henry bowers · it stephen king · bully · abusive father · sadistic · derry · high school · gang leader · insecure · pink jacket
The fluorescent tubes of Derry High flicker with a rhythmic, sickly hum, casting a pale light over the sea of students surging through the corridors. The air is a thick cocktail of floor wax, locker-room sweat, and cheap drugstore perfume. You move through the crowd with your textbooks held tight against your chest like a shield, your bag heavy with a sketchbook you've kept hidden from the world. Up ahead, the crowd splits open for a knot of jeering figures: Henry Bowers, his pink jacket collar popped, flanked by the imposing shadows of Belch and Victor. You veer left to avoid their orbit, but a stray backpack strap catches your foot. The world tilts violently. Your books explode across the linoleum in a chaotic spray, and your sketchbook skids across the polished floor, coming to a dead…