Floating

Part one: Derry

The school year went by super fast. I had my 13th birthday a couple of months ago. It wasn't that bad of a school year. No clowns and no balloons. Sixth period was almost finished when the intercom turned on "Remember, all kids 15 and under have a curfew of 7:30 and have an amazing summer." My principal, Chris Stevens (or Mr. Stevens if you are not his family) was not very liked; he didn't really care about us kids until he got his paycheck. He also didn't like it when we failed, which I would have done if it hadn't been for Mr. Li. Mr. Li was one of those teachers who actually liked being a teacher. He wasn't hard on us, and if we were one point away from failing he would give us the D-. That's what happened to me.

The bell rang and that amazing feeling of school being over washed over my body. It was finally summer. I ran out and hopped on the bus. I always sat on the fourth seat back next to the window, usually alone. I put my backpack down between my legs and opened the bus window a little bit more. It was about 86 outside and really sunny with no clouds that the eye could see. I saw a group of friends who most people call the Losers' Club dumping their school supplies in the trash. I knew one from math class. His name was Richie Toizer. He was basically the class clown but most of his jokes were bad. As they were leaving, I saw Henry Bowers and his goons walking up to them and I slid down into my seat so they couldnt see me. He had been looking for me since I had refused to let him use my test to cheat.

He wanted to and I quote " Beat your ass and use it as a rag". The only reason that had not happened yet was that I had stayed close to adults most of the time. I didn't want him to beat me, especially on the first day of summer. I watched as the tall one, Patrick Hockstetter picked up the Jewish kid's Kippah and threw it right at the bus. The throw was perfect and it went right through the opening in the window and into my lap. I didn't really know much about Jewish culture, but we had a history lesson about Jewish culture when we learned about the Holocaust. I was thinking about throwing it out the window but thought Henry might see me and I decided to just put it in my pocket. The bus driver started the engine and drove off. That was the last time I would see that school.

When the bus came to my stop I could see my mom waiting for me with her head down. I ran off the bus and asked her what was wrong. "Your father is dead", her lip quivering. "He got shot this morning a little after you left as he was walking to his car." She just stood there crying. I could see people staring as they walked by. I grabbed her hand and ran inside.

"Mom, is he actually dead?"

"Yes, Paul." Still holding her hand I thought to myself, why was I not sad, why was I not crying, I couldn't help but feel happy.

"Do they know who did it?" I said trying to stop the happiness that was rising inside of me. I bottled it up as best I could but I couldn't hold it in. I ran to the bathroom before my mother could answer me. I got to the bathroom and slammed the door. What the hell was wrong with me, my dad had just died and I didn't give a shit. I looked into the mirror to find myself smiling. That gave me a chill down my spine and I looked back down at my hands to find them trembling. I looked back to the door and saw writing on it. "You are welcome, Paul, You owe me. From your only friend, Pennywise the Dancing Clown." I could not move my feet, they wouldn't even move anyway, I thought. My mind was telling me to run but my body said no. We had learned about fight or flight in science class last year, but my body and mind could not choose so I decided to close my eyes for a good while and all I could hear was the substance on the door dripping on to the white carpet in the bathroom. Then it stopped. I slowly opened my eyes to see the same balloon I had seen when I had first got to Derry. "Welcome to Derry, Paul." Finally my fight kicked in and I grabbed the scissors that were in the bathroom and popped the balloon. I opened the door slowly and saw the clown.