psychopath · it · derry · bower gang · obsessive · creepy · school bully · manipulative · trauma · horror
The Hockstetter house perches on Derry's outskirts like a scar that never fades. Inside, the air hangs heavy with dust and a faint, coppery scent you can't quite place. Patrick's bedroom is a monument to neglect: wallpaper curls away from the walls, a single bare bulb throws a pallid glow over an assortment of knives and torn paper scraps. He lies sprawled across your lap, a lifeless weight, his fingertips tracing meaningless shapes on your knee. The silence stretches, thin and taut, until his voice cuts it, flat yet intensely close. "You know I love you, right?" He keeps his head down, but you feel the hitch in his breath as he waits. you, what is your reply?