Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 31, 2018 22:38:36 GMT -6
IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 14th, 2018, 06:16am
Based on 2017’s IT: Chapter One
Chapter 1: Derry
There have been ghost stories and urban legends about an mysterious ancient alien/eldritch immortal creature that lived in the sewers of Derry. Every 27 years, IT, as it came to be known, would prey on the children of Derry, sending them missing without a trace. But they say that this creature never came from Earth; IT came from a different void/dimension. IT can shape-shift into anyone and anything that a child fears the most. IT feeds on that fear by devouring that child before the creature hibernates again for another 27 years.
But it seems that this creature had been defeated only once by the 7 children of Derry in the summer of 1989. They called themselves The Loser’s Club. Eventually, they went their separates ways after facing their worst fears of their lives. It was all over. For now.....
27 years had passed since sightings of another creature deep within those same sewers I never believed it. I thought it was just one of those ghost stories to try to scare the s*** out of me.
But I was wrong.....
Fall 2016. It was the beginning of September on a Saturday morning just a week before school starts as a grey Dodge Journey people carrier appeared on the roads, a moving van following behind.
The small convoy passed a sign that read, “Derry welcomes you!”
Before we moved to Derry, me and my mother, Anna Thomas, used to live in the suburbs in the state of New York City. My mother was New York’s most respected psychologist, and knew how to ease everybody’s stress and advise them on how to deal with their everyday lives.
My father, Curtis Thomas, tried to kill me when I was 5 years old because he never liked the fact that I was born differently - a half human and half Wiccan. So one night, he tried to kill me in my sleep with a kitchen knife. I woke up and screamed in horror, defending myself by unleashing my hidden ability of telekinesis for the first time, without realising it. Curtis was thrown out of my bedroom window and onto the ground of our backyard. The impact killed him insantly. The sight of his blood-stained and lifeless body will live with me for the rest of my life.
Anna tried to remind me that it wasn’t my fault since I was only trying to protect myself. But I knew that I accidentally killed my father and that feeling of fear and guilt will never go away.
Years passed. I was my mother’s whole world. She had accepted me for who I was It was just the two of us. We were one big happy family.
Until......
When I was 8, Anna thought that it would be a good idea for me have a big brother to look out for me. She adopted a 10 year old British boy name Ryan, who was raised in London, England. He was going through his own personal family crisis with his parents. When they divorced and couldn’t agree on a joint custody settlement, his father suggested that he would be better starting a new life with a new family in America. So Anna took him into her care ever since.
Everything was perfect with just me and my mom until Ryan came into our lives. Ryan and I are complete opposites. But I’ll spare the details on my step-brother and get to the point of the story.
As we travelled across the small town of Derry, I looked out the back window of the car, noticing more wilderness outside the town. I never was a small town country person I’ve always been a city girl growing up, so I hated this f****ing town already. It looked so dull and boring.
In the backseat, I was listening to No Hope In Sight by Paradise Lost, one of my favorite gothic metal bands, through my headphones that were attached to my iPhone, while texting to my one and only best friend. Emily Dale, who still lives in New York City.
Next to my seat was a box filled with a mysterious book and a notepad with a pen laying in it's centre. My pastimes revolved around fantasy novels and fantasy films, the supernatural, poetry, mythology, and witchcraft.
I was 14 years old and sported long black hair, straightened down to my shoulders, a shoulderless black shirt with the Wiccan symbol of the Triqueta on the front, ripped black skinny jeans, and thick black boots. Reddish black lipstick, dark eyeshadow and dark eyeliner covered my blue eyes.
Around my neck was a pendant of a pentagram, complete with a purple gem in it's center.
Meanwhile, Ryan was quietly sitting in the passenger seat. He had spent most of the journey giving me the silent treatment after we got into a shoving match outside a local gas station before the journey to Derry.
Ryan was the complete opposite go me. He was 16 years old. A rebellious attitude, a penchant for all things classic sci-fi and horror movies, heavy metal - particularly the sub-genres of thrash and death metal - and a healthy disdain for authority regularly made us argue. Though not a bad person, he took unbridled delight in winding me up. Just for the fun of it.
Ryan wore a leather jacket, a Slayer t-shirt and jeans, with short black hair and green eyes.
I swear that I felt like I had been in this car for hours. But we finally arrived in the quiet suburbs of Derry, the people carrier rolling to stop near the sidewalk outside our new home.
A real estate sign that said SOLD in bold white letters across a red background, stood nearby. Anna had recently bought the house for us to live in,
The moving van parked behind us as my mother, Ryan, and myself climbed out of the car to view the two story house.
“Well, this is it.” My mother smiled calmly. “What do you think?”
“Not bad.” Ryan muttered, hands in his pockets.
Still texting, i finally moved my eyes away from my phone to look up at our new home.
“Whatever.” I sighed carelessly, gazing back down at my iPhone, already uninterested.
“Bella, could you at least pretend to be happy?” Anna asked.
“I was happy before we came here!” I rudely mocked in a sarcastically tone in my voice.
“Not now, Bella. We have a lot of unpacking to do. So please get your things and bring them inside the house. I promise that this will be a better new start for us.” My mother promised.
As Anna walked up to the house, the van driver began to unload boxes of our belongings for us to bring into our new home.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 14th, 2018, 1:58pm
Amidst the mild autumnal weather and piles of brown leaves littered across the driveway, Anna unlocked the front door, stepping into the empty house. It had been newly refurbished at her request; she had worked countless late shifts as a psychologist and a doctor in the pursuit of a new life for her and her two children. With a sensible approach to managing her money, it made sense to leave the hustle and bustle of New York City behind for the tranquil calm and peace of the state of Maine.
A hopeful smile crossed her face. All those late shifts and sacrifices had paid off. The same couldn’t be said for her children. Ryan leaned against the people carrier, his hands still in his pockets. Bella continued to stare at her iPhone screen, slumped up against the real estate sign while listening to The Nobodies by Marilyn Manson.
By contrast to Bella, Ryan was the total antithesis to his step-sister. Having been adopted by Anna when he was 10, his arrival turned Bella’s dream into a nightmare. Though the duo barely acknowledged one another and barely came to blows, the resentment between them had simmered for the last 5 years.
Any hopes for them to finally bond and accept one another was shattered when his brother, James, was killed while on active duty with the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan. The funeral left him with little comfort, but this death changed Ryan from a young and optimistic child into a hate-filled, insecure and short-tempered teenager when he turned 13. His time in a New York City high-school regularly saw him clash with various bullies and jocks, which earned him detention on many occasions. Once such incident involved Ryan knocking out a bully, breaking a nose in the process. The savage and violent nature of his actions forced an immediate suspension.
Now the age of 16, Ryan still hadn’t taken kindly to emigrating from his home city of London. And it showed as he stared off into the distance down the street, seemingly unimpressed with this new life.
After Anna has finished viewing every empty room of the house, she saw how lethargic and disinterested her two children where. Her white blouse and grey pencil thin skirt matched her shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. She saw the boxes already piling up by the moving van, feeling disappointed at the lack of effort being shown.
"Ryan. Bella. Can both of you start unpacking, please?" Anna requested.
Ryan muttered under his breath and decided to cut the moving van driver a break, trudging to the rear of the vehicle and picking up several boxes marked Ryan’s room in black marker pen ink. He figured that if he can get this out of the way, Anna wouldn’t be nagging. He walked up the driveway to the opened front door
"Miserable little b**ch." He hissed at Bella, who had finished being anti-social and put her phone onto her pocket. She picked up boxes that contained her belongings and mementos.
Ryan ascended the staircase, turning right towards the first bedroom he could find. Setting the box down on the floor, he huffed audibly, wanting this day to be over with. The journey had already taken the better part of 5 hours, with at least 3 pit stops at gas stations and food eateries for lunch and fuel, respectively.
"The sooner this day is done, the better." He thought, ignoring Bella as she walked past with a box containing her gothic clothes.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 16th, 2018, 01:41am
Meanwhile, I walked upstairs with my first small box in my hands, marked Bella’s Clothes in black marker ink. The wooden stairs creaked slightly big under each step until I reached the first floor of the house.
Across the hallway, I noticed that Ryan had already started unpacking his junk in a much bigger room of the house.
“Hey! I wanted that room!” I demanded at Ryan, still carrying my box.
“Finders keepers, half-pint. There’s an extra room next door. Hope you wont be cramped.” Ryan smirked sarcastically, pointing towards the small bedroom next door, continuing to unpack.
“A**hole!” I sneered, emotionlessly raising my middle finger at him before walking away.
"B**ch." Ryan called out, not paying any attention.
I walked into my new and small old fashioned bedroom. The wallpaper, peeling at the edges, had old pictures of circus animals, with only two small windows and a wooden closet.
We were all unaware that the house was the recent home of Bill and Georgie Denbrough, two brothers that once lived here 27 years ago. Ryan’s room was Bill’s room while my room was Georgie’s room.
11:30 AM
After 5 hours driving across the US from my beloved home town of New York City to this boring and s***y town of Derry, Mom claimed that it would save us a lot of stress and money struggles. Mom also thought that it would be the best for me to move because of my troubled upbringing and how dangerous and loud New York was. We had lived there since I was born and I always loved the Big Apple. It would briefly take my mind off my tragic past, but Mom claims that my father’s death was a accident. Deep down, I knew that I did it to protect myself. It may have been an accident, but it turned into murder.
At 11 years old, during my last 4 years in a New York high school, students knew that I was never meant to fit in to their society because I was born differently. They called me a witch and other horrible names under the sun. They even told me that I should burn in hell, and that I killed my father. I had to lie to them by saying that he died im a car crash to hide my fear and guilt whils avoiding suspicion. The Government even considered to do some experiments on me. So I developed Avoidant Personality Disorder since childhood and never had any close friends who can relate.
Until I met my one and only best friend, Emily Dale, when I was 13 years old.
But when I turned 14, Mom decided that she was sick of New Yorker paranoia and accusations. Eventually, the three of us moved away. As if my life wasn’t isolated enough.
Ryan new that I was part Wiccan and he would taunt me whenever he could to piss me off. But he doesn’t know about the murder of my father yet and I want to keep it that way. I wasn’t looking forward to going back to school by next week. Bullies are worse than ever in this generation. I’ve dealt with several snobby b**ches in my childhood, but I think that my biggest bully of all is my step-brother.
Anyway, I carried several more moving boxes of my personal belongings up into my bedroom. From my clothings and mementos, to my fantasy novels, fantasy films, supernatural, poetry, mythology, and witchcraft books.
“This room really needs redecorating!” I sighed out of disgust, feeling like it was a child’s playroom.
After the moving men moved all of our stuff into our new house, I set all my boxes onto my bed, opening one that contained my books and began to store them onto my coffin shaped book shelf.
Just then, I heard a creaking noise, which made me stopped and I turn to where I heard the noise. It appeared to be coming my small closet door that was slightly opened.I sighed, rolling my eyes out of ignorance, opening the door.
Switching on the lightbulb, all I could find was dust and cobwebs.
“Oh, my God! Have people ever heard of spring cleaning around here?!” I coughed.
I briefly walked downstairs into the kitchen to borrow a duster, heading back upstairs into my bedroom to clean up my closet so i can put my clothes in there. I grabbed my desk chair and climbed onto it. Once I saw the top shelf, I started to dust off the cobwebs and dust. But as I was dusting, I suddenly felt something crawling across the skin of my right hand that was holding onto the duster.
A shiver travelled down my spine....
Pulling my hand closer into the light, my eyes saw a giant house spider on the duster. It was crawling towards my right hand!
“AH! S**T!” I screamed, shaking my hand wildly for it to get off. In my panic my body fell off the chair and onto the floor, right on my a**.
Footsteps were heard across the stairs as Anna appeared in my bedroom and noticed that I had dramatically fallen on the floor. She walked over and kneeled down to check up on me.
“Bella, are you alright? What happened?” Anna asked out of concern, noticing that there was no serous injuries on me.
“What’s with all the screaming?” Ryan asked ignorantly.
“There’s a huge spider in my closet!” I panicked, climbing onto my bed goosebumps crawling across my skin. “Is it on me?”
My paranoid blue eyes darted left and right for anymore spiders, while Ryan and Anna viewed the top shelf of my closet to see a harmless giant house spider on its web.
“This? Are you kidding me, Bella?” Ryan asked, ignoring my overreaction.
“It’s okay, Bella. Spiders can’t hurt you.” Anna reminded me.
“I don’t care! I HATE spiders! Get it out of my room!” I yelled nervously, refusing to touch that thing.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 16th, 2018, 1:05pm
Ryan rolled his eyes and disappeared downstairs, ripping open one box to grab a glass and a piece of paper. Returning upstairs, he reached into the closet and quickly trapped the arachnid under the glass, carefully placing the paper underneath it. Unlike Bella, he actually showed concern for all creatures great and small.
"It’s just a harmless little spider. Stop being such a p***y." Ryan vulgarly declared, holding up the glass with the harmless insect inside. Anna gasped at his usage of that particular swear word.
"Just get rid of it! NOW!" Bella screeched, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
Ryan shook his head and disappeared, heading outside as he let the spider scuttle away into the bushes. A small autumnal breeze scattered several leaves across the driveway, which mixed with the loud ensuing argument that was coming from upstairs between Bella and her mother.
"Bella, we have talked about this time and time again. This move will benefit us all. New York was becoming too overcrowded." Anna lectured, arms folded.
"I was happy there, Mom! HAPPY! Before you adopted that jerk I call a stepbrother, we were perfectly fine. This isn’t a new start for us all. It’s a new start for you." Bella retorted, climbing off her bed. "And you could care less about how I feel. Admit it."
"I will not admit that because it is not true." Anna softly denied, undeterred and refusing to raise her voice. "But I do think that you can show a little more attentiveness to Ryan, who obviously needs you to understand why he’s part of this family."
"He wasn’t part of this family to begin with, Mom! You adopted him because you felt bad for his parent’s divorcing and wanted an excuse to make me feel second best. That limey has ruined my life." Bella spoke, denigrating her step-brother with a less than pleasant slur.
"Don’t talk about your stepbrother like that!" Anna spoke, stunned at her daughter’s lack of respect and tolerance.
"What? It’s not like he’s around to hear it, is he?" Bella sneered, walking past Anna and standing in the doorway as she dared herself to call Ryan out on a completely fabricated set of accusations.
"Hey, Ryan! I know you’re listening somewhere, so listen to this. I don’t want you in this family. None of us do. So do me a huge favour and get out of my life. I’ll even help you pack!" Bella called out, sounding big and brave when a person’s back is turned.
To his credit, Ryan sat in the lounge, slumped against the wall as Bella continued her disrespectful rant that cut right to the bone. Ignoring every insult and threat that rolled out of her mouth, he calmly walked out of the house, unseen by his stepsister.
In seconds, he had vanished down the street and was out of the peaceful Derry suburbs. For the first time in his life, he had walked away from a potential confrontation, forcing himself to bottle up all that anger and rage. To hear a little coward like Bella brazenly get all mouthy was more than enough ammunition for him to use later when he had sufficiently cooled off.
"F***ing coward! When I get my hands around your scrawny little neck, I’ll snap it like a twig!" He yelled once he was out of sight, hoping that Bella heard every last threat.
