( MAJOR TW: graphic depictions of blood and violence, as well as attempted s*xual assault )

Steph had definitely twisted her right ankle just a little bit, mainly due to the fact that she had a minor struggle with getting out of the yard. She whimpered a little bit from the fire that shot through her right leg, and it nearly made her scream in agony; however, she bit her tongue and fought the pain. Battling the tears that pricked the corners of her eyes, she hobbled onto the sidewalk and forced herself forward.

"Fuck..." she muttered, inhaling sharply as she glanced behind her. She could just barely make out the figures of Justin and Amber sprinting down the street in order to find someone.

But she then saw something else... something absolutely horrifying. And it made her jaw drop.

The silhouette of Henry Bowers was pursuing the children at a brisk pace – not running – and he was intentionally walking after them slowly in order to scare them more.

He's going to kill them if I do nothing! she thought frantically as she began to tremble from pure fear. I need to lure him away like I was going to!

(scream to get him away make him stop chasing them don't let them die don't let the fucker touch them)

"HENRYYYYYYYY!" Steph bellowed after finally finding her voice again.

The silhouette snapped around to face her direction and she grinned victoriously. She had him distracted. Perfect.

"COME CATCH ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screeched as she stretched her arms, pretending to be bait for him but knowing she would get away.

And she saw him instantly beginning to dash towards her; finding her correct footing, she limped down the street and tried her best to find a neighbor with their house lights on. Her leg screamed with the effort but she ignored that as adrenaline filled her blood and spiked her heartbeat all the way up to its peak rate. She nearly tripped over cracks in the sidewalk a few times but she regained her balance and kept running like her life depended on it.

But she knew Henry was gaining on her, and he was doing so very quickly.

Making a sudden sharp turn to the right, she reached the back porch of the Graham residence that was directly across the street from her own house.

"LET ME IN!" she cried out frantically, slamming her hands against the door. "SOMEBODY PLEASE LET ME IN!" She was banging on the window above the locked doorknob so hard that she nearly shattered the glass.

In a matter of seconds, a man around his mid-fifties rushed to the door and saw Steph begging to be let inside. Familiar with her and assured it wasn't the bastard kidnapping those poor kids the past year, he instantly unlocked the deadbolt and let the young girl inside.

"Stephanie, just what are you doing out here on your own when there's a curfew?!" Mr. Graham exclaimed with wide and confused eyes.

"I was... I was... attacked..." Steph just barely said between each heaving inhale and exhale that entered and left her lungs.

"What?!" Mr. Graham questioned, raising his eyebrows. "You've been attacked?! By who?"

"Hen... Henry... Bowers. Henry Bowers!" Steph replied a little more easily. "I was babysitting a few kids down the street when he broke in and nearly shot one. He then chased us to the roof and they're going to a neighbor's right now... and..."

Steph then suddenly froze in place, her hands on the older man's arms becoming talons as she was briefly pulled into a trance. Her face was presented with an expression of unimaginable terror for what would come next, sweat seeping out of the pores of her face as her eyes flickered to a clouded gray – so gray they nearly turned white – and she began to mildly convulse.

"Stephanie?" Mr. Graham spoke, slowly beginning to back away from her. He tried to tear his arms from her grip but her strength was almost unnatural.

(!!!!!HE'S HERE HE'S IN THE HOUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW HE GOT IN BUT SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN YOU HAVE TO LOOK BEHIND YOU!!!!)

"Now you just stop that, Stephanie!" Mr. Graham only lightly scolded her, becoming afraid of what she was doing. The color of her eyes.... Jesus Christ, her eyes!

Steph's mouth twisted as she tried to form a sentence but nothing would come out of her esophagus rather than an inhuman croak.

"Stephanie, I need to call the police!" the middle-aged man cried out in concern for Steph and of her.

(!!!!!YOU NEED TO LOOK BEHIND YOU HE'S RIGHT THERE HE'S GOING TO HURT YOU HE'S GOING TO HURT YOU REAL BAD PLEASE LOOK BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU BEHIND)

"BEHIND YOU!!!!!!!!!!" Steph finally shrieked, making Mr. Graham flinch.

A flash of silver crossed Steph's vision and then the man's throat was slashed open, causing blood to splatter across her youthful face. She screamed in terror and disgust as she tried to wipe the crimson liquid off of her cheeks and forehead, but it only smeared, the rusty and coppery smell making her retch and gag.

"Ruh... Run..." Mr. Graham gurgled out before falling to the floor. He was beyond dead.

Steph whimpered as she brought her gaze to meet Henry's, and he was looking back at her with that horrifying loathing in his black eyes. It was something that nearly made her heart halt in its place, but she knew she couldn't just stand there and let him rip her to shreds. She tried to round the kitchen island but he followed her every move, much to her utter frustration.

"There's nowhere for you to go, bitch," Henry said to her as he cackled sadistically, his eyes comically wide with pride.

