Chapter: Her Abnormal Crimson Red Hair

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A quaint town, a town where everyone appeared to know one another and gossip spread as quick as wildfire. The town of Derry, located in the vastly woods of the state of Maine.

It had been a month since the Hanscom family had moved their new home in Derry, Maine. It was an adjustment from the suburban neighborhood to a town surrounded by woodlands, hills and streams. A town that was not as lively as a suburban that was outside of a busy city or huge town. It was an adjustment to Scarlett Hanscom as a newbie in the town, just as it was an adjustment being adopted into the Hanscom family when she was five.

Scarlett right hand clenched the strap of her violin case over her right shoulder, her left hand holding the top loop of her backpack that was hanging along her legs, the backpack bouncing against her thighs. Her pale blue eyes were scanning her surroundings, eyeing the other high school students moving around her.

As the new kid in Derry High School, she stuck out like a sore thumb. The town itself was small and everyone knew what went on. Being the new kid in school was the same, she stuck out like a sore thumb, especially her abnormally dark crimson red hair that just about reached her lower back.

Her right hand flexed around the violin case strap when she caught sight of Henry Bowers and the Bowers gang. She had only been enrolled in the school system for almost a month and she already knew about Henry and his gang. Others warned her about Bowers gang, to stay away from them as much as possible and try not to seek any trouble with them, just pay no mind, but since she stuck out as the new kid with dark crimson red hair, she drew their attention.

"Well, well, well, hello Scar—lett."

Coming to a stop, Scarlett stared at Victor "Vic" Criss, one of the members of the Bowers gang. He and Reginald "Belch" Huggins, enjoyed hoping in front of her and try to get her attention.

"Hi." Scarlett said lowly, resuming in walking and trying to walk around them, but Vic held his arm out.

"Wait, Scar—lett, I want to talk to you." Vic stepped closer to her, eyeing her closely with a smirk.

"I wish to go home." Scarlett told them, keeping her eyes staring forward.

"It's the weekend, enjoy yourself." Belch came to stand on the other side of Scarlett.

She knew that if she shown any aggression, the two would become aggressive too. She had to act calm, not angry to give the gratification that they were getting to her. All Scarlett wanted to do was walk home, or maybe find a place quiet and private to play her violin. She wanted, needed to practice maintaining her musical skills.

"Come now, Scar, I want to know something about you."

"What?"

Scarlett shut her eyes as she felt Vic lean in close to her face, his breath was hot as it brushed against the side of her face. She was thankful that Vic had a habit of always plopping gum in his mouth or eating an apple because that meant his breath did not stink and she would not cringe.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend? If not, do you want one?" Vic mumbled into her ear, a grin on his lips.

To the side Belch was snickering and praising Vic for the question. Scarlett did not response, she made a low hum sound before she was walking away.

"Oh, come on, Scar." Vic called after her, but Scarlett continued to walk.

Scarlett knew it will not be the last time that Vic would ask her that question. Almost every school day, Vic was always seeking her out, trying to get her to go out with him. She would admit that if he wasn't a bully, if he wasn't apart of the Bowers gang, if he wasn't friends with Henry Bowers, and if Vic paid attention in classes and did his work, she might had given him a time of day, but since he was apart of a bullying gang and did not do schoolwork, she would not give him a chance.

The Derry Middle School was next door to the High School. She knew her little brother, Benjamin "Ben" Hanscom was in his classes. He was not having any luck with gaining any friends, or even attempting to make friends. She, at least, would talk with people and become acquainted with a few other students. Since being new to the town and in school, Scarlett knew Ben did not attempt to make any friends due to him always going to the library to do research about the town or read random topics. He did not think that he was a lonely kid because that was how he grew up; to himself. Before they moved to Derry, Scarlett had made a small group of friends, Ben did not. He liked to keep to himself. He enjoyed to be by himself, working on projects, such as, building replicates of buildings with those Lincoln logs, which Scarlett told Ben many times that he had a talent for constructing buildings.

Since Ben had a bicycle, he would ride either home or the library after school. Scarlett would wait for him to arrive home, where he came home an hour or a half an hour before their mother came home from work. Scarlett and Ben's mother, Arlene was a young single mother that worked nonstop to keep them floating above water. Being adopted at a young age, Scarlett saw Arlene as her mother. She saw Arlene as a hardworking mother that wanted nothing but the best for Ben and her. That was why Scarlett wanted to become famous by her artistic skills by her music and artwork in order to give back to her mother.

The leisure walk down the sidewalk allowed Scarlett to think about pieces that she should play with the violin, or on the piano when she got home, or sketch in her sketchbook that she had squashed between her math and history book inside her backpack. She was humming underneath her breath, eyes scanning the sidewalk top, and stepping over the cracks that separated the slabs of cement that created the sidewalks.

Occasionally, Scarlett looked up to make sure that no one else was on the sidewalk, or if there was anything on the sidewalks. She did not want to walk straight into someone or something since she had done so before and remember becoming very red in the face that it almost matched her hair.

