(via "Little Turtle - Baby turtle - Turtle drawing - Turtle for kids" Magnet for Sale by JansenGS)
Little Turtle design fitting for people who loves colorful litle baby animals illustrations. It can also be given as a birthday or christmas gift to your best friends or family who loves cute ocean wildlife and outdoors quotes
I had actually planned to post some Dons a week ago, but stuff got in the way. I'll be without computer internet for about a week, but hopefully I'll be able to post some more after.
One moment he was in a fight against some mysterious, magic wielding yokai and the next he was face planting into the pavement of the sidewalk. Of- another New York? Leo finds himself trapped in a world almost exact to his own, yet as he explores the world, litle differences start to pop up. And they're all centered around one thing; one turtle. A turtle who, he thought was supposed to be him.
Enter Giovanni. Holding a honey colored mask and a similar at first attitude, it soon becomes very clear that they are not the same person. Their mystic ability is different- they hold themselves at an angle Leo can't fully recognize. And- his brothers respect them more than him!? Followed their plans. Succefully led the way through missions. Without so much as breaking or wavering in confidence; working alongside the others as if they had done this for **years**.
Not only that- but no one. No one recognizes Leo. No one other than the world itself- which seems intent on wiping Leo from the dimension like an invading pest. Because he doesn't- and never did- belong there. He had fallen into someone's else's story. But the question was- was that world the right one? Which dimension held the right turtles? Was it Leo- or Giovanni?
A/n: Get it? Cuz Donnies a soft shell and he is taking his revan- Nvm this is part 2 of mine first fic. MAN IM SUCH IN A LEE MOOD TODAY BUT I HAVE NO ONE HERE TO TICKLE ME- anyways Enjoy!
Characters: Lee: Leo Mikey Ler: Donnie and a litle bit of Raph
Warnings: Just some Fluff!
Love: Plantonic in other words brothely so pro shipers SCROLL DOWN NOW
Enjoy!
Previusly Mikey and Leo tickled the heck out of Donnie... now is his turn.
💜: Mine turn now.
Said Donnie in a Evil tone with a smirk. The Summer duo was pinned down to the floor by 1 metal arm each holding their wrists. The duo did NOT expect the Turtle to avange himself soo fast.
🧡:Dhohonie whahat are you doing?
Asked Mikey with a few gigles slipping out of his mouth. Like he didnt know what was about too happend...
💙:DOHONNIE! Donnie. What ever you're planning we promise it was just a joke!
Said Leo in a begging tone, but he wasnt getting out of that situation.
💜: A joke? More like a tease, theres no way that you two are getting out of this without a revange...
Said Donnie in a Innocent voice like he whould not tickle his brothers too death.
Donnie did a few step and sat right in the middle of these sillys he rook out his 2 other metal hands and place them on 1 of each armpits he did the same with his own hands.
🧡:IT WAS LEOS IDEA!!
💙:NO IT WAS YOU'RE
The duo argued Donnie shushed them both and asked
💜:Any questions?
Before they could answer he started diging into each armpits. Mikey started giggle already meanwhile Leo hold his laughter back but it was hard science 1 he was super ticklish 2 the giggles bubbled and it was hard to keep them in his mouth.
🧡:Dhohonie were shohohryhy PleaSHEHA-
Mikey said but could not finish cuz the arms started to tickle their plastron and tummy.
Finally Leo answered:
💙:SHOHOHOP THATAHT PLEASHE DHOHONHIEE
💜: Nah I was "salty" all morning am i right? Now I whant some sweet revange!
Donnie teased, Meanwhile Leo bursted out with laugh and cackels. Donnie slowly started tracing their plastron to give them space to breathe and realise what he was doing. Mean while giggling the duo realised that he was going to one of eachs worst spot. Mikeys under and over knees and Lee-os upper and lower thight. Mikeys eyes closed and tried to get out of this trap meanwhile Leo was begging his younger brother too NOT tickle them.
Donnie squeezed their worst spot's. Mikey was squeking and kicking his feet mean while Leo cackeld and tried to escape.
It whent like this for 5 mins untill leo got scrached by somthing on his armpit and Mikey got a rassberie on his neck. Donnie looked up to see Raph! He came back from the patrol!
❤️:Guess whos back from the patrol?
