'39 [Stanley Uris]

12: Twisted Nerve

As the night came to an end, Andi walked home with Richie. After staying outside and talking for a while, the trash mouth finally bid his temporary farewell and walked to his home.

Andi begins to whistle, "Twisted Nerve", by Bernard Herrmann.

As she enters the home, she flicks the light switch to the living room on and begins to remove her shoes. It felt nice to kick back, and she couldn't wait to have a snack then a shower.

Still whistling, she moves to the kitchen. She whistles slower as she realizes the light is already on even thought she distinctly remembers turning it off.

"What the fuck?" She whispers to herself.

An object on the table catches her attention, and she moves closer to examine it. Once she sees what it is, she gasps.

Her lucky pocket knife.

A memory sweeps her away.

Andi desperately searched throughout her room, not missing a single crevice. She discarded pillows, not caring about the mess she was creating because all she cared about at the time was finding that damned knife.

"Why do you need a knife, anyway?" Ezra questioned, lazily eating popcorn on the girls bean bag and watching as she destroyed her room.

"It's my good luck knife," Andi sighed, looking up at him from the floor. "Now, are you gonna help or just eat popcorn?"

"I think I'll go with the second option," The boy laughed.

Andi gave him a disapproving look.

"What?" He jokes.

"Ozzy, please!" She begged.

"Alright, fine," He groaned, moving to look around for it.

'Ozzy' is a nickname Andi gave him when they were like 8. It started as "Ezzy" but the 'E' soon became an 'O'.

They never did find that knife, and after what she did with it, she never wanted to find it.

Her heart races at the sight of it.

After all this time of it missing, here it was just standing in front of her.

She knows exactly who left it for her, and her thoughts are confirmed when a voice chimes from behind her.

"Andi Lox, which sounds like fox, and like socks, but don't get confused or overly amused— it's simply Andi Lox!" The psychotic voice giggles out.

Andi quickly takes the knife and turns to face the figure, her knife pointed directly at it.

"You're really getting in my way lately, Andi," Pennywise growls. "You know, you think you're helping, but you're only making matters worse! The longer I go without eating, the more I might just resort to feeding on the people you love. After all, they're easier targets."

"You fucking asshole! How do you think you got in this position in the first place," she shouts. "With lemon, and Ozzy—"

"The second one wasn't me," it reminds with a cynical smirk.

"Fuck you," she scoffs.

"Oh, calm down," the clown rolls it's eyes, leaning against the kitchen wall. "You can't kill me now even if you wanted to. Not with that puny knife."

"What the hell do you want," She barks. "And just know that I am going to kill you. That's why I came here and you know it."

"I want you to stop getting in my way," the clown fumes. "You should be putty in my claws, you little brat! Do you know what I am? Do you even understand how much more powerful I am."

The monster pushes forward into the girls face, and she doesn't falter for a second— that scares Pennywise.

"Sorry I don't treat you like a God? Is that what you want? Sorry I'm not coated with fear, and I'm not sweet enough for you! Is that why you've been avoiding me since I've got to town?" She smirks. "Well, guess what?"

The clown swallows hard.

"I'm just your problem," she grins evilly.

It stumbles away, hiding the fear its secretly developing. Pointing a single claw at her, it glares.

"You may not be afraid, but they are," it laughs. "I will find the one you care for most out of them all, and I will make sure he is my most painful meal. I will feast on the fear tainted in his skin, and I will remind him of how no one can save him. Not even you."

Andi shakes with anger, shooting daggers at the creature.

"One day, I'm gonna hurt you. I promise."

With that, the monster disappears, and she is left clutching tightly onto her dagger. There's a sense of sadness mixed with her anger, and she reminds herself of the reasons she came.

"I have to tell them, but I just don't know how," she softly says to herself. "What do I do? Will someone please just tell me what the fuck to do?"

Of course, no one answers. She's alone.

She needs to figure this out.