"You really don't pay attention, do you?" Steph replied.

That question actually distracted Bowers for just a small moment, and that was when Steph took her opportunity to run. She dived for the doorway to the living room and just prayed that he would be too slow. She gripped the wall and tried to turn towards the room, but she wasn't quick enough.

The worst kind of pain flared through her left shoulder and it led to an agonized scream tearing through her lungs and filling the empty house. She didn't know what happened to her but way more adrenaline gusted through her, and she sprinted to a nearby room that had a door that she could lock. When she reached it, Henry had reached out to grab her blonde strands but he just barely missed them.

Taking that chance, she slammed the door on Henry's right arm, which made him howl from the searing pain. After he withdrew his arm, Steph shut the door and locked it, realizing that the room was an office-like area.

There was a window across the way from her.

Rushing towards it, she pried the locks in order to unlock them before sliding the window open. She then crawled to the outside world, knowing there was only one place she could go to now.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!!" she could hear Bowers bellow from the other side of the door as he tried to break it down.

That only fueled her to go onward, so she shut the window as silently as she could before taking off across the road just as she heard the office door bust open.

She whimpered from the fiery pain in her shoulder just below her collarbone as she jogged towards her house as quickly as she could. It was the only place she had left to go, since she didn't want to endanger the lives of her still living neighbors any further. The only thing she could do now was take on this son of a bitch by herself, as her mother was still at work and would stay gone for another half hour.

She prayed to the heavens above that Jamie wouldn't be coming home for another five hours or so.

Steph sprinted to the backyard so Bowers wouldn't see where she was if he was already outside, nearly crumpling on the ground when another burst of pain shot up both her leg and shoulder. For just a moment, she rested against the house right next to the porch to even her breathing. Placing a hand over her heart, she closed her eyes to reassure herself she was alright and that everything would turn out fine. She was suddenly extremely grateful that Bill had gone home two hours prior. She just hoped he was safe and sound unlike herself.

That was when she decided to see why her left shoulder was hurting like she had scalded it on a hot stove. She placed her hand on the skin but felt something that she knew was not supposed to be there. She carefully used her fingers to trace over the object and that was when she sensed the blade and how slick it felt. Quickly pulling her hand back, her eyes practically bugged out of her skull.

Her fingers looked like they had been dipped in fresh scarlet paint that was in a nearby bucket. But the metallic scent stung her nostrils and she knew this wasn't paint.

"Oh shit..." she whispered, her eyes rolling into the back of her head from the pain.

Henry had stabbed Steph in the left shoulder, and the chef's knife was still lodged into her flesh. And, boy, did it hurt like hell! The excruciating inferno spreading throughout her entire arm was something she could hardly handle, but she knew she had to do something about it, and fast.

Stumbling to the back door, the girl struggled to open it and go inside; she was just relieved that it was unlocked for that moment. But, once it was shut, she didn't hesitate to twist the small lock until it clicked. Hissing through her teeth at another stab of pain, she made her way to the small storage closet by the kitchen and snatched the wooden baseball bat out. She held it out in front of her as she latched the front door.

Her vision grew slightly blurry from how much her shoulder fucking hurt, but she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them back up to keep herself away. She had to prepare herself for when Bowers would inevitably find her here so she could bash his brains in for threatening her kids. Calling the police would most likely do nothing, as they never really listened to the children of this

(god has forsaken this place)

terrible town.

(are you just going to pretend it didn't happen like everyone else in this town?)

No, because it did happen, Bill, Steph thought sarcastically. If anything happens to me, I hope you won't pretend it didn't happen. I hope you'll remember me when I'm gone...

Steph then climbed the stairs so she could patch up the wound on her shoulder as best as she could. Oh, how she wished Eddie were here with her right now. She wasn't the best at fixing cuts or stab wounds but she had learned enough from Jamie to buy herself some time, much to her hope.

Hobbling into the bathroom, she shut the door and leaned against it for a moment. Not wanting to waste any time, however, she walked to the medicine cabinet and took out a bottle of medicinal alcohol and a small box of gauze. She got to work on fixing the wound after slowly pulling the knife out, making sure to tape the gauze down onto the skin as tightly as she could and feeling consolation from the fact that the blade hadn't gone through the other side of her shoulder.

Around twenty minutes went by, and it was nearly ten o'clock, for sure. Her mother would be home soon and she would be able to help her and lock the sick fuck behind bars for attempted murder on her and the kids. The evidence would be enough, she was certain of it. All she had to do was stay alive for a little bit longer.

Steph eventually opened her bathroom after looking at her watch and seeing that it was 9:58 P.M. and began walking down the stairs quietly. That bad feeling plagued her gut again, and it led to her jumping at every shadow that she saw in the rooms surrounding her. The pitch black night outside wasn't going to help her case whatsoever, but she tried her best not to worry about that. After all, this night couldn't possibly get worse.

Right...?

Right?

