Deadlights don't scare me

by AvengingJustice

Summary:

Being the eldest Denbrough means responsibility.
It means cold dinners, ignored birthdays, and sleepless nights spent making sure his brothers are safe.
But when a nightmare wearing a clown suit crawls out of the sewers, he learns exactly how far he’s willing to go to keep Bill and Georgie alive.

Chapter 1

Rain hammered down in heavy sheets, the kind that flooded the road and completely soaked your shoes through. Connor Denbrough sat hunched on the front porch, hoodie up and shivering against the cold. He flicked a lighter with practiced ease, shielding the flame from the wind as Elizabeth Tozier leaned in beside him.

 

She crouched on one knee, arm braced on it, she had the same wild curls as her younger brother Richie, same sharp grin, same filthy mouth, and a filthier imagination than anyone else their age.

 

The blunt caught and Connor took a slow, practiced drag, exhaling into the rain so the smoke would vanish before it could be smelt by anyone in the house as he passed it to Elizabeth.

 

“Man, Teddy is going to flip when he hears Phil ditched shop again,” she said, smoke curling from her mouth as Connor snorts “Phil thinks that shop class violates his human rights.”

 

“Phil thinks everything violates his rights; that’s why he’s so fun to hang around,” Elizabeth said as she took a drag off the blunt “And speaking of shop class, Hockstetter was being a total creep again, I was walking to Nolan’s market when I caught sight of him just staring and licking his lips.” she shuddered at the last part, taking a long drag of the blunt before Connor narrowed his eyes and took it from her, getting a mischievous look from her.

 

“Hockstetter has enough mental problems to make a therapist go insane, just ignore his ass.” Connor said as Elizabeth snorts “Oh, I do. It’s not like I got parents who will do anything about it, Mom was to busy screaming about Richie getting mud in the house again and Dad was screaming at her about the electric bill, but hey, what else is new?”

 

 Connor didn’t have to say he got it, Elizabeth knew, her parents ignored everything until it gave them something to yell at their kids about, while his parents acted like they expected Connor to be the third parent to Bill and Georgie. One wrong move, one scraped knee on either of his brothers and suddenly, he was getting yelled at and lectured about responsibilities.

 

Elizabeth stretched her legs out, boots tapping against the porch railing “At least the babysitting’s giving me some cash, Jason Marsh is pretty chill even if his dad’s a creep, his sister’s ok also. The Keenes pay decent but I still won’t babysit Richie without being paid a hundred bucks no matter how much Dad complains about me being a bitch.”

 

“That’s because you’re smart, no offence but Richie can be a handful at times.” Connor said.

 

“Cheers to that, so what about your parents, they still jumping your ass over every little thing?” Elizabeth asks as Connor chuckles darkly “When are they not?”

 

It was true, if Bill so much as got sinuses it was his fault for not watching Bill carefully, and if Georgie scraped his knee it was his fault for not watching him like a hawk.

 

“You’re basically the third parent in your house.” Elizabeth snorts as Connor took a long drag from the blunt.

 

The rain kept coming, relentless and cold. Inside the house was quiet besides his mother playing the piano. Bill was probably drawing or reading, while Georgie was probably playing with his toys.

 

Elizabeth nudged him with her shoulder “At least we’re not trapped inside, better than listening to Mom scream ‘Richard Tozier!’ every five minutes.”

 

“Your mother’s terrifying.”

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

“...And hot.” Connor added with a smirk as Elizabeth punched his shoulder “You asshole.” she snorts as she steals the blunt from his hands.

 

Connor couldn’t help but stare at her from the corner of his eye, the same way he had done for the last year when she wasn’t looking. Her hood was pushed back a little, letting some of her curls spill out in dark, wild ringlets. Her dark brown eyes were scanning the streets, and that smirk, the one she always wore, was what caught his attention today.

 

Yeah, Connor would admit he had a crush on her and thought she was pretty, really damn pretty. And Connor had been feeling this way since last fall but had no idea how he would address this as Elizabeth was one of his closest friends and the older sister to one of Bill’s best friends.

 

He took another slow drag, trying and failing to not look at her again.