Said Raph. The berry duo stopped meanwhile the summer duo fell asleep. I guess the revange was rlly too sweet for them.
💜: Well welcome brother
Donnie took a small look at the turtles that just got tickled to sleep. They freed them and layed them on the sofa so they could relax. Meanwhile the berry duo joined them ( in other words they all went too sleep on the couch)
Big Mama absolutely will brag about her children at any given opportunity. She is very proud of her litle turtelipoos
That said she definitely has some of Mickey's art framed in her office and is delighted when anyone asks about it
Yes! Exactly. She definitely keeps some of Mikey's art framed in her office! Probably has some sort of Donnie tech in there too that he designed specifically for her (I'm not sure what it'd do but she definitely loves having it.) Maybe she has a mug that Raph tried to decorate for her for mother's day or something. (it's been broken/glued back together three times so far. Twice when Raph was trying to paint spider webs on it, and once during a rowdy meeting. it probably doesn't even hold liquid anymore but she keeps it on her desk with pride.) Leo gave her a small turtle plush that he glued some pipe cleaner spider limbs onto as a joke. It sits in the Raph mug on her desk.
I HAVE just got hold of a superb MICHAEL STIPE-produced album entitled "Drum" by HUGO LARGO.
Can you please tell me something about this group?
Did they release any other records?
— CHRISTIAN, Chester
MICHAEL Stipe first met Hugo Largo mainman Tim Sommer on one of R.E.M.'s early publicity trips to New York.
Sommer was working as a radio journalist at the time.
The two became close friends and, in 1986, after listening to a tape of Hugo Largo's demos throughout R.E.M. 's "Fables Of The Reconstruction" tour, Stipe arranged for the group to record in Athens, Georgia.
The result was "Drum", a wonderfully experimental album which came out in the UK on Brian Eno's Land imprint (LAND 002) the following summer.
Stipe called it "the most calming stuff I've ever heard" and sang on a track called "Harpers".
After touring Britain in support of That Petrol Emotion during the autumn of 1988, Hugo Largo released a second LP, "Mettle" (LAND 005), and a single, "Turtle Song" (LANDS 501), in January 1989.
The band split up a few months later.
"The collapse of Hugo Largo was a long time coming,” Sommer, who now works as an A&R executive at Atlantic Records in LA.
"Although we produced very harmonious music, we actually really hated each other. We had huge, tearful rows about where to eat, where to park, things like that. It was crazy. It was sad, too, especially since some of the best material we recorded was never released. If any labels out there are interested..." In the meantime.
Sommer is also able to throw a litle light on "Field Recordings”, the long-lost Stipe solo LP mentioned in Into Freako a few weeks ago.
“I've actually heard the album, or substantial bits of it, so I can confirm that it did indeed exist. If memory serves, the music was random, tragmentary, and largely instrumental, though it's possible that Stipe intended to add the vocals later.
Some of it sounded like amateurish indie rock, butl remember being impressed by a minimal and repetitive Philip Glass-esque organ piece. Due to contractual reasons “Field Recordings” was both the title of the album and the name of the artist."
Finally something, Raph's gonna be so impressed with his interrogation skills.
"Do you have any questions? We could take turns.=}"
Barry finally enters the room, looking somewhat upset. He can't possibly be upset about the abduction. Sure, it's bad, but Barry's a war criminal. This is nothing compared to the things he's done.
"I expect you to clean that up later."
Or it could be about the mess in the hallway.
"Sorry, dad."
"As for you. Is there someone I should call to pick you up?"
For the first time the lizard yokai/mutant changed their facial expression. It went from compleatly dead faced to slightly confused. Oh no, are they an orphan? Or homeless? Or a runaway? What if splinter tries to keep them, like he tried to keep him?
______
"You're wasting your time, my parents won't pay you. I'll just escape on my own."
Gar hissed defensively. The goat-man looked somewhat shocked yet complacent at the statement. Like that stupid face Nightwing is always making. The 'I've heard this before, but I have to react differently from how I usually would' face.
"If you can walk you're welcome to walk out. Michelangelo will gladly show you the way." He said flatly.
