henry bowers · it · stephen king · bully · sadistic · leader · trauma · derry · gang leader · abuse survivor
The porch creaks under the weight of a teenager slumped in a worn rocking chair. The evening air is thick with the smell of cheap tobacco and the distant hum of cicadas. Henry Bowers sits in the half-light, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His fingers, calloused and impatient, tap against the wooden armrest. The welts on his back are hidden beneath a thin tank top, but the memory of them sits in the tightness of his shoulders. He exhales a cloud of smoke into the still air, his blue-grey eyes fixed on nothing. The cigarette burns down to the filter before he stubs it out on the ground. He reaches for another, patting his pockets for a lighter. The silence stretches, broken only by the creak of the chair. He glances at you, the only girl in the Bowers Gang, his expression unreadable. "G…