Out of nowhere, the record player on the small table in the corner of the living room came to life, and Steph jumped half a foot into the air. A song belted loudly out of the speakers of said record players, which made her tilt her head out of slight interest.

We met in the springtime when blossoms unfold
The pastures were green and the meadows were gold
Our love was in flower as summer grew on
Her love like the leaves now have withered and gone

It was that old Hank Williams song from the fifties, Steph believed – Alone and Forsaken, it was called. It was one of her mother's favorite songs, and she herself figured it wasn't half-bad. She just preferred songs from her own generation, personally. But she found it rather odd that it would be playing at a time like this, since she knew her mother wasn't home. In fact, she looked into her mind; Jamie was just getting into her Plymouth Fury to drive home from the restaurant.

Gripping her bat tightly in her slim and quivering hands, she tiptoed down the stairs, looking all around for something that looked off or strange. Her heart was going a million miles an hour and she suddenly wished that she wouldn't have to go through this all on her own. She needed her friends, all of them, to be here with her to comfort her. Eight against one. They would all take Bowers down in an instant. She just knew they would.

But she couldn't risk their lives. Beverly's life, Stan's life, Bill's life, Eddie's life, Mike's life, Richie's life, Ben's life....

She had to do this on her own. She had to prove just how strong she was, and she was strong, damn it! If she had inherited her father's intelligence and shine, then she had certainly inherited her mental stability and strength from her mother. And she wasn't going down without a fucking fight, she knew that for sure. She wouldn't be overpowered so easily, not on her watch.

Creeping up to the record player, she shut the small machine off, plunging the whole house into silence.

That was when the presence in her home was felt, and Steph knew she wasn't alone anymore. But she knew it was not a friendly sensation in her body; it was one that made her seize up and nearly go into one of her spasmodic episodes with her ability. The only times she couldn't control her shine was during desperate situations. Other than that, she could mostly control it. She could feel the negative energy slipping into the confines of the living room, and she certainly didn't like it.

She only just noticed that Cherokee was not in the house...

"Come on out, Henry!" she called out into the empty space. "I know you're in here! I know you climbed in through the dining room window!"

And he did.

An exhausted Henry Bowers stepped into the living room, staring down the younger and shorter girl with a knife from her kitchen clutched in his right hand while her baseball bat was held in her own hands. It was at that moment the two of them knew it would be a fight to the death.

"You just never give up, do you, Steph?" Bowers snarled at her, using her first name for the first time since he came across her when she was seven years old, almost six years ago now. That was when he noticed the bandages she had applied to her shoulder. "You thought fast, didn't you? That's one thing I always hated about you, you know. You were always so fucking smart! The teacher's pet."

"Yeah, and what did you do?!" Steph fired back, her hands clenching the handle of the bat so tightly that her knuckles turned ghostly white. "You terrorized every innocent person that crossed your path, student or teacher, child or parent, police officer or librarian. Well, those days will be over when I'm done with you!"

"What happened to the little and weak Stephanie Palmer I used to torture in the fourth grade?!" Bowers exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air. "The Stephanie that let me beat the shit out of her to the point I was drawing blood?!"

"She got tired of your bullshit, that's what happened!" Steph replied smugly, smiling insanely. "She made friends that built her strength up. She has a mother that taught her to not take anyone else's crap, and she is done being the little person."

"Your mother is a cunt for that," Henry growled.

"You say that again, and I'll cave your skull in until you're picking your face off of the floor!"

"I'd like to see you fucking try!"

"Come on, then!" Steph shouted, pretending to surrender. "You wanna fight, then let's fight! Let's tango, bitch!" Her eyes were wild and furious, and she knew she would be teaching the fucker a lesson once this was finished. "I'm not scared of you!"

Bowers chuckled lowly, shaking his head out of mild disappointment. "You're so pathetic, Stephanie Palmer..." he muttered to her.

"Coming from you..."

Henry Bowers truly snapped from those words, and it wasn't from the influence of It ordering him to kill her. It was because of her. This fucking bitch just wouldn't give up and she wouldn't stop being such an inconvenience to the world until he finished her off. And he was going to do just that. He was going to kill her... slowly.

With that, he sprinted at Steph, howling like a pure madman.

To his utter shock, Steph was completely prepared for this and saw it coming. She swung the baseball bat and hit him squarely in the shoulder, the force of the blow nearly breaking his shoulder blade as he toppled to the floor and cried out in agony.

"I tried to be good to you, Henry!" Steph screamed at him, whacking him in the stomach this time and knocking the wind out of him. "I WAS NICE TO YOU! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME! WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS?!"

"You... You existed..." Henry gasped out, narrowing his eyes at her.

"SEE?!" Steph cried out, swinging the bat and striking him on the right arm and knocking the knife out of his hand and making him groan from the great pain it brought. "You brought this on yourself, and I have to stop you before you hurt anyone else."

