Chapter Eight:
And The Screaming Stopped
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Jack shut the door of his room, shutting his eyes as he rested his head against it. He inhaled deeply, the scent of Eddie's room still clear in his mind, yet fogging his senses at the same time.

He almost did it.. He was so close to just reaching forward and pulling Eddie by the collar and just.. just kissing him. But he didn't. He couldn't. He wouldn't. No matter how much he wanted to. How much he so desperately wanted to feel Eddie's lips against his. He wouldn't.

There's no way he would risk all of that, all of the memories, the laughter, the longing glances and the wishful thinking over a crush. That's all it was after all.. A simple crush, one that would go away soon enough, anyway. Right?  He hoped, at least.

When his eyes opened, everything seemed to crash around him. His heart dropped down to his stomach and his blood ran cold. He tried to blink, to move, to do anything but be couldn't. Jack was frozen in fear as he stared ahead at that thing in the corner.

It stood there again. In the corner just.. watching Jack with It's bright yellow eyes. Now that he knew this was actually real, and not just his imagination, bone chilling fear immediately struck his body. "N-No!"

It started singing quietly, swaying It's head, "La, la, la, la.. La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la."

Jack shook his head, backing up into the door behind him. He winced as his back hit the doorknob.

Slowly, the clown began taking small steps forward, the red balloon that It held in It's hands swayed, though there was no wind. The balloon seemed to have a mind of it's own as it twisted and turned. The balloon seemed to be mocking Jack.

The clown started swaying back and forth and It's eyes seemed to darken as Jack searched the room for a way to escape.

"Go away!" The blond boy screamed, ducking under and darting to the other side of the room. "You aren't real!"

Maniacal laughter flooded the room, becoming so loud it was almost defeaning.

Then, It began to chant. "They're going to take you away, ha, ha! They're going to take you away, ho, ho! They're going to take you away, ha, ha!" The clown sung, slowly creeping towards him.

"I'm not crazy!" Jack defended, "You-You're just... You're a hallucination!"

"Oh, ho, but you are! You've got a bad case of the crazies!" That thing sung menacingly. "And dear old mommy? She can't handle you any longer!"

"Leave my mom out of this." Jack stumbled back, tripping over one of his shoes. "I'm not crazy!"

Jack's heart hammered against his chest as he tried to control his breathing.

"You can let them take you away! Join the others like you! The.. crazies!" It leaned down so that It was eye to eye with Jack, "Or... you can come with me... You won't be taken away.. and you'll live a happy life.."

"No! Fuck you! You're not real!" Jack squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head in attempt to get away from the creature.

Screaming filled the room, causing him to cover his ears with his hands. He pulled his knees up to his chest and focused on blocking out the screaming.

Something was off about it.. Not only did it sound eerily familiar, but it was in his head.

"Not crazy you say? Not crazy? Do you hear that?" The clown dragged a gloved finger down his face.

Voices began to speak, also in his head. Maybe hundreds all at once, all saying something different. But all had the same violence filled threats.

"G-Go.. go away!"

"I can't go away if I'm inside your head!" It giggled tauntingly, "I'm here with you. I'm here when you're here. I am you! I'm always going to be here."

Jack attempted to block out the sounds as he pulled on his blond locks.

He tried to even out his breathing by counting.. Just like how Eddie had taught him.

In for three. Hold for four. Out for three. Pause. In for three. Hold for four. Out for three.

The screaming grew louder inside his own head, screaming at him to do bad things. Bad things to his friends, to his mom, to everyone he loved.

"I'm not crazy!" Jack tried to shout over the screams.

"Oh, but you are!" That clown's voice was in his head now, too.

"No, I'm not!" Jack defended, keeping his eyes squeezed shut.

"You are! You are! You are!" The clown repeated, his tone an odd sense of jolly.

"N-N.. No!" Jack violently shook his head, shivers shooting down his spine from the pure fear coursing through his body.

"You are! And they're coming to take you away, ha, ha!"

"Go away!" Jack screamed, covering his face with his hands. "Go away! Go away! Go away.."

And suddenly, all the screaming stopped and everything fell silent. Eerily silent from compared to before.  So silent that Jack could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

The boy didn't budge from his spot. He simply stayed put as he continued to shake in his place. Tears slipped from his tired eyes and he rolled over onto his back as he tried to breathe normally.

Maybe he was crazy after all.

He couldn't breathe.

Jack couldn't breathe. It felt like an entire person's body weight was sitting on his chest. He gasped as his lungs burned, screaming for air.

His fingers tangled into the carpet around him as he choked. Jack didn't wanna die like this.. alone on his bedroom floor.

He didn't wanna die alone at all.

Jack's body continued to shake and tears fell from his eyes. His mouth was open as he begged for air.

A loud crashing sound from behind him is all he heard before the air returned to his lungs.

Jack coughed violently as his body lurched up. "What the fuck was that?"

He was starting to question his own sanity again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

{ Word Count: 1043 }

{ A/n: fuck u five feet apart. that shit hurted. }

{ Edited: No }