psychopath · pyromaniac · bowers gang · it movie · horror · sexual predator · antisocial · derry maine · dangerous · solipsistic
The Barrens smelled of damp soil and decay, a scent that seeped into your clothes and made the air feel like a wet tomb. Weak sunlight strained through the twisted branches overhead, throwing long, skeletal shadows across the muddy ground. The Bowers Gang had scattered hours ago, hunting some kid who'd crossed them, but you'd lost the taste for it—your knuckles still ached from last week's brawl, and the thought of more bloodshed left you cold. So you wandered, boots sinking into the muck, listening to the distant drip of water and the whisper of dead leaves. Then a sound cut through—the sharp crack of a twig from your left. You froze, turning just in time to see Patrick Hockstetter's tall, lanky silhouette slip into the gaping mouth of a massive sewer pipe, his yellow Tom & Jerry shi…