She then raised the baseball bat over her head to knock the poor bastard out but, before she could bring it down on him, he swiped his left leg to bring her to the floor. She collapsed and yelped out of startlement, making sure her weapon didn't hit her in the face as she did so. Thinking quickly, she threw a right hook and it collided with Henry's jaw, making him moan from the pain that flared around the bone.

"You sad, desperate brat!" Henry screamed before attempting to grab a hold of her. But Steph was too fast and she escaped his grasp. He crawled to his feet and chased her to wherever she was going, hoping he would catch up to her and beat her until she was unrecognizable.

But Steph had grabbed a vase from the side table next to the couch – the one that didn't hold the rotary phone – and she smashed it over the older boy's skull. The ceramic object shattered to bits but, much to her terror, he wasn't knocked out from the impact. In fact, it only made his fury rise to the most horrifying level known to man, and the sneer he gave her for a split second reminded her of Pennywise itself and she nearly screamed from how much it scared her.

As she tried to make her way to the kitchen to grab a weapon of her own, she was tripped and the force of her hitting the floorboards made her whimper from how much it hurt. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose to make it go away but she was then flipped onto her back. Then a powerful fist drove itself across her left cheek and she wailed from how much it hurt as her vision went black for a second. She could sense the gums inside her mouth tearing from the punch and blood began to sting her taste buds. It tasted like salty rust of some kind and it nearly made her want to puke.

Now all of her white teeth were covered with the crimson liquid and, as a form of revenge, she spit the blood onto Bowers's face, making him roar from the anger that consumed his entire being.

After picking Steph's head up and ramming it onto the floor, which made her almost black out entirely, he began pummeling her in the face over and over and over and over again. By the time Henry was done and the skin on his knuckles had torn open, the poor little bitch was screaming hysterically from the incredible agony that he had given her.

That oughta teach her to never throw rocks at me again, he thought.

(kill the brat henry kill her for me and then kill the rest of the losers one by one kill her NOW)

The screams that left Steph were like the scraping of nails on a chalkboard, so Henry put an end to that by landing another punch to her stomach. Her entire dose of oxygen was thrown out of her and she was now a gasping and whimpering mess on the floor.

"My... My mom... will be... home soon..." she heaved out through her overwhelming sobs. "She... She'll kill you... fucking asshole..."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Henry screeched at her, tossing another punch at her nose, making blood pour from her nostrils. He was surprised it didn't break, however.

"She... She'll kill you..." Steph whispered weakly and then began to – shockingly – laugh. The giggles escaped her in a crazed frenzy and she couldn't seem to stop them, especially when she saw how 'shit-your-pants' terrified Henry seemed to look. "Jamie will kill you... A-And then the whole town will... will hang you... for what you did... They'll be very very very very angry with you!"

"I said SHUT UP!" Henry screamed, attempting to cover the girl's mouth, but her blood-covered teeth dug into his flesh and nearly tore his thumb off with how hard she was biting him. He let out a bawl from the amount of aching that coursed through his left hand. His eyes turning completely black – although they flickered to golden for half a second – he attempted to put his hands around her throat.

Steph then placed her right hand on the side of Henry's head and concentrated with great difficulty because of the pain. But something seemed to have worked, since he stopped everything he was doing and seemed to have been placed in a trance, and that was when her eyes turned completely white (which happened if she controlled what she was doing with her shine).

(what the hell is this what have you done to me what the fuck are you doing????????)

(you messed with the wrong girl asshole i see you killed your father you stuck his switchblade into his throat and let him bleed out pennywise made you do it didn't it you're a murderer and your tried to kill my kids and that won't fly with me)

(how the hell can you see what i did you're a witch this is fucking witchcraft let me go LET ME GOOOOOOOOO)

(not until you vow to leave me alone and end all of this you'll go to jail no matter the outcome)

(I SAID LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)

Bowers ripped Steph's hand off of his face, although it was incredibly difficult since – whenever she did whatever the hell she just did to him – she seemed to possess some sort of superhuman strength. He could see Steph's white eyes fade back to the, admittedly, pretty color they were and they widened with pure fear and puzzlement. She clearly wasn't expecting that, and that made him grin at her.

Steph could feel Henry wrapping his hands around her throat as he began squeezing madly, making her cry out and claw at his face. She used her fingernails to create a deep scratch on his temple but he seemed to ignore this completely; she even attempted to punch at his chest to buck him off but it was all futile. He now had her pinned to the floor and he was straddling her; she wasn't going anywhere.

She began to cough as her vision started going haywire, fading to black or white every two seconds as she had brief memories of the past. She tried to stay awake as best as she could but Henry was the obvious winner; she wasn't going down without a fight, though.

Suddenly, the front door to the house opened but caught on the latch that Steph had applied, which made both of the teenager's heads whip their heads in the direction of whoever was coming into the house. What Henry did not know was that the girl underneath him knew exactly who had shown up to come into the house.