The Barrens - a tract of woodland covered by plant life and trees - was his destination. All he needed was an opportunity to calm down and return home, ready to verbally eviscerate his stepsister for her disrespect later on.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 17th, 2018, 03:37am
I raced down the stairs towards the front door of the house, knowing that Ryan had chosen to leave the streets.
“I would love to see you try, you hotheaded prick!” I screamed back at him in anger, knowing that he would be within earshot to hear, slamming the front door shut. This made Anna flinch lightly.
But as I stomped back upstairs to my bedroom, I felt her hand grip onto my right wrist. I stopped and turned to face Anna, who’s expression had went from calm to disappointment, mostly because of my tantrum and selfish behavior towards Ryan and herself.
“Bella, we need to talk.” Anna calmly asked.
Slightly startled, i was livid that she even had the nerve to grab my wrist like that.
“There’s NOTHING to talk about!” I spat. “So what are you going to do now? Hit me?”
Anna couldn’t believe what she’d heard from her own daughter. The thought of my own mother, a woman with a heart of gold, would never go as far as to abuse her own children for discipline.
“I can’t believe that you would even think that I would do such a thing to you or Ryan.” Anna said, loosening her grip around my wrist, feeling deeply hurt on what I just said as she followed me into the kitchen.
“You just won’t admit it that Ryan had made you do this and you chose to go along with it! News flash, mom, he’s not my dad and he’s not my brother!” I snapped, pointing my index finger out the kitchen window.
“He is your brother and you had no right to talk about him in that way! We took him in because he was going through a crisis with his parents.” Anna reminded me, beginning to unbox some dishes into the kitchen cabinets., trying to take her mind off the stress.
I sat on the chair nearby the kitchen table with my arms folded.
“Gee, I wonder why.” I smart-mouthed, referring to Ryan’s short-tempered attitude.
That’s not what I meant, Bella!” Anna corrected, putting glasses into a nearby cabinet, “Now I would really appreciate it if you could help put away these dishes.”
“Just because he’s the oldest doesn’t mean that he’s the man of the house!” I sarcastically mocked.
“Ryan had a tough life back home just like you once had in New York. You two need to express yourselves in order to understand and communicate with each other.” Anna suggested.
“What? So he can criticise me more about the fact that I was born as a witch and that my father tried to kill me because I was not the child he wanted!” I snapped, my voice cracking almost on the verge of crying at the memory of my fathers death 9 years ago.
“There’s no shame in being different, Bella. This is why we moved. You know that. To show everyone that you’re just like everybody else.” Anna reminded me.
“I’m NOT! Stop saying that! You think that by moving to this town will take away this?” I asked, staring directly at a glass of water on the kitchen table. My tense stare amplified my telekinesis, shattering the glass into pieces, spilling water onto the kitchen floor.
“There’s no escape from this! This is who I am! And you can’t change that no matter at you do, mom! Running away and keeping me locked up won’t ever make this feeling go away!” I raged.
Anna grabbed a dust pan and broom, carefully sweeping up the broken glass on the floor.
“Admit it, mom....You’re afraid of me, too. Dad was.” I insinuated.
Anna finished sweeping up the broken glass, desposting it into the trash. She placed the broom and dustpan back into the storage closet and sat down on another chair beside me on the kitchen table, taking my hands in hers.
“Look at me, Bella.” Anna said, stroking my black hair away from my face so she can see me. “I’m not afraid of you, Bella.....You’re my one and only daughter and I love you. I know how it feels to go through big changes....”
She tried reasoning with me via her same psychology bulls**t. Just like she would use on all of her patients. I choose to cut her off.
“You can stop with the psychology crap, mom! You can’t possibly know how I feel! How could you even understand me?!” I asked Anna, reminding her that no matter where we go, the fear and the guilt of my father’s death will always haunt me. Anna went silent for a moment.
“Mom....I didn’t mean....” I choked, slowly realising that I may have crossed the line. Sadly, I was too angry and upset to think straight.
“There are many parents in this world that would sacrifice their own lives for the safety of their children. I want what’s best for Ryan....But I did this because I care about both of you and I will never give up on my children. We can get through this together and I promise that things will get better.” Anna admitted, revealing that it was Ryan who kindly suggested to Anna that moving to Derry would help him and myself start a new life away from the pain of our tragic pasts.
“Well, you’re just wasting your time. If you really care, you would stop trying and stay out of my life.” I denied, refusing to listen as I rose up from the chair and walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and back into my bedroom, slamming the door. My hands closed the black curtains to block the outside world from my window, making sure that Ryan doesn’t witness my deep distress.
I buried my face into my pillow, sobbing cause of my emotional stress and my telekinetic powers. I loved my mother. I always have. It was just hard to express those feelings without my past getting in the way.
In the kitchen, Anna quietly sobbed to herself, believing that she’s failing as a parent. She eventually wiped away her tears and continued to quietly unpack everything in the kitchen and the living room until it was all well organized.
It was now late Saturday afternoon and Ryan still hadn’t returned from his long walk around town. This caused Anna to be more than a little concerned about his whereabouts. She tried to call his cellphone, but got no response, save for his voice message.
“Ryan, it’s Anna. I’m just calling to check up on you. I want to make sure you’re okay. I’m just about to make dinner, so please call me back when you get this, okay? Please be careful.”
By next week when Ryan and I start our first day in Derry High school, Anna will start her first day as Derry’s new psychologist across town.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 18th, 2018, 2:42pm
Having spent the whole afternoon sobbing, Bella brought her face up from her pillow, blue eyes tear-stained as she sniffled and wiped away a few stray tears. This type of recurring emotion only occurred when she was bullied at school. Every day she tried to keep her head down and carry on with her life, the bullies would corner her and make disturbing threats about burning her at the stake.
She never thought that her step-brother would be the one true cause of all her misery. And she resented him for it. If she had it her way, she could snap Ryan’s neck with a wave of her hand and be rid of him forever. But she didn’t want another death hanging over her conscience.
With a deep breath, she composed herself and began to calm down. Her room was very small and inadequate, so she decided to give it a quick redecoration. Grabbing one of her spell-books, she sat cross-legged on the bed and flicked through each page until she found the perfect spell.
The spell of renovation.
"If Mom won’t redecorate this room, i will." She declared, her finger stopping at the incantation that would shed the layers of peeling wallpaper and animal pictures. With intense concentration, she closed her eyes and memorised each word.
"The winds of change I feel tonight
My desires are true, so let it be right.
Peel away the layers, strip back the pain
Allow me sanctuary again."
Her eyes opened, glowing white. A small maelstrom of power surrounded her, allowing her mind to recreate her room in her own image. The peeling wallpapers were replaced by black and grey stripes, the animal pictures melting into the wall and blending with the colour.
The wooden floor suddenly found itself covered by a black and white spiral effect carpet, spreading out in all directions. Bella smiled - she was just getting started.
...............................................................................
Across town, Ryan had already reached The Barrens. Having negotiated the streets of Derry, he followed a small pathway that lead him through the dense wastelands that ran parallel to the nearby train tracks. He walked as far as he could, still bottling up an incredible amount of hatred that he had internally directed at Bella.
"That little brat. Someone needs to shut her up for good." He muttered, his iPhone vibrating in his pocket. Angrily, he whipped it out and saw that Anna had left him a message, requesting to call him back.
Still angry, he ignored the request and kept walking.
The autumn skies above him were slowly giving way to early evening colours of red and orange, adding to the air of melancholy and landscape of brown leaves spiralling to the ground from each tree. Ryan eventually came to a stop in a small clearing, sitting himself on a rock. In front of him was a small shallow stream that travelled through The Barrens itself.
"Maybe I should of let her win that round." Ryan grumbled, feeling no need to express himself through music, preferring to let the sounds of silence greet him. Solitude was now his only friend. Or so it seemed......
A nearby set of bushes rustled, drawing his attention. Ryan froze, hoping that he wouldn’t need to defend himself at this time of evening. To his relief, a little fawn emerged from the undergrowth, it’s curious senses sniffing the air.
"False alarm." He chuckled, lightly gesturing towards the tiny creature, beckoning it to come and say hello.
The fawn, though nervous, inquisitively trotted over to Ryan. Deers were known for being very shy, but this little fawn felt no fear. Ryan was kind to animals - knowing that they were more friendly than his fellow human.
"It’s okay, little guy. I won’t hurt you." Ryan reassured, extending his hand. The fawn sniffed, its tiny little tail wagging up and down. All that anger he had built up earlier was now dissipating, replaced by kindness and warmth. Though he appeared a decent young teenager on the outside, anger, resentment and hate filled his soul.
The cause of his problems? Bella. Her refusal to accept him as a brother and anti-social attitude towards his nationality only reinforced the mutual dislike he harboured.
For now, he petted the tiny fawn while watching the skies slowly change colour. It was his own way of calming himself down. He preferred solitude to the company of others on many occasions. And this was no different.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 20th, 2018, 04:36am
A wise man once said that time files when you’re having fun, but in my case, it seems like time flies fast when I want days like this to pass after everything that has happened this week between moving and my new emotional changes that often effects my Wiccan abilities. Because of the stress, I had to forcefully block my emotions, even if it meant isolating myself from the outside world at home or at school.
Meanwhile, I decided to finish organising my bedroom as I climbed off my bed and pulled out my small Bluetooth speaker from one of my boxes. Inside was my Macbook and iPhone charger. I put all of my electronics out of the moving box and place them on my writing desk, located on the right side of the bedroom across from my bed and nightstand.
Switching on the Bluetooth speaker through my iPhone, it began to play a favourite song of mine - Reason To Believe by Arch Enemy, Alissa White-Gluz‘s beautiful voice singing through speakers. I sighed deeply to ease my stress and emotions from my argument with Ryan earlier.
I continued to organise my bedroom, opening up the next, box which was filled with my lace and Velvet dresses, all covered black. Mostly every piece of clothing I I own is all black. I don’t see myself in any color or any other type of clothing. According to my mother, however, she claims that when she sees people like me wearing nothing but black, it usually means that they feel dead on the inside, which is how I’ve been feeling for most of my life, way before Ryan entered into our lives. Despite the odds, Anna eventually accepted my fashion of choice like any other mother.
I stopped wearing colourful clothes by the time I turned 13 years old and my mother thought that I was just going through a phase like any other “normal” teenager. News flash; I’m NOT normal and I never was. The fact I wasn’t born normal was the sole reason why my father tried to murder me. So I found an image with my gothic clothing to fit my abnormal persona so that people round me will know when to stay the hell out of my way if they wish to live on with their boring “normal” lives.
Anyway, I walked back towards my small closet, which was still wide open from where I saw the spider early. This left me disgusted by the fact we live in the world that we humans have to share the same world with gross critters or any other dangerous creatures
Turning on the lightbulb in the closet, I filled it’s interior with my black jackets, dresses, shirts, blouses, and my entire black combat boot collection on the top shelf.
Next I put away my pants, which were mostly all ripped and black jeans into one of my dresser drawers, along with socks and undergarments in the other separate drawers.
Lastly, I found a box that contains photographs from my childhood. The first my fingers touched was a framed picture of Anna, Ryan, and myself. I was 8 years old and Ryan was 10 years old. I recalled this picture being taken the year after he was adopted. Ryan seemed like a calm young boy at the time before he later became aggressive and short-tempered. I never had a brother or a sister. After my father died, Mom knew that she wouldn’t find the one who would accept me for who i am, so she figured that adopting a brother would cure my anti-social behaviour and build a bonding relationship with Ryan.
I know that my mother was trying to give Ryan and myself a better life. but I honestly don’t think that he will ever understand me or the life that I’ve been through.
And I don’t know what made Ryan the way he is, but if thinks he can get away from speaking to me like that, he’s got another thing coming because he’s not getting my respect with that hot-headed attitude.
An hour passed as the autumn skies in the late afternoon turned into colours of reddish-orange, crickets slowly chirping in the front yard outside our home.
I heard footsteps across the wooden stairs, which left creaking noises. The footsteps stopped before a series of knocking was heard.
“Bella?”
“Come in.” I called out lightly, hanging up some of my posters in my bedroom. A Nightmare Before Christmas movie poster on the wall above my bed, a Batman 89 logo on my closet door, and my personal favourite, an Arch-Enemy poster behind my bedroom door.
“I’ see you’ve redecorated your room.” Anna said, slightly amused by tje work that I’ve put in.
“Yeah.....I’m just about finished.” I said, hanging one last poster, one of Alice Cooper above my working desk.
“Let me guess. You used your magic.” Anna sighed sarcastically.
“How else am I supposed to unpack?” I asked in a mocking tone back at her. "And I saved you money on redecorating."
“Bella, we’ve talked about this. We have to keep a low profile. Somebody could’ve seen you and if they did....” Anna warned me.
Impatiently, I cut her off.
“Relax, mom.....Nobody’s gonna know.” I confidently said, opened my black curtains to reveal the quiet and peaceful street of Jackson in Derry.
“This place is like a ghost town. So stop worrying about me.” I sniped, staring outside to see at the empty streets. I’d never seen a town so eeriely quiet as the New York Public Library.
“Magic doesn’t always solve your problems, Bella.” Anna advised.
I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, it does.” I said. “It saved my life, remember?”
My mind recalled the night that my father tried to murder me when i was 5 years old before I pushed him out the window.
“You know what I’ve just realized, Mom? If you really love me for who I am, you would let me use it.” I said in an edgy voice.
“Which is why you can’t use it. Not all the time until you know how to control it.” Anna spoke, reminding me on the earlier incident with the glass in the kitchen that I shattered with my telekinesis, trying to protect me from those who don’t understand me.
Our conversation was interrupted when Anna looked out my bedroom window to see Ryan returning from his walk. He walked towards the front pouch of the house.
“Oh, thank God!” Anna sighed, relieved to see that Ryan had safely returned home.
“We’ll talk later. Come downstairs, Bella, dinner’s ready. And please be nice when Ryan walks in okay?” Anna asked.
She the first to walk out of my bedroom. I muttered and quietly followed, closing my bedroom door behind me, toeing that line of fake sincerity and stony-faced disinterest.
I followed Anna back downstairs into the living room, the front door opening.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 21st, 2018, 6:05pm
After at least an hour or so of solitude at The Barrens, Ryan decided to take his leave. The tiny fawn who had greeted him disappeared into the undergrowth back to it’s mother, leaving him to face the short walk home through Derry alone. Though he had sufficiently calmed down, a small shred of anger bubbled away under his skin.
Hands in his pockets, he left the pathway and emerged into the neighbourhood. Deep down, he resented the fact that he was adopted and that he had to leave his home country. Growing up in New York had been a challenge, especially with the anti-British sentiment he endured from Big Apple locals and school jocks, the latter of whom always ending up the target of his rage. Ryan didn’t care - he needed effigies to pummel. To break. To unleash unbridled levels of violence upon. Sometimes, he would force himself to walk away, only to react to caustic taunts that involves his brother, and occasionally ended with a jock in hospital and Ryan suspended.
As he walked up the steps of the front porch and opened the front door, he kicked off his boots and closed the door behind him. Entering the living room, he found a stern-looking Anna, arms folded. Bella, refusing to make eye contact, sat on the couch. Ignoring the miserable goth, he wondered what this welcoming committee was all about.
"Ryan, where have you been?" Anna asked. "And why didn’t you call me back?"