"Or you could stay!" The turtle chirped excitedly. "You can live with me at the Nexus. I have-plenty-ofroom.Itcangetpretty boringreally.Especiallyduringfightseasonscausethere'snooneallowedinitsmuchbettertohavepeoplearounditjustgetskinda-"
Gar placed his hand over the strangers mouth without thinking. A shooting pain runs through his arm. He whimpers. Sometimes being every animal can really be a curse.
"Do you need help? We have a, a thing. The ones that go around." Michelangelo makes the sign for Bucharest Romania.
Is that where we are? Let's see, don't know anyone in Romania but it's right between Russia and Italy so they could be either Rita's or Valentia's enemies. Then again Gar wouldn't be surprised if Cliff had left a few of his of the list.
Gars train of suspicion is halted when Mikey brings out a sling and offers it to him. On second thought he might have been miming a sling.
______
"You can live with me at the Nexus. I have-plenty-ofroom.Itcangetprettyboringreally.Especiallyduringfightseasonscausethere'snooneallowedinitsmuchbettertohavepeoplearounditjustgetskinda-"
Gir reached towards Mikeys face. This is it. Only friends touch eachother, like Donnie says whenever Mikey tries to hug him. Mikey stops talking at his compleatly normal pace only to see his new best friend squeak with pain before closing the distance. Alright fine, they're not there yet. He just needs a bit mo-ooore friendship.
"Do you need help? We have a, a thing. The ones that go around." Mikey gestures from his sholder to his hips and Gir goes silent. Which Mikey takes as a yes and goes to get the sling. 'Friends help eachother' like Leo says whenever he wants to bask in the hotel pool. Gir has a faint look in his eyes. Almost looks, like an emotion.
______
______
This was a bad idea. This was a bad idea. If there's one thins Gar knows, it's that you never go to a second location. Although they have to be at the fourth or fifth location by now. So what's one more? Besides this hotel can't possibly be shadier than Madame Rouge' Academy for good litle meta-humans who do what they're told.
This is a short one what about Richie as the brother of Karen Wheeler that comes to visit with his romate that sufers for an old injury (Eddie live obiusly)
Imagine trashmouth tozier has uncle richie that weir adult that dosnt censure himself in front of them, that weirdly knows a lot about radio (he is a secret genius that simply prefered comedy to science, math or something like that)and when mike was litle troued hands whith a clown (they already dealt with pennyise this was just a clown) and that for since mike or nancy can remember is always acompanied be this chiuahua of a man that he is always fighting with but is offended if anyone else does the same.
Imagine the interactions betwen this group of children and this grown ass men that never complety growned, and that are always saying criptic or weir things like:
- remember the turtle
- this makes me remember when we had to clean all the blood of beverly bathroom
- (talking on the phone) please tell me that mike didnt drug you again
-(to hooper) so when is the wedding loverboy, belive me you dont want to wait the 28 years that my friend Ben had to wait
-seing this children love live makes me feel sorry for stan
- i dont know if that Will child is like us or stan
- stop worring karen is not like you live in derry2.0
- OH SHIT!!!!!THIS IS DERRY2.0!!!!!
They are just two weird dudes who are surprisinly taking everithing the upside down had to offer like is nothing new.
Now just picture in your mind everione in the wheelers house seeing photos of when Richie and Karen were litle and noticion two things first that eddie is in at least halfo of richie photos and two that mike looks exactly like his uncle at his age and the look of horror in mikes face when he notice that he might just be seing himself in the future every time he look at this disaster of a man and the reaction of the party after founding this. Everione is like:
the party : are you sure El that you are gonna risk it seing that mike could end up like that
(cut to richie using a hawaian shirt over a horrendous plain shirt using dirty pants, sandals whit socks, a big pair of glasses and eye bags that go for days)
Richie: LOOK EDDIE A TREE AS BIG AS MY DICK!!!!!
Eddie(in the distance): BEEP BEEP RICHIE, FOR CHRIST SAKE THERES A GROUP OF FUCKING CHILDREN PRESENT!!!!!
The delectable scent of fear cascaded off the child in waves. Her brow furrowed in her sleep and she whimpered ever so softly, a barely voiced exhale in the silence of her bedroom, unaware of the monster standing at the foot of her bed.
