**Say What You Mean Out Loud**

~ T W O ~

Stanley Takes a Bath

Stanley Uris sat at his glass coffee table, sticking the colorful jigsaw puzzle piece into their rightful place.
That was the great thing about puzzles, everything had a place, and everything fit perfectly in their place.

The image was coming together, a colorful array of birds, all different species.
Some red, some yellow, but all elegant.
As most birds were.

"Should I just book it?" A voice called from their kitchen, just behind the man.
"You sure you can get away from work?"

He smiled and stuck the puzzle piece in, creating the rest of the canary's face.
"It's summer! Why not?" He smiled.

There were two slots left, but only one piece.
He was missing one somewhere.
"Okay, we are Buenos Aires bound!" His roommate announced.

He liked his roommate, she was predictable and boring. Something he was familiar with.
I mean, just having a roommate at 39 is a little off, but something about him told him to take the chance.

Stanley scooted over on the sofa, glancing underneath the coffee table .
There he saw the puzzle piece in the center, hiding underneath.

He got down on his hands and knees, reaching down to grab it.
Just as he did, his phone started to ring, buzzing the whole coffee table.

He looked up from underneath the glass and read a mysterious phone number, one he'd never seen before.

He got up and put the final puzzle piece down, grabbing his phone and answering it.
"Stanley Uris speaking." Was his monotone response, how he answered every phone number he didn't recognize.

"It's Mike."
Stanley sat, waiting for further elaboration, but still the name struck a cord with him.
"I'm sorry?" He asked the man.

"Mike Hanlon... from Derry."
His voice faltered and the memory relayed back to him in a flash, laying out in his head like the beginning of a jigsaw puzzle.

"Mike." He smiled, getting up from his spot on the floor. "God sorry, yes. Hi!"
He smiled, sticking his glasses in his front pocket.

"I-I don't know w-why I didn't um... how long's it been?" He chuckled, an airy and awkward chuckle.
This man he had no recollection of just a few minutes ago was calling him, and he ha DMI idea what to say.

"A long time."
Stanley walked to the other side of the room, holding his phone conversation in a little more privacy.
"27 years."

27 years.
More puzzle pieces jammed themself into place in his head, shocking him momentarily.
It wakes up every 27 years.
People go missing around here, 6 times the national average.

He stuck his hand in his pocket and fiddled with the pocket lint, breathing shakily.
"It's come back hasn't it?" He asked. "That's why you're calling me?"

There was something sinister there.
The monster.
The clown.

"It's starting again Stan." Mike sighed, regretfully but seriously. "Bad things are happening."
"B-yah b-but did you call the others? I mean what if... what if they don't come-"

More puzzle pieces being jammed into place.
Others. There were others.
He could remember that now.

"We made a promise, remember?" Mike reminded him sternly. "How soon can you get here?"
"Well... I ju-I Uh... I would need to do a few things first."

"Tomorrow." Mike interrupted him.
"We don't have much time."
Stanley kept his eyes closed, trying to make the conversation disappear.

"I'll text you everything you need. See you soon Stan the Man." Mike Hanlon of Derry, Maine hung up.
Stanley was left with a sickening feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach.

He did not want to go back to Derry.
He did not want to go back to the land of fear and danger.

More puzzle pieces jammed themselves into place in his mind, until one particularly excruciating one fell into place.

The memory of the voice came with the memory of a bloody nose.
No I'm serious. Do you seriously need me to keep reminding you how brave you are Stanley?

He looked towards his roommate, sitting up in the bar stool at her laptop.
"I'm going to take a bath." He announced, for no particular reason.

"Okay..?" She smiled at him.

He went to the bathroom and ran the hot water, making the mirror fog up.
He had all his belongings folded up on the toilet, perfectly put together.

He lowered himself into the tub, watching vivid memories like they were motion pictures.

He thought of Bill who stood in front of him and cut his hand, for the blood oath.

Bigger than that, he thought of the girl.
Grey Elliot. That was her name.

She held him on the back of his bike, tracing buttons on his shirt and pointing out the different bird in the trees.
Ones she thought would interest him.

Something deep down inside of him like a virus, commended him to pick up the razor from the counter.

He sat and looked at it, deep contemplation etching into his features, but eventually put it down.
Something else inside of him was even stronger.

Something that willed himself to be stronger than the virus.
Bravery, confidence, fear, and strength.

But most of all, Grey Elliot.

So instead, he let himself bask in the thoughts, and the warm water, before cutting his bath time short and pulling himself up.

It took everything in him to go back to his room and to pack his bags.
It took everything in him to tell his roommate they wouldn't be going on that luxury vacation after all, and that he's be booking a flight to Maine.

But everything in him included Grey Elliot.
And she was worth fighting for, more than anything.

Maybe he's let his friends down by coming, and maybe he'd let his friends down by ruining the whole thing with his stupid fear.

But it was not in him to give it all up and take his own life instead.
Grey has taught him that his life was worth too much.