How We Stop It ✔️ Reddie Stenbrough Benverly

It's Mike Hanlon

'Mikey?' Angela said one day, when they were at dinner.

Mike looked at his fiancée, enjoying the nostalgia of the nickname but instantly concerned by the leading tone in her voice. 'Yeah, baby?'

'Do you ever think about leaving Derry?'

Smacking his lips together, Mike admitted, 'I do.'

'I do too,' she said, clearly relieved, then said, 'There's a job opening at the University of Florida. I think it'd be perfect for me.'

'Oh,' Mike said, reaching out for her. 'Oh, baby, I wish I could go right now, but there's a few more bits of research that I still need to do.'

She put her knife and fork down with a clatter, 'You've been researching this town for the best part of the last quarter of a century. How much more could you possibly have to do?'

His heart burned, unable to explain the truth, that it was imperative he stay until It returned, that he know all the ins and outs of the town's surface area, that he know every face and story, every house and journey. His friends couldn't be relied upon to remember. He needed to know it all. After It was gone, he'd be free.

'What if I promised you that it would be over in just a couple years?' Mike tried, not even knowing if it was true.

'Years?' she repeated. 'Mike, this job is open now. It'll be gone in a couple of years. I don't want you to be.'

Mike didn't want to suffocate her, but he hated the thought of her forgetting him. 'If you want the job, you should go for it, baby. I won't stop you.'

'But you won't come with me,' she finished, sighing.

'A couple of years,' he tried again, desperately.

She leaned over the table to kiss him. 'One of these days, you're going to have to stop living in the past,' she said sadly, 'And that's coming from a career historian, Mikey.'

'I love you, Ange,' Mike said, stroking his hand through her hair. 'I promise, I'll come after you. When it's all over, I'll get you back.'

She caressed his cheek, 'Then I suppose I'll be seeing you.' With a twist, she pulled the engagement ring off her finger and placed it in his palm. 'Someday.'

---

Rubbing his hands together, Bill waited impatiently for Audra to finish reading his latest manuscript. 'Well?' he asked, once she'd turned the final page.

She nodded, 'It's good.'

'What's wrong with it?' he said immediately.

Sighing, she admitted, 'There's nothing wrong with it. If this was your first novel or even your third or fourth, it'd probably be a bestseller and I'd be singing its praises.'

'Then what's the issue for it being my twelfth?'

Audra bit her lip. 'Well, I've read them all, and I know you very well and the way you write and so, for me, they're getting a little,' she seethed, 'predictable.'

It was one of the worst words an author could hear. 'Predictable?'

'You write horror, darling, and yet I never really feel like the characters are in any danger. I know the happy ending is coming, eventually. All the little loose ends will get wrapped up and the good guys will win.'

Bill shuffled, 'But every fairy tale ends the same way. They lived happily ever after. That doesn't stop them from being great stories.'

'And great clichés,' Audra added. 'You might need to take a little more of the Brothers Grimm approach, rather than Disney.'