Little Billy and the Clown

"Hi, Mr. Clown. You look s-sad," a little voice commented, dragging Pennywise from its thoughts. It had woken hungry from its long rest, and had yet to lure a single person into its lair. In fact, it had been grumbling from the shadows inside a bus shelter about the unfairness of it all, all while watching the rain falling from the sky, when the cute little morsel had wandered close.

Big green eyes blinked up at it from the pale face of the little boy in the yellow raincoat. Pennywise noted the cheerful red umbrella he was holding over his head with one hand, while the other tightly clutched a lunchbox.

"Oooh, I am sad. I just woke up, and my stomach is all grumbly with hunger," the clown exclaimed dramatically. It reached out for the little boy, its gloved hands aching to extend into dark claws.

"Here, h-hold this!" the little boy announced, practically shoving the umbrella into the clown's hand. As Pennywise blinked in shock at oddness of the situation, the child rummaged through his lunchbox and pulled out a baloney sandwich. The next thing the ancient creature knew, the boy had taken back the umbrella, and replaced it with the sandwich.

"My mom always packs me t-two sandwiches, cause she says I'm a g-growing boy. But it isn't nice to be h-hungry, so you can have one, Mr. Clown. Have a n-nice day!"

Pennywise found itself waving back as the little boy – Billy – trotted off to catch the school bus that was pulling up to the curb. As the bus drove away, it found itself tempted to at least try the strange human food the child had gifted it. Hmmm… not bad. Not the delicious taste of fear and blood-soaked meat, but it was oddly appealing, at the same time.

Perhaps it would allow the child to live – for now.

"I met a c-clown today, Georgie!"

The older boy glanced up as his little brother barged into his room without permission – Again. "I've told you to knock, Billy," the teenager huffed in annoyance.

"S-sorry. But you should have seen the c-clown. It was super tall, and had red h-hair. And it might have been wearing a d-dress. I can't really remember." Billy clambered up onto his older brother's bed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright. I've been stuck in this bed with a cold all day, I might as well hear about this clown," Georgie sighed, setting his comic book on his nightstand.

Billy giggled, and proceeded to tell him all about his encounter with the strange, nameless clown.

Note: I was tempted to give Georgie the stutter, but it's just such a big part of Billy's character.