"MOM!" she shrieked deliriously, and she actually managed to buck Bowers off of her small body so she could crawl to the door. But she was grabbed by the ankles so she could go no further. "MOMMY, PLEASE HELP ME! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

"SHUT UP, YOU BITCH!" Bowers screamed.

"Steph?!" came Jamie Palmer's panicked yell from the other side of the door. "Hold on, I'm coming inside! Hold on a moment!"

Henry gripped Steph's face in his hand so his thumb was pressed into her badly bruised cheek. "This isn't over, Steph," he muttered furiously. "Once I'm done with her, you're mine!"

Several moments later, Henry had taken off and the front door busted through the latch. Steph whimpered as the adrenaline truly wore off despite her gripping the knife she had knocked out of Bowers's hand. It was best to stay safe, but she was sure she was about to faint from the utter suffering that plagued her face and shoulder.

"STEPH!" came Jamie's hysterical scream at the sight of her baby girl on the living room floor. She looked as though she had just crawled out of Hell itself from how badly her face looked, as it was extremely bruised and battered. Blood was seeping out of her beaten nose and there was a tight layer of gauze on her shoulder that scarlet was also soaking through.

"Mommy..." Steph whimpered, trying to get up but she felt dizzy and fell back to the floor. "Help me... Puh-Please. Mama..."

Jamie placed the safety back onto the pistol she had been prepared to fire at whoever was laying a hand on her daughter and rushed over to Steph. "Oh, my God, honey..." she murmured, kneeling down and pulling the girl into her arms. "What happened? Who did this to you?! I need you to tell me, sweetheart..."

"Hen... Henry Bowers..." Steph just barely managed to breathe out. "He did this to me... And I think he's still in the house."

Jamie felt her blood boil to the brink of the bitterness that crawled over her skin. "That son of a bitch..." he snarled. "That fucking BASTARD!"

"Mom, don't..." Steph gasped, shaking her head over and over.

"No, I'm done with this bullshit!" Jamie bellowed. "I'm gonna kill him! HENRY, COME OUT, YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING PAY FOR HURTING MY BABY, YOU SICKO!"

At that moment, Steph saw the unimaginable; Henry Bowers had taken a chair from the dining room and broke it over Jamie's head, sending her to the floor right next to Steph and knocking her out instantly. She could even see a small trickle of blood coming out of the back of her skull.

"No..." Steph whined as she shook her head frantically.

For a brief amount of time, Henry was ignoring that Steph was even in the room, since he rolled the middle-aged Jamie onto her back to examine her features. The first thing he noticed was that both mother and daughter looked eerily identical with the exception of their hair color; Jamie's was dark brown and almost black while Steph's was bright blonde. He saw the small gashes that formed on her forehead and scalp and they were both bleeding – not a significant amount, but still a little bit.

Unaware that the woman had shown up armed and not seeing her gun that he could have stolen, he suddenly spun around to see Steph with the knife he had earlier raised in a graceful arc above her head. She looked straight like a villain out of a seventies or eighties slasher flick, more like Billy from Black Christmas than anything.

"Lose something...?" Steph croaked out as she attempted to bring the knife down onto him.

But, before she could plant the blade into his heart, an excruciatingly loud BANG rang out in the house and Steph could smell smoke and gun powder in the air. But that couldn't make the unexpected surge of anguish blasting her in the right knee go unnoticed. She couldn't even yell out from the shock she was in as she plunged towards the floor and clutched her leg. Watching incredulously as the bright red gore seeped through her fingers and slowly feeling the blood turn from warm (so warm it was nearly piping hot) to freezing cold in seconds, she glanced up at Bowers in utter appallment.

"I already had something..." Henry replied sarcastically.

There was a bullet in her leg just below the knee, and it could have easily severed an artery or something like that.

Now, she was definitely going to die.

Her shock of the moment was interrupted by Bowers taking the handle of the gun and whacking her across the forehead with it. This created a large laceration there as well and she couldn't even cry anymore; not only had the tears dried up but she felt more like she was in a dream now.

As blood dribbled from her mouth, Bowers turned her to where she stared at the ceiling. But he clouded her vision as he smiled sinisterly down at her.

"I have you where I want you now, Stephanie..." he muttered to her as he laughed chaotically. "Now, you're gonna die. It's your time, little girl. Then... I'm gonna kill your abomination of a mother. And then the little brats that should have never been born. Then I'll slowly kill each of your friends. Your little boyfriend, Billy, will be the best saved for last."

"No..." Steph lashed out, her eyes widening as she gripped Henry's hurt arm and squeezing it with a vice-like grasp. "You won't... hurt them... Not on my watch. I won't... let you touch them... you motherfu–"

Henry kicking her in the face and causing her right eye to become swollen shut finally quieted her. The agony of everything she was afflicted with finally hit her like a train and she let out a throat-destroying howl of pain. She could barely move anymore and she knew she would bleed out and die right here on her living room floor, and there was nothing she could do about it now.

