.

.

.

The rattling of heavy-set brass keys jangled against the wood of the front door, clattering and jingling as a click came from the lock, opened for the person to enter. The rush of summer heat met with the cold air of the A/C, mixing to make an uncomfortable murky sense.

Y/N had never entered her house so quick before, the familiar smells of pine, cinnamon from the spice racks and earthy odors from plants made her feel more safe than being outside. The door slammed behind her, a bit too hard for it shuddered along the walls, making Y/N grimace at how loud it was.

She was still breathing heavily, so hard in fact she was worried she would pass out - it didn't help she hadn't drunk any water either. She had ran half of the journey to get back home, the other was peddling as fast as she could until her legs felt like jello -sore to even touch.

She had cursed herself for not entering the house quieter; the walls were fragile and thin, and it always reverberated off into the neighbours' living room. Guess we'll get complaints tomorrow from them. Y/N thought, throwing her bag down, the content of what was inside clattering with the little effort she had.

She had thought she was alone, the familiar quietness of everything suggested so, but she could hear the light buzzing of a kitchen ceiling lamp, the humming of the oven and the static sounds coming from the TV channels turning.

"Y/N? Is that you?" The voice called to her, and in her nerves of not knowing who it was had dwindled. It was only mom.

"Yeah- sorry, I'm back." She called to her from standing in the hallway, taking her shoes off and heading into the kitchen.

There, her mom was, cooking something that had the smell of buttery popcorn, sweet cotton candy and other smells you would get at a carnival or fun fair. It didn't seem anything out of the ordinary- her mom just liked to bake sometimes, and tonight she was.

"What time did you come home?" Y/N asked quietly, standing in the doorway, examining the room to see if anything was out of the ordinary, but nothing did.

"At lunchtime. I called for you, but it seemed that you had gone out. Where did you go?" She asked, turning round to meet Y/N's eyes, questioning quizzically.

"Nowhere interesting, just the library." she spoke, twiddling her thumbs uncomfortably. "It's summer, shouldn't you be out with friends?" What friends? Y/N coughed awkwardly into her hand. "I... prefer my own company."

"Of course you do." Her mom remarked in a subtle catty way, turning back to her attention on the oven. It seemed she had been making butterscotch pie. No wonder it smelt so buttery yet salty in here. "Sooo," begun Y/N. "how was the trip?"

"Nothing out of the usual - fine. I stopped off at your grandmothers, she's left some things for you. There outside your bedroom." She removed the pie from the oven, placing it on the counter, letting it cool. Her mom turned to her, yet she was still working, moving around the kitchen as if in her own world, doing what she had to do.

Y/N looked from the steamy pie to the static TV that seemed of been having trouble finding connection. She watched her mom at work, and even though she could still hear the static sound of buzzing coming from the TV, she could still just about hear the conversations going on.

It had been turned to a children's show, and oddly, children shows weren't usually broadcasted this late in the day. It looked like your typical average show they would show in the day; kids of different ages sitting in a small group, a form similar to how you would sit in the gym on bleachers.

Sitting in the middle of them was what you could assume was either a teacher or a presenter, eagerly talking to each child about something that had happened in their day.

Y/N thought not much of it, turning to grab something from the fridge.

"My favourite part was when we all went into the sewers!"

"My favourite part was when we went to see the clown - just like Y/N did!"

Y/N had been in mid-thought of pouring some water into a cup, dropping it in the process when she had heard her name, shocked to hear the exact conversation coming from this programme. Did I just hear that correctly?

"Y/N! What the hell are you doing? Jesus Christ, you spilt all the water!" She hadn't even noticed that she had spilt all the water from the cup, her cup and liquid all on the floor, soaking her socks.

She took a glance at the TV, the conversation still playing, kids giggling almost hysterically at the thought of going down into the sewers, her attention passing from it to her mom angrily trying to soak up all the water.

She clocked what was happening, repeating in quiet mutterings how sorry she was, going to help, but was soon stopped in doing so. "Don't worry, I'll do it myself!" Her mom sighed heavily, frustration built as she scrubbed at the floor. Y/N took another look to the TV, the static had come back, taking over the entire screen, but she could still hear those speaking.

It seemed as if her mom didn't even know or could hear it, and as if Y/N wanted to question how long it had been that It had such an influence over controlling adults and parents.

"Useless... always away with the fairies... never paying attention..." she heard her mom muttering to herself, once finishing to clean the mess, looking to her daughter in frustration. "Well? Thanks for the help." she remarked spitefully.

"S-Sorry." Y/N stammered, snapping herself out of this strange trance that was leaving her more confused as to what was going on all around her. It hurt even more that no-one else could really see what she was seeing; they must've thought of her as mad.