 

Then the door creaked open, and he heard a voice say “Hi Connor!” as Connor nearly choked on the smoke, turning and seeing his youngest brother, Georgie, standing there in a yellow raincoat, hood up and boots already splashing in the puddle forming on the porch boards. The seven year old looked determined, something that was not a good sign for him.

 

Connor reached out fast, catching Georgie by the arm before he could hop off the porch and straight into the street “Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you’re going little man?” he asked as he held his brother in his arms as the boy stared up at him with those big doe eyes he had learned would get him anything he asked for “Bill made a boat and I want to see if it floats.”

Connor groaned internally. If Georgie so much as sneezed tomorrow his parents would absolutely blame Connor for letting him run around in the freezing October rain, he could already hearing the accusations.

 

Irresponsible

Careless

You’re older Connor, you should know better

 

Before he could come up with something, Elizabeth moved and knelt down in front of Georgie, smiling brightly at the little boy and trying to hide her bloodshot eyes “Hey little dude, didn’t you make a Lego turtle earlier? You gotta show me that thing, Richie won’t shut up about it.”

 

Georgie lit up instantly “You really wanna see it?!”

 

“Hell yeah, I  want to see it.”

 

Connor exhaled, relieved, “Yeah, Georgie. You can play with the boat during your bath tonight, okay? No getting soaked right now.”

 

Georgie nodded eagerly, “Kay!”

 

Connor ushered him back inside the house before he could change his mind, hand on Georgie’s shoulder, Elizabeth rising to follow close behind.

 

As Connor opened the door and Georgie ran down the hall yelling for Bill, Elizabeth paused for just a heartbeat to flick the blunt into the grass and her gaze drifted down the street to the sewer drain and for a second she froze.

 

For a second, just a second, she swore she saw a shape crouched in the darkness, and for a second Elizabeth would bet all the money she saved up there was a fucking clown in the drain staring at her with glowing yellow eyes and smiling wildly, almost inhumanly wide.

 

Elizabeth blinked hard and then it was gone, so she shook her head and pushed the curls out of her eyes Must be the weed, Connor said he got the good shit this time

 

She barely had time to kick off her wet boots before Georgie grabbed her hand and began yanking her to his room “C’mon! C’mon! I wanna show you Turtle-Top! He’s got a hat now!”

 

Elizabeth laughed as she let the seven-year-old drag her down the hallway, “Alright, alright! Slow down there, Speedy!”

Connor watched them go, shaking his head with a helpless smile before turning toward Bill’s cracked bedroom door, Georgie had insisted that Bill was sick, but the boy was far to quiet to be and he hadn’t been jumped by his parents for letting Bill get sick either.

 

Connor pushed the door open with two fingers and saw Bill sitting on his bed, legs crossed and flipping calmly through a comic book, completely fine. Not coughing, not sniffling, and clearly not sick.

 

Connor raised an eyebrow “Huh, you don’t look very sick.”

 

Bill glanced up, blinking behind his bangs “Y-You d-don’t l-look like y-you’ve b-been c-crying either b-but you g-got b-blooshot eyes a-and I c-can smell the w-weed.”

 

Connor froze “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Bill closed his comic slowly and gave him the look, the one that said he wasn’t buying the lie Connor was saying.

 

Connor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck “Ok, ok. Look if you don’t say anything then I won’t say anything either.”

 

Bill’s eyes narrowed, “L-like to m-mom and d-dad?”

 

“Yes genius, like to Mom and Dad.”’

 

Bill nodded, satisfied “D-Deal.”

 

“Good, and hey, next time Georgie says he wants to play in the rain tell him no, I don’t need Mom and Dad up my ass because he got the sniffles.” Connor said, jerking his chin toward the hallway.

 

Bill’s expression softened, guilt creeping in “S-Sorry, h-he w-wanted t-to go.”

 

“Yeah well, you’re the second older brother, use that little power you have to talk him out of stuff that will get him sick and to do stuff you don’t want to do.”

 

Bill snorted “G-Go a-away.”

 

“Gladly.”

 

From down the hall Georgie squealed with joy as Elizabeth gasped dramatically, “Dude, this turtle has a top hat! You’re a genius, Georgie!”

