Zed clutched his head in agony as boots drummed on his body. It was now painfully apparent that Dustin and his friends were no strangers to ganging up on a single individual. Two of the teenagers had kicked his legs out from under him a second after Dustin’s fist first made contact, and they have been steadily tenderising him since. But the physical pain paled in comparison to what It caused him, with each blow It screamed and teased; edging him on. Only by having focused on Alyza has he been able to resist for so long, but his promise was getting harder and harder to keep.
Suddenly the assault stopped and Zed heard Dustin say, “That’s enough for today, we need to get to class.”
Zed got back on his feet as the group started towards the school building and said defiantly, “So when is this supposed ass-kicking going to start?”
The gang of bullies regarded him in open astonishment for a moment, before Dustin and four of his friends lunched forward. One of the delinquents pushed Zed off balance; allowing another to put both his arms into an armlock behind his head.
“Don’t hit him in the face, otherwise the teachers will notice,” advised one those watching the one-sided beating.
Dustin grabbed Zed’s jaw as his two friends placed a few farewell blows. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”
The teen restraining Zed threw him to the ground and the group strode away.
“See you tomorrow freak.”
Father Steven twisted the hollow statue; the wall slid away and he entered the elevator. He waited patiently as it descended the twenty stories, silently wishing he knew of a way to disable the irritating lullaby.
Father Warren held the guardrail as he stared down at the powered down array of machines.
“What are you doing down here?” asked Father Steven as he exited the elevator.
“I come here to think, I have never been more at peace with myself than when in one of those,” smiled the old man ruefully as he motioned downwards.
“Warren, what we do here is just as important as what we did back there,” said the middle-aged priest, placing his hand on his comrade’s shoulder.
“I know, but it is far less exciting. Is it safe to assume you didn’t come down here to talk about old times?”
“It’s Zed, I’m worried that we made a terrible mistake in allowing him to attend that school.”
“We all agreed that denying his proposal could have aggravated his condition, besides Alyza is the best stabilising element we’ve discovered so far.”
“The situation is now different than it was three months ago, he is sick, Warren. He has never been sick,” stated Father Steven apprehensively.
“It has only been a few days, this might just be a by-product of him coming into adulthood, you worry too much Steven.”
“You are being too lenient! Eighteen years ago I told you, you were being too lenient when you allowed Michael and Hillary to act as his parents but you didn’t listen to me then, please listen to me now!”
“I know that Michael was your brother so I will let that little outburst slide, but do not forget that you are speaking to your superior,” said Father Warren with the authority of a veteran commander.
Father Steven stiffened. “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed,” said Father Warren as he turned back to the machines below.
Zed opened his eyes as he heard the knock on the door. “Come in.”
“You look a lot better, how’s the fever?” asked Alyza as she quickly entered.
“Gone, though I’m sure I can manage to generate some heat for you if you come a little closer,” said Zed with a wink.
“Yeah, you’re fine. Do you have any idea what made you so sick?”
Dustin and his goons came to mind, but Zed just smiled. “Maybe something I ate?”
“Then you should really avoid that something. I’m sorry I got to go, I sort of promised my mom that I’ll help her out today, I just popped in to see how you were doing. Will I see you tomorrow at school?”
Zed kept a straight face. “I don’t see why not.”
“Ok cool, see you then,” said Alyza as she hurried out the door.
Zed looked at his hands tremble. “What’s the worse that can happen.”
“Where is she?” thought Zed as he navigated his way across the crowded school yard.
“Well hello there,” came Dustin’s voice suddenly from behind.
Zed turned and stumbled backwards as a sudden sharp pain shot through his entire body.
Dustin laughed. “Oh boys, this is a special day, months of daily beatings and only now it seems Mr. Freak Show here finds it appropriate to fear us.”
The mere sight of his tormentors caused It to rage, tear and scream, so much so that all Zed could push out was, “Please just leave me alone.”
“You hear that? He just wants us to leave him alone! But we really want to be your friends,” said Dustin mockingly.
Zed felt a scream escape his lips as Dustin and his friends swarmed over him.
“Christine hurry up, I told Zed I’d be waiting for him at the usual place,” said Alyza impatiently.
“Ok, I’m done, let’s go,” said Christine as she paid the man and took her coke.
“Yo, come check it out. Dustin and his crew are picking a fight with that silver-eyed kid,” said a student to no one in particular before rushing off, leaving a trail of followers.
Alyza turned to Christine. “Did he mean Zed?”
“He’s the only one with silver eyes.”
“But why would this Dustin want to fight him?” asked Alyza confused.
“Well there have been rumours that they’ve been picking on him since he transferred,” said Christine, avoiding eye contact.
“What?! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Christine felt a pang of shame. “I don’t know, Zed seemed like the type that could defend himself.”
“He wouldn’t, because I told him not to fight!” said Alyza as tears welled in her eyes.
Dustin smiled as he watched his friends push Zed around. “I’ve heard something rather interesting about you.”
Zed flinched with each push, each touch, each insult until the pain became so excruciating that he could barely breathe, every vein cried out in agony as if he had been injected with boiling oil.
“I heard you burned your parents alive, and that they screamed like animals before dying. What happened? Could they no longer stand the thought of raising a freak like you, or did you simply do it for fun?”
Zed fell to the ground and suddenly everything became so distant. The blows to his body, the priests at the church, even Alyza, everything felt foreign, wrong, and for the first time in his life, It was silent, more than that, It seemed to be gone. Then just as abruptly he was thrown back into the crucible with It and the pain returned.
“Hold on, I think he is trying to beg,” said Dustin with perverted delight.
“No more,” repeated Zed as the group stopped kicking him.
“Ha! He is b-” started Dustin.
“No more!” screamed Zed before leaping to his feet and striking the nearest bully in the face as hard as he could.
There was a sickening wet thump as Zed’s fist collided with flesh and bone, the force overturned the boy causing his neck to smash into the ground not far from where his feet had been but a few seconds ago.
The crowd backed away and Zed felt relief, It growled and thirsted for more.
“You damn freak!” screamed Dustin before hurling a large rock at the back of Zed’s head.
“Look out!” shouted a familiar voice.
Zed turned and saw the stone strike Alyza’s temple.
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