Blood Rose (Completed)

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

The fair was lit up with white coloured lightbulbs which made it almost fairylike. It was crowded already ; teenagers, toddlers with their parents, young couples,... They ran from the circus to the mirror palace and back again. Laughter filled the air and for once, it seemed that Derry was brighter then ever before.

Robert normally loathed it yet he couldn't help the smile that spread on his face when he saw Katherine stood still and watched the scene in be-wonderment. Her green eyes sparkled and they mirrored the thousands of lights. He wasn't aware he was taking in her features, as if he didn't want to forget how she looked like when he'd be gone.

He was put out of his reverie when some screaming children ran passed them and Katherine turned her head to face him. Robert only vaguely picked up on the playing children because he kept his gaze on Katherine's instead.

His smile made place for a smirk and he tapped his feet playfully together.

"My dear," he said, "what do you want to do first?"

"You said there's a great haunted house," she spoke, the joy apparent in her voice and laugh rang through the air when Robert circled his arm in hers.

He pulled her to the far left of the fair. A computer generated voice came from the front of the haunted house. The bad recorded laughter made the exterior of the house even creepier and Robert felt Katherine held her pace.

The house was just that : an old house. Every year the Carnival was build around it because is was one of the town's monuments. Robert never understood why it wasn't tore down. The house was small, build out of bricks and smelled of rotten potatoes in summer. No one important ever lived there and he could tell ; that shit house wasn't haunted at all.

During the fair, the house was dressed up inside with creepy stuff that made him laugh. But he fed on the fear of the people entering it. Even when he still was in his slumber, Robert was sure he'd feel the dread of some of these humans around them.

He glanced at Katherine who looked at the house with an arched brow.

"You aren't scared, are you dear?"

Robert didn't really expected an answer. He already knew it ; she wasn't scared at all. He'd be able to sense or smell it on her. There was excitement radiating of her with a hint of an emotion he couldn't quite bring home. Her heartbeat went faster then normal and a soft, crimson colour decorated her cheeks whenever she turned her eyes away from him.

"I'm not," she said and determined started to walk towards the house to stand in line.

Robert chuckled. He liked her.

Then he choked on his own thoughts and spit on the ground. As if he could spit the thoughts out that pained him. He had to take a deep breath, stretched his knuckles and followed to stand next to her in line.

The people around them were filled with adrenaline that shot high whenever the fake laughter was heard. Here, there weren't any lights to make the atmosphere light and playful. Something pushed down on his shoulders, an pressure of unease that he couldn't quite shake that had nothing to do with the girl who stood next to him. It wasn't the fact that her shoulder brushed against his upper arm ; no, he quite liked that. It had to be something else that made Robert look around him.

When he finally glanced over his shoulder, Robert locked eyes with Mike Hanlon who stood at the tree-line, watching the pair from afar. They stared at each other for some time before Robert flashed one of his wide grins, baring his teeth in the process. Sharp edges , fang-like. He could feel his eyes glow and when a young girl ran passed him with a red balloon in her hands, Pennywise the Clown thundered loudly in his head to get out.

"Robert?"

A soft touch, fingers circled his upper arm gently and made him tear away his eyes from a shocked Mike Hanlon in the distance.

When Robert locked eyes with Katherine again, his teeth were normal and his gaze a soft blue. Confused, he shook his head slowly with his eyes closed.

"What's wrong?"

Tender fingertips came to rest on the side of his face and he took a deep breath in through his nose when Katherine quickly pulled her hand away. His eyes snapped open to lock with her worried green ones. Her touch didn't burn him like it had before, instead his skin tingled from were her fingers had touched him.

"Sorry," she quickly apologised, turned away from him to go while she grabbed her wallet. "It's our turn to enter."

Robert stood still, watching her pull out some coins for the haunted house before he finally snapped out of his fogginess state of mind. He couldn't help to touch the place on his cheek where her fingers had rested for only a second.

Katherine turned to face him. She stood at the entrance now with a warm and playful smile around her red lips.

"Are you coming?"

The giggle that reached his ears sounded like the old carnival songs from a hundred years ago. And Robert pushed his hands down his jacket, nodded and strode towards her.

The brown door squeaked when Katherine pushed it open and Robert felt great again. When the darkness of the house engulfed them both, he could practically feel Katherine's excitement all around them. And he didn't think about it, he just grabbed her hand in his to guide her through the house. Such a human motion yet, her hand felt warm in his cold one and it fitted so perfectly that Robert didn't question the gesture.

In the distance, in the library, Mike Hanlon poured himself a Whiskey and drank it in one go. He proceeded to search the phone-numbers of friends once lost.  With hands that shook terribly, Mike first rang Beverley. The first of the Loser's Club and the rest would follow that same night.