Stephen King
It

Who's that trotting on my bridge...? 

"...and even this young face has disappeared to make way for a slightly faded one"
"...I advanced forgetting/that my life proceeds by locking/memories between two walls/like ancient suture points/and then quickly disappear, sometimes returning, in the night"

...and if you forget everything, who gives a damn.

Under the beds are tightly packed seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds seven specters with gritted teeth are tightly packed under the beds...

The cycle repeats approximately every 27 years. The town of Derry is theoretically off-limits for those seeking peace and tranquility. Off-limits for children. Even the maze beneath Derry is dangerous. Watch out for the sewers.

Seven kids called by the Turtle, a force of Good that lays the cards on the table, against Pennywise the Clown, one Bob Gray - like silver bullets in a slingshot. Like terrible and frightening jaws. Like a deep perception of time and childhood - memories torn away when you leave a specific place. And then after years, you return, and then the memories return too, and here the road splits in two: either you smile happily, or you start crying.
Sometimes, there's even a third road: the road of fear. The darkest one. That drives the weakest to die in a bathtub.
<< Bill, Stan is dead - he slit his wrists shortly after my call >>

<< The child inside you seeps out, leaks out like air from a puncture in a tire.
And one day you look in the mirror and find yourself face to face with an adult. You can keep wearing blue jeans, you can keep going to Springsteen and Seeger concerts, you can dye your hair, but the face in the mirror is still that of an adult. And it all happened while you were sleeping, maybe, like the visit from the tooth fairy. Actually, no - this is the age fairy...>>

The monster killed Georgie, Bill's little brother. Bill swore revenge. Together with his playmates in the Barren, he created the Losers Club. Seven, Seven, Seven. They almost managed to defeat it. It took Silver to the head, and the cycle hastily closed in August '58.
In the river, with their feet wet, the seven vowed that they would return if it started again.
Stan cut their palms with Coca-Cola bottle shards. One by one, they vowed. All of them. 27 years later, it returned. 27 years later, Stan slit his wrists. The other 5 returned. Mike had stayed in Derry. The Watcher.

...watchin' the watcher

<< Those damn balloons were going against the wind, I swear! >>
<< Adults don't keep the promises they made as children...>>
<< We saw it fall from the sky, the light was too strong, you felt the Evil...>>

...the Masterpiece of Horror literature of the last 60 years, and even Beyond.
Immense.

<< Guys, the novel is the truth inside the lie, and the truth of this novel is simple: magic exists...>>


Dedicated to Simona M.
Dear friend who met the end too soon, among the troublesome waves.