"Shh..." Henry murmured in an almost comforting tone of voice, stroking her hair creepily. She jerked away from his touch, finding it poisonous as she sneered at him. "It's alright... I'll make the rest of it quick. I'll end it for you soon."

Steph could hardly breathe, and her oxygen only came in and out in weak rasps as she struggled to stay awake. She just barely saw Henry stand back up and she was more than willing to let the darkness take a hold of her now, since she felt more alone than she ever had in her whole life.

Henry walked over to the still unconscious Jamie and checked the bullets of his father's gun. There was only one left, one already used on Steph and the four others used to shoot whiskey bottles with Victor and Belch earlier that afternoon. He couldn't let it go to waste, and he decided that he would use it on the poor young girl to put her out of her long night of misery.

He decided to give the mother a longer and more painful death, however.

But, just as he grabbed the knife that had dropped from Steph's hand, he felt a huge figure leap onto him and tackle him to the ground.

A truly pissed off Jamie let out a battle cry of fury as she pinned Henry to the floor and tried wrestling the knife and gun out of his hands. "STEPH, RUN!" she screamed at her daughter, trying to motivate her to get up despite her barely moving. "GET OUT! GO TO THE O'CONNOR'S! I'LL KEEP HIM DISTRACTED!"

And, despite the moderate concussion plaguing her, Jamie managed to pry both weapons out of the pathetic teenager's hands. She was not only doing this for her father's sake, though. She was doing this for Jonathan and was exacting the revenge she had vowed to deliver to the bastard that had killed her husband in June of 1976. Every now and then, when she looked into Henry Bowers's eyes, she pictured what the expressions on the killer's face would have looked like had she put a gun between his eyes.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Jamie screeched in his face, drool dripping from her lips and her teeth bared in a snarl. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU FOR HURTING MY DAUGHTER!"

She then lifted up Oscar Bowers's gun and planned to put the remaining bullet in the psycho's brain but, before she could do so, he smacked it out of her hand as it fired out of the barrel. He then bucked Jamie off of himself and grabbed the back of her head, his thumb digging into the small gash on her scalp and making her yelp from the burning sensation.

Henry then slammed Jamie's forehead into the floor repeatedly until her struggling stopped and a black bruise was created on her forehead. He then tossed her limp body to the side and looked to the space where Steph was laying.

But she was gone.

Henry's eyes widened since the girl was practically dead only a few moments ago, but there was only a small pool of blood in her place now. He bawled with pure anger as he flipped over the coffee table and searched the entire downstairs of the house for Steph.

"Where did you go, little girl?" Henry mumbled in a sing-song voice, his eyes darting in all sorts of directions. "It won't do you any good to run from me. You'll die no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve."

Surprisingly, he predicted what happened next, which was Steph letting out a cry of desperation as she swung the baseball bat in his direction after coming out from behind the doorway of the dining room. He caught the bat and yanked it from her hands, hurling it towards the floor. He then saw her swinging the pocket knife she had gotten out of her jean pocket and grabbed her wrist, growling with the effort it took to turn the knife back on her.

Steph squealed when she felt the knife smoothly slice through her right forearm, and that made her pry her arm from his talon-like hand. She backed up and into the table, which made her lose her balance and stumble to the floor, crying out from the burst of pain all throughout her body.

In seconds, Bowers was on top of her again and Steph thought he was going to try and strangle her once more. But, instead, he got in her face to say something; she could smell his foul breath as it hit her neck. It made her want to gag.

"I was just going to kill you, you stupid bitch," Bowers whispered to her in a monstrous tone that matched the unbearable agony she felt everywhere she was hurt. "But you had to make that difficult, too, didn't you?! Now, your death will even be slower. But I'm not going to do just that. When I'm done with you, you'll not only be dead. You'll be hurt worse than any woman could ever imagine..."

At that moment, Steph knew what Henry was planning on doing to her, and it made her let out a sob of unspeakable dread. She tried her best to move but her wrists were pinned to the floor with one of his meaty hands; she could just barely see his other hand move somewhere else to do something. When she realized what he was doing, she let out a horrified scream as flashbacks to that day nearly over a year ago at the school came back to her.

A new surge of strength gliding through, her right hand narrowly found the handle of the bat and she was able to swing it upward.

As if by a miracle performed by God, the bat struck Henry on the back of the head and he let go of her to clutch where he was hit.

Stephanie Palmer took that chance to kick her would-be murderer off of her and onto his own back. She then jumped onto him and started bringing the bat down onto his face as fast as she could. In rapid succession, she was bashing his face in until his nose was broken and blood was pouring out of it. But she just kept on swinging. She didn't stop. She had no intention of ever stopping.

Mad shrieks left her as utter rage consumed her heart and a voice in her head told her to keep going until he was done for.

Some of Henry's blood hit her from the force of the hits to his face and, despite him being knocked out for over a minute at this point, she still kept going.

Steph only stopped when the bat snapped in half and Henry Bowers's skull was fractured....