 

He stepped into Georgie’s room just in time to hear Georgie gasp as Elizbath said “There, now Turtle-Top had competition.”

 

Georgie looked down, eyes going wide as hanging on a cord in Elizabeth’s hand was a tiny carved turtle charm, its shell painted with little swirls.

 

“Woooow, where’d you get it?”

 

Elizabeth tapped her wrist, showing off a matching bracelet with a tiny turtle between beads “Got a whole set, figured you’d like it more than I do, you’re the turtle expert around here.”

 

Georgie beamed at her, hugging her “Thank you, Lizzie!”

 

“You’re welcome little man.” Elizabeth said, ruffling his hair.

 

Before Connor could comment, a flash of lightning lit up the room, harsh, white and blinding as Connor blinked and rubbed at his eyes he froze, for just a second he swore he saw a clown sitting on the soaked branches of the old maple tree outside, smiling wildy as it waved at him.

 

What the absolute fuck-

 

There was another flash of light and the tree was empty, no clown or anything.

 

Just rain slamming against the window and the branches whipping in the wind.

 

Connor blinked hard Ok, wow. Either that weed is way stronger than Jim told me or I’m becoming a lightweight. Or both.

 

He cleared his throught, pushing the image away as he knelt down beside Georgie and Elizabeth “So, what’s this guy’s name? Turtle-Top has to know his rival’s name after all!”

 

Georgie held the charm proudly between his fingers “Turtle-Jim!”

 

Elizabeth snorted “Strong name, powerful!”

 

Connor tried to focus on his little brother’s grin, ignoring the uneasy prickle crawling up the back of his neck.

An hour later the storm had eased into a steady drizzle, the sky was still dark as Connor walked with Elizabeth down the driveway toward where her bike leaned against the mailbox.

 

Elizabeth pulled her hood up, curls spilling out anyways “So, you ready for school tomorrow? Because I’m not, and I swear if Hockstetter so much as breaths in my direction I’m throwing him in a dumpster and dumping it in the river.”

 

“I’ll help, you need a partner in crime after all.”

 

“Damn right I do, Teddy would snitch on me, and Phil would if Teddy says so.”

 

They walked a few more steps before Elizabeth added “Teddy says Stan’s freaking out about his Bar Mitzvah practice, like full meltdown mode.”

 

Connor snorted “Makes sense, Teddy was having the same meltdown when he was practicing for his Bar Mitzvah, and he was freaking me out and I wasn’t even the one doing it.”

 

Elizabeth stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, shaking her head with mock pity “Poor Stan, they’re going to cut his dick off, Con, just like they did with Teddy.”

 

Connor barked a laugh “They did not, I was at Teddy’s Bar Mitzvah, remember? They did not cut his dick off.”

 

Elizabeth gasped dramatically, stepping in front of him and cupping his face with her hands “Look at you, darling. So traumatized by the sight of your best friend getting his dick cut off you can’t even remember it, it’s ok I’ll help you through the stages of grief. I heard Denial is the first part.”

 

Connor tried to glare but snorted instead, unable to help noticing her palms were warm against his skin, and she was close, way close where their noses were almost touching. Her brown eyes flicked between his and for a split second, he looked at her lips.

 

For a terrifying, wonderful second, he swore she was leaning in a tiny bit.

 

Then she blinked, hands dropping away fast, stepping back and looking surprised at herself for a second “Anyways,” she said, too quickly “Uh… I’ll see you later, Connor.”

 

“Yeah, later.” Connor managed, shoving his hands in his picket so she wouldn’t see them shake.

 

Elizabeth hopped onto her bike, the seat squeaking as she settled and gave him a crooked grin, the same one Richie had sometimes.

 

Then she pushed off, pedaling down the street, curling bouncing behind her as she cut through the puddles.

 

Connor watched her go, wondering when talking to her had gotten so hard.

 

As he walked back into his house, he was unaware of the glowing yellow eyes watching him from the sewer.

