IT imagines and preferences

{victor} 1

prompt:
Dark hour; there's one hour every night that only few people can experience.

My eyes slowly blink open and almost without a thought, I crawl out of bed. I instinctively look at my clock just to make sure that everything is as normal.

0:00 n.m

I look down at my hands and close them softly, checking to make sure this is still real. It never truly made sense to me.  I'd looked this phenomenon up in the library once and there are other cases of this around the world, but I seemed to be the only one in Derry who experienced it. I had never seen anyone around during what they called the Dark Hour. Less than 4% of the world is reported to have experienced this. In some cases the people only experienced it every once and a while, but I've experienced it every night for as long as I can remember. It's origin seems to be nothing more than urban legend, leaving people like me to the shadows.

I ran down my stairs and walked out the front door. The town as a whole was asleep, with me as it's only real inhabitant. I pulled my walkman out of my pocket and hit play, putting my headphones on and walking down the road. My mixtape played in my ears while I head down to my special spot in the woods.

 I see my neighbors dog on his front lawn. Ernie was the only other living thing I'd ever seen during the dark hour. I walk over to him and pet him on the head, watching his tail wag approvingly. I open the gate to the lawn and let him strut along side me as I always do. I check my watch to make sure I was on time. 0:05, it reads. Perfect timing. 

Ernie and I walk along the path to our spot in the woods. Suddenly, Ernie stops, sniffs around a bit, and then begins to bark violently. I take off my headphones and grab a stick from the ground, holding it like a bat. Ernie barks louder and I see bushes begin to rumble in front of us. My heart pounds hard in my chest as the noises from the bushes grow louder.

Right as I'm about to swing the stick, a tall teenage boy with icy blonde hair emerges from the bushes. Ernie growls and prepares to pounce on the boy. I continue to inspect the boys fearful face when I finally recognize him. I kneel down next to Ernie and pet his head,
"Calm down, Ernie. He won't hurt us." Ernie's growls subside and he licks my hand.

"I uhm- I'm sorry if I scared you, Y/n. I didn't realize there was other people in Derry that were awake during dark hour." the boy spoke.

"It's alright, Victor. I didn't know either." I had 3 classes with Victor in school. He was truly a sweetheart behind his bully demeanor. We had worked on projects together and he was always very kind to me. I continue, "You wanna come with me? I'll show you where I stay during the hour." He nods his head and I grab his hand in mine, walking him towards the haven i made in the woods. He stares in awe at the small hut i'd built, various battery powered lights scattered on the walls. i realized we were still holding hands and my palms go sweaty. i draw away from him quickly to save the embarrassment. 

We sat around at the campsite I had built over my time in the dark hour. Ernie sits on my lap panting and drooling. Victor reaches over to pet him, in this light you can see the hazel tint in his eyes. You can see the strong handsome features in his face and his soft platinum hair tickles over his eyes. If I hadn't known better I'd think he was just the average boy he seemed to be in class, never would I think him to be in a terrifying gang. We sit there silently, enjoying each others company until time begins to run short in the hour. We begin to walk our separate ways when, "Wait. Can we meet up again tomorrow? I'd rather not be alone now that I know you're here." he smiles shyly, he had a nice smile.
I smiled back, "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow." We went off our separate ways and I went to bed, thoughts of a pale boy with soft blonde hair dancing through my head.

The next night we met up again and from there, it continued like that for weeks on end. We grew close in that time, sharing homework answers and even personal secrets. We sat in our hut that now held his things and some of his decorations, reading over our Geometry notes. I lean my head on his shoulder and I can see his face flush. When we were sharing secrets I found out he had never had a real girlfriend, only quick flings that died fast due to his gang position.

He wrapped his arm around me, God, he's so warm, I cuddle closer to him before pushing him off from the little bench we had built and onto the blanket padded floor. He yelps and giggles on the floor as I curl up next to him again. He opens his arms again and I lay my head on his chest, basking in his scent.

"I wish it could be like this all the time. No school, no gangs, just you, me, and Ernie." I sigh.
"So do I. I don't think anythings that easy though. We live two completely different lives. I don't want you getting tangled up in my gang business. I don't want you to be pulled into my nonsense. I care about you too much to let that happen."

 He starts to play with my hair while we watch Ernie chase his tail. Vic chuckles, pulling me closer to his chest. We drift off to sleep there, not caring about the world around us, not caring about our lives on the outside. We fell asleep, completely disregarding that we has school, that we only had an hour in the night before time returned to normal. When we wake up, it's already too late.

 Ernie had already gone home out of instinct. "Oh shit Vic! Vic get up" i yell. He shoots up and realizes just what we had done. It was morning and we were asleep in the god damn woods and not at home.

Luckily we had our backpacks from studying so we just got our shit together and ran. If he had been any of the other members of the gang he would've just skipped the day but Victor was devoted to his grades. For me it was like any other day of going to school but Vic usually got picked up by the gang. Walking into school with me would surely get him into deep shit. We ran as fast as we could to get to school, Vic quietly cursed to himself about the shit he'd gotten himself into.

We finally near the school when I looked up to see his face. "Vic?" I call out to him. He looked down back at me and i grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulling him down and kissing him gently. He melted into the kiss, arms sliding around my waist before we pull away.
He kissed my forehead softly, i got the message; he had to go.
"I'll see you tonight." he said sadly before he gently pushed me off of him and took off around the corner to use the side entrance of the building. I followed slowly behind him knowing I shouldn't but curious of what would happen next.

Leaning against the wall is Henry, Patrick, and Belch. All I could hear before I left for the other entrance were the words of Henry Bowers himself,

"Who's that chick you were with Vic?"

-
-

-

-

-

-

Authors Note: Hey guys!! Sorry for the wait but I'm finally beginning to publish all my drafts. There will be a part 2 to this so feel free to tell me what you'd like to see in part 2! Also pleeeeaaaseeee leave request so my brain doesnt run dry again like it did when i first stopped updating.

Lots of love,

The author