Its deadlights shone through Pennywise’s eyes like a flashlight, turning redder by the second, as saliva pooled on his lower lip and dripped into a puddle on the floor. The child smelled divine. He couldn’t help but imagine sinking his teeth into her soft flesh. Her eyes would snap open, and oh, she would scream , but her parents wouldn’t hear. He would make sure of that. He would hold her down and suck the blood from her wounds while she screamed, still alive, still afraid. Yes, he would tear her apart slowly, little by little, piece by piece, milking as much of that delicious fear out of her feeble brain as he could before she died, alone and in agony. Only in the morning would her parents come and find what was left of their precious daughter. There would be no “Missing” signs for her. She would have a closed-casket funeral.
The visions flickered through Pennywise’s mind like broken neon lights, and for once, instead of all but forcing him to act upon his predatory urges, they made him sick. They made him sick because that was you lying there asleep, having a nightmare, scared and completely vulnerable.
And for some inexplicable reason, in spite of everything he was and was meant to be, he didn’t want anyone – not even himself – to hurt you.
He took one calculated step alongside your bed towards you, then another, as if one wrong move would be the one that snapped his resolve and resulted in your untimely demise. He had to bend at the waist to reach you. His hand was shaking as he stroked your cheek.
“Wake up, beautiful. It is only a nightmare. Wake up.” You awoke with a light gasp, eyes snapping open wide. Your eyes flashed with a sort of panicked relief when you saw your companion standing over you, and you sat up and through your arms around him. Your head barely reached his chest.
“Shh…” Pennywise smoothed your hair with one hand while the other came to rest on your back. Your grip around his waist was strong, and he felt a rush of undeserved pride.
You sniffed.
“Why are you shaking?” Oh, what a good question, little one. How to answer? Honestly? Be honest and tell you that he was shaking from the sheer effort it took not to devour you? No. Instead, he told you, “I am upset that you are afraid.” It was not a lie. In fact, it was very much the truth. He hated that you were afraid, if only because it was next to impossible not to kill and eat you, and he knew he would regret that, later. He settled for tightening his grip on your delicate body and burying his nose in your hair to breathe in the scent.
You backed away, and he barely had the self-control to let you out of his grasp. You took his hand and looked up at him, eyes bright and pleading.
“Will you stay with me?” He shouldn’t have, because you were never his to keep, but he knew in that moment that he couldn’t deny you anything. You needed him. And feeling needed felt surprisingly pleasant.
“What was your dream about?” he asked.
“It’s the same one I always have,” you explained. “There’s a monster, and I’m trying to get away, but it’s on top of me, and there’s blood…” You trailed off, gripping his hand a little harder.
He pulled you into his arms again.
“That will never happen,” he said. “Not to you. You are mine, and I won’t let that happen.”
You smiled and murmured a sleepy “thank you,” already beginning to fall back asleep. You felt safe when Pennywise was with you, cuddling you like a teddy bear, having no idea what it was you trusted to hold you in your sleep.
Now when you had nightmares there was no hand on your cheek, gently stroking your terrors away. There was no soft lilting voice whispering that it was just a nightmare, nor any cool arms to hold you and make you feel safe. It was just you and the increasingly empty expanse of your room, because as the years passed you’d found yourself hating all those familiar childhood things you did with pennywise, they only brought pain and bittersweet memories, even now, when you were sixteen years old and should long be over all those memories, anything that reminded you of him was still having to be thrown out.
Meanwhile your dad was only getting worse as the years went on. But as much as you were giving up hope that pennywise would ever ‘wake up’, you didn’t want to ruin the slim chance he truly intended to keep his promise and return, so you covered the bruises with makeup and put a smile on your face. You studied hard, you worked a part-time job at the movie theatre, you got a pet turtle, anything you could do to fill the empty void inside your soul that seemed to grow with each passing day you woke up alone...or well, not quite alone.
“Eleanore get yer ass down here and make breakfast,” Your legal name was Ellie, but apparently he didn’t care, he was gonna lengthen it out to sound fancy and intimidating. You wanted to shout back at him to stop being lazy and make his own breakfast, but you no longer had Penny to soothe your bruises and you’d already put on makeup for the day, so for the sake of everything you bit your lip and turned to your turtle's enclosure with a sad sigh.
“Have a good day Mister Turtle, let me know if you spy any red balloons will ya?” Red balloons and a daisy chain, the latter of which was probably long since wilted, were all you had for sure to recognize him by. After all, it had been eight years, surely he must look different now than you remembered him looking when you were a child.
