4Epilogue: A Soldier's Promise
Derry, Maine- 17 years later
Franklin Denbrough sat on the front porch of his family's home on Witcham Street and looked out across the sidewalk as his 8-year old son John played with the neighbor children on this warm summer day in late July. Franklin kept a close watch on his son, as the cycle of murders and disappearances involving children in Derry had started again almost two years ago, and the pattern and circumstances of the killings made it abundantly clear that Pennywise had returned. Franklin had of course attempted to warn his fellow citizens of Derry about the danger, but it had only made him a source of derision and mockery around town. Everyone just assumed that he was nothing more than the disturbed old war veteran and that the horrors of war had made him crazy. But Franklin persisted, remembering the promise that he had made to a dying Thomas on the battlefield years ago. He carried that promise with him through all of the years since. Franklin was discharged from the Union army in late May of 1863 due to a wound he had received during the Battle of Chancellorsville. The rest of the 23rd Maine had been discharged after that battle as well, as the losses suffered by the regiment had put it far below fighting strength, and thus the regiment was disbanded and the men were sent home. Only 81 out of the original 416 men in the regiment had survived the war unhurt, and another 107 had survived with horrible physical and mental wounds from combat that would never truly heal. Most of the regiment's casualties had been suffered during the Battle of Antietam, the battle in which Thomas had been killed. The sons of Derry in 23rd Maine had fought through three major battles at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, and had fought for their country bravely and gallantly. Franklin returned to Derry with the rest of his fellow soldiers and tried to resume his life as best he could to what it was before the war.
Franklin had returned to find that his father and mother were in good health and wellbeing and the family farm had been well maintained in his absence. Soon after, Franklin married a local woman he had grown up with, Lucinda Jones, and they had a family and had moved to their own home on Witcham Street. Franklin had been a steward over his responsibilities as a husband and father, but he never forgot his promise, and as such had told his family and friends everything he knew about Pennywise and about what he and Thomas had experienced as children. The stories made him somewhat of a social pariah among his friends and acquaintances, but his parents and his wife listened to him and stood by his side faithfully. And sure enough, when local children began to disappear and be found dead and mutilated again beginning almost two years ago, Franklin recalled the horrors of his childhood and took the necessary steps to protect his children from the wrath of Pennywise's evil ways.
And now here he sat on the front porch of his home on a warm July day in 1879, a war veteran with a family of his own and a pension from his service to his country, a man who would protect everyone he loved and held dear at all costs, a man who would do whatever possible to keep more children from becoming the latest victims of Pennywise. As he sat on the porch he began to think of Thomas, hoping that he had done his part to keep the promise he made to his dying friend all those years ago. And as he opened that day's newspaper and began to read of the latest incident, the murders of a group of lumberjacks who had been found torn apart in a cabin on the Upper Kenduskeag, Franklin knew that the promise he had made was not in vain. The presence of Pennywise was a disease to Derry, but Franklin knew in his heart that the disease would one day be eradicated, even if he or his children did not live to see it. As he sat on the porch and watched his son play, Franklin's mind began to drift to a happy memory from long ago