There were only a couple more blocks left before arriving home. She did not want to walk down the sidewalks anymore, so she cut through a small path that led between houses. There were either fences on either side of her, or tall shrub bushes to give people's yards privacy. She smacked a few low branches out of the way, eyes looking down where there were a few tree roots from people's yards that grew out into the manmade path.

There was a snap sound that caused her to pause in her spot, glancing around the manmade path. She was surrounded by overgrown shrub bushes, but she could see the end of the path that led to the next block over.

Looking down at her feet, she did not see any branch beneath her converse sneakers, thus, the snapping sound was not from her. She looked up from her feet and turned her body halfway around to check behind her, seeing if anything or anyone was following her from behind, but she saw nothing.

"Hmp." Scarlett hummed, taking a step forward while turning around to resume walking.

Turning back around, about to take a step, Scarlett head came forward, but she came to a sudden halt. Her eyes stared at a glossy red ballon that floated five feet in front of her. It simply hovered in one spot, not wavering, not floating away. It simply stood still and that caused the hair on Scarlett's body to raise in alertness and caution.

She took a small step backward, not sure about this red balloon. It appeared out of nowhere, simply floating there. The redness of the balloon was almost the color of her hair, though her hair was darker. The balloon reminded her of the witch that handed Snow White the poisonous dark cherry red apple. The balloon the apple, taunting and trying to lure Scarlett to take it. There were bells going off in her head to leave this area, there was something not right.

When Scarlett went to take another step backwards, the balloon began to waver in its spot before creeping toward her. The balloon movement caused her to take a step back again, but that was when something else happen all at once.

The balloon came closer and then popped loudly causing her to let out a loud, sharp intake of air, eyes clamped shut due to reaction of being caught off guard. Then a startled yelp escaped her when she felt a sharp, hard tug in her ponytail that caused her to stagger forward, stepping on the broken, rubber pieces of the red balloon.

Her almost waist length dark crimson red hair cascaded down her back, brushing the back of her biceps and forearms. She stood up straight, adjusting the violin case on her right shoulder to allow her to be able to touch the back of her head with her right hand, feeling around for the hair elastic, but it was gone.

For a brief moment, Scarlett scanned the ground and did not see it anywhere. Only the pieces of the red balloon that had popped in front of her. Slowly, Scarlett began to walk backwards in the direction that she was walking to earlier. Her eyes flickered across the ground one more time, this time she saw strands of her red hair across the ground.

There was a small burning, prickling sensation on the back of her head. The familiar feeling of hair being ripped out.

The rustling sound of all the shrubs around her caused Scarlett to take big steps backwards. The leaves rustling all at once, a sudden breeze came out of nowhere. The bells ringing louder in her head, her conscience telling her to run. Listening to her conscience, Scarlett whirled around on her toes and now, she was sprinting the rest of the way toward the safety of her home.

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The shrubs stop rustling, the popped red balloon pieces vanished from the sudden strong breeze. The strands of dark crimson red hair floated in the air and tangled in the branches of the shrubs.

A small giggling sound came from the shrubs. It was an enthusiastic giggle. One that had found something that brought immense delight to themselves.

A hand clenched a dark green hair tie that had strands of dark red hair tangle and wrapped around it from the many uses of the hair tie. The hand brought the hair tie close to a nose, a deep inhale to take in the alluring scent. Teardrops of drool hanging out from a mouth, hanging off the cherry red lips that hid razor sharp rows of teeth. The drool threatening to fall.

"So sweet, so floral, such a delicious scent." The voice almost purred before another short giggle escaped.

Another intake of the hair tie before it was tucked away in the worn down off-white renaissance jumper suit that jesters would wear before a king's court. The hair tie was hidden away for safekeeping.

There was another small fit of giggles that escaped from the dark cherry red lips, the drool finally dropping from the mouth and onto the ground. Eyes that were once golden began to return back to a cool pale blue due to entering a relaxed, innocent state.

"No, no, Pennywise will not eat little song bird, I have other plans." The voice said, a delightful deep growl mixed with a purr erupting deep from the chest.

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Scarlett was in the safety of her home, locked in her bedroom with all the lights on even if the sunlight lit her whole bedroom up. She did not play her violin as she wanted to be able to hear everything around her. Whatever happened in the manmade path that cut through blocks, to allow her to get home quicker, had freaked her out.

In that path, she was not alone. She could not explain it, but there was something in those shrubs. The red balloon was instilled in her mind, burning and imprinting clear in her head. Every time she blinked, she expected to see it before her again.

She was on edge, for she did not know what had happened, but she was feeling that twinge in the back of her mind that something was watching her.

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What Scarlett did not know was that she had drawn the attention of a dangerous entity that terrorized the town of Derry for centuries. She had a target on her back, and it will not be the last time that she will come to face what many children recalled the entity as IT, better known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

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Hi Everyone,

Here is a new horror/thriller series.

So, I am going to apologize now if any sort of information/facts are wrong throughout this series. I am mainly basing this off the new remake 2017 movie. However, I have started to read the book too, so certain things might be popping up here and there.

Anyway….

Disclaimer for this chapter and the future chapters to come: I do not own anything about the IT series, as it belongs to the famous Mr. King. However, I do own the concept of Scarlett, my original character.

Enjoy.

Review.

Thank You for Reading.