"The Barrens. And I didn’t ask for your approval." He retorted defensively
"It doesn’t matter if you asked for my approval or not. You can’t just storm off and leave like that." Anna lectured, trying to make Ryan feel guilty. This wasn’t normally what he’s expected from his surrogate mother. Whether or not she has reached her limit in trying to maintain peace between him and her anti-social daughter was another story.
"You never gave me a chance. And I needed to calm down anyway." Ryan confessed, knowing that honesty was the best policy.
"There’s nothing wrong with needing some time on your own, Ryan. I understand that the last 3 years have been difficult for you, but we couldn’t spend another year in New York. I have to hold down two jobs to keep a roof over our heads to provide for not only you, but for Bella too." Anna revealed, gesturing to her disinterested daughter.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I’ll always be a stranger wherever I go in this country." Ryan sadly announced, showing some self-doubt. If it was a way of getting Bella to show some empathy, it had little to no desired effect. She still wouldn’t acknowledge that fact.
"You’re not a stranger, Ryan." Anna spoke calmly.
"I AM. I never asked to be here. But every man and his dog singled me out in New York because of my accent. Because of my own perception of right and wrong. Because I don’t take sides in arguments. Yet somehow, I’m supposed to just sit and take all the prejudice and disrespect like it’s all my fault." Ryan spoke, conviction dripping from every word.
Anna was speechless. She didn’t know what to say.
"Everyone is right. I don’t belong in this country." Ryan announced, storming into the kitchen to get away from his surrogate mother and moody stepsister. He didn’t want to talk anymore.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 23rd, 2018, 04:21am
As I was texting Emily on my iPhone, sitting silently on the couch, I looked away from the small screen of my smartphone to see Ryan standing across the living room from Anna, overhearing Ryan’s words about people’s misjudgments on his beliefs of right and wrong and that people looked down their noses at him after his emigration from England when he was 10 years old.
There was a small part of me within my conscience that felt a deep empathy for Ryan. Throughout my childhood, I’ve always been mistreated and even bullied for being different, even though I was born as an American.
I recalled the memory when I was homeschooled for a year from my junior high school in New York...
I was 13 years old. The bullies, one junior high schooler and snobby cheerleader named Tiffany Williams, stole one of my spellbooks out of my backpack. I gave chase until i found her with the book in her hand, announcing to everyone in the playground during lunch hour that I was a witch. In horror, I watched Tiffany burn my book inside a metal oil drum that was set alight, the entire school circling around me like vultures, chanting “Burn Witch Burn!” over and over again until the school bell rang. As all the children rushed back into the school, several aggressively shoved me out of the way and i fell into a mud puddle, landing on my back. Tiffany returned, only to look down at me with disdain and snatch my backpack out of my hands.
“You should do yourself a favor and kill yourself before you kill others, Witch!” Tiffany hissed.
I helplessly watched her toss my backpack into the oil drum as the flames increased, burning everything I owned until there was nothing but ashes. I was already being sent to the principal’s office until Anna showed up, angry that the school had allowed themselves to turn a blind eye to the bullying I had received, deciding that I shall be homeschooled until further notice. She told the principal that he should be ashamed of himself.
Meanwhile, Ryan was 15 and starting his second year in high school.
By the time Ryan even knew what had happened to me, he returned home, finding me home sitting in my bedroom, about to slash my wrists with a razor blade. He had to take it away from me, despite my protests and our initial struggle.
Out of desperation, I begged Ryan to never tell my mom, but he still strongly insisted on telling on Anna that I was trying to self-harm. This forced Anna to not only home school me, but to keep me from harming myself or others around me in order to supposedly keep me safe.
The flashback ended as my emotions went from empathy to emotional distress again; a violent mood swing. I slammed my fists onto the couch, rose up from the couch and turned around to stare at Ryan, who was now in the kitchen so he could hear every word.
“Oh please, Ryan! You want to talk about not fitting in?” I asked, his back still turned to me as he sat at the table.
“People take one look at me and scream for me to kill myself!” I snapped, thinking that I had a harder life then him, even though I didn’t know his full story yet. “You only get criticised because you’re British?! Boo hoo! Cry me a river, Ryan!”
Ryan angrily stormed back into the lounge, absolutely incensed and eager to confront me. I could tell that he was on the verge of exploding in rage, but Anna stopped him.
"You ungrateful little brat!" He yelled, voice slightly raised.
“Bella! What did I tell you!” Anna warned me.
“Yeah, Yeah, keep my mouth shut. But you know what? It was because of him that I was forced to be homeschooled and not even allowed to walk out of my own home without you watching me like I’m some sort of prisoner!” I snapped at you mom, blaming Ryan for my life being ruined.
“I saved you from cutting yourself, Bella!” Ryan reminded me, knowing that he had done the right thing and was trying to be a good person to me.
“Yeah right, Mr. tattletale! You just want to tell Mom on me to look like the perfect child and make me look like the monster in the family!” I snapped, pointing angrily at him with my index finger, not appreciating Ryan trying to make an effort of being a caring stepbrother, or realising that he deeply cares for me and wont show it. Just like I won’t admit how much empathy i felt for his own change in life, my emotions of my past getting the better of me.
“You’re acting like one now. Bur not because of me!” Ryan spat back, admitting that I was a monster because the way I was acting.
Without rethinking the consequences of my actions, I once again decided to cross the line with Ryan, despite Anna’s warnings.
“Ryan was only looking out for you, Bella!” Anna advised me, trying to bring peace between us. “If Ryan never said anything, you would be in hospital.”
“Better than to be anywhere near him!” I snarled. “If you hate this country so bad, Ryan, how come you’re still here!?”
“Believe me, I would go home if I could. But someone has to babysit the Wicked Witch of the West.” Ryan bristled, referring to me.
“I can take care of myself. And someday, I’ll take care of you!’ I threatened in a dark voice, trying to scare Ryan away.
It had the desired effect on my stepbrother. "Oh yeah?! Come on then! YOU WANT TO START?! THEN LET’S TAKE IT OUTSIDE AND I’LL SHUT YOUR MOUTH FOR GOOD! He raged, his explosive temper like a volcano as he tried to lunge for me, stopped by Anna.
“No, Ryan! You will not do anything thing! We are a family and we’re staying here. And that’s final! Now, get into the kitchen. Our food’s getting cold.” Anna ordered calmly, refusing to let increasing hostilities prevent her from losing parental control.
Ryan huffed and stormed back into the kitchen. I followed, still feeling brave and spoiling for a fight. Ryan was trying to calm himself down as he sat at the table, arms folded, sitting across from me.
Anna served us each a plate full of spaghetti before she served herself a plate, joined us at the table in an attempt for us to eat together as a real family.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 23rd, 2018, 5:05pm
The atmosphere was so tense that one could cut it with a knife. Even sitting at the table, Ryan struggled to suppress that short temper which had implanted itself in his personality since his brother’s tragic death in Afghanistan. His green eyes paid Bella no attention as he picked at his spaghetti bolognese. Not just yet.
A nervous Anna kept her fearful brown eyes glancing left and right, hoping her children wouldn’t kick off again. Bella was too busy texting on her iPhone, seemingly glued to the messages that were flashing up on the touchscreen all the time. Not a single look of happiness crossed her lips. Not even as the red night skies gave away to a brief period of rainfall outside.
"Bella, please. Can you stop texting at the table?" Anna politely asked her daughter.
The dark-haired teenager glared at her mother, chewing a closed mouth of spaghetti like she had just been offended. She swallowed and huffed, putting the phone into her pocket without saying a word.
Anna then looked to Ryan, who appeared to have calmed down again. He hadn’t eaten any food since the 5 hour journey from New York to Derry was interrupted by a small stop for some light lunch. To see him almost finish his plate was enough to convince her that he was now calm and agreeable.
"Were you hungry, Ryan?" She asked.
"Starved, I guess." Ryan declared, maintaining a look of calmness. In reality, he was preparing to catch Bella off guard and watch her squirm like a rat.
"I understand the journey must of been very stressful to you and Bella. But I can’t stress this enough. You’re not a stranger, Ryan. Not to this family." Anna reassured, knowing that she had to maintain peace between both siblings.
"That’s what they all say to me." Ryan grumbled, putting on a fake American accent. "It’s always "Everyone is welcome here, son. You just have to follow the dream." like it’s some sort of holy grail."
Bella didn’t react as 5 minutes of silence passed. Conversations felt meaningless to her. She stared at the ground, seemingly avoiding the discussion between her mother and stepbrother.
"You’re still young, Ryan. In time, I’m sure you will adapt to these difficult changes." Anna reassured. "A home is a home."
"This isn’t my new home. It’s temporary. Give me a wet and rainy day in London over this dump." Ryan declared, finishing up his spaghetti. "At least the locals show respect when it’s earned."
Bella was still eerily quiet, believing she had been spared an outburst of frustration from Ryan. Little did she know was that he was about to move in for the kill.
"Unlike some people." He declared, which made Bella’s eyes look up into the burning green stare of her stepbrother. Despite her anti-social facade, nervousness was creeping in.
"Excuse me?" Bella asked, realising that she had been caught out.
"You heard me." Came the swift response.
"I have no idea what you’re talking about." Bella denied, trying to lie in order to weasel her way out of a potential confrontation.
"Oh, don’t play the idiot game with me, Bella. You must think I was born yesterday." Ryan scoffed, glaring intently. "I heard every single word you said. Every. Single. Word."
If looks could kill, Bella would be terminal. She franctically scrambled around for a comeback. "Er.....erm..... So you heard, did you? You’re nothing but a snake in the grass!" She weakly retorted, trying to be courageous.
"So that’s it then, is it? Am I an a**hole? A limey? A prick? A tattletale? Or a snake in the grass? Make up your mind." Ryan smartly replied, anger building up inside of him.
"You’re a snitch." Bella meekly spoke.
Ryan angrily lashed out and knocked his knife and fork off the table, sending them loudly scattering across the floor. "Wrong answer." He growled, incensed that his stepsister was still trying to act stupid.
"Ryan, please. Don’t create another scene." Anna pleaded, the rain increasing outside."
"No, Anna. I’ve heard as much as I can stomach. But I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth." The leather-jacketed teenager declared, folding his arms defensively. "So which is it, half-pint?"
Bella said nothing, having been scared into silence by her brother’s explosive anger. Her bottom lip wobbled like she was burst into tears, fighting back wave after wave of emotional distress.
"That’s what I thought. Guess it must feel pretty brave for you to talk behind my back when I’m not around, isn’t it?" Ryan asked, getting up from his chair and walking over to Bella. He grabbed her chair and spun her around to face him.
"ISN’T IT?!" He raged, the mere sound of his voice scaring the living daylights out of his stepsister. Ryan didn’t care. Anger was now fuelling every single emotion as he suppressed that rage in the back of his head.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 25th, 2018, 12:13am
As if the space time continuum had immediately stopped, a long moment of silence followed Ryan’s outburst. It was heard throughout the entire house, almost disturbing the neighbours. He had disturbed my soul and shocked my entire nervous system, until it reached my heart to the point and briefly rendered me speechless until I couldn’t even move off of the kitchen chair.
I was horridly startled by Ryan’s temper towards me. Out of all people who had ever given him a hard time in his life, he had chosen to focus all that rage towards me.
I was shaken so much that it was almost noticeable, the vibration of fear travelling across my spine, the fear of being misjudged and mistreated while Ryan’s rage silenced me, as if he had stolen my voice to speak back. There was nothing more to say that would compare to his own hateful words that he could ever say to anyone as a member of this family.
Ryan had just proven my point. He was NEVER supposed to be part of MY family and he admitted that on his own too. Now we were both on the same page on the one underlying declaration; We’re not a family. Never was and never will be.
I’ve dealt with many people who advised me to kill myself because of my abnormal nature and the murder father because I wasn’t daddy’s little girl.
But I’ve never been so mentally and verbally abused by someone who was suppose my step-brother. Ryan should reconsider oburning one side of his face, because he’s nothing more than a two-faced step-brother. And not just a brother of any kind, because that’s who he is to me. All his beliefs that he can make a difference for himself and others are lies. He’s really just a two-faced hot-headed a**hole and a true bully with no regrets or consequences of his own actions, thinking that he has the right to treat people however he wants. He’ll never earn anybody’s respect with his rebellious reputation.
It started to feel cold and empty inside the house. All we could hear was the evening rain rattling across the roof and the windows as the only sound breaking the silence.
But I finally decided to take my final stand as I aggressively stabbed my fork into a meatball on my plate of spaghetti, took a deep breath through my nose and raised my head up from facing the floor until I was looking up at Ryan with a dead stare within my blue eyes, half of my face hidden behind my long locks of black hair, ready to say something that I should’ve said to Ryan a long time ago.
“I now see why your parents abandoned you.....You think you can hide your pain with your anger, acting all tough like you don’t give a d**n about what other people think of you. Maybe you don’t, but I think you do, you’re just scared like me! Only you won’t admit it!” I hissed a low sobbing voice, trying to fight back the tears and hurt that I’m feeling now.
"Don’t give me that. It’s so easy for you to point your finger and play the victim, Bella. I have to try and PROVE MYSELF! To try SO hard to not be THAT type of person you despise." Ryan revealed, his voice breaking, but not breaking eye contact with me. "So maybe ordinary people don’t always crack. Maybe it’s just you the whole time.
“You’re right. It does feel good to let the whole world know what I really think about you.....” I spoke, rising up from my chair to stand in front of Ryan, up to his neck level while staring intensely up at him.
“Tell us the truth.” Ryan dared me.
“I said it!” I growled under my breath, grinding my teeth.
“So we can hear you.” Ryan dared me again, waiting for me to confess my my tru feelings about my step-brother.
My eyes narrowed in anger like they were on fire, my blood boiling through my veins, eager to say it just to finally it get off my chest. Once Ryan hears, he’ll learn to never get involved in my business again.
“I hate you so much that I wish you never EXISTED!” I declared, this outburst causing Anna to gasped loudly in horror. Ryan didn’t flinch, but he was utterly shocked at my words.
I took my plate of spaghetti and threw it into his chest, meatballs and sauce staining his Slayer shirt, the plate smashing on the floor. I stormed out of the kitchen and ran into my bedroom, slamming the door. Ryan stood there, impassively acknowledging the stains on his clothes.
“I’m so sorry, Ryan....” Anna apologised, trying to remain calm, but believing that she had failed as a mother.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 25th, 2018, 3:30pm
"No, it’s okay. She’s just like all the people who’ve turned their backs on me since I was 13." Ryan declared, his anger dissipating, dissolving, reduced to a mere flicker of hatred. Calmness descended, compelling him to sit down on the chair his stepsister had used, head in hands as the rain rattled the windows outside.
Meatball and pasta sauce stains dotted his shirt, strands of spaghetti hanging off his jeans. Ryan was sick of his time in this country already. Deep down, he wanted to go home and not have any more stress or a miserable teenage goth accusing him of ruining her life.
"Don’t say that, Ryan. No one has turned their backs on you." Anna reasoned, unprepared for what would follow next.
"Then why don’t I feel any different?" Ryan asked, bristling with frustration and not acknowledging his surrogate mother. "Every time I try to do the right thing, another knife is added to my back. And the wound just gets deeper."
Anna, for all her expertise and knowledge of psychology, was at a loss to try and reassure the young Englishman. The outburst from Bella had upset Ryan, and it showed as he showed signs of exhaustion, his face weary, broken, tired and beyond the point of caring.
