Chapter 19 - DERRY, 1989

Alexander woke up on the wet grass, feeling the morning dew soaking his clothes. Above the head stretched a gray sky, covered with dense clouds, through which the rays of the summer sun hardly broke through. The air smelled of rain, freshness and something else - old mud and sewage.

He sat down, rubbing the back of his head, and looked around. There was a small park surrounded by with withered trees and rusty swings. Residential buildings were seen nearby - a typical American province of the late eighties. Two-storey cottages with verandas, white fences and well-groomed lawns.

"Where am I this time?" Alexander thought, rising to his feet.

And then he noticed something strange. The earth seemed further than usual. The hands looked smaller. Even the voice when he coughed sounded higher.

- What the fuck? - he muttered and headed for the nearest puddle.

The reflection in the muddy water made him freeze in place.

A teenager of about fifteen looked at him. The same black hair, the same black eyes, and a tired expression on his face. But the face was younger, the features were softer. Height - about a meter seventy instead of the usual meter eighty-five. The muscles retained the relief, but became less massive.

- Fuck, - Alexander exhaled. - I'm a teenager again.

He touched his face, checking if it was a mirage. No, everything is real. Somehow his body rejuvenated.

"Great," he thought gloomily. - "It's not only that I'm being thrown at movies, but they also change my age. What kind of movie can require me to be a child?"

Variants swarmed in my head. "It", "Pets' cemetery"?

Alexander shivered. He hoped it wasn't the first option.

He looked around more carefully, studying the surroundings. The park looked abandoned - the paint on the swing peeled off, the garbage cans were overflowing, empty bottles were lying on the benches. The atmosphere was oppressive, as if an invisible cloud was hanging over the city.

"A typical American hole," Alexander decided and headed for the city center.

Derry - that's what the town was called according to the sign at the entrance - greeted it with deserted streets and wary glances of rare passers-by. Most people quickly looked away, meeting his eyes, but some frankly stared.

And Alexander understood why. His appearance always stood out, and even more so in a provincial town like Derry. Black hair, the same black eyes and especially his pale face, like a porcelain doll, with strange glasses made him look like a character from a movie about Goth teenagers.

Passing by the grocery store, he caught a particularly gaze. A woman of about thirty-five, quite fat, in a bright pink dress, stood at the entrance and openly looked at him. When their eyes met, she winked and ran her tongue over her lips.

"What a sweet thing you are," she whispered loud enough for him to hear.

Alexandra almost vomited. Not only is he stuck in a teenage body, but local perverts also look at him.

"It's disgusting," he thought, speeding up his pace. "We urgently need to get out of here."

He turned from the main street and headed for the outskirts of the city, where trees were visible. It was necessary to find a secluded place and check whether his abilities work in the new body.

The forest turned out to be thick and gloomy. Tall pines practically did not let in sunlight, creating twilight even during the day. A river was gurgling somewhere in the distance.

Alexander reached a small glade by the water and stopped. The place was ideal for training - no one around, a lot of shadows from the trees.

- Well, - he said to himself, - let's check the new toy.

He focused on the shadow from the big pine tree and mentally ordered the body to move there.

The world around has darkened. The feeling was strange - as if he was falling into a cold, viscous liquid. Darkness enveloped me from all sides, and there was no solid support under my feet.

After a few seconds, it materialized in the specified place. It worked! The ability worked.

But the fatigue covered almost immediately. My legs were squinted, my temples were stabbed. It seems that in a teenage body, the use of the ability was more difficult.

"You need to be more careful," Alexander said to himself. - "Ten jumps a day is the limit. And then if you're lucky."

***

He was resting by the river when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Heavy, uneven - as if someone was running with the last of his strength.

A boy of twelve or thirteen years old appeared through the thickets. Plump, with a backpack behind his back. My face is red with tension, my breath is down. He ran through the wasteland, constantly looking back.

And he was chased by three older teenagers - fifteen or sixteen years old. One is tall and thin with a nasty face, the other is stocky with a blunt expression, the third is red with freckles and an evil grin.

- Hey, fat! - shouted tall. - Stop when they talk to you!

- Run, Ben, run! - the redhead picked up mockingly. - Maybe you'll lose weight!

The fat man didn't answer, he just accelerated. But the physical form was down - the pursuers shortened the distance.

Alexander hid behind a tree, watching the chase. Something in this scene seemed familiar. Especially a chubby boy - his face was definitely flashing somewhere.

"Where did I see him?" Alexander thought. - "In which movie?"

A fat teenager stumbled and fell, smashing his knee. The backpack opened, scattering books and notebooks on the ground.

Hooligans caught up with him.

- Got it, fat freak, - growled the tall one, grabbing the boy by the collar.

- Please let me go, - he asked. - I didn't do anything to you.

- Didn't you do anything? - the redhead asked again. - And the fact that you exist is already a crime.

They started beating him. Picks, headrests, humiliating mockery. A classic scene of school harassment.

Alexander clenched his fists. He wanted to intervene, but common sense told him to first find out what movie he was in. Careless intervention could disrupt the plot.

"Althowh," he thought, "what's the difference? Sooner or later, I'll get into it anyway."

But while he was thinking, the beating was over. The hooligans spit on the victim and left, leaving the boy lying in the mud.

The clump teenager slowly got up, shaking off the dust and leaves from his clothes. He packed the scattered things, threw his backpack over his shoulders and sneaved away, limping on his left leg.

Alexander decided to follow him. Something told me that this boy is a key figure in what was happening.

He waited a few minutes and followed, keeping his distance. The boy was wading through the wasteland to the residential quarter, stopping from time to time to catch his breath.

"I definitely saw him somewhere," Alexander did not lag behind his thought. - "But where?"

The face seemed familiar, but the memory did not want to throw clues.

The boy reached a small house with blue siding and hid behind the door. Alexander remembered the address and went back to the city center.

It was necessary to find a place to spend the night and try to figure out what kind of movie it was put in this time.