Chapter 2

Nine Months Later

 

The last bell of the year had rung five minutes ago and the halls were filled with talking, shouting and laughing kids along with the slamming of lockers as Connor, Elizabeth, Teddy, and Phil walked down the hallway, backpacks loose over their shoulder and already thinking about not having to wake up early for three whole months.

 

Elizabeth, as usual, was doing the most talking.

 

She’d hooked both hands around Teddy’s arm dramatically, leaning into him and pretending to swoon “You know,” she began loudly, voice filled with fake concern “I just hope Stan recovers as fast from getting his dick cut off as you did, Teddy. It was such a traumatic time for you, we can all attest to that.”

 

Teddy didn’t even break stride “My Dick was not cut off.”

 

“Oh wow, I was wrong, listen to him Connor, he’s still in denial about the whole thing.” Elizabeth fake sniffled as Connor snorted, unable to help it as Teddy shot him a look “Don’t encourage her.”

 

“They’re not cutting my brother’s dick off,” Teddy added “That is not how a Bar Mitzvah works, that is not how anything works.”

 

Elizabeth tilted her head, studying him “That’s exactly what someone who had their dick forcibly cut off would say.”

 

Phil lost it, laughing so hard he nearly walked into an open locker “Jesus Christ, Elizabeth.”

 

Teddy stopped short in the middle of the hallway “When the hell did my dick become a talking point in this group?”

 

Elizabeth waved a hand dismissively “Oh come on, everyone knows your dick is an excellent conversation piece.”

 

Teddy sputtered, looking like he was about to have an aneurysm “That… what… Elizabeth, No!”

 

Connor laughed openly now, shoulders shaking as he shook his head “You walked right into that one, man.”

 

“I did not,” Teddy groaned, rubbing his face. “I don’t even know why I hang out with any of you.”

“Because you love us,” Elizabeth said sweetly, finally letting go of his arm to blow him a kiss.

 

“That is a filthy lie, and I don’t even know where you got that idea from.”

 

Phil grinned “You didn’t deny it very hard.”

 

“Shut up Phil.”

 

Elizabeth checked the cheap watch on her wrist and sighed dramatically “Ugh, I gotta work the diner tonight, Mrs. Kaspbrak’s gonna complain about her eggs being cold again even though that bitch waits twenty minutes before eating them.”

 

“The diner always smells like grease and body odor, how you can stand to be in it I’ll never understand.” Phil shook his head.

 

“Well, it pays well.” Elizabeth said, then turned to Connor suddenly, eyes lighting up “You know what? When we’re adults, you and me should open up our own restaurant in town.”

 

Connor blinked “A restaurant?”

 

“Yeah, somewhere that actually makes decent food, nothing ever boiled, no creepy owners, we’ll put every other restaurant in town out of business.”

 

Connor nodded slowly, “I could do that.”

 

“See, you’d be great, you’re responsible, you’ve got this like… dad energy.”

 

“Hey, why does he get dad energy and I get whatever the hell goes through your twisted mind when you think of me?” Teddy protested.

 

Elizabeth ignored him and suddenly wrapped her arms around Connor who immediately tried to hide his blush and pounding heart, and in a quick, tight hug, Elizabeth rose on her toes so she could lean into his ear, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper only meant for him “And if the restaurant doesn’t work out, we can always commit insurance fraud and burn it down to collect the money.”

 

Connor didn’t hesitate, nodding and rubbing his chin thoughtfully “Yeah, that’s a solid back up plan.”

 

Phil snickered, clearly catching what was said as Teddy just groaned loudly, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling “Why do I put up with any of you people?”

 

Elizabeth stepped back, walking backwards now and pointing at him with a grin “Because you’d miss us if you didn’t.”

 

“That is slander, real, actual slander.”

 

Elizabeth laughed, spinning once before rejoining the group as they pushed through the front doors and into the yard.

 

Elizabeth spotted her first, pointing down the road “Hey, there’s Beverly and Jason Marsh.”

 

Connor followed her gaze, Beverly was already halfway down the block, red hair shining in the sun, backpack loose over one shoulder and holding the hand of her younger brother as they walked down the road. A kid Connor didn’t recognize, the new one around Bill’s age, was watching them go before walking away with his bike.