"It seems that everything I do just isn’t good enough. I’ll NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS FAMILY!" Ryan yelled, slamming a balled up fist into the table, loud enough to make Anna flinch. He was past the point of being reasonable, angry tears leaking from his eyes.
A stunned Anna witnessed this rare showing of emotion. Ryan had always been the silent type who wore his heart on his sleeve, but he was never one to be made of stone. Wiping his eyes, he exhaled and left the table, ignoring a silent Anna
"Ryan, don’t get personal." She asked. "Don’t you see? This is what Bella wants. She wants you to hate her."
"And she’s succeeded. Some brother I am, huh?" Ryan decided, heading upstairs to the first floor landing, leaving Anna alone. He stopped by Bella’s bedroom, fighting the internal urge to punch a hole right through her door. This sort of attention was what Bella thrived on, so he decided not to give her the satisfaction.
Walking into his bedroom, Ryan closed the door, wanting to be alone for the rest of the evening. He took off his leather jacket and stained shirt, dumping it in a heap on the floor beside his bed. Shirtless and angry, he set about deciding to unbox all his belongings. He started with his box of heavy metal CD’s, carefully organising them into two grey spiral racks, planning to let all of his anger out once he had unpacked.
All of his musical taste had been amassed via recommendations and using his pocket money, the latter of which being spent on heavy metal in it’s droves. Though he loved the early sound of the NWOBHM sound, it was the sonic speed of thrash metal and the intensity of death metal, that were his favourite sub-genres. Throw in a small dash of harsh industrial metal and a few diverse alternative sounds, and Ryan’s calling card was clear.
"First things first; get my hi-fi up. Then I can de-stress." He thought, still fending off angry urges that flared up, then vanished.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 28th, 2018, 04:41am
In the kitchen, Anna continued to clean up by washing the dishes in the sink, which was filled with a mixture of soap and water, washing them one by one with a soaked sponge and then drying them with a towel. She sorted them into the kitchen cabinets above the kitchen counter.
She had decided to clean up the kitchen herself without asking for assistance from Ryan or me after tonight’s outbursts between us. All she wanted was peace and quiet for the rest of the night.
Anna realised that it was going to take more than psychology to talk some sense into me with regards to insecure behavior towards Ryan. It’s been awhile since she last had a heart to heart talk with me as mother and daughter.
For a moment, she recalled the various stages of my young life when I would always come to her for advice on almost everything throughout my childhood. She was the only one I ever trusted on everything that goes on in my life, especially after my father’s death. She made sure that she would always be there for me no matter what. Anna was not only my mother, but also the only adult who understood me.
By the time I reached 12, my antisocial personality had gotten worse due to my Wiccan powers evolving and growing stronger to the point of being out my control whether I’m upset, angry, or even scared.
Throughout my childhood to to the present day, I was so insecure and isolated by the memories of my troubled past that I failed to realise that everything that Anna has done was to give me a better life to start with a new companion, a brother to relate and communicate. Who will understand what I’m going through and hope to work together to gain trust in each other.
But until then, I was still young, sensitive and naive to realise that Ryan has been trying to make an effort to gain my trust while supporting my mother at the same time.
Anna planned to at least try to have a private conversation with me tonight, reminding herself that she can make this work because of the commitment she promised; To be there for Ryan and myself, despite our simmering hatred towards each other. To make us fully understand what being part of a family is all about.
Anna knows that Ryan and I deeply care for each other, she just needs us to help us embrace the good persons inside us that are trying to break through the walls of hate, anger, and disdain. She never wanted to imprison me away from the outside world: she wanted to make sure that I don’t harm myself or anyone else around me if my powers ever get out of control.
Meanwhile, inside my bedroom, the door closed, I overheard Ryan’s last outburst to my mom about how he will never be part of this family and how I have made him hate me, I opened my door slightly to sneak a small glance at Ryan, who walkedinto his bedroom, slammed his door shut. Loud enough to suggest that he had more than just a hair-trigger temper. He was like a hand grenade when stirred to anger. And that terrified me.
I closed my bedroom door once, my peaceful, tolerant and kind conscience telling me that I may have taken it too far. But my dark side of me continued to twist and feed off my anger, telling me that Ryan was the one to blame for making me feel this way after he told my mom about my near-fatal self harming incident.
As I continued to unpack, I organized my collection of books, separating my spellbooks and my fantasy novels on separate shelves of the coffin shapes bookshelf. My hands lastly settled on my photo album of my childhood as I picked it up, it’s hardback cover spattered with dust.
I briefly sat on my bed, the album’s binding cracking open. Inside were various photos from the day I was born to when i was 5 years old. One photo included just me, my mom and my dad. This was before he decided that I wasn’t good enough for him. It was a photo from Halloween where I was dressed up as a witch and holding a pumpkin bucket fill of candy standing beside Anna and Curtis, surrounded by autumn leaves as we were out trick or treating. The night turned into a horror that will forever haunt me when that monster tried to murder me.
As I stared at the photo, a grim expression spread across my face as my fingers gripped onto the picture, both of my hands shaking in anger just by the sight of my dad in the picture. A blue glow formed in my palm as I forcibly shred it into small confetti like pieces that spread across my bedroom floor.
“I HATE MY LIFE!” My thoughts screamed in my head, shredding every picture in my photo album that had my father in it to erase him out of my existence completely. Once someone, be it my father or any bully, crosses me, they are dead to me. Physically and mentally.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 29th, 2018, 4:45pm
While his so-called stepsister was busy throwing a temper tantrum and erasing mementos from her past, Ryan had effectively unpacked all of his belongings - clothes, books, DVD’s, compact discs, PlayStation 4, hi-fi, posters, and a dartboard - from the six boxes that were previously stacked in a corner.
His bed faced his bedroom door, covered in army print duvet covers. A small bedside table sat to the left, complete with a digital alarm clock, a lamp with an army print lampshade. and a small framed black and white photo of his brother, James Swift, who was in his army uniform. To the right, nearest the window, was his own working desk, with several drawers that contained many heavy metal magazines, dog-eared and stained notepads, and his sketchbook.
To the left of the room sat his flatscreen TV, Hi-fi and PlayStation 4, mounted on a 3 level metal stand after he had connected all the wiring to each plug socket. His grey chest of drawers stood near his desk and the bedroom window, which contained his clothes.
Above his bed was a poster of a dragon curled around a sword amidst a backdrop of flames, next to one of a snarling panther emerging from the shadows. Either side were posters of thrash metal bands Testament and Municipal Waste.
Ryan opened his fitted wardrobe. Inside were 3 sleeveless denim jackets that were adorned with patches of heavy metal bands, along with his series of ripped jeans and various combat boots. A small smile crossed his face. These jackets were his method of representing metal itself.
"Now the place is starting to look like home." He declared to himself, putting on a plain black shirt to compensate for the stained piece of clothing that Bella had ruined with her temper tantrum earlier. Picking up his leather jacket, he hung it up and closed the wardrobe. It’s doors were covered by more posters - a Punisher skull logo, Fear Factory and Napalm Death.
The rain outside had become heavier, rattling against the roof and windows of the house. Grey clouds descended upon the street, accompanying the deluge.
Next, Ryan hung a Slayer poster and his dartboard on the back of his bedroom door. It’s circular frame was covered by cut-outs of pop musicians and reality TV personalities that he despised. Due to his aggressive stance on music, he despised the current climate of mainstream pop. And would do anything to routinely let the preps and jocks know in kind.
"Time to de-stress." He thought, selecting Soul of a New Machine, the bone-crushing debut album from Fear Factory. Placing the disc into his hi-fi, the first track - Martyr - blared out, with down-tuned guitars and rumbling drums, to which he lightly turned up. Loud enough for only his ears to hear
Anger began to feed off of his every emotion - but Ryan didn’t care. Bella had made him this way. He was past the point of even remotely caring for his screwed-up stepsister anymore. Flopping onto his bed, he stared up at the ceiling, letting the rage inside him build up.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Yesterday at 03:39am
As Anna walked towards the set of stairs in the living room, she briefly stopped to take a deep breathe and continued to walked up the stairs with calm confidence as creaking sounds could be heard across the second floor hallway until Anna was standing close by my closed bedroom door before she knocked on the door with her knuckles gently but just loud enough for me to hear as I was still reviewing my childhood photo from my album, shredding every photo that had the image of my attempted-murderous father in it, burying the memories of nothing but a reminder that I’m secretly a monster no matter how hard I try to avoid it but I cannot deny to myself that I do need help but too ashamed to admit to anyone, even to my own mother or Ryan, fearing that they will never understand who I am.
My tormented blue eyes gazed away from the shredded photos that were all over my bed like a confetti of sorrow when I heard three knocks outside my bedroom door but I didn’t scream this time because I recognized those 3 gentle knocks which wasn’t Ryan but Anna as a silent way of asking to come into my bedroom without interfering right away like most uptight parents in this generation.
“Come in.” I sighed deeply, continuing to gaze back down at my photo album for anything else to shred as Anna entered herself into my bedroom and close the door behind her.
“Bella, what are you doing?” Anna calmly asked about my bed covered in shredded photos like many missing puzzle pieces.
“What does it look I’m doing?” I asked in dark sarcasm, shredding another picture in front of her that was the picture of my father teaching me how to ride a bike with two training wheels when I was 4 years old but I recalled that memory when I was riding on that bike, I flew into the sky whiling still riding on that bike like I was riding on a witch’s broom because of my telekinesis that responded to my emotion of excitement.
“Those memories are not replaceable you know.” Anna calmly reminded me after gazing at my bed from across my bedroom that was filled with shredded photos mostly all with pictures of my father.
“I don’t want them replaced, I want them erased!” I snarled, gazing at a recent photo of our new family portrait of Anna, Ryan, and myself that was taken last year in the Central Park New York City.
“Bella, wait!” Anna walked towards me and placed her hand over mine as if preventing me from shredding our family portrait just because it had Ryan in it, “You can stop right there.”
“I almost done, mom. Just need to fix this picture.” I said but Anna took that photo away from me.
“Bella! I mean it! You’ve taken this personally for far too long!” Anna reminded me as she held onto the family portrait for safe keeping until I was ready to control my emotions, “There’s nothing to fix, we are a family.”
“This isn’t a family, this whole situation is a prison!” I dramatically said, slamming the photo album closed and turned myself around with my arms folded, still sitting on the edge of my bed across from my mom who was sitting on the other side of my bed.
“Only if you believe that.” Anna said, trying to reason with me with forced to turned my head back to face her again, “What?”
“You need to understand that the world doesn’t involve around you.” Anna reminded me, “What happened to you was tough and what Curtis tried to do to you was inhuman but you can’t put that memory on others especially Ryan who has done nothing but supporting us. He’s part of our family and he is your brother.” Anna suggested for me to a accept that fact that Ryan is part of this family no matter what.
“He doesn’t understand just like dad never understood. So what’s the whole point of even trying to explain myself to anyone when they deeply fear me and hate me?” I sadly sighed, cuddling my legs close to my body while I wrapped my arms around my legs for support, looking down at my shredded photos all over my black bed comfort blanket.
“Why didn’t you just say that?” Anna asked after I confessed to her about my deepest fear of talking to others besides my mother who’s the only one who I trust about my “special” abilities.
“Come on, mom. You and I both know that there are normal people out there that will rather burn me alive or run away from me than listen to what I have to say, I might as well been invisible to the world because I want to be alone and nobody wants anything to do with me, everybody wins!” I drastically said, staring out the window that was closed but the black curtains were still opened as the gloomy cloudy sky continued to pour rain from outside that was load enough to clear the silence within my bedroom between Anna and I.
“First of all, don’t ever think that way about yourself because you got me and Ryan to look after you. Second, everybody’s born different. You’re not cursed, you’re special.” Anna said, moving a little closer towards me on my bed.
“Special is a strong word, mom. I wasn’t special to dad that’s for d**n sure.” I sighed, burying my face on my knees.
“But you are to me because you’re my daughter no matter who you are because if there’s one thing I know about you is that you will never let a hunted memory stop you from making a difference not just for yourself, but for others.” Anna said, placing her one hand onto my shoulder.
“How?” I asked in suspicion on how my powers can make any kind of differences for myself or anybody around me.
“It’s all about gaining control. You need to keep your emotions in check in order to control your abilities. Remember, with great power….” Anna said before I interrupted her…..
“Comes great responsibility. I know, I’ve seen the movie.” I sarcastically rolled my eyes, referring to the 2002’s Spiderman’s famous dialogue.
“Besides, nobody expects a witch to be helpful no matter what century. How can you possibly think that I can my powers into good use when I cannot even control it?” I sarcastically asked.
“You’re missing the point, Bella. There’s so much more about you than you know. You may not realize it now, but there is good in you. All you need to do is to give yourself a chance to expand yourself before you give others a chance to get to know you because once you communicate with those that you can trust, you don’t have to be afraid because you won’t be alone when you have someone to help you overcome your deepest fears and once you do, you can accomplish anything.” Anna wisely said.
“I trust you, mom.” I said.
“But I can’t be there for you forever. You eventually have to learn to stand up for yourself and be on your won but won’t be alone to do that….You got Ryan too. So I strongly suggest that you give yourself a chance to expend yourself to Ryan before you lose him forever.” Anna suggested.
“I’ll think about it. But I can’t guarantee that we’ll be like two peas in a pod.” I sarcastically said.
“This will get easier soon I promise. Until than, promise me that you’ll give it a good try.” Anna asked me.
“Fine.” I promised before I got off the bed and started to pick up the shredded pieces of photos off my bed into my small bedroom garbage basket.
“When you’re done with that, can you take out the garage please?” Anna asked before I stopped when she asked me that favor but I deeply sighed, “Okay.” I agreed because I’ve figured that I owe my mom a favor even though Ryan made me feel this way tonight.
But taking out the garbage briefly took my mind off Ryan’s earlier outburst as I carefully dragged the garage bag out of the kitchen towards the backdoor with a black zip-up hoodie on and a hood over my head to block the rain still pouring across there Jackson street of Derry with a minor wind blowing rain in different directions until I reached the sidewalk and dumped the garage bag into the trash can.
But just as I got my back turned towards my house, I strangely stood still in the middle of the rain that continued to pour down my hoodie as if something caused me to remain still because I didn’t know if I was just my imagination but I could’ve sworn I’ve heard the voice of the children, singing in my head. But it didn’t sound cheerful, it sound rather…..Disturbing as it echoing somewhere in my direction.
As crazy as it sounded, but I decided to briefly investigate the noise as I noticed that when I stepped across the sidewalk and turned around to noticed a sewer drain under the sidewalk across my house where I heard it but it strangle stopped all of the sudden.
“Hello?” I asked but rather in my nervous shaken voice because of the cold rain as I leaned in closer out of curiosity but before I could get any closer……
“Bella! What are you doing? You’re going to catch a cold! Come back inside!” Anna warned out of concern when she opened the front door to see me standing nearby the sidewalk nearly soaked in the rain as I shook my head and gazed back up at her with an embarrassed expression across my face.
“Sorry! I’m coming!” I called out as I ran pass the sewer drain of the sidewalk and reached back onto the pouch before I walked back inside and close the door behind me.
“I couldn’t sworn I’ve heard something…..” I thought to myself, puzzled by the disturbing voices of children in our neighborhood but than again, I’ve been listening a lot of gothic and power metal music lately so I thought nothing of it, thinking that I was imagining it.