A bellow of pure relief and victory erupted from Steph's lungs and tore throughout the entire Palmer residence as she bent her neck backwards, her good eye staring up at the ceiling. She even started cackling as her sanity was almost drained in its entirety.

She had won.

She had fucking won!

She was still alive, for Heaven's sake!

With the knowledge, the girl slowly crawled back into the living room where Jamie was knocked out for good. Her bloodied hands sliding on the panels of the floor, she just managed to grab the rotary phone off of the side table and she lifted the receiver off of the device. She then weakly spun the wheel on the phone so that she dialed 9-1-1, placing the receiver on her ear afterwards.

Her leg had stopped bleeding at this point, but her skin was completely white now.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" came the relieving sound of the female operator's voice on the other end.

"I... I need... help..." Steph breathed out, feeling dizzy from the amount of blood she had already lost. "My name is... Stephanie Palmer... I've been attacked along with my mother... Jamie Palmer. She's been knocked out. I'm bleeding to death..."

"Alright, Miss Palmer," the operator replied, her monotone voice becoming slightly panicked now. "You hold on, okay, honey? Can you give out your address?"

"My address... is... 1428... Kansas Street..." Steph whispered, feeling weaker by the second. "Please... hurry.... I'm dying...."

"Stephanie, can you stay on the phone with me?" the operator asked in a gentle, almost motherly voice that reminded her of Jamie and it made her smile. "I need you to stay awake, sweetie."

"Yeah... Yeah..." she mumbled. "I can..." She briefly reached out to her mother and caressed her sleeping face, just praying that she would be okay.

But Steph then looked at the window and saw someone standing on the other side. It was someone – no, something – that she couldn't handle seeing once again, especially at a moment like this. She started shaking her head and mumbling incoherently as she dropped the receiver from her bloody hand. She lost her voice for the time being as she scrambled to her feet, a new wave of energy going through her.

She made her way to the open front door and nearly threw herself outside. She limped down the porch steps and took off down the street as quickly as she could manage to. She coughed from the blood that was bubbling in her throat from the torn gums in her mouth but she kept pushing herself forward, refusing to give up now.

As she hobbled down the street, she could feel a presence in her mind and a voice entered her mind. It didn't belong to her; in fact, it was way younger and more childlike, similar to Amber's earlier. She knew right away who it was, as the kid was truly using his ability for the first time in his life.

(steph we had to go back to our house nobody would open their doors so we ran back here and hid i'm so so so sorry for not listening to you)

(it's alright kiddo i'm not mad at you i'm on my way just stay there with amber okay?)

Her brief distraction from communicating with Justin led to her missing a step and toppling to the pavement of the road. The impact caused her to scrape her hands against the asphalt but it wasn't the worst thing that had happened to her that night, so she wasn't too worried. She was back on her feet in seconds despite her leg close to giving out completely; she had to keep fighting. Her mother, Justin and Amber, would have wanted that. They wouldn't have wanted her to die under any circumstances. That was why Jamie had fought to protect her.

She eventually saw the beautiful O'Connor home and made a mad dash for it. Once she reached it, her final destination would be the front door.

Then, almost as if some supernatural force guided her to do so, she turned her head to look back at her nearly deserted and nearly fainted from the sight.

Pennywise was right outside of her house and was steadily walking in her direction; unlike every other time she had seen it, it wasn't laughing maniacally or grinning with pride in scaring her. Right at this moment, the clown's face was entire devoid of any emotion, but its stare was locked onto its target: her.

This is a scene straight out of fucking Halloween! Steph thought frantically as she rushed towards the front door after hopping up the stairs. She was reminded of both the scene of Laurie begging for little Tommy Doyle to be let into the house after finding her friend's dead bodies and of the exact same scenario in the sequel, where she was banging on the hospital's doors so Dr. Loomis would grant her access to the building.

I'm Laurie Strode! And It is Michael Myers... Oh, I'm so fucked.

That was when Steph finally found her voice again.

"JUSTIN!" Steph cried out loudly, slamming her scarlet hands against the door since she knew it was locked. She had left her spare key Daniel had given her over a year ago in the house when she had come over. "JUSTIN, PLEASE OPEN UP THE DOOR, HONEY!"

Just to make sure it was still far away, Steph glanced back towards the street.

It was a hundred feet away and just about to step off of the sidewalk and onto the asphalt pavement.

Steph could just barely hear police sirens in the far off distance....

"JUSTIN, OPEN UP, IT'S ME!" she shrieked, turning back towards the door. "IT'S STEPH! YOU'VE GOT TO OPEN THE DOOR, SWEETHEART!"

She turned back to look again.

Pennywise was in the middle of the street and was approximately seventy-five feet from her now.

Steph truly became hysterical now, and started pummeling the door repeatedly, sobbing wildly as hoarse breaths entered and left her. "HELP ME, JUSTIN! HELP ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if her vocal cords would burst.

