Twenty Eight

I heard the front door open, Cole must be home. I quickly turned off the TV. I didn't know whether he was going to go past the living room or come straight into the living room, so I was currently in a predicament. I took a risk and decided that he was more likely to head straight for his bedroom to put his stuff away rather than come into the living room first thing. I sat still and tried my best not to make any noise, and I succeeded as he walked right past the room I was in, not taking a second look.

I took advantage of the moment and ran quietly into my room. I needed to clean myself up, I hadn't showered since what happened. I thanked my lucky stars after the whole recalled pregnancy test thing that I decided to go on the pill. If I hadn't I'd be fucked. I decided to take a shower.

As I turned on the water and took off Henry's sweats the memories came flooding back. I remembered being in Henry's bathroom. I remembered turning the shower on. I remembered the door being opened. I remembered the feeling of force and I remembered being forced upon. As I stepped under the water I was triggered into remembering everything that had happened that morning. I tried my hardest to put it out of my mind and I heard Cole knocking on the door.

"Baby, are you in there?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," I yelled.

"I got take out!" He called back. "I'll be in the living room when you're done."

This happened rarely. Cole did treat me nicely sometimes. I took advantage of those moments, they make me remember how things were when my mum and my brother were around, and before Cole changed.

I finished in the shower and threw on some underwear, socks, and Henry's sweats. I liked them because they smelled like him, I know it's cliche. For this reason, I didn't use any of my perfume. I then headed into the living room.

"I thought we'd watch some movies tonight," Cole said as I stood at the entrance of the living room.

"Why?" I asked.

"So I could spend some time with my daughter. Come here," Cole said, patting the sofa next to him.

"Okay," I agreed.

I sat down and I flinched as he stretched and put his arm on the back of the sofa behind me.

I wasn't going to eat it unless I saw him eat it first, I don't trust him at all. He could have drugged it or something, and I'm not taking any chances. I waited a bit until he'd had a bit of everything and then I started eating. I think I underestimated how hungry I was.

"Still like this movie?" Cole asked, taking a sip of his beer.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

We were watching the Breakfast Club, which is one of my favorite movies. I'm surprised he even remembered. For a second I thought maybe he was trying, maybe he'd realized a few things and was trying to make things better. I could only hope.

We finished off the night with Valleygirl and Dirty Dancing. I was surprised by the fact that he didn't try anything during the sex scenes or the romantic scenes.

When I woke up the next morning I heard Cole in the kitchen. He usually came into my room in the morning and got creepy on me, but today he hadn't.

Today was one of those days where I woke up late. I got out of bed, put my fluffy robe and slippers on and made my way into the kitchen.

Cole was sitting at the table, a stack of pancakes in front of him.

I opened the cupboard and took out a glass before taking the orange juice out of the fridge and sitting at the table opposite Cole.

I served myself some pancakes, topped them with maple syrup and filled up my glass.

"How was your sleep?" Cole asked.

"It was good," I said.

"Pancakes good?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," I said, reaching for more maple syrup

"Got any plans for today?" Cole asked.

"I'll probably just hang out with some friends," I said.

Cole nodded.

"Butch Bowers went missing last night," Cole said gravely.

"What?" I said in disbelief, trying my best to act like I didn't know anything about it.

"Yeah," Cole said. "I went down to the station last night to pick 'im up since we go down to the pub together a few nights a week n' 'e wasn't there. They told me 'e never turned up for his shift that night. I was only told this morning about him being missing."

"Well, I guess that's normal," I said. "People go missing around here all the time."

"Where's that brother of yours?" Cole asked.

I got a nauseous feeling in my stomach.

"No idea," I told him.

I didn't really want to tell him that Dallas was missing. I don't know why, that's just how I felt.

"I haven't seen him in weeks," Cole complained. "He was always a dud, that one."

I shrugged, not agreeing with him in the slightest.

"I'm gonna go get dressed," I said, standing up and pushing my chair in.

When I was done changing, I brushed my hair and sprayed on my perfume.

I swung my bag over my shoulder and headed to the front door, but when I went to open it I discovered that there was a padlock on the door.

"Going somewhere?" Asked Cole.

He was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room.

"I just wanted to go and hang out with my friends," I told him.

"You look pretty today," Cole said slyly, his eyes darting to places that I wish they wouldn't.

I knew him being all nice wouldn't last, I knew he'd go back to his creepy self.

"Come here," Cole said quietly.

I put my bag down and walked over to him.

Cole took my hand in his.

"I worry about you a lot, Primrose. A lot," Cole said.

"I know," I said.