(To Be Continued)
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 14th, 2018, 06:16am
Based on 2017’s IT: Chapter One
Chapter 1: Derry
There have been ghost stories and urban legends about an mysterious ancient alien/eldritch immortal creature that lived in the sewers of Derry. Every 27 years, IT, as it came to be known, would prey on the children of Derry, sending them missing without a trace. But they say that this creature never came from Earth; IT came from a different void/dimension. IT can shape-shift into anyone and anything that a child fears the most. IT feeds on that fear by devouring that child before the creature hibernates again for another 27 years.
But it seems that this creature had been defeated only once by the 7 children of Derry in the summer of 1989. They called themselves The Loser’s Club. Eventually, they went their separates ways after facing their worst fears of their lives. It was all over. For now.....
27 years had passed since sightings of another creature deep within those same sewers I never believed it. I thought it was just one of those ghost stories to try to scare the s*** out of me.
But I was wrong.....
Fall 2016. It was the beginning of September on a Saturday morning just a week before school starts as a grey Dodge Journey people carrier appeared on the roads, a moving van following behind.
The small convoy passed a sign that read, “Derry welcomes you!”
Before we moved to Derry, me and my mother, Anna Thomas, used to live in the suburbs in the state of New York City. My mother was New York’s most respected psychologist, and knew how to ease everybody’s stress and advise them on how to deal with their everyday lives.
My father, Curtis Thomas, tried to kill me when I was 5 years old because he never liked the fact that I was born differently - a half human and half Wiccan. So one night, he tried to kill me in my sleep with a kitchen knife. I woke up and screamed in horror, defending myself by unleashing my hidden ability of telekinesis for the first time, without realising it. Curtis was thrown out of my bedroom window and onto the ground of our backyard. The impact killed him insantly. The sight of his blood-stained and lifeless body will live with me for the rest of my life.
Anna tried to remind me that it wasn’t my fault since I was only trying to protect myself. But I knew that I accidentally killed my father and that feeling of fear and guilt will never go away.
Years passed. I was my mother’s whole world. She had accepted me for who I was It was just the two of us. We were one big happy family.
Until......
When I was 8, Anna thought that it would be a good idea for me have a big brother to look out for me. She adopted a 10 year old British boy name Ryan, who was raised in London, England. He was going through his own personal family crisis with his parents. When they divorced and couldn’t agree on a joint custody settlement, his father suggested that he would be better starting a new life with a new family in America. So Anna took him into her care ever since.
Everything was perfect with just me and my mom until Ryan came into our lives. Ryan and I are complete opposites. But I’ll spare the details on my step-brother and get to the point of the story.
As we travelled across the small town of Derry, I looked out the back window of the car, noticing more wilderness outside the town. I never was a small town country person I’ve always been a city girl growing up, so I hated this f****ing town already. It looked so dull and boring.
In the backseat, I was listening to No Hope In Sight by Paradise Lost, one of my favorite gothic metal bands, through my headphones that were attached to my iPhone, while texting to my one and only best friend. Emily Dale, who still lives in New York City.
Next to my seat was a box filled with a mysterious book and a notepad with a pen laying in it's centre. My pastimes revolved around fantasy novels and fantasy films, the supernatural, poetry, mythology, and witchcraft.
I was 14 years old and sported long black hair, straightened down to my shoulders, a shoulderless black shirt with the Wiccan symbol of the Triqueta on the front, ripped black skinny jeans, and thick black boots. Reddish black lipstick, dark eyeshadow and dark eyeliner covered my blue eyes.
Around my neck was a pendant of a pentagram, complete with a purple gem in it's center.
Meanwhile, Ryan was quietly sitting in the passenger seat. He had spent most of the journey giving me the silent treatment after we got into a shoving match outside a local gas station before the journey to Derry.
Ryan was the complete opposite go me. He was 16 years old. A rebellious attitude, a penchant for all things classic sci-fi and horror movies, heavy metal - particularly the sub-genres of thrash and death metal - and a healthy disdain for authority regularly made us argue. Though not a bad person, he took unbridled delight in winding me up. Just for the fun of it.
Ryan wore a leather jacket, a Slayer t-shirt and jeans, with short black hair and green eyes.
I swear that I felt like I had been in this car for hours. But we finally arrived in the quiet suburbs of Derry, the people carrier rolling to stop near the sidewalk outside our new home.
A real estate sign that said SOLD in bold white letters across a red background, stood nearby. Anna had recently bought the house for us to live in,
The moving van parked behind us as my mother, Ryan, and myself climbed out of the car to view the two story house.
“Well, this is it.” My mother smiled calmly. “What do you think?”
“Not bad.” Ryan muttered, hands in his pockets.
Still texting, i finally moved my eyes away from my phone to look up at our new home.
“Whatever.” I sighed carelessly, gazing back down at my iPhone, already uninterested.
“Bella, could you at least pretend to be happy?” Anna asked.
“I was happy before we came here!” I rudely mocked in a sarcastically tone in my voice.
“Not now, Bella. We have a lot of unpacking to do. So please get your things and bring them inside the house. I promise that this will be a better new start for us.” My mother promised.
As Anna walked up to the house, the van driver began to unload boxes of our belongings for us to bring into our new home.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 14th, 2018, 1:58pm
Amidst the mild autumnal weather and piles of brown leaves littered across the driveway, Anna unlocked the front door, stepping into the empty house. It had been newly refurbished at her request; she had worked countless late shifts as a psychologist and a doctor in the pursuit of a new life for her and her two children. With a sensible approach to managing her money, it made sense to leave the hustle and bustle of New York City behind for the tranquil calm and peace of the state of Maine.
A hopeful smile crossed her face. All those late shifts and sacrifices had paid off. The same couldn’t be said for her children. Ryan leaned against the people carrier, his hands still in his pockets. Bella continued to stare at her iPhone screen, slumped up against the real estate sign while listening to The Nobodies by Marilyn Manson.
By contrast to Bella, Ryan was the total antithesis to his step-sister. Having been adopted by Anna when he was 10, his arrival turned Bella’s dream into a nightmare. Though the duo barely acknowledged one another and barely came to blows, the resentment between them had simmered for the last 5 years.
Any hopes for them to finally bond and accept one another was shattered when his brother, James, was killed while on active duty with the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan. The funeral left him with little comfort, but this death changed Ryan from a young and optimistic child into a hate-filled, insecure and short-tempered teenager when he turned 13. His time in a New York City high-school regularly saw him clash with various bullies and jocks, which earned him detention on many occasions. Once such incident involved Ryan knocking out a bully, breaking a nose in the process. The savage and violent nature of his actions forced an immediate suspension.
Now the age of 16, Ryan still hadn’t taken kindly to emigrating from his home city of London. And it showed as he stared off into the distance down the street, seemingly unimpressed with this new life.
After Anna has finished viewing every empty room of the house, she saw how lethargic and disinterested her two children where. Her white blouse and grey pencil thin skirt matched her shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. She saw the boxes already piling up by the moving van, feeling disappointed at the lack of effort being shown.
"Ryan. Bella. Can both of you start unpacking, please?" Anna requested.
Ryan muttered under his breath and decided to cut the moving van driver a break, trudging to the rear of the vehicle and picking up several boxes marked Ryan’s room in black marker pen ink. He figured that if he can get this out of the way, Anna wouldn’t be nagging. He walked up the driveway to the opened front door
"Miserable little b**ch." He hissed at Bella, who had finished being anti-social and put her phone onto her pocket. She picked up boxes that contained her belongings and mementos.
Ryan ascended the staircase, turning right towards the first bedroom he could find. Setting the box down on the floor, he huffed audibly, wanting this day to be over with. The journey had already taken the better part of 5 hours, with at least 3 pit stops at gas stations and food eateries for lunch and fuel, respectively.
"The sooner this day is done, the better." He thought, ignoring Bella as she walked past with a box containing her gothic clothes.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 16th, 2018, 01:41am
Meanwhile, I walked upstairs with my first small box in my hands, marked Bella’s Clothes in black marker ink. The wooden stairs creaked slightly big under each step until I reached the first floor of the house.
Across the hallway, I noticed that Ryan had already started unpacking his junk in a much bigger room of the house.
“Hey! I wanted that room!” I demanded at Ryan, still carrying my box.
“Finders keepers, half-pint. There’s an extra room next door. Hope you wont be cramped.” Ryan smirked sarcastically, pointing towards the small bedroom next door, continuing to unpack.
“A**hole!” I sneered, emotionlessly raising my middle finger at him before walking away.
"B**ch." Ryan called out, not paying any attention.
I walked into my new and small old fashioned bedroom. The wallpaper, peeling at the edges, had old pictures of circus animals, with only two small windows and a wooden closet.
We were all unaware that the house was the recent home of Bill and Georgie Denbrough, two brothers that once lived here 27 years ago. Ryan’s room was Bill’s room while my room was Georgie’s room.
11:30 AM
After 5 hours driving across the US from my beloved home town of New York City to this boring and s***y town of Derry, Mom claimed that it would save us a lot of stress and money struggles. Mom also thought that it would be the best for me to move because of my troubled upbringing and how dangerous and loud New York was. We had lived there since I was born and I always loved the Big Apple. It would briefly take my mind off my tragic past, but Mom claims that my father’s death was a accident. Deep down, I knew that I did it to protect myself. It may have been an accident, but it turned into murder.
At 11 years old, during my last 4 years in a New York high school, students knew that I was never meant to fit in to their society because I was born differently. They called me a witch and other horrible names under the sun. They even told me that I should burn in hell, and that I killed my father. I had to lie to them by saying that he died im a car crash to hide my fear and guilt whils avoiding suspicion. The Government even considered to do some experiments on me. So I developed Avoidant Personality Disorder since childhood and never had any close friends who can relate.
Until I met my one and only best friend, Emily Dale, when I was 13 years old.
But when I turned 14, Mom decided that she was sick of New Yorker paranoia and accusations. Eventually, the three of us moved away. As if my life wasn’t isolated enough.
Ryan new that I was part Wiccan and he would taunt me whenever he could to piss me off. But he doesn’t know about the murder of my father yet and I want to keep it that way. I wasn’t looking forward to going back to school by next week. Bullies are worse than ever in this generation. I’ve dealt with several snobby b**ches in my childhood, but I think that my biggest bully of all is my step-brother.
Anyway, I carried several more moving boxes of my personal belongings up into my bedroom. From my clothings and mementos, to my fantasy novels, fantasy films, supernatural, poetry, mythology, and witchcraft books.
“This room really needs redecorating!” I sighed out of disgust, feeling like it was a child’s playroom.
After the moving men moved all of our stuff into our new house, I set all my boxes onto my bed, opening one that contained my books and began to store them onto my coffin shaped book shelf.
Just then, I heard a creaking noise, which made me stopped and I turn to where I heard the noise. It appeared to be coming my small closet door that was slightly opened.I sighed, rolling my eyes out of ignorance, opening the door.
Switching on the lightbulb, all I could find was dust and cobwebs.
“Oh, my God! Have people ever heard of spring cleaning around here?!” I coughed.
I briefly walked downstairs into the kitchen to borrow a duster, heading back upstairs into my bedroom to clean up my closet so i can put my clothes in there. I grabbed my desk chair and climbed onto it. Once I saw the top shelf, I started to dust off the cobwebs and dust. But as I was dusting, I suddenly felt something crawling across the skin of my right hand that was holding onto the duster.
A shiver travelled down my spine....
Pulling my hand closer into the light, my eyes saw a giant house spider on the duster. It was crawling towards my right hand!
“AH! S**T!” I screamed, shaking my hand wildly for it to get off. In my panic my body fell off the chair and onto the floor, right on my a**.
Footsteps were heard across the stairs as Anna appeared in my bedroom and noticed that I had dramatically fallen on the floor. She walked over and kneeled down to check up on me.
“Bella, are you alright? What happened?” Anna asked out of concern, noticing that there was no serous injuries on me.
“What’s with all the screaming?” Ryan asked ignorantly.
“There’s a huge spider in my closet!” I panicked, climbing onto my bed goosebumps crawling across my skin. “Is it on me?”
My paranoid blue eyes darted left and right for anymore spiders, while Ryan and Anna viewed the top shelf of my closet to see a harmless giant house spider on its web.
“This? Are you kidding me, Bella?” Ryan asked, ignoring my overreaction.
“It’s okay, Bella. Spiders can’t hurt you.” Anna reminded me.
“I don’t care! I HATE spiders! Get it out of my room!” I yelled nervously, refusing to touch that thing.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 16th, 2018, 1:05pm
Ryan rolled his eyes and disappeared downstairs, ripping open one box to grab a glass and a piece of paper. Returning upstairs, he reached into the closet and quickly trapped the arachnid under the glass, carefully placing the paper underneath it. Unlike Bella, he actually showed concern for all creatures great and small.
"It’s just a harmless little spider. Stop being such a p***y." Ryan vulgarly declared, holding up the glass with the harmless insect inside. Anna gasped at his usage of that particular swear word.
"Just get rid of it! NOW!" Bella screeched, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
Ryan shook his head and disappeared, heading outside as he let the spider scuttle away into the bushes. A small autumnal breeze scattered several leaves across the driveway, which mixed with the loud ensuing argument that was coming from upstairs between Bella and her mother.
"Bella, we have talked about this time and time again. This move will benefit us all. New York was becoming too overcrowded." Anna lectured, arms folded.
"I was happy there, Mom! HAPPY! Before you adopted that jerk I call a stepbrother, we were perfectly fine. This isn’t a new start for us all. It’s a new start for you." Bella retorted, climbing off her bed. "And you could care less about how I feel. Admit it."
"I will not admit that because it is not true." Anna softly denied, undeterred and refusing to raise her voice. "But I do think that you can show a little more attentiveness to Ryan, who obviously needs you to understand why he’s part of this family."
"He wasn’t part of this family to begin with, Mom! You adopted him because you felt bad for his parent’s divorcing and wanted an excuse to make me feel second best. That limey has ruined my life." Bella spoke, denigrating her step-brother with a less than pleasant slur.
"Don’t talk about your stepbrother like that!" Anna spoke, stunned at her daughter’s lack of respect and tolerance.
"What? It’s not like he’s around to hear it, is he?" Bella sneered, walking past Anna and standing in the doorway as she dared herself to call Ryan out on a completely fabricated set of accusations.
"Hey, Ryan! I know you’re listening somewhere, so listen to this. I don’t want you in this family. None of us do. So do me a huge favour and get out of my life. I’ll even help you pack!" Bella called out, sounding big and brave when a person’s back is turned.
To his credit, Ryan sat in the lounge, slumped against the wall as Bella continued her disrespectful rant that cut right to the bone. Ignoring every insult and threat that rolled out of her mouth, he calmly walked out of the house, unseen by his stepsister.
In seconds, he had vanished down the street and was out of the peaceful Derry suburbs. For the first time in his life, he had walked away from a potential confrontation, forcing himself to bottle up all that anger and rage. To hear a little coward like Bella brazenly get all mouthy was more than enough ammunition for him to use later when he had sufficiently cooled off.
"F***ing coward! When I get my hands around your scrawny little neck, I’ll snap it like a twig!" He yelled once he was out of sight, hoping that Bella heard every last threat.
The Barrens - a tract of woodland covered by plant life and trees - was his destination. All he needed was an opportunity to calm down and return home, ready to verbally eviscerate his stepsister for her disrespect later on.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 17th, 2018, 03:37am
I raced down the stairs towards the front door of the house, knowing that Ryan had chosen to leave the streets.