You took the stairs two at a time as you hurried to make up for lost time, took your place at the stove, and started cooking. While cracking eggs in the pan a familliar memory clawed it’s way to the surface and you couldn’t help but smile.
“Penny, dad’s not up yet and i’m hungry, can you make me food?” you had asked helplessly, back pressed against the wall with your head buried in your knees. Mom had passed away only two weeks ago, but life didn’t pause to give you and your dad time to mourn her, it kept moving on and you still had to live life. Of course, you could hardly blame your dad for wanting to lock himself away and not deal with life, but you hadn’t been taught how to care for youself yet and he was just tossing you to the wolves!
“I’ve never had to prepare my own food before….I tend to eat…..raw,” He confessed hesitently, on the one hand, wanting to laugh at his own joke, but on the other knowing it would ruin the illusion he was putting on for you. Still he wasn’t going to abandon you now, or worse, send you off to school hungry! So with a sigh he stood up and offered you his hand, causing you to look up at him quizzically.
“It sounds like you and I will have to learn together, whipping up a few eggs shouldn’t be hard, and should keep you until lunch right?” His offer was kind, and you could have weeped at such a gentle gesture. But you were running out of tears and didn’t want to make a fuss, so instead you just took his hand and the two of you went downstairs. Even at eight years old you were frustratingly short, but Penny was tall and happy to open the fridge and get eggs or find a chair for you to stand on. You watched hypnotized as the eggs which had looked disgusting before, meld into one big bubbling yellow goo that smelled delicious.
“I think it’s done, Penny! What do you think?” you ask excitedly, and slightly worriedly because you really should be going soon. Penny, who had strayed off looking (thirsting) after a couple of kids running towards school, made his way back to you and pressed a victorious kiss to your head.
“Looks good and smells good, great job beautiful!” he said happily. Penny, being an eldritch horror, knew nothing about how human meals were made. For goodness sakes he drank blood and ate flesh! The eggs smelled good, so he assumed that meant they were done, with no thought about how you ought to cook the other side too. As it was you scarfed down the eggs with a glass of milk, kissed him goodbye, and ran off to school.
At first your day was fine, you were proud of yourself for making breakfast, so was everyone you told, and other than your breath tasting a bit funny when you burped you felt fine. But as the hours creeped by till lunch you found yourself feeling less and less great. Then finally at eleven you bolted off to the bathroom and vomitted all the eggs up, alongside whatever remenants of the midnight snack penny had snuck you last night was left in your stomach. When the teachers found you like that they cleaned you up and sent you home for the day with food poisoning. You weren’t able to enjoy it, however, as you spent most of the day bent over the toilet, either dry heaving or throwing up what litle food you had managed to keep down in between ‘sessions’.
But all the while Pennywise was by your side, keeping your hair out of your face, wiping your brow, and apologizing profusely for ‘his’ stupid mistake.
“Penny, it’s my fault too, and neither of us knew any better, I don’t love you any less,” you were beginning to notice that Penny had changed a lot since you met him two years ago, back then he was really reserved, and though silly, had never worried or fussed over you like he was doing now, and you’re not sure when it had started.
Just like he wasn’t sure when you had gone from an intriguing distraction to someone he loved.
“I love you too sweetheart, and papa is gonna take care of you until you’re all better,” he murmured as he settled down behind you, pulling you into his lap as he wiped your face clean and stroking your sweat-soaked hair while you rested against his chest.
It should have been a terrible day to remember, but looking back, it always made you smile. You had been miserable and upset, but Pennywise was with you, he was always with you, and because of him the day still had some good points.
You weren’t sure if it was the wetness on your face or the alarm blaring that snapped you out of your daydreaming. But you wiped the tears and scraped the egg out onto a plate and put the plate on the table, the man could get his own damn silverware. While Penny had been caring for you like a father, he was locked up in his room drinking himself into a stupor, when Penny left and you cried for days, he beat you for being so annoying. The only reason you hadn’t run away was that you had promised Pennywise that you would wait for him here in Derry.