It was fifty feet away from Stephanie Palmer now.

"No... No..." Steph whimpered and, in a final attempt of effort, she lost her mind at the door. "HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASSSSSSSEEEEEEEE! HELP MEEEEEEEE!"

She about collapsed at the door when she saw that Pennywise was twenty-five feet away now.

Fifteen feet...

"Please, help muh-me..." Steph let out in only a squeak as she just about gave up.

Ten feet...

Nine...

Eight...

Seven...

The lock on the door finally clicked.

"GET INSIDE, STEPH!" Justin howled at her just after opening the door and Steph dived head first into the house. She grunted from the pain brought upon her unhurt arm as she hit the floor but she didn't care about that. She kicked the door shut behind her and demanded that Justin lock it.

"Where's... Where's Amber...?" Steph mumbled weakly, looking all around.

"I'm right here, Steph!" Amber shouted back as the two children surrounded her and examined every single wound brought upon her.

"Jesus Christ..." Justin whimpered as he felt himself going pale as he felt sick from what he saw. All of that blood... Nobody should have ever had to bleed like... like... that.

"I'm... okay... I'm... I'm fine..." Steph whispered, trying to comfort him as she placed one of her slick hands on his arms.

"You're not fine!" Justin wailed at her, trying to lift her back up. "Did that boy do this to you?!"

Right as Steph started to assure him that she would be okay, Amber let out yet another scared little scream right after looking at the window right above the doorknob on the front door. All three of them glanced at said window, only to see the clown's psychotic gaze looking right back at him. And that was when all of them screamed.

"GO UPSTAIRS!" Steph shrieked at them as she struggled to stand up, seeing Amber sprinting towards the staircase. "GO UPSTAIRS, KIDS!"

Pennywise walked right through the door like it was made of cardboard, shattering it to bits with the force of its brute strength. Its golden orbs were staring down at its intended victim as it slowly walked towards her.

But Steph was back on her feet as she also ran for the stairs, climbing up them as she tried to communicate with the sobbing kids.

(!!!!!HIDE IN THE BATHROOM PLEASE GO HIDE IN THE BATHROOM I'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!!)

When Steph reached the bathroom, she was met by the kids as they clutched onto one another, Justin being the more protective of the siblings. Both had tears falling down their young faces as they looked up at Steph with wild and petrified eyes.

"Get in the bathtub..." Steph sternly instructed them as she shut and locked the door, knowing it would serve no use. She then got on her knees and crawled over to the two huddled kids in the bathtub after they listened to them.

"Now, I want you to listen to me..." she whispered as quietly as she could. "And you do what I'm about to tell you. That thing in the house... It's going to take me."

Amber whimpered out of fright for her friend and Justin tried not to sob even more but Steph gently quieted them down.

"No, no, no..." she murmured comfortingly. "Don't cry, babies. It's okay. It's all going to be okay, I promise. Now, listen. After I'm gone, you stay in here. You stay in the bathtub, do you hear me? And, when you see red and blue lights outside, go to them. That'll be the police. They'll take you in and call your Mom. You'll be safe, okay?"

"Steph..." Justin spoke up quietly, trying to argue.

"Do you understand me?" Steph hissed at the kids, making them back down and nod. She then pulled them into a motherly embrace that they both needed. "You'll be okay. I love you kids...."

At that moment, the bathroom door was smashed open, making the children erupt into frenzied screams of dread and trepidation. Steph, however, didn't scream, instead standing to her wobbly feet and facing the clown with determination in her mad eyes. She spread her arms outward to protect the little kids behind her, her face twisted into an expression of surrender.

"NOT THEM!" she yelled at Pennywise, a dribble of blood coming out of the corner of her mouth. "TAKE ME! TAKE ME! YOU WANT ME NOT THEM, SO TAKE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!!!"

The strength It used to grab her left arm caused the worst pain imaginable to spread through Steph's already injured shoulder as the bone dislocated from the shoulder blade. But, despite her guttural cry, she still willingly went with the clown as the children cried hysterically, but she still attempted to resist it in some way.

I'll come back for them later, It thought as it yanked a barely conscious Steph out of the bathroom and out of the house.

Steph heard this thought in her head and used the last of her energy to throw swings at the clown. "IF YOU TOUCH THEM, I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SICK FUCK! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!"

And everything went completely black.

A/N: so... that... happened...😐

um... thoughts on this chapter...? i guess...?

did you like how steph fought back against henry?

what about when she used her shining against him?

what about the part where jamie defended her daughter and tried to protect her? she's not like most adults in derry!

yeah, steph gets tortured a ton in this chapter! don't worry, she'll be fine eventually.

what about the part where steph bashed henry's face in with the bat until he's practically dead?

what about the suspenseful moment where steph is chased down the street by pennywise?

steph has been kidnapped by It... this is lovely.

predictions for the next chapter?

be looking forward to the next chapter... i guess...

-denbroughswife