“I would love to see you try, you hotheaded prick!” I screamed back at him in anger, knowing that he would be within earshot to hear, slamming the front door shut. This made Anna flinch lightly.
But as I stomped back upstairs to my bedroom, I felt her hand grip onto my right wrist. I stopped and turned to face Anna, who’s expression had went from calm to disappointment, mostly because of my tantrum and selfish behavior towards Ryan and herself.
“Bella, we need to talk.” Anna calmly asked.
Slightly startled, i was livid that she even had the nerve to grab my wrist like that.
“There’s NOTHING to talk about!” I spat. “So what are you going to do now? Hit me?”
Anna couldn’t believe what she’d heard from her own daughter. The thought of my own mother, a woman with a heart of gold, would never go as far as to abuse her own children for discipline.
“I can’t believe that you would even think that I would do such a thing to you or Ryan.” Anna said, loosening her grip around my wrist, feeling deeply hurt on what I just said as she followed me into the kitchen.
“You just won’t admit it that Ryan had made you do this and you chose to go along with it! News flash, mom, he’s not my dad and he’s not my brother!” I snapped, pointing my index finger out the kitchen window.
“He is your brother and you had no right to talk about him in that way! We took him in because he was going through a crisis with his parents.” Anna reminded me, beginning to unbox some dishes into the kitchen cabinets., trying to take her mind off the stress.
I sat on the chair nearby the kitchen table with my arms folded.
“Gee, I wonder why.” I smart-mouthed, referring to Ryan’s short-tempered attitude.
That’s not what I meant, Bella!” Anna corrected, putting glasses into a nearby cabinet, “Now I would really appreciate it if you could help put away these dishes.”
“Just because he’s the oldest doesn’t mean that he’s the man of the house!” I sarcastically mocked.
“Ryan had a tough life back home just like you once had in New York. You two need to express yourselves in order to understand and communicate with each other.” Anna suggested.
“What? So he can criticise me more about the fact that I was born as a witch and that my father tried to kill me because I was not the child he wanted!” I snapped, my voice cracking almost on the verge of crying at the memory of my fathers death 9 years ago.
“There’s no shame in being different, Bella. This is why we moved. You know that. To show everyone that you’re just like everybody else.” Anna reminded me.
“I’m NOT! Stop saying that! You think that by moving to this town will take away this?” I asked, staring directly at a glass of water on the kitchen table. My tense stare amplified my telekinesis, shattering the glass into pieces, spilling water onto the kitchen floor.
“There’s no escape from this! This is who I am! And you can’t change that no matter at you do, mom! Running away and keeping me locked up won’t ever make this feeling go away!” I raged.
Anna grabbed a dust pan and broom, carefully sweeping up the broken glass on the floor.
“Admit it, mom....You’re afraid of me, too. Dad was.” I insinuated.
Anna finished sweeping up the broken glass, desposting it into the trash. She placed the broom and dustpan back into the storage closet and sat down on another chair beside me on the kitchen table, taking my hands in hers.
“Look at me, Bella.” Anna said, stroking my black hair away from my face so she can see me. “I’m not afraid of you, Bella.....You’re my one and only daughter and I love you. I know how it feels to go through big changes....”
She tried reasoning with me via her same psychology bulls**t. Just like she would use on all of her patients. I choose to cut her off.
“You can stop with the psychology crap, mom! You can’t possibly know how I feel! How could you even understand me?!” I asked Anna, reminding her that no matter where we go, the fear and the guilt of my father’s death will always haunt me. Anna went silent for a moment.
“Mom....I didn’t mean....” I choked, slowly realising that I may have crossed the line. Sadly, I was too angry and upset to think straight.
“There are many parents in this world that would sacrifice their own lives for the safety of their children. I want what’s best for Ryan....But I did this because I care about both of you and I will never give up on my children. We can get through this together and I promise that things will get better.” Anna admitted, revealing that it was Ryan who kindly suggested to Anna that moving to Derry would help him and myself start a new life away from the pain of our tragic pasts.
“Well, you’re just wasting your time. If you really care, you would stop trying and stay out of my life.” I denied, refusing to listen as I rose up from the chair and walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and back into my bedroom, slamming the door. My hands closed the black curtains to block the outside world from my window, making sure that Ryan doesn’t witness my deep distress.
I buried my face into my pillow, sobbing cause of my emotional stress and my telekinetic powers. I loved my mother. I always have. It was just hard to express those feelings without my past getting in the way.
In the kitchen, Anna quietly sobbed to herself, believing that she’s failing as a parent. She eventually wiped away her tears and continued to quietly unpack everything in the kitchen and the living room until it was all well organized.
It was now late Saturday afternoon and Ryan still hadn’t returned from his long walk around town. This caused Anna to be more than a little concerned about his whereabouts. She tried to call his cellphone, but got no response, save for his voice message.
“Ryan, it’s Anna. I’m just calling to check up on you. I want to make sure you’re okay. I’m just about to make dinner, so please call me back when you get this, okay? Please be careful.”
By next week when Ryan and I start our first day in Derry High school, Anna will start her first day as Derry’s new psychologist across town.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 18th, 2018, 2:42pm
Having spent the whole afternoon sobbing, Bella brought her face up from her pillow, blue eyes tear-stained as she sniffled and wiped away a few stray tears. This type of recurring emotion only occurred when she was bullied at school. Every day she tried to keep her head down and carry on with her life, the bullies would corner her and make disturbing threats about burning her at the stake.
She never thought that her step-brother would be the one true cause of all her misery. And she resented him for it. If she had it her way, she could snap Ryan’s neck with a wave of her hand and be rid of him forever. But she didn’t want another death hanging over her conscience.
With a deep breath, she composed herself and began to calm down. Her room was very small and inadequate, so she decided to give it a quick redecoration. Grabbing one of her spell-books, she sat cross-legged on the bed and flicked through each page until she found the perfect spell.
The spell of renovation.
"If Mom won’t redecorate this room, i will." She declared, her finger stopping at the incantation that would shed the layers of peeling wallpaper and animal pictures. With intense concentration, she closed her eyes and memorised each word.
"The winds of change I feel tonight
My desires are true, so let it be right.
Peel away the layers, strip back the pain
Allow me sanctuary again."
Her eyes opened, glowing white. A small maelstrom of power surrounded her, allowing her mind to recreate her room in her own image. The peeling wallpapers were replaced by black and grey stripes, the animal pictures melting into the wall and blending with the colour.
The wooden floor suddenly found itself covered by a black and white spiral effect carpet, spreading out in all directions. Bella smiled - she was just getting started.
...............................................................................
Across town, Ryan had already reached The Barrens. Having negotiated the streets of Derry, he followed a small pathway that lead him through the dense wastelands that ran parallel to the nearby train tracks. He walked as far as he could, still bottling up an incredible amount of hatred that he had internally directed at Bella.
"That little brat. Someone needs to shut her up for good." He muttered, his iPhone vibrating in his pocket. Angrily, he whipped it out and saw that Anna had left him a message, requesting to call him back.
Still angry, he ignored the request and kept walking.
The autumn skies above him were slowly giving way to early evening colours of red and orange, adding to the air of melancholy and landscape of brown leaves spiralling to the ground from each tree. Ryan eventually came to a stop in a small clearing, sitting himself on a rock. In front of him was a small shallow stream that travelled through The Barrens itself.
"Maybe I should of let her win that round." Ryan grumbled, feeling no need to express himself through music, preferring to let the sounds of silence greet him. Solitude was now his only friend. Or so it seemed......
A nearby set of bushes rustled, drawing his attention. Ryan froze, hoping that he wouldn’t need to defend himself at this time of evening. To his relief, a little fawn emerged from the undergrowth, it’s curious senses sniffing the air.
"False alarm." He chuckled, lightly gesturing towards the tiny creature, beckoning it to come and say hello.
The fawn, though nervous, inquisitively trotted over to Ryan. Deers were known for being very shy, but this little fawn felt no fear. Ryan was kind to animals - knowing that they were more friendly than his fellow human.
"It’s okay, little guy. I won’t hurt you." Ryan reassured, extending his hand. The fawn sniffed, its tiny little tail wagging up and down. All that anger he had built up earlier was now dissipating, replaced by kindness and warmth. Though he appeared a decent young teenager on the outside, anger, resentment and hate filled his soul.
The cause of his problems? Bella. Her refusal to accept him as a brother and anti-social attitude towards his nationality only reinforced the mutual dislike he harboured.
For now, he petted the tiny fawn while watching the skies slowly change colour. It was his own way of calming himself down. He preferred solitude to the company of others on many occasions. And this was no different.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 20th, 2018, 04:36am
A wise man once said that time files when you’re having fun, but in my case, it seems like time flies fast when I want days like this to pass after everything that has happened this week between moving and my new emotional changes that often effects my Wiccan abilities. Because of the stress, I had to forcefully block my emotions, even if it meant isolating myself from the outside world at home or at school.
Meanwhile, I decided to finish organising my bedroom as I climbed off my bed and pulled out my small Bluetooth speaker from one of my boxes. Inside was my Macbook and iPhone charger. I put all of my electronics out of the moving box and place them on my writing desk, located on the right side of the bedroom across from my bed and nightstand.
Switching on the Bluetooth speaker through my iPhone, it began to play a favourite song of mine - Reason To Believe by Arch Enemy, Alissa White-Gluz‘s beautiful voice singing through speakers. I sighed deeply to ease my stress and emotions from my argument with Ryan earlier.
I continued to organise my bedroom, opening up the next, box which was filled with my lace and Velvet dresses, all covered black. Mostly every piece of clothing I I own is all black. I don’t see myself in any color or any other type of clothing. According to my mother, however, she claims that when she sees people like me wearing nothing but black, it usually means that they feel dead on the inside, which is how I’ve been feeling for most of my life, way before Ryan entered into our lives. Despite the odds, Anna eventually accepted my fashion of choice like any other mother.
I stopped wearing colourful clothes by the time I turned 13 years old and my mother thought that I was just going through a phase like any other “normal” teenager. News flash; I’m NOT normal and I never was. The fact I wasn’t born normal was the sole reason why my father tried to murder me. So I found an image with my gothic clothing to fit my abnormal persona so that people round me will know when to stay the hell out of my way if they wish to live on with their boring “normal” lives.
Anyway, I walked back towards my small closet, which was still wide open from where I saw the spider early. This left me disgusted by the fact we live in the world that we humans have to share the same world with gross critters or any other dangerous creatures
Turning on the lightbulb in the closet, I filled it’s interior with my black jackets, dresses, shirts, blouses, and my entire black combat boot collection on the top shelf.
Next I put away my pants, which were mostly all ripped and black jeans into one of my dresser drawers, along with socks and undergarments in the other separate drawers.
Lastly, I found a box that contains photographs from my childhood. The first my fingers touched was a framed picture of Anna, Ryan, and myself. I was 8 years old and Ryan was 10 years old. I recalled this picture being taken the year after he was adopted. Ryan seemed like a calm young boy at the time before he later became aggressive and short-tempered. I never had a brother or a sister. After my father died, Mom knew that she wouldn’t find the one who would accept me for who i am, so she figured that adopting a brother would cure my anti-social behaviour and build a bonding relationship with Ryan.
I know that my mother was trying to give Ryan and myself a better life. but I honestly don’t think that he will ever understand me or the life that I’ve been through.
And I don’t know what made Ryan the way he is, but if thinks he can get away from speaking to me like that, he’s got another thing coming because he’s not getting my respect with that hot-headed attitude.
An hour passed as the autumn skies in the late afternoon turned into colours of reddish-orange, crickets slowly chirping in the front yard outside our home.
I heard footsteps across the wooden stairs, which left creaking noises. The footsteps stopped before a series of knocking was heard.
“Bella?”
“Come in.” I called out lightly, hanging up some of my posters in my bedroom. A Nightmare Before Christmas movie poster on the wall above my bed, a Batman 89 logo on my closet door, and my personal favourite, an Arch-Enemy poster behind my bedroom door.
“I’ see you’ve redecorated your room.” Anna said, slightly amused by tje work that I’ve put in.
“Yeah.....I’m just about finished.” I said, hanging one last poster, one of Alice Cooper above my working desk.
“Let me guess. You used your magic.” Anna sighed sarcastically.
“How else am I supposed to unpack?” I asked in a mocking tone back at her. "And I saved you money on redecorating."
“Bella, we’ve talked about this. We have to keep a low profile. Somebody could’ve seen you and if they did....” Anna warned me.
Impatiently, I cut her off.
“Relax, mom.....Nobody’s gonna know.” I confidently said, opened my black curtains to reveal the quiet and peaceful street of Jackson in Derry.
“This place is like a ghost town. So stop worrying about me.” I sniped, staring outside to see at the empty streets. I’d never seen a town so eeriely quiet as the New York Public Library.
“Magic doesn’t always solve your problems, Bella.” Anna advised.
I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, it does.” I said. “It saved my life, remember?”
My mind recalled the night that my father tried to murder me when i was 5 years old before I pushed him out the window.
“You know what I’ve just realized, Mom? If you really love me for who I am, you would let me use it.” I said in an edgy voice.
“Which is why you can’t use it. Not all the time until you know how to control it.” Anna spoke, reminding me on the earlier incident with the glass in the kitchen that I shattered with my telekinesis, trying to protect me from those who don’t understand me.
Our conversation was interrupted when Anna looked out my bedroom window to see Ryan returning from his walk. He walked towards the front pouch of the house.
“Oh, thank God!” Anna sighed, relieved to see that Ryan had safely returned home.
“We’ll talk later. Come downstairs, Bella, dinner’s ready. And please be nice when Ryan walks in okay?” Anna asked.
She the first to walk out of my bedroom. I muttered and quietly followed, closing my bedroom door behind me, toeing that line of fake sincerity and stony-faced disinterest.
I followed Anna back downstairs into the living room, the front door opening.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 21st, 2018, 6:05pm
After at least an hour or so of solitude at The Barrens, Ryan decided to take his leave. The tiny fawn who had greeted him disappeared into the undergrowth back to it’s mother, leaving him to face the short walk home through Derry alone. Though he had sufficiently calmed down, a small shred of anger bubbled away under his skin.
Hands in his pockets, he left the pathway and emerged into the neighbourhood. Deep down, he resented the fact that he was adopted and that he had to leave his home country. Growing up in New York had been a challenge, especially with the anti-British sentiment he endured from Big Apple locals and school jocks, the latter of whom always ending up the target of his rage. Ryan didn’t care - he needed effigies to pummel. To break. To unleash unbridled levels of violence upon. Sometimes, he would force himself to walk away, only to react to caustic taunts that involves his brother, and occasionally ended with a jock in hospital and Ryan suspended.
As he walked up the steps of the front porch and opened the front door, he kicked off his boots and closed the door behind him. Entering the living room, he found a stern-looking Anna, arms folded. Bella, refusing to make eye contact, sat on the couch. Ignoring the miserable goth, he wondered what this welcoming committee was all about.
"Ryan, where have you been?" Anna asked. "And why didn’t you call me back?"
"The Barrens. And I didn’t ask for your approval." He retorted defensively
"It doesn’t matter if you asked for my approval or not. You can’t just storm off and leave like that." Anna lectured, trying to make Ryan feel guilty. This wasn’t normally what he’s expected from his surrogate mother. Whether or not she has reached her limit in trying to maintain peace between him and her anti-social daughter was another story.