 

When they got near the parking lot Elizabeth froze “Shit.” she whispered as Connor followed her gaze.

 

Betty Ripsom’s mom was standing by the curb, gripping her purse, eyes darting from face to face, searching, a hopeful look on her face that hurt to look at.

 

Elizabeth winced, “Betty was really sweet, she used to let Richie steal her pudding, I hope they find her.”

 

None of them could argue with that, all staring at each other before Phil’s eyes widened as he looked behind Connor “Fucking Bowers.”

 

The trio turned to look where he was staring, and sure enough, Bowers and his gang of psychos were cutting across the yard, shoving and laughing at each other like they always did and a few yards behind them Richie, Eddie, Stan and Bill were picking themselves off the ground, Elizabeth scowling at the sight “I fucking hate Bowers and his gang.”

 

Teddy squinted after them, “Five bucks says those asshole are the ones behind the kidnappings.”

 

Connor scowled, “Hockstetter tortures animals.”

 

The other three stopped and turned to look at him “Excuse me?” Elizabeth said in shock.

 

“I saw it, few months back, I was cutting through the woods on an errand for my boss, he had a little rabbit. He was… enjoying what he was doing.” Connor said, voice flat and shuddering at the memory.

 

Phil groaned, rubbing his face “Just perfect, we’ve got a kidnapper and a future serial killer running around, why does anyone stay in this shithole of a town?”

 

“Because rent’s cheap and this place traps you.” Teddy supplied.

 

They crossed the yard toward their siblings, Richie spotting them first and threw his arms open wide “Oh thank God, the cool kids are here-”

 

Connor rolled his eyes “C’mon, I’ll give you guys a ride before I have to go to work.”

 

He wasn’t looking forward to working forwards at the pharmacy, he was damn certain that Mr. Keene was a pedophile the way he looked at younger children, and Connor was damn sure he was just using him to smuggle drugs and that’s why Connor had to drop off boxes in the woods and pick up wads of money in random locations.

 

He was also damn sure that his parents only got him the truck so they didn’t have to bother with taking Bill and Georgie to school anymore.

 

Teddy’s eyes suddenly darted to Stan’s head “Stanley…”

 

Stan froze as Teddy crossed his arms “Where’s your Kippah?”

 

Stan looked down “I… I must have dropped it.”

 

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes first at Stan then at Bowers car turning down the road, scowling as she connected the dots.

 

Teddy sighed, loud and long before he pulled his own Kippah off, setting it on Stan’s head “You own me one, Mom and Dad are going to chew my ass out when I say I lost it.”

 

Stan stared down at his feet “Sorry…”

 

Teddy sighed “Just don’t lose it, I’ll get you another one.”

 

Connor glanced toward his truck, Bill helping Eddie and Richie put their bikes in the back of the truck. Bill’s hair was auburn in the right light, the same shade as their mother’s hair, but brown just like Georgie and Connor’s the rest of the time.

 

Connor glanced at Bill, voice dropping “Bowers giving you guys a hard time?”

 

Bill nodded once, not looking his brother in the eye as Connor felt his jaw tighten before he helped Eddie and Richie in the back of the truck “Figures.” he muttered.

 

-

The day was dragging on.

 

Connor stood behind the counter at Keene’s Pharmacy, sleeves rolled up and stocking bottles of cough syrup and antacids on the shelves, muttering darkly under his breath as he did so “Piece of Shit,” he growled as he lined up the boxes.

 

Mr. Keene was conveniently out again, some ‘Family Emergency’ he claimed, which was funny, because he said that whenever it seemed like he decided he didn’t want to be there that day.

 

Connor also knew that Keene skimmed paychecks, not enough for anyone to catch it right away, just a few dollars here, a few there, but Connor noticed, he always noticed things like that. And the rumors around town said Keene owed money to people you didn’t owe money to and expect to keep breathing.

 

Which was why Connor didn’t even feel remotely bad when he ducked into Keene’s office every other day or so and lifted the loose panel behind the filing cabinet and took a  small stack of bills from the envelope hidden there, nothing the man would notice missing from the possible thousands the man had hidden in there.