The hysterical eerie laugh came from the TV, mixing with the loud static changing from the channels, the maniac laughter made her shudder even worse. It was laughing at her foolishness. I need to go. She turned on her heel, tripping over her own feet as she ran as quickly as she could to get to the stairs.

"Y/N? Y/N! What are you doing? Come back here! You come in here, create mess and then leave? How dare you!" She heard her mom shout, but the more her mom questioned her from downstairs, the quicker Y/N hurried to get to her room.

Y/N ignored her as best as she could, slamming through her bedroom and slamming the door behind her, hearing the chorus of the wooden door splintering and clashing. She was breathing heavier than usual and it had remained high from her arrival home. She made sure to take the time to breath in and out carefully until her heartbeat would stop racing.

It took a few minutes, standing with her body leaning against the door, her eyes shut as she calmed down. When she found herself calm, she moved away, looking to her quiet and dark room. She had only just remember the presents her grandma had left her just outside her room; in the rush, she had completely forgotten it.

She opened her door, grabbing the paper parcel tied in a white ribbon, before shutting her door a bit more gentle. She moved to sit on her bed, opening it carefully and making sure she didn't rush to accidentally ruin whatever was inside. It was the usual things she liked or wanted to get; The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and some more notepads for drawing.

She was grateful - she wasn't expecting to get those books until Christmas, but her grandma managed to get them for her as a great surprise. She couldn't of been more happier. I'll have to make it up to her by working extra in the shop when I'm free.

As of now, she was too exhausted to even think of doing anything. Sleep was on her mind, but first, changing out of these dirty clothes and getting into something more comfy. She begun stripping, taking everything off she wanted off, putting those in the hamper, before going to get into some decent sleepwear.

She threw her H/C messy locks up into a careless bun, throwing her body onto the bed, her head on the pillow. It wasn't even a second that had passed before she felt her eyes begin to drift, the need for eating was not on her mind, nor to speak to her mom about everything - for now, sleep was what was calling her.

Odd, I swear I heard something. She knew of one person, but instead of wanting to confront them, she knew it was better to keep her eyes closed and dream of a better place, away from the killer clown watching her from the corner of her room.

When her eyes had opened, she had come to a place similar to the one she already lived in, the similar heat of summer beating down on her, the feeling of basking in the hot season before it would all go away and the fall would arrive.

It was all nice, especially those who she was around or those who she could see in the distance. They looked like anyone on the streets, figures that some carried blurry faces and details she could not read, wearing not accordingly to the weather but rather wearing more heavier and unpractical items.

Strange it seemed, it was almost like every person she saw looked like someone she had never met before, as if she had been the only one not new to Derry. "Hurry Y/N, we'll be late." She had heard the female voice her, leading her from behind eagerly.

Late? To What? It was deemed as odd to be walking aimlessly along the streets of soot and grime, with no actual reason as to where she was going. She followed nevertheless, walking until they eventually got to where they wanted to be, the main area of Derry was packed with life, and it seemed that there was some summer entertainment going on.

"We're here! The circus is always a great place to come!" She had managed to say without remembering or thinking it, walking excitedly to get through. it read in large cursive red and white font, strips of the same colour filling the entire park area with bright colours. Y/N had come to realise she was with a friend, a friend she was not familiar of having. "Come Henrietta, let's see what there is to see."

Henrietta was dressed like all the other women here, dressed in heavy and stuffy garbs that looked too uncomfortable to wear during the heat of the summer.

Both of them wandered along the short green grass looking at each attraction there; the bearded lady, the Siamese conjoined twins, the contortionist that could fit in luggage and could be carried on the go, a bear that could drink an entire bottle of whisky and many more.

There was no denying it was all amazing, and the one thing Y/N was curious as to knowing was why she was here, in a place that didn't seem modern in anyway possible. But it seemed as if she couldn't question anything but say the things that had no way she would ever say when conscious. It was like she had no filter.

They continued to look around, soon her friend had managed to walk off without her knowing, both of them going different ways - or more like Y/N tried in some ways to go off alone. Y/N walked quietly, sneaking through to the back, walking into a small dark red tent, inside looked dark to see beyond what could've possibly been inside.

Feeling brave or blindly idiotic, she looked inside, coming to see that it was much bigger inside than how it looked on the inside. There was a large white blinding spotlight in the middle, creating a circle of white light in the middle. Curious, she walked in closer, not able to see what was around her since the darkness contrasted with the light and made it difficult for her eyes to adjust.

She looked up to the spotlight, her E/C eyes watering too much, and in that second she had heard the light dancing of jingling bells, catching her off guard.

