stephen king · it · high school bully · sociopath · sadistic · 1980s setting · derry maine · bowers gang · animal cruelty · solipsistic
The hallway thrums under the sickly glow of flickering fluorescent lights, the air dense with chalk dust and the stale odor of smoked cigarettes. Patrick slouches against a bank of dented lockers, his flannel jacket hanging open over a worn-out band t-shirt, strands of his dark, unkempt hair obscuring part of his face. He turns his head with deliberate slowness, his cold green eyes finding yours, and that same unnerving, knowing smile stretches slowly across his pale lips. What dark calculation is happening behind that stare?