouring then suddenly, for a split second, the world would be sunny and dry. Then, the rain would return, as if that split second of good weather never happened.

Then... It was the car accident...

Stan was walking to the local coffee shop to meet with his best friend Mike. He got there first and decided to wait at an outside table. He stood as soon as he saw Mike crossing the street. Suddenly, a car came out of nowhere and drove through Mike and into the wall of the coffee shop. Mike was pinned. The sound of his pain-filled screams, the shocked gasps and horrified screams of onlookers, the honking of horns, the shrieking voices asking if Mike was okay and calling an ambulance. 

Mike was dead on the hood of that station wagon. All Stan could do was stare at the disgusting scene. His best friend was dead.

But then he wasn't.

He blinked and suddenly, there Mike was again, crossing the same street. Stan looked around with wide eyes and then at Mike before eyeing the station wagon out of the corner of his eye. Mike walked quicker this time and the station wagon drove right past him, just barely getting around him. The station wagon crashed into the wall but Mike was safe. This time.

Stan jumped up and ran over to him, staring at the car and then at Mike.

"Are you okay?" Stan asked, worriedly. Mike just nodded, shock overfilling him. "What just happened? Weren't you just-" Stan trailed off at Mike's confused expression. Mike hadn't remembered what Stan could.

Stan tried to forget about that incident. But it never truly went away. It stayed glued in the back of his mind and it always returned when another incident would happen. 

At least that situation turned out better the second time. Stan really hated the ones that only got worse.

He remembered as a kid, hanging out at the quarry with his best friends. He remembered jumping off that cliff and swimming in the cool water alongside them. They all had fun and were safe. They even played chicken and then sat out under the sun for a while. 

In an instant, that was all gone. 

One second, Stan was sitting out under the sun with his friends and listening to music. The next second, they were all back in the water. He remembered listening to the screams and panicked voices from his friends. He looked around in a daze and saw the splashing. He remembered swimming under the water as soon as he pulled his wits together. He pulled Beverly back up to the surface, got her to land, and gave her CPR. 

He remembered everything but he was the only one.

He even remembered the sewers. He remembered those golden eyes staring him down. He remembered the teeth latched onto his face and the air from his lungs getting sucked out.

He remembered the clown.

While everybody else forgot.