But that didn’t mean you weren’t still actively looking for that ‘moment’ Pennywise had whispered to you about on that warm summer afternoon. You had imagined several times about moments that could come up that you could take, like slipping some sleeping meds into his beer when you got it for him, or salting his movie popcorn with cyanide. You had never gone through with it though, for the same reasons you had never run away. You were too young back then, they would send you away to some orphanage and you wouldn’t be here for when Pennywise returned!
So instead you endured, every beating, every insult, you just reminded yourself of your reason for being here, that soon Pennywise would wrap you up in his arms, wash your bruises, bandage you up, and take you back to the flower fields where your biggest problem was running out of room on penny’s body to put a daisy chain.
But today wasn’t that day, and you didn’t want to stick around and deal ith your father when he woke up, so you were skipping breakfast for the day, lunch was only a few hours away anyways, and thankfully you were never short on funds thanks to your part time job. So off you went into the cold, cruel world, the winter wind biting at your face. You didn’t want to be going out today, let alone to school or work, but it was part of the ‘mask’ you put on day to day. It kept anyone from paying you any mind. But today it felt like one thing after another was ruining your motivation to even bother getting to the bus stop. As if sensing your resolve flickering life set one more pebble onto the scale of your motivtion.
You looked up to find yourself on the corner of Neibolt Street and the wave of nostalgia hit you so hard you almost stumbled. As a child this had been your favorite place in the world, penny would take you here all the time to this old house everyone seemed to avoid like the plague, you never quite understood why though, even now. Sure it was a little run down and creaky, but the furniture was comfy and the house big…….perfect for the games of hide and seek you and penny would play together. You hadn’t stepped foot in the house since the day he left, while some memories were pleasant, the amount of memories in that single location threatened to overwhelm and break what little resolve you had to keep going on.
But as you stood there in indecision you felt a rush of wind as the bus trundled past and now you either had to run to get to the bus stop in time….or just casually turn the corner and fake sick for a day. The choice was made before you had the presence of mind to mentally sigh at the later consequences, you just wanted a day, a day to feel him again, to drown in that familiar warmth, and after that day, you would face whatever consequinces arose, not that you had much of a choice now, the school bus had long since picked up its passengers and trundled away, even if you changed your mind last minute, you’d be late and owe explanations.
So down the road you went, in the cold winter snows the daisies you were so familliar with laid dead and buried, but even from here you could see the house standing tall on it’s hill, the planters stuffed full with snow. Even while you and the rest of Derry seemed to grow and change, the house seemed so timeless, and as you opened the door and the scent of, what should be disgusting, mold and mildew hit you it felt like coming home. You could feel the old foundation creak and settle as you stepped up to the porch and pressed your forehead to the door, a familliar knot working it’s way up from your stomach into your throat.
“Hey Penny, you haven’t come over for awhile, so I came to play with you today,” you stated to the empty air, yanking the door open and stepping inside before you could back out of your decision. No one would look for you here, You would be safe for the day from the people outside, you could just...drown in your memories.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
The house at 29 Neibolt Street was larger than it looked on the outside. Strange echoes cascaded down the staircases and along the halls, allowing any loud enough noise to fill the entire house. Such was the case for your bubbling laughter, brushing through the and dissipating in dark corners like clean water soaked up by a dingy sponge. Your little footsteps thumped against the wooden floors as you ran down the hall in search of your friend. Behind you, the hard tick of a grandfather clock. In front of you, the kitchen, where the ghostly tracks you made in the blanket of dust and grime on the floor would carry your memory for months.
Rats scurried away from you from and in every direction as you flung open the low cupboards one by one, squeaking their offense at your invasion of their privacy. In a few short years, the thought of wading on your hands and knees through dust and mouse shit would disgust you. At the time, at six years old, you barely noticed. You wiped the offending substances off on your coat and carried on.
The fridge, long unplugged and left to corrode, caught your eye. A flutter gripped your heart as you took the first step towards it, the residual voices that filled the house grew from a whisper to a roar in your ears as you took the second. Your stomach flipped when your hand settled over the handle. You held your breath as you threw open the door to reveal…grimy shelves, empty except for the inconsequential carcass of a bug your young mind could not identify. You closed the door.
Making your way back through the hallway, you were drawn to a door you had never been through before. An unexplored part of his house – the perfect place to hide!
