Wrote this chapter a few years ago, but decided to re-upload it with slight changes. Some elements of the book and TV film are taken, but appearances and the year are based on the 2017 film.

PART ONE

Ben was always alone as a child. No siblings to play with, his father six feet under and his mother slaving away at work. He didn't interact much with the neighbourhood kids. They would laugh as he ran round at the park, make fun of him for planning and building structures, steal his home-made lunch from him and tip it in the bin, claiming that 'you don't need this food, cause you're already fat enough!' So Ben gave up trying to make friends, and settled into being alone.

Playing alone, building alone and eating alone.

He enjoyed his time alone, and when his mother returned from work, they would sit in front of the television and eat together, and she was the only friend he needed.

Then they were forced to move away, and landed up in Derry, staying at his Aunt's place, where Ben was no longer alone.

His bratty religious cousin drove him crazy the first day they moved in. He hadn't seen Paul in years and the disdain he received from Paul affected Ben more than he would like to admit.

At least he didn't have to share a bedroom with him.

His Aunt hated him, and from the moment they arrived, lectured her younger sister about Ben's troublesome behaviour, which confused Ben greatly. His Aunt barely knew him, and he was one of the best-behaved children in his old class according to his former teacher. He didn't understand how he was so 'naughty' but guessed that not praying every night before bed was 'troublesome enough' for his Aunt.

The first few days at school were awful. At his old school, he had been in the background, blending into the shadows as he poured over books at the library during lunch time, fully focussed on his work. Now, he was once again target to bullies and trudged through the school his first week, losing track of his classroom, his face burning at the pig noises and trash that was thrown at him.

Luckily, his teachers liked him. Studious and polite, he was a novelty at Derry Elementary and they suggested books for him to read in his spare time. Ben liked to help his teachers out and shunned play-time to read the suggested books and ponder over the best way to make friends in this strange new town. He was already an outcast, hunted down by Henry Bowers and his gang after only a few days of living in Derry. But he clearly wasn't a novelty, as at least half the children in town were at the mercy of Bowers and his gang.

Ben always prayed, (how ironic), that the bullies would leave him alone.

He had been living in Derry for a month now, but it had only been recently that he had discovered the slate of disappearances that haunted the town throughout time. Little Georgie Denborough's disappearance had only occurred less than a year ago, and even though he was presumed dead, there was still no sign of a body. He wondered where the little boy was and whether he was dead or alive.

The set curfew didn't faze him in the slightest as he never stayed at the library past five pm, and he had no friends to mess around with in the later hours of the day. So after collecting three books to take back to where he lived, Ben ambled to his aunt's house. It would never be one he classed as his own, the house reminded him of how his mother had pleaded with her sister to take her and her son in, just until they got back on their feet. Rising bills coupled with single parenthood was never a good mix.

Upon getting to his Aunt's, he headed straight to his room. His cousin, only a year younger than him, attended a religious school several miles away and thankfully, he wasn't home yet. He couldn't deal with Paul right now.

His room was changing daily. All his clothes hung up in the small wardrobe, posters stuck onto the wall and a long checklist pinned to his bedroom wall steadily gaining more and more ticks. Ben set his backpack down onto his bed, wincing at the creak of the bedsprings as his weight dipped the mattress. He opened the bag, pulling out his books and scanning the front covers. The town of Derry intrigued him, particularly all the disappearances, and he wanted to find out more.

Ben had always liked the idea of shedding his shy fat boy image to become a budding detective. He wanted to investigate the mysteries of the town and hopefully, the books would be able to provide a deep insight into his new town.

Ben shoved the books under his bed as the front door banged open and a pre-pubescent voice shrilled in the hall-way. Great, his cousin was home. Ben sighed, turning his head round at the sound of his bedroom door opening. His slim bespectacled cousin smirked at him from the doorway and Ben wished he could wipe that expression right off his face.

"Alright, Benny? How was school? Were you practising satanic rituals again or was your head being dunked in a toilet? The choices."

Every day, the same question thrown at him, Paul laughing his head off at what he thought was hilarious. Ben, on the other hand, didn't think the question was funny at all, particularly today when he wasn't in the best of moods.

"School was good… actually, no, it was great. School was great! Derry is great." The lie wasn't easy to say out loud, and Paul could smell bullshit straight away.

"You've sinned, Benny. Best drag your sorry ass to Church. You need it, cousin."

"Aren't you a bit of a hypocrite? I might have lied, but at least I don't swear when I'm meant to be religious."

"I am religious, Benny. That's why when I pass on, I'm going to Heaven and you're going to rot in Hell."

Ben closed his eyes with a sigh. He hated arguments, he tried to be friendly and kind to everyone, but there were times when people really grated on his nerves and Paul was one of them. Having to be surrounded by his crazy aunt and cousin for the majority of the day made Ben long for the days where his Dad was still alive and they were a compact family unit, living in a cosy apartment in Nebraska, where life was peaceful.

"You're such a loser, no wonder you don't have any friends."

Paul always had to get the concluding insult and Ben let him. Another time, he might have tried to fire back, but he craved some space for himself and decided to sit out on the porch to get some fresh air and clear his head.

Ben opened his eyes, heaved himself off of the bed and pushed past Paul, avoiding looking at his cousin's smug face. If he were violent, like Henry Bowers, he would have punched that look clean off and ensured that Paul would never be able to smile again. Instead, Ben ambled onto the porch and sat down on the bench, shifting his weight backwards and forwards to create a gentle swinging action.

The truth was that he hated Derry with a passion. It was strange, it contained his aunt and cousin and there were a handful of people like Henry Bowers, who hated anyone different to them and who thought it was fun to harass others daily. He didn't have the heart or the courage to tell his Mama though. She had enough trouble trying to sustain a new job in a different part of the country.

Ben sighed again, turning his head to the left and gazing into the distance. He lived on a main road, a set of crossroads west of the porch, ten houses down. His eyes lingered on a car that travelled across the crossroads and when the car vanished from view, he was about to look at something else when his attention was stolen from him by the sighting of a red balloon.

It was so shiny and if Ben had been by those crossroads, he would have held up any traffic in order to go over and grab it. He noticed there were other balloons now, ones that were green, blue and yellow. They were so shiny and he so wanted to go over and grab one…

Until he saw who was holding them.

A man was holding the balloons and waving at him, large white glove fanning from side to side. Ben stared, eyes slowly widening, as the man… no, clown continued to wave at him.

'He can't be waving at me? I'm far away, there's other people around…'

However, there was no one else around and Ben realised that the clown was waving at him, but there was such a creepiness and feeling of unease that settled over him that he decided not to wave back. Ben simply stared at the clown who carried on waving and even when he stood up abruptly and ran inside the house, slamming the door behind him and having enough bravery to peek out from behind the curtains to stare down the road, Ben could see that the clown was still waving.