Next Morning

After experiencing nightmares one after another Bill and his friends gathered as planned and scheduled. They were all listless themselves. They started sharing their experiences and told each other about their fears being brought to life. It was as if whatever they feared would become reality and they noticed an out-of-place clown in it as well as a red balloon within that nightmare.

They felt chills climbing behind their backs and trembled in disbelief. All those fears manifested as if they became reality and they couldn’t help but fear it. Only Bill was a bit out of place. His nightmare was not bad. It cannot be even called a nightmare as what he had experienced is that the said clown was about to approach him but his missing brother, Georgie, appeared to save him. Protecting him with his small back Bill couldn’t help but let his tears fall.

As a man, it is very hard to let the tears fall but seeing the only person missing in his life emerge in front of him he felt so happy and extremely sad. Because the reality that he lost his younger brother was finally slapping his face so hard. He couldn’t even hug his younger brother at that moment. Why? Because he is no longer alive and becomes a ghost with no vessel to protect him. His only solace is that the man with a hidden face says that his little brother would be brought to a happy and peaceful place. Protected until the very end by his superior master.

What happened after everyone split to look after the other targets?

Protector – Target:

Georgie and Zhi Yang – Bill

Stanley – Lan She

Richie – Han Ya

Eddie – Chu Mo

Beverly – Zane

—

Point of View of Stanley.

Stanley is the son of the only pastor in the town. His daily life contains training for the next pastor of the town. He would practice reading the bible every morning and afternoon. Afterward, he would be asked by his father what he had remembered about the bible.

He just finished training and was now being asked by his father about what he had learned for today. But he was a bit dazed after getting bullied by Henry in school and didn’t remember much.

“Your heart is not with me right now. Go to the study and read the bible a few more times today, Stan.” said his father.

Stanley didn’t dare to disobey and responded, “Yes, father. I will.”

But when he heard the word study, Stanley’s eyes couldn’t help but tremble. He recalled one of the eerie paintings in the study that scared him the most. It was a painting of a distorted figure of a nun. Oval head, small nose, small eyes, and smallmouth. It doesn’t look like humans at all which terrified Stanley the most.

He entered the study and hesitated to walk in. His eyes wandered to the wall where the paintings are. Among them, the eerie painting of the nun which he hates the most was spotted by him among the other paintings. Just looking at its figure made him feel that the nun in the painting was looking at him and was observing every single of his actions. He felt overwhelmed and wanted to avoid looking at the painting.

So Stanley dashed inside the study room to look for the bible and instead of reading it in this room he decided to bring the bible and do the practice reading in his own room. But as he passed the said painting, Stanley couldn’t feel those stares on him once again.

Unknown to him, Lan She was following him in his ghost form and witnessed all of his actions including his attempts to not look at the picture of the nun who was seen by him.

Lan She was observing the distorted painting of the nun which Stanley is so afraid of. In the beginning, he felt nothing coming from the painting. It was until Stanley looked so hesitant to enter the room and showed obvious fear towards the painting that he saw a demonic qi coming from it. A red aura, it’s an aura of a fierce ghost or entity. Only demons had this kind of aura.

And then he remembered that clown, Lord God Ye had beaten up. The Clown is named Pennywise. At that time, Lan She didn’t care much about it. As a demon wouldn’t be able to defeat the Lord God of the Netherworld himself.

But seeing this right now, the clown named Pennywise is indeed a demon. It’s not an ordinary demon who just feeds on blood, flesh, and soul. He seems to feed more on fear and all other things are just snacks to him.

Lan She murmured, “A demon who feeds in fear. It was quite weak but… he had chosen his target very well. Children are more capable of fear than adults as they are more imaginative than the rest.”

He watches as the events unfold before him while holding a few purification talismans in his hand. The talismans on his hands aren’t high-grade as they still have the mission to have the targets solve the mystery behind the said Dancing Clown, Pennywise.

While Stanley is picking up the bible within the study he heard something fall from behind him. The study was so quiet that the sound of something falling became too loud for him to ignore. Stanley was frightened as he noticed that the sound was coming behind his back. The location where that painting is coming from.

Upon turning around he immediately saw the painting on the floor. It was indeed the one that fell on the ground. Stanley noticed a red balloon attached to the fallen painting which left him even more confused.

Stanley’s thoughts, ‘It’s that painting but… just where did the balloon come from?’

He walked towards the fallen painting observing it for a few minutes before deciding to pick it up. But as soon as picked up the painting, the object painted on it suddenly became alive and the nun with a distorted figure half leaned out of the painting smiling at Stanley, and suddenly struggled with his neck.

Gyeaaaa~

Urk! Gah!!!

‘No. NO! What the hell is this!? It became alive!! Someone… Save me… Urg~ I… I don’t want to die…’ Thoughts on Stanley.

Stanley did his best to pull off the painting before himself but the strength holding on to his neck isn’t normal. His face instantly turns white to pale as he looks so horrified at the figure of the distorted nun that was choking him.

Lan She was planning to observe more on whether the clown would appear in the place himself but except for the red balloon which seems to be the source or catalyst for demonic power, there is no figure of the clown at all.

“So this one is not his main target,” mumbled Lan She as he threw a Talisman towards the red balloon. As soon as the yellow paper sticks to the balloon, the nun on the painting who was strangling Stanley had started shrieking.

KYAAAAHHHHHH!