She had looked back down to turn to the right, looking through darkness in hopes she would find something. "I-I should get going, find Etta wherever she went." she turned, her mind on looking for her friend and to get out, not realising she had stepped or bumped into something, the softness of velvet cushioning her face.

She gasped lightly, stepping back abruptly. "I'm terrible sorry s-sir." she had looked up to the rather tall fellow standing in front of her. The velvet suit was bright and shiny against the contrast of light, red pompoms on the chest and shoes.

Y/N met the face, surprised to see a bright red smile and curious blue eyes gleaming down at her. She was taken back at first, surprised to see such an odd clown with heavy coloured makeup standing there without the rest of their clown group.

"Hiya Y/N.~" The clown cheerfully greeted her, the bells jingling once again on the suit, happy to see her. This was not happening, why was It here?

"H-How do you know my name?" She asked bravely, quizzically confused. The clown smiled brightly, buck-tooth and all. "Oh, well I'm Pennywise the Dancing Clown!" It giggled to itself, "Yes... Pennywise meet Y/N, Y/N meet Pennywise."

She stood there agape, looking to Pennywise in curiosity. "I know everyone! Including you!" She didn't really buy the answer of the clown, but she shrugged it away. She had to remember to be friendly to this clown. "Do you work here Pennywise? It's odd - I haven't seen a clown here once."

Pennywise's voice changed from high pitched to guttural and deep in few words, but It still smiled and remained friendly to her. "We're all here! We dance in the Ringmaster's tent - the big red one with the flag on the top - you won't miss it!"

She laughed softly, even if this clown was strange, she still found It amusing. "Oh, well thank you, I'm sure to go and have a look."

For a second, she swore she saw Pennywise's eyes flash from those baby blues to yellow like amber - but she dismissed it as the spotlight. A few moments went passed, but Pennywise spoke up. "Do you want a balloon Y/N?"

She couldn't deny a free balloon from a clown; she eagerly nodded. "Oooh, that's nice of you! Y-Yes please!"

It was as if the balloon had appeared out of nowhere, It took it from behind and presented it to her, bright red just like It's red painted smile, the font of written on it. She looked to the balloon to the clown, Pennywise wanting her to take it. "Go on, take."

She looked down to the clown's gloved hand, then to the balloon, looking to how shiny it was and not hearing the low growling coming from the clown's throat. She reached forward, taking the string from it's hands, shivering when her fingers touched its.

"Thank you..." she murmured, keeping the smile on her face. Pennywise looked confused still, titled it's head to her. The growling stopped, sounding similar to how a drain would clog up with sewage and was struggling to get rid of it. "You're not afraid?" Pennywise looked deeply confused.

Y/N was a bit confused to it's words. "Why... why would I have to be afraid?"

"Y/N, there you are!" She blinked rapidly, looking to the entrance, seeing her friend wander through. "Where did you go? I was looking all over this place for you! Is that a balloon?"

There, the clown was gone, vanished into thin air just in front of her, but the red balloon was still in her hand. She was perplexed, considering to tell her friend of the clown speaking to her, but she didn't. "N-Nothing... I just got lost..."

Henrietta shrugged it off, smiling and taking her by the hand. "Come, I managed to find two fellows for us to go talk to, they're going to the quarry!"

"The quarry? Isn't it a bit too late!"

"Nonsense! The evening is still young- we have all the time in the world!"

Y/N looked to the balloon in her hand, thinking there was not much purpose to it, letting go of it as it sunk to the ground. "Yes, lets go." the two giggled and left the tent, the red balloon sinking further and further into Y/N's mind, the figure of the clown reflecting off the material.

Y/N gasped, bolting upright in her bed, looking to the clock on the side, reading 2am. The squeaking of shoes brought her attention, for the first thing she could see through the darkness of her room was the shadowy figure looming by the wall.

"You did this? You made me see her?" She managed to ask, her throat felt hoarse and sore like she had been screaming.

Pennywise emerged from the shadows, tall as usual, but instead of the usual smirk of bright spinster smile, the entity looked disappointed, as if It knew something she didn't. It had a permanent frown on it's face, the red lines curved downward. "Was it worth it? Letting me see all that?"

Pennywise met her tired eyes, blue eyes hiding most of the emotions, but she could only see one - hurt. "Was it worth it?" She questioned again, angry and confused and slightly scared all wrapped up into one.

Pennywise growled lowly, not in much of a threatening way, but managed to speak to her, It's voice was squeaky yet still deep.

"It was... worth nothing." It said one last time to her in that night, turning on It's heel, before fading into the darkness, leaving her confused by It's words.

A/N:

If people were confused, the reader just went into the past to Derry 1809, where the 'reader' firsts meets Pennywise. Hope you enjoyed! SEE YOU SOON!!