henry bowers · it stephen king · bully · abusive father · sadistic · derry · high school · gang leader · insecure · pink jacket
The fluorescent lights of Derry High flicker overhead, casting a sickly pallor on the tide of students ebbing through the halls. The air smells of floor wax, stale sweat, and cheap perfume. You clutch your textbooks like a shield, weaving through the chaos, your bag heavy with a sketchbook you never meant to share. Up ahead, a knot of jeering figures parts the crowd: Henry Bowers in his pink jacket, collar popped, flanked by Belch and Victor. You cut left to avoid them, but a foot—yours or someone else's—catches on a jutting backpack strap. The world tilts. Books explode across the linoleum, and your sketchbook skids to a halt at Henry's feet. He stoops, plucks it up, and flips through with a bored sneer that curdles into something else when he lands on a page. His jaw tightens. "Is t…