And then she let go of Stanley, glaring in the direction of some dark corner of the room where Lan She is hiding. The targets can see them but if they intentionally hide themselves then even the targets wouldn’t know where they are hiding unless they showed themselves intentionally.

The painting fell on the floor together with Stanley who was gasping for air. Lan She stepped out of his hiding place and captured the red balloon which was about to fly away. Stanley in his last moment before fainting saw the blurred figure of Lan She holding the red balloon.

Stanley’s mouth moves but not a word comes out.

‘Who are you? Why did you save me?’

These are the questions Stanley wanted to ask Lan She but he fainted due to lack of air. Seeing that the boy had a blackout for a while, Lan She decided to leave. He whispered a warning to Stanley as to whether he heard or not, he doesn’t care much.

“Fear is its greatest food. It is also its greatest weakness,” said Lan She before taking his leave.

Weak demons like Pennywise could only attack their targets once every day. It wouldn’t be able to attack the same person in the same time frame especially since he has lots of targets to choose from.

—

Eddie’s point of view.

Eddie was riding his bike on his way home. He drops by the clinic to pick up his usual medicines. The pharmacist at the clinic had already known Eddie as a regular customer.

The pharmacist said, “Finished your meds, Eddie? No wonder your mom asked for another batch. Here you go!”

“Thank you, Sir,” said Eddie.

On his way out he saw Greta with her nose smashed and covered in a white bandage. He was surprised to see her face smashed in such a way.

Eddie said, “Hah~ what happened to your nose, Greta?”

“None of your business, loser~,” said Greta.

Eddie clicked his tongue and said, “That suits your personality better. Ugly both inside and outside. Bleh~”

“You!! Come back here you **ing nerd!!” yelled Greta but Eddie had already run out of the store and rode off with his bike. .

He rode his bike all the way home but had to cross the 13th street to reach his place. He was pedaling his bike as relaxed as always until he noticed something amiss with his surroundings. It was too quiet as if he is the only person in the world.

He felt creepy with how silent his surroundings were and pedaled even faster to reach his home as soon as possible but the corner of his eyes caught the scene of the abandoned house at the end street. A ruined house that is almost about to naturally demolish itself.

Tall grasses in the courtyard and entrance. Dead trees at some corner of the garden. Broken doors and fragments of window glasses. Torn curtains and webs at the corners of the house. It was totally abandoned and can be considered a haunted house.

But what caught Eddie’s eyes were the out-of-place clusters of red balloons.

Eddie mumbled, “Red… Balloons?”

Suddenly a few sickly people, as if an apocalypse virus infected them, blocked Eddie’s way. Some of their skins were rotten and even yellowish pus was excreted from them. The scent of decay and disease assaulted Eddie’s nose instantly making his stomach churns. He pinched his nose as he waves the people around him away. His face is pale as white and purple he couldn’t almost hold back his vomiting.

“Urgh! Go away. GO AWAY! Ahh~” yell Eddie.

“Are you afraid, Eddie? Don’t worry I am not that sick hehe cough! Cough!”

“Cough! Cough! Cough! Eddie~ let’s hug ~”

“Adorable child~ a healthy child to infect hehehe~”

Eddie was about to lose it as he even swung his bike at the people surrounding him but even then he couldn’t escape. He had always been afraid of getting sick and germs. As he was told since he was young that his body is too weak. Getting sick would get him killed. That’s why he took so many unknown medicines his mom prepared for him. It might be vitamins or whatever. He just wanted something that would keep him healthy.

Now being surrounded by countless sick people makes him so afraid it was as if the germs would kill him on the spot. He curls on the ground covering his face. The sickly people try to reach out to him from all angles. But in the corner of his eyes, he finally saw who was the one holding those few red balloons that made him interested. A creepy clown that would even haunt you in your nightmare. Smiling at him with a pair of leering eyes asking him,

“Are you afraid?” asked Pennywise, the dancing clown.

‘Yes…’

Just as Eddie is about to close his eyes in preparation for his death, he suddenly has a downburst wind falling from above. The sick people surrounding him had been blown away by a strong wind instantly saving him from his predicament. When Eddie once again opened his eyes he saw a boy of his age but his structure is even more powerful than that of Henry and his friends. His features were quite wild yet silly as he looked down on him with one of his eyebrows raised.

“Is the ground comfortable for you, brat?” said Chu Mo who arrived on time. “Wake up, kid. This is only an illusion that a stupid clown is making you see. But are you for real!? You’re afraid of germs and illness? Pfft~ funny… Hehehe~”

The disdain in Chu Mo’s voice is so evident that it made Eddie feel embarrassed. He had always been a clean freak and hated germs more than anything.

Eddie stood up and retorted, “Yea! I’m a clean freak! So what!?”

“Dude. I have no problem with you having OCD. My boss’s wife is an extremely clean freak but he is never afraid of germs. It’s just germs and viruses. You can’t even see it with your eyes. Why the hell are you so afraid of it? That’s lame~” said Chu Mo as he even reached out his tongue in annoyance.

Eddie was stunned as he felt that what the man had said was not wrong. Germs and viruses cannot be seen by the naked eye but how come he is still afraid of them. It indeed feels silly but being told to his face he’s lame made him mad.

“You are lame, your brother is lame, your whole family is lame!!” screamed Eddie. But unknown to him, the effect of fear on himself fades unconsciously in the presence of Chu Mo’s taunts, making the creepy crown on the corner in rage once again.

Pennywise is in rage. “It’s you guys again!!!”