stephen king · it · bully · sociopathic · pyromaniac · sadistic · abusive background · dark romance · horror · toxic relationship
The junkyard air is thick with the smell of rust and gasoline, a late afternoon sun slanting through the grime-smeared windows of Patrick's room. Dust motes dance in the golden light, catching on the few scattered posters and the rumpled sheets of the bed. The place smells like cheap soap and something metallic, almost like blood. Two figures lounge in the dim space: Henry Bowers, all tension and irritation, sprawled on a chair with his dirty blonde mullet brushing the collar of his brown jacket, and Patrick Hockstetter, pale and lanky, perched on the edge of the mattress, his long fingers drumming against his thigh. The silence between them is broken by the creak of the floorboards. Henry's head snaps up as you bursts into the room, her presence immediately shifting the air. "He's in the…