"People in town have been saying some things to me about you. I've been hearing things from the neighbors. Mrs. Hess next door tells me she's seen you let boys inside when I'm not here," Cole said.

"They're just friends," I told him.

"People in town have been telling me you've been with boys all summer. They say you're the only girl they ever see with them," Cole pointed out.

"Nothing's been happening, I promise," I pleaded.

"I know what's in boys minds when they look at you, or when they're around you, Primrose," Cole whispered, gripping my hand tighter. "Trust me, I know."

I tried to pull my hand away but his grip was too strong.

"Are you doing womanly things with those boys?" Cole asked.

"No, no," I said.

"What's this?" Cole asked, holding up a few pages of notebook paper. It was all my poems.

"They're just poems," I told him.

"Then why did you hide them in your underwear drawer?" Cole demanded. "Why would you hide them there?"

I was disturbed by the fact that he had been in my underwear draw, but I'm not surprised, it's Cole. I tried even harder to pull away but his grip was just too strong.

"Are you my girl?" Cole asked in a soft voice.

It was time to stand up to him. I can't put up with this anymore. It's destroying my mind and taking a toll on me. I was at breaking point last night, but now is the moment I bounce back.

"No," I said quietly. I raised my voice and spoke again. "NO!"

I managed to pull away this time, and before I could actually get away Cole pushed me into the dining table. I was on the floor and he towered over me, I crawled backward and he ran towards me.

"Get away from me!" I screamed.

He grabbed my feet and pinned me down by my arms.

"GET OFF!" I screamed.

He pressed himself up against me.

"NO!" I protested.

"Those boys need to know that you're all mine," Cole said.

As he moved his hands away to undo his belt, I kicked him hard in the nuts, then in the face multiple times giving me an opportunity to escape. I had to think fast if I was going to get out of this.

I ran into the bathroom, grabbed the glass toilet lid off of the toilet and hid behind the shower curtain. Yes, it was an obvious place to hide but that was part of the plan, I wanted him to find me.

"Where are you?" Cole asked. "I'm coming to find you!"

I heard the bathroom door open. Cole walked slowly toward the shower curtain, falling right into my trap. I saw his hands wrapping around the curtain, getting ready to pull it open. Cole was revealed from behind the curtain after he pulled it open and I swung the toilet seat into his head as hard as I could, dropping it straight away. I stepped out of the shower and saw his body on the floor, blood trickling out of his forehead. I shivered at the sight.

I heard a bubbling noise coming out from the sink.

I went over to see what it was.

Blood was pouring out of the drain and a pool of it was quickly collecting in the sink, overflowing onto the floor. I knew I had to get out of there. As soon as I turned around to make a run for it, I was face to face with Pennywise.

Henry's P.O.V.

It was the day after Primrose went home. A cop never came to the house. Derry police don't really care about anything. Actually, none of the authorities in this town do.

I needed to go and see Prim, I needed to see if she was okay. Also I missed her, and I just love being with her. I jumped on my bike and rode to her house.

When I arrived at her house, I noticed that the front door had been broken open. I had a bad feeling about this.

I ran inside.

The furniture had been knocked down and the dining table was broken.

"Prim?" I called, a sick feeling began to form in my stomach. "PRIM?"

I looked in all the rooms, but no one was around. The bathroom door was shut, so I opened it.

Cole was lying lifelessly on the floor, accompanied by shattered glass. The bathroom was covered top to bottom with blood like it had been what felt like ages ago when we helped Prim clean it.

Then I noticed it.

Written on the roof in what I knew was blood were the words:

You die if you try.

It had her.

The emotions I felt during that moment could not be explained in words. It was like a mix of sadness, anger, heartache, and remorse all in one. I needed to do something straight away, we all needed too. In honor of everyone who had 'gone missing'.

I heard someone run into the house.

"Henry?" Asked Bill as he came into the bathroom. "What're you doing here?"

"I just came to see if Prim was okay," I said.

"T-there's missing person posters up about her. M-Mike, Ben, and Stan are outside. We h-haven't had a chance to go find the others y-yet," Bill told me.

Posters up already? Someone probably already knows. I wasn't going to read into it too much.

"We have to stop this now, we have to try and save all the kids we can, or at least try," Bill said, without his stutter.

"Your stutter," I said. "You didn't stutter once."

"I didn't notice," Bill said.

"Let's go," I said, and we ran outside.

"I'll go find Vic, Belch, and Patrick and you guys go find Eddie and Richie. We'll meet outside the Neibolt house?" I suggested.

"Good idea," said Stan.

"Don't go in until we're all there," I said.

"We'll see you later!" Ben called as we all got on our bikes and rode off to find the others.