"You never gave me a chance. And I needed to calm down anyway." Ryan confessed, knowing that honesty was the best policy.
"There’s nothing wrong with needing some time on your own, Ryan. I understand that the last 3 years have been difficult for you, but we couldn’t spend another year in New York. I have to hold down two jobs to keep a roof over our heads to provide for not only you, but for Bella too." Anna revealed, gesturing to her disinterested daughter.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I’ll always be a stranger wherever I go in this country." Ryan sadly announced, showing some self-doubt. If it was a way of getting Bella to show some empathy, it had little to no desired effect. She still wouldn’t acknowledge that fact.
"You’re not a stranger, Ryan." Anna spoke calmly.
"I AM. I never asked to be here. But every man and his dog singled me out in New York because of my accent. Because of my own perception of right and wrong. Because I don’t take sides in arguments. Yet somehow, I’m supposed to just sit and take all the prejudice and disrespect like it’s all my fault." Ryan spoke, conviction dripping from every word.
Anna was speechless. She didn’t know what to say.
"Everyone is right. I don’t belong in this country." Ryan announced, storming into the kitchen to get away from his surrogate mother and moody stepsister. He didn’t want to talk anymore.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 23rd, 2018, 04:21am
As I was texting Emily on my iPhone, sitting silently on the couch, I looked away from the small screen of my smartphone to see Ryan standing across the living room from Anna, overhearing Ryan’s words about people’s misjudgments on his beliefs of right and wrong and that people looked down their noses at him after his emigration from England when he was 10 years old.
There was a small part of me within my conscience that felt a deep empathy for Ryan. Throughout my childhood, I’ve always been mistreated and even bullied for being different, even though I was born as an American.
I recalled the memory when I was homeschooled for a year from my junior high school in New York...
I was 13 years old. The bullies, one junior high schooler and snobby cheerleader named Tiffany Williams, stole one of my spellbooks out of my backpack. I gave chase until i found her with the book in her hand, announcing to everyone in the playground during lunch hour that I was a witch. In horror, I watched Tiffany burn my book inside a metal oil drum that was set alight, the entire school circling around me like vultures, chanting “Burn Witch Burn!” over and over again until the school bell rang. As all the children rushed back into the school, several aggressively shoved me out of the way and i fell into a mud puddle, landing on my back. Tiffany returned, only to look down at me with disdain and snatch my backpack out of my hands.
“You should do yourself a favor and kill yourself before you kill others, Witch!” Tiffany hissed.
I helplessly watched her toss my backpack into the oil drum as the flames increased, burning everything I owned until there was nothing but ashes. I was already being sent to the principal’s office until Anna showed up, angry that the school had allowed themselves to turn a blind eye to the bullying I had received, deciding that I shall be homeschooled until further notice. She told the principal that he should be ashamed of himself.
Meanwhile, Ryan was 15 and starting his second year in high school.
By the time Ryan even knew what had happened to me, he returned home, finding me home sitting in my bedroom, about to slash my wrists with a razor blade. He had to take it away from me, despite my protests and our initial struggle.
Out of desperation, I begged Ryan to never tell my mom, but he still strongly insisted on telling on Anna that I was trying to self-harm. This forced Anna to not only home school me, but to keep me from harming myself or others around me in order to supposedly keep me safe.
The flashback ended as my emotions went from empathy to emotional distress again; a violent mood swing. I slammed my fists onto the couch, rose up from the couch and turned around to stare at Ryan, who was now in the kitchen so he could hear every word.
“Oh please, Ryan! You want to talk about not fitting in?” I asked, his back still turned to me as he sat at the table.
“People take one look at me and scream for me to kill myself!” I snapped, thinking that I had a harder life then him, even though I didn’t know his full story yet. “You only get criticised because you’re British?! Boo hoo! Cry me a river, Ryan!”
Ryan angrily stormed back into the lounge, absolutely incensed and eager to confront me. I could tell that he was on the verge of exploding in rage, but Anna stopped him.
"You ungrateful little brat!" He yelled, voice slightly raised.
“Bella! What did I tell you!” Anna warned me.
“Yeah, Yeah, keep my mouth shut. But you know what? It was because of him that I was forced to be homeschooled and not even allowed to walk out of my own home without you watching me like I’m some sort of prisoner!” I snapped at you mom, blaming Ryan for my life being ruined.
“I saved you from cutting yourself, Bella!” Ryan reminded me, knowing that he had done the right thing and was trying to be a good person to me.
“Yeah right, Mr. tattletale! You just want to tell Mom on me to look like the perfect child and make me look like the monster in the family!” I snapped, pointing angrily at him with my index finger, not appreciating Ryan trying to make an effort of being a caring stepbrother, or realising that he deeply cares for me and wont show it. Just like I won’t admit how much empathy i felt for his own change in life, my emotions of my past getting the better of me.
“You’re acting like one now. Bur not because of me!” Ryan spat back, admitting that I was a monster because the way I was acting.
Without rethinking the consequences of my actions, I once again decided to cross the line with Ryan, despite Anna’s warnings.
“Ryan was only looking out for you, Bella!” Anna advised me, trying to bring peace between us. “If Ryan never said anything, you would be in hospital.”
“Better than to be anywhere near him!” I snarled. “If you hate this country so bad, Ryan, how come you’re still here!?”
“Believe me, I would go home if I could. But someone has to babysit the Wicked Witch of the West.” Ryan bristled, referring to me.
“I can take care of myself. And someday, I’ll take care of you!’ I threatened in a dark voice, trying to scare Ryan away.
It had the desired effect on my stepbrother. "Oh yeah?! Come on then! YOU WANT TO START?! THEN LET’S TAKE IT OUTSIDE AND I’LL SHUT YOUR MOUTH FOR GOOD! He raged, his explosive temper like a volcano as he tried to lunge for me, stopped by Anna.
“No, Ryan! You will not do anything thing! We are a family and we’re staying here. And that’s final! Now, get into the kitchen. Our food’s getting cold.” Anna ordered calmly, refusing to let increasing hostilities prevent her from losing parental control.
Ryan huffed and stormed back into the kitchen. I followed, still feeling brave and spoiling for a fight. Ryan was trying to calm himself down as he sat at the table, arms folded, sitting across from me.
Anna served us each a plate full of spaghetti before she served herself a plate, joined us at the table in an attempt for us to eat together as a real family.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 23rd, 2018, 5:05pm
The atmosphere was so tense that one could cut it with a knife. Even sitting at the table, Ryan struggled to suppress that short temper which had implanted itself in his personality since his brother’s tragic death in Afghanistan. His green eyes paid Bella no attention as he picked at his spaghetti bolognese. Not just yet.
A nervous Anna kept her fearful brown eyes glancing left and right, hoping her children wouldn’t kick off again. Bella was too busy texting on her iPhone, seemingly glued to the messages that were flashing up on the touchscreen all the time. Not a single look of happiness crossed her lips. Not even as the red night skies gave away to a brief period of rainfall outside.
"Bella, please. Can you stop texting at the table?" Anna politely asked her daughter.
The dark-haired teenager glared at her mother, chewing a closed mouth of spaghetti like she had just been offended. She swallowed and huffed, putting the phone into her pocket without saying a word.
Anna then looked to Ryan, who appeared to have calmed down again. He hadn’t eaten any food since the 5 hour journey from New York to Derry was interrupted by a small stop for some light lunch. To see him almost finish his plate was enough to convince her that he was now calm and agreeable.
"Were you hungry, Ryan?" She asked.
"Starved, I guess." Ryan declared, maintaining a look of calmness. In reality, he was preparing to catch Bella off guard and watch her squirm like a rat.
"I understand the journey must of been very stressful to you and Bella. But I can’t stress this enough. You’re not a stranger, Ryan. Not to this family." Anna reassured, knowing that she had to maintain peace between both siblings.
"That’s what they all say to me." Ryan grumbled, putting on a fake American accent. "It’s always "Everyone is welcome here, son. You just have to follow the dream." like it’s some sort of holy grail."
Bella didn’t react as 5 minutes of silence passed. Conversations felt meaningless to her. She stared at the ground, seemingly avoiding the discussion between her mother and stepbrother.
"You’re still young, Ryan. In time, I’m sure you will adapt to these difficult changes." Anna reassured. "A home is a home."
"This isn’t my new home. It’s temporary. Give me a wet and rainy day in London over this dump." Ryan declared, finishing up his spaghetti. "At least the locals show respect when it’s earned."
Bella was still eerily quiet, believing she had been spared an outburst of frustration from Ryan. Little did she know was that he was about to move in for the kill.
"Unlike some people." He declared, which made Bella’s eyes look up into the burning green stare of her stepbrother. Despite her anti-social facade, nervousness was creeping in.
"Excuse me?" Bella asked, realising that she had been caught out.
"You heard me." Came the swift response.
"I have no idea what you’re talking about." Bella denied, trying to lie in order to weasel her way out of a potential confrontation.
"Oh, don’t play the idiot game with me, Bella. You must think I was born yesterday." Ryan scoffed, glaring intently. "I heard every single word you said. Every. Single. Word."
If looks could kill, Bella would be terminal. She franctically scrambled around for a comeback. "Er.....erm..... So you heard, did you? You’re nothing but a snake in the grass!" She weakly retorted, trying to be courageous.
"So that’s it then, is it? Am I an a**hole? A limey? A prick? A tattletale? Or a snake in the grass? Make up your mind." Ryan smartly replied, anger building up inside of him.
"You’re a snitch." Bella meekly spoke.
Ryan angrily lashed out and knocked his knife and fork off the table, sending them loudly scattering across the floor. "Wrong answer." He growled, incensed that his stepsister was still trying to act stupid.
"Ryan, please. Don’t create another scene." Anna pleaded, the rain increasing outside."
"No, Anna. I’ve heard as much as I can stomach. But I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth." The leather-jacketed teenager declared, folding his arms defensively. "So which is it, half-pint?"
Bella said nothing, having been scared into silence by her brother’s explosive anger. Her bottom lip wobbled like she was burst into tears, fighting back wave after wave of emotional distress.
"That’s what I thought. Guess it must feel pretty brave for you to talk behind my back when I’m not around, isn’t it?" Ryan asked, getting up from his chair and walking over to Bella. He grabbed her chair and spun her around to face him.
"ISN’T IT?!" He raged, the mere sound of his voice scaring the living daylights out of his stepsister. Ryan didn’t care. Anger was now fuelling every single emotion as he suppressed that rage in the back of his head.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 25th, 2018, 12:13am
As if the space time continuum had immediately stopped, a long moment of silence followed Ryan’s outburst. It was heard throughout the entire house, almost disturbing the neighbours. He had disturbed my soul and shocked my entire nervous system, until it reached my heart to the point and briefly rendered me speechless until I couldn’t even move off of the kitchen chair.
I was horridly startled by Ryan’s temper towards me. Out of all people who had ever given him a hard time in his life, he had chosen to focus all that rage towards me.
I was shaken so much that it was almost noticeable, the vibration of fear travelling across my spine, the fear of being misjudged and mistreated while Ryan’s rage silenced me, as if he had stolen my voice to speak back. There was nothing more to say that would compare to his own hateful words that he could ever say to anyone as a member of this family.
Ryan had just proven my point. He was NEVER supposed to be part of MY family and he admitted that on his own too. Now we were both on the same page on the one underlying declaration; We’re not a family. Never was and never will be.
I’ve dealt with many people who advised me to kill myself because of my abnormal nature and the murder father because I wasn’t daddy’s little girl.
But I’ve never been so mentally and verbally abused by someone who was suppose my step-brother. Ryan should reconsider oburning one side of his face, because he’s nothing more than a two-faced step-brother. And not just a brother of any kind, because that’s who he is to me. All his beliefs that he can make a difference for himself and others are lies. He’s really just a two-faced hot-headed a**hole and a true bully with no regrets or consequences of his own actions, thinking that he has the right to treat people however he wants. He’ll never earn anybody’s respect with his rebellious reputation.
It started to feel cold and empty inside the house. All we could hear was the evening rain rattling across the roof and the windows as the only sound breaking the silence.
But I finally decided to take my final stand as I aggressively stabbed my fork into a meatball on my plate of spaghetti, took a deep breath through my nose and raised my head up from facing the floor until I was looking up at Ryan with a dead stare within my blue eyes, half of my face hidden behind my long locks of black hair, ready to say something that I should’ve said to Ryan a long time ago.
“I now see why your parents abandoned you.....You think you can hide your pain with your anger, acting all tough like you don’t give a d**n about what other people think of you. Maybe you don’t, but I think you do, you’re just scared like me! Only you won’t admit it!” I hissed a low sobbing voice, trying to fight back the tears and hurt that I’m feeling now.
"Don’t give me that. It’s so easy for you to point your finger and play the victim, Bella. I have to try and PROVE MYSELF! To try SO hard to not be THAT type of person you despise." Ryan revealed, his voice breaking, but not breaking eye contact with me. "So maybe ordinary people don’t always crack. Maybe it’s just you the whole time.
“You’re right. It does feel good to let the whole world know what I really think about you.....” I spoke, rising up from my chair to stand in front of Ryan, up to his neck level while staring intensely up at him.
“Tell us the truth.” Ryan dared me.
“I said it!” I growled under my breath, grinding my teeth.
“So we can hear you.” Ryan dared me again, waiting for me to confess my my tru feelings about my step-brother.
My eyes narrowed in anger like they were on fire, my blood boiling through my veins, eager to say it just to finally it get off my chest. Once Ryan hears, he’ll learn to never get involved in my business again.
“I hate you so much that I wish you never EXISTED!” I declared, this outburst causing Anna to gasped loudly in horror. Ryan didn’t flinch, but he was utterly shocked at my words.
I took my plate of spaghetti and threw it into his chest, meatballs and sauce staining his Slayer shirt, the plate smashing on the floor. I stormed out of the kitchen and ran into my bedroom, slamming the door. Ryan stood there, impassively acknowledging the stains on his clothes.
“I’m so sorry, Ryan....” Anna apologised, trying to remain calm, but believing that she had failed as a mother.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 25th, 2018, 3:30pm
"No, it’s okay. She’s just like all the people who’ve turned their backs on me since I was 13." Ryan declared, his anger dissipating, dissolving, reduced to a mere flicker of hatred. Calmness descended, compelling him to sit down on the chair his stepsister had used, head in hands as the rain rattled the windows outside.
Meatball and pasta sauce stains dotted his shirt, strands of spaghetti hanging off his jeans. Ryan was sick of his time in this country already. Deep down, he wanted to go home and not have any more stress or a miserable teenage goth accusing him of ruining her life.
"Don’t say that, Ryan. No one has turned their backs on you." Anna reasoned, unprepared for what would follow next.
"Then why don’t I feel any different?" Ryan asked, bristling with frustration and not acknowledging his surrogate mother. "Every time I try to do the right thing, another knife is added to my back. And the wound just gets deeper."
Anna, for all her expertise and knowledge of psychology, was at a loss to try and reassure the young Englishman. The outburst from Bella had upset Ryan, and it showed as he showed signs of exhaustion, his face weary, broken, tired and beyond the point of caring.
"It seems that everything I do just isn’t good enough. I’ll NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS FAMILY!" Ryan yelled, slamming a balled up fist into the table, loud enough to make Anna flinch. He was past the point of being reasonable, angry tears leaking from his eyes.