 

No one confronted him about this, nor did he when he noticed other employees doing the same. Keene stole from them; fair was fair as far as he was concerned.

 

As he shoved the panel back into place, he thoughts drifted unwillingly to Jim.

 

Jim was nearly eighteen with long hair and smelled of cheap cologne and weed, fitting since Jim had been his hookup for weed, at least he was until he vanished in early December. Some people said he’d ran away, though Connor didn’t buy it.

 

Jim had never been the running type.

 

More likely he’d pissed off the wrong deal or owed moeny. Or both.

 

Connor shoved the thought away and headed back out onto the floor, only to freeze when he heard whispering.

 

Connor peered over the top and was surprised to see Bill, Stan, Eddie and Beverly Marsh talking to each other, huddled together while Beverly had something hidden behind her back and the boys had medical stuff in their arms.

 

Connor straightened “What the hell are you guys doing here?”

 

They all jumped, Bill turning first, surprised to see his brother there “O-Oh h-hi, I d-didn’t r-realize y-you were w-working t-today.”

 

“Yeah, lucky you.” Connor said, crossing his arms.

 

He glanced pointedly at the pile of supplies “Care to explain why it looks like you’re about to rob this place?”

Stan stiffened “It’s… uh… it’s nothing?”

 

“That’s not convincing.”

 

Eddie swallowed, eyes darting towards the front windows “The new kid’s outside, the one in our grade. He looks like someone tried to kill him.”

 

Bill shifted, shoulders tight “W-We n-need this stuff, b-but we d-don’t have the m-money.”

 

Connor stared at them for a second then sighed “Just take it.”

 

Four set of eyes snapped to him in surprise.

 

“What?” Beverly asked.

 

Connor shrugged “Take it, I’ll probably pay for it, though maybe not. God knows Keene has taken more than twenty dollars from my checks.”

 

Eddie stared at him like he was crazy “We can’t just steal stuff.”

 

“Keene steals money from the checks every week, twenty bucks isn’t going to kill him.”

Stan hesitated, “You sure?”

 

“Pretty sure I’m not going to be damned to Hell for this, and if so then my soul was probably damned long ago.”

 

Bill studied him for a long moment then nodded “Th-Thanks.”

 

Connor waved a hand “Just don’t be obvious about it.”

 

They shuffled past him, trying and failing very hard to look normal as Connor sighed.

-

Hours later, the pharmacy was quiet and Connor was closing the pharmacy up for the night, locking and and leaning against the counter with a tired groan.

His feet ached, his head was pounding, and the lights were drilling into his skull “Fuck this day,” he decided as he reached for the Cuban cigars and struck a match and lighting the cigar as he inhaled, the smoking burning his lungs as he slowly exhaled, finally relaxing when-

CRASH

Connor froze, the sounds came from the back aisles, Connor’s heart thudding as he stared down the row of shelves.

One was toppled over, and on top of the damn thing was-

Connor’s brain was refusing to process what he was seeing.

Because on top of the shelf was a fucking Xenomorph.

Long, black with an elongated skull, tail coiled and twitching just like in that damn space movie Elizabeth had dragged him, Teddy, and Phil into a few years back, Aliens is what she said the damn thing had been called.

Connor laughed once “Yeah, ok, I’m definitely fucking high, did I smoke anything on my break?”  he muttered to himself.

The thing tilted his head then screamed, Connor barely getting out of the way as it launched itself at him.

“HOLY SHIT!”

Connor scrambled to his feet, adrenaline bursting through him and ran to the office door, throwing himself through it and slamming it shut, shoving a chair under the handle as it slammed into the door from the other side.

The door buckled as Connor back up, chest heaving, eyes snapping to the window on the other side of the room, running over and smashing through it with a chair, not caring the glass was cutting his skin as he dragged himself out the window just as the door exploded inward and the creature shrieked as it spotted him making a break for it down the alley without looking back.

Behind him something he was damn sure shouldn’t exist shrieked into the night.

Notes:

Part of a five part series I've been cooking up

This will be part one

Part Two will be Salem's Lot

Part three is Tommy Knockers

Part four is The Shining

Part five is the Stand

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Stephen King Universe