The door, once opened, revealed a staircase that descended down into the Earth. You took each step carefully, gripping the splintered railing on your left that was almost as tall as you were. The hollow, wooden stairs snarled beneath you as you placed one foot, then the other on each one.
The lack of light shining through the milky windows near the ceiling reminded you how late it was getting, but it was okay. Your parents always told you never to go out at night without an adult, but Pennywise was an adult.
At that point, there had been an Amber Alert out for you for an hour.
In the basement, your game of Hide-and-Seek was forgotten, as your attention was captured by the ring of stone in the center of the floor. You approached at a casual pace, and when you reached the well, you got up on your tippy-toes to peer down into it. You couldn’t even see the bottom!
“Hello?” you called down.
“Hello? Hello? Hello?” your voice echoed back.
Your scream echoed just as loudly as two large hands grabbed your shoulders, yanking you back and spinning you around. You found yourself facing a very stern looking Pennywise, who bent at the waist to come closer to your eye level.
“Be careful with that, Ellie,” he warned. “We wouldn’t want you to fall, now would we?”
You crossed your arms over your chest. “I wasn’t going to fall!” you insisted. “I was just looking.”
“Insolent child,” he growled. “Do you not trust me to know what’s best for you?”
You didn’t like it when he got angry. He always made you feel bad, when he was angry.
You dropped your arms. “I trust you.”
“Welllll then...” A smooth grin stretched his lips. “I guess you found me. Now, it’s your turn to hide.” He tapped your nose with the tip of his finger on the word ‘your.’
“Close your eyes! No peeking!” you commanded, grinning back.
Pennywise made a show of tilting back up to his full height and covering his eyes with his gloved hands. “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…”
You ran as fast as your little legs could take you back up the stairs, then up another set. You could hear him nearing the end of his countdown – you could hear him no matter where you were in the house – as you dashed down a hallway. Your feet barely touched the floor.
You found yourself in a room that was empty except for a forest green armchair. The very last rays of sunlight from the day glowed through a mostly boarded up window.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
You looked around frantically and smiled to yourself when you saw a closet door resting halfway open. You hurried inside and closed the door, filling your eyes with soft, inky black. You couldn’t see a single thing.
You settled yourself down on the floor and listened for your friend’s approach, noticing perhaps for the first time all year that it was beginning to get very cold. Your winter coat was hardly enough to protect you from the bite. The stuffiness of the closet, holding in your body heat, was welcome.
You felt around the closet and curled up in the corner, leaning your head against the wall, putting up the hood of your coat to use as padding. You could hear the soft jingling of bells as Pennywise moved about the house, muttering the occasional, “Oh my, where could she be?” That made you smile and giggle to yourself.
You loved him, but even more than that, you trusted him. You were sparing a passing thought to how much you loved him when your world shifted.
Pennywise was sitting in the green armchair, cradling you like a baby. You looked around, confused.
“I found you,” Pennywise giggled, “all curled up and asleep in the closet.”
“Oh,” you murmured, upset that you had fallen asleep during your game but too comfortable and sleepy to pay much mind to any of your emotions. You looked towards the door. “I’m tired. We should go home.”
Pennywise pouted. “This is home. This is my home. We’re having a sleepover.”
You looked towards the door again, and you thought of your parents. You hadn’t told them you would be out all night, or out at all.
“Ah,” Pennywise said, reading your mind, “but you’re with an adult.”
You were so tired, you just wanted to go to sleep.
“I will keep you safe.”
You felt safe.
“Don’t you trust me, Ellie?”
You trusted him.
“Okay,” you agreed, yawning. “But I want to go to sleep now.”
Pennywise smiled. “Go to sleep, then.”
You snuggled into him, and he gently petted your hair.
“You are beautiful,” he said.
His mouth didn’t move when he said it, and you thought that was weird, but you were just too tired. You let your eyes close. There had been an Amber Alert out for you for two and a half hours.
You didn’t remember walking to the living room, or curling up in the old armchair. But by the time the memory cleared from your mind you were there, nose buried in the mattress like the scent wasn’t disgusting, instead, it just felt like you were home, like penny had you curled up in his arms and was stroking you, keeping all your fears and worries at bay, because you felt safe with him. And even when he wasn’t here, his memories with you were so strong in this house that you felt as though he were here.