A stunned Anna witnessed this rare showing of emotion. Ryan had always been the silent type who wore his heart on his sleeve, but he was never one to be made of stone. Wiping his eyes, he exhaled and left the table, ignoring a silent Anna
"Ryan, don’t get personal." She asked. "Don’t you see? This is what Bella wants. She wants you to hate her."
"And she’s succeeded. Some brother I am, huh?" Ryan decided, heading upstairs to the first floor landing, leaving Anna alone. He stopped by Bella’s bedroom, fighting the internal urge to punch a hole right through her door. This sort of attention was what Bella thrived on, so he decided not to give her the satisfaction.
Walking into his bedroom, Ryan closed the door, wanting to be alone for the rest of the evening. He took off his leather jacket and stained shirt, dumping it in a heap on the floor beside his bed. Shirtless and angry, he set about deciding to unbox all his belongings. He started with his box of heavy metal CD’s, carefully organising them into two grey spiral racks, planning to let all of his anger out once he had unpacked.
All of his musical taste had been amassed via recommendations and using his pocket money, the latter of which being spent on heavy metal in it’s droves. Though he loved the early sound of the NWOBHM sound, it was the sonic speed of thrash metal and the intensity of death metal, that were his favourite sub-genres. Throw in a small dash of harsh industrial metal and a few diverse alternative sounds, and Ryan’s calling card was clear.
"First things first; get my hi-fi up. Then I can de-stress." He thought, still fending off angry urges that flared up, then vanished.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Mar 28th, 2018, 04:41am
In the kitchen, Anna continued to clean up by washing the dishes in the sink, which was filled with a mixture of soap and water, washing them one by one with a soaked sponge and then drying them with a towel. She sorted them into the kitchen cabinets above the kitchen counter.
She had decided to clean up the kitchen herself without asking for assistance from Ryan or me after tonight’s outbursts between us. All she wanted was peace and quiet for the rest of the night.
Anna realised that it was going to take more than psychology to talk some sense into me with regards to insecure behavior towards Ryan. It’s been awhile since she last had a heart to heart talk with me as mother and daughter.
For a moment, she recalled the various stages of my young life when I would always come to her for advice on almost everything throughout my childhood. She was the only one I ever trusted on everything that goes on in my life, especially after my father’s death. She made sure that she would always be there for me no matter what. Anna was not only my mother, but also the only adult who understood me.
By the time I reached 12, my antisocial personality had gotten worse due to my Wiccan powers evolving and growing stronger to the point of being out my control whether I’m upset, angry, or even scared.
Throughout my childhood to to the present day, I was so insecure and isolated by the memories of my troubled past that I failed to realise that everything that Anna has done was to give me a better life to start with a new companion, a brother to relate and communicate. Who will understand what I’m going through and hope to work together to gain trust in each other.
But until then, I was still young, sensitive and naive to realise that Ryan has been trying to make an effort to gain my trust while supporting my mother at the same time.
Anna planned to at least try to have a private conversation with me tonight, reminding herself that she can make this work because of the commitment she promised; To be there for Ryan and myself, despite our simmering hatred towards each other. To make us fully understand what being part of a family is all about.
Anna knows that Ryan and I deeply care for each other, she just needs us to help us embrace the good persons inside us that are trying to break through the walls of hate, anger, and disdain. She never wanted to imprison me away from the outside world: she wanted to make sure that I don’t harm myself or anyone else around me if my powers ever get out of control.
Meanwhile, inside my bedroom, the door closed, I overheard Ryan’s last outburst to my mom about how he will never be part of this family and how I have made him hate me, I opened my door slightly to sneak a small glance at Ryan, who walkedinto his bedroom, slammed his door shut. Loud enough to suggest that he had more than just a hair-trigger temper. He was like a hand grenade when stirred to anger. And that terrified me.
I closed my bedroom door once, my peaceful, tolerant and kind conscience telling me that I may have taken it too far. But my dark side of me continued to twist and feed off my anger, telling me that Ryan was the one to blame for making me feel this way after he told my mom about my near-fatal self harming incident.
As I continued to unpack, I organized my collection of books, separating my spellbooks and my fantasy novels on separate shelves of the coffin shapes bookshelf. My hands lastly settled on my photo album of my childhood as I picked it up, it’s hardback cover spattered with dust.
I briefly sat on my bed, the album’s binding cracking open. Inside were various photos from the day I was born to when i was 5 years old. One photo included just me, my mom and my dad. This was before he decided that I wasn’t good enough for him. It was a photo from Halloween where I was dressed up as a witch and holding a pumpkin bucket fill of candy standing beside Anna and Curtis, surrounded by autumn leaves as we were out trick or treating. The night turned into a horror that will forever haunt me when that monster tried to murder me.
As I stared at the photo, a grim expression spread across my face as my fingers gripped onto the picture, both of my hands shaking in anger just by the sight of my dad in the picture. A blue glow formed in my palm as I forcibly shred it into small confetti like pieces that spread across my bedroom floor.
“I HATE MY LIFE!” My thoughts screamed in my head, shredding every picture in my photo album that had my father in it to erase him out of my existence completely. Once someone, be it my father or any bully, crosses me, they are dead to me. Physically and mentally.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by LexingtonDeville on Mar 29th, 2018, 4:45pm
While his so-called stepsister was busy throwing a temper tantrum and erasing mementos from her past, Ryan had effectively unpacked all of his belongings - clothes, books, DVD’s, compact discs, PlayStation 4, hi-fi, posters, and a dartboard - from the six boxes that were previously stacked in a corner.
His bed faced his bedroom door, covered in army print duvet covers. A small bedside table sat to the left, complete with a digital alarm clock, a lamp with an army print lampshade. and a small framed black and white photo of his brother, James Swift, who was in his army uniform. To the right, nearest the window, was his own working desk, with several drawers that contained many heavy metal magazines, dog-eared and stained notepads, and his sketchbook.
To the left of the room sat his flatscreen TV, Hi-fi and PlayStation 4, mounted on a 3 level metal stand after he had connected all the wiring to each plug socket. His grey chest of drawers stood near his desk and the bedroom window, which contained his clothes.
Above his bed was a poster of a dragon curled around a sword amidst a backdrop of flames, next to one of a snarling panther emerging from the shadows. Either side were posters of thrash metal bands Testament and Municipal Waste.
Ryan opened his fitted wardrobe. Inside were 3 sleeveless denim jackets that were adorned with patches of heavy metal bands, along with his series of ripped jeans and various combat boots. A small smile crossed his face. These jackets were his method of representing metal itself.
"Now the place is starting to look like home." He declared to himself, putting on a plain black shirt to compensate for the stained piece of clothing that Bella had ruined with her temper tantrum earlier. Picking up his leather jacket, he hung it up and closed the wardrobe. It’s doors were covered by more posters - a Punisher skull logo, Fear Factory and Napalm Death.
The rain outside had become heavier, rattling against the roof and windows of the house. Grey clouds descended upon the street, accompanying the deluge.
Next, Ryan hung a Slayer poster and his dartboard on the back of his bedroom door. It’s circular frame was covered by cut-outs of pop musicians and reality TV personalities that he despised. Due to his aggressive stance on music, he despised the current climate of mainstream pop. And would do anything to routinely let the preps and jocks know in kind.
"Time to de-stress." He thought, selecting Soul of a New Machine, the bone-crushing debut album from Fear Factory. Placing the disc into his hi-fi, the first track - Martyr - blared out, with down-tuned guitars and rumbling drums, to which he lightly turned up. Loud enough for only his ears to hear
Anger began to feed off of his every emotion - but Ryan didn’t care. Bella had made him this way. He was past the point of even remotely caring for his screwed-up stepsister anymore. Flopping onto his bed, he stared up at the ceiling, letting the rage inside him build up.
Re: IT: Return Of Pennywise
Post by Bella Raven - Crow Woman on Yesterday at 03:39am
As Anna walked towards the set of stairs in the living room, she briefly stopped to take a deep breathe and continued to walked up the stairs with calm confidence as creaking sounds could be heard across the second floor hallway until Anna was standing close by my closed bedroom door before she knocked on the door with her knuckles gently but just loud enough for me to hear as I was still reviewing my childhood photo from my album, shredding every photo that had the image of my attempted-murderous father in it, burying the memories of nothing but a reminder that I’m secretly a monster no matter how hard I try to avoid it but I cannot deny to myself that I do need help but too ashamed to admit to anyone, even to my own mother or Ryan, fearing that they will never understand who I am.
My tormented blue eyes gazed away from the shredded photos that were all over my bed like a confetti of sorrow when I heard three knocks outside my bedroom door but I didn’t scream this time because I recognized those 3 gentle knocks which wasn’t Ryan but Anna as a silent way of asking to come into my bedroom without interfering right away like most uptight parents in this generation.
“Come in.” I sighed deeply, continuing to gaze back down at my photo album for anything else to shred as Anna entered herself into my bedroom and close the door behind her.
“Bella, what are you doing?” Anna calmly asked about my bed covered in shredded photos like many missing puzzle pieces.
“What does it look I’m doing?” I asked in dark sarcasm, shredding another picture in front of her that was the picture of my father teaching me how to ride a bike with two training wheels when I was 4 years old but I recalled that memory when I was riding on that bike, I flew into the sky whiling still riding on that bike like I was riding on a witch’s broom because of my telekinesis that responded to my emotion of excitement.
“Those memories are not replaceable you know.” Anna calmly reminded me after gazing at my bed from across my bedroom that was filled with shredded photos mostly all with pictures of my father.
“I don’t want them replaced, I want them erased!” I snarled, gazing at a recent photo of our new family portrait of Anna, Ryan, and myself that was taken last year in the Central Park New York City.
“Bella, wait!” Anna walked towards me and placed her hand over mine as if preventing me from shredding our family portrait just because it had Ryan in it, “You can stop right there.”
“I almost done, mom. Just need to fix this picture.” I said but Anna took that photo away from me.
“Bella! I mean it! You’ve taken this personally for far too long!” Anna reminded me as she held onto the family portrait for safe keeping until I was ready to control my emotions, “There’s nothing to fix, we are a family.”
“This isn’t a family, this whole situation is a prison!” I dramatically said, slamming the photo album closed and turned myself around with my arms folded, still sitting on the edge of my bed across from my mom who was sitting on the other side of my bed.
“Only if you believe that.” Anna said, trying to reason with me with forced to turned my head back to face her again, “What?”
“You need to understand that the world doesn’t involve around you.” Anna reminded me, “What happened to you was tough and what Curtis tried to do to you was inhuman but you can’t put that memory on others especially Ryan who has done nothing but supporting us. He’s part of our family and he is your brother.” Anna suggested for me to a accept that fact that Ryan is part of this family no matter what.
“He doesn’t understand just like dad never understood. So what’s the whole point of even trying to explain myself to anyone when they deeply fear me and hate me?” I sadly sighed, cuddling my legs close to my body while I wrapped my arms around my legs for support, looking down at my shredded photos all over my black bed comfort blanket.
“Why didn’t you just say that?” Anna asked after I confessed to her about my deepest fear of talking to others besides my mother who’s the only one who I trust about my “special” abilities.
“Come on, mom. You and I both know that there are normal people out there that will rather burn me alive or run away from me than listen to what I have to say, I might as well been invisible to the world because I want to be alone and nobody wants anything to do with me, everybody wins!” I drastically said, staring out the window that was closed but the black curtains were still opened as the gloomy cloudy sky continued to pour rain from outside that was load enough to clear the silence within my bedroom between Anna and I.
“First of all, don’t ever think that way about yourself because you got me and Ryan to look after you. Second, everybody’s born different. You’re not cursed, you’re special.” Anna said, moving a little closer towards me on my bed.
“Special is a strong word, mom. I wasn’t special to dad that’s for d**n sure.” I sighed, burying my face on my knees.
“But you are to me because you’re my daughter no matter who you are because if there’s one thing I know about you is that you will never let a hunted memory stop you from making a difference not just for yourself, but for others.” Anna said, placing her one hand onto my shoulder.
“How?” I asked in suspicion on how my powers can make any kind of differences for myself or anybody around me.
“It’s all about gaining control. You need to keep your emotions in check in order to control your abilities. Remember, with great power….” Anna said before I interrupted her…..
“Comes great responsibility. I know, I’ve seen the movie.” I sarcastically rolled my eyes, referring to the 2002’s Spiderman’s famous dialogue.
“Besides, nobody expects a witch to be helpful no matter what century. How can you possibly think that I can my powers into good use when I cannot even control it?” I sarcastically asked.
“You’re missing the point, Bella. There’s so much more about you than you know. You may not realize it now, but there is good in you. All you need to do is to give yourself a chance to expand yourself before you give others a chance to get to know you because once you communicate with those that you can trust, you don’t have to be afraid because you won’t be alone when you have someone to help you overcome your deepest fears and once you do, you can accomplish anything.” Anna wisely said.
“I trust you, mom.” I said.
“But I can’t be there for you forever. You eventually have to learn to stand up for yourself and be on your won but won’t be alone to do that….You got Ryan too. So I strongly suggest that you give yourself a chance to expend yourself to Ryan before you lose him forever.” Anna suggested.
“I’ll think about it. But I can’t guarantee that we’ll be like two peas in a pod.” I sarcastically said.
“This will get easier soon I promise. Until than, promise me that you’ll give it a good try.” Anna asked me.
“Fine.” I promised before I got off the bed and started to pick up the shredded pieces of photos off my bed into my small bedroom garbage basket.
“When you’re done with that, can you take out the garage please?” Anna asked before I stopped when she asked me that favor but I deeply sighed, “Okay.” I agreed because I’ve figured that I owe my mom a favor even though Ryan made me feel this way tonight.
But taking out the garbage briefly took my mind off Ryan’s earlier outburst as I carefully dragged the garage bag out of the kitchen towards the backdoor with a black zip-up hoodie on and a hood over my head to block the rain still pouring across there Jackson street of Derry with a minor wind blowing rain in different directions until I reached the sidewalk and dumped the garage bag into the trash can.
But just as I got my back turned towards my house, I strangely stood still in the middle of the rain that continued to pour down my hoodie as if something caused me to remain still because I didn’t know if I was just my imagination but I could’ve sworn I’ve heard the voice of the children, singing in my head. But it didn’t sound cheerful, it sound rather…..Disturbing as it echoing somewhere in my direction.
As crazy as it sounded, but I decided to briefly investigate the noise as I noticed that when I stepped across the sidewalk and turned around to noticed a sewer drain under the sidewalk across my house where I heard it but it strangle stopped all of the sudden.
“Hello?” I asked but rather in my nervous shaken voice because of the cold rain as I leaned in closer out of curiosity but before I could get any closer……
“Bella! What are you doing? You’re going to catch a cold! Come back inside!” Anna warned out of concern when she opened the front door to see me standing nearby the sidewalk nearly soaked in the rain as I shook my head and gazed back up at her with an embarrassed expression across my face.
“Sorry! I’m coming!” I called out as I ran pass the sewer drain of the sidewalk and reached back onto the pouch before I walked back inside and close the door behind me.
“I couldn’t sworn I’ve heard something…..” I thought to myself, puzzled by the disturbing voices of children in our neighborhood but than again, I’ve been listening a lot of gothic and power metal music lately so I thought nothing of it, thinking that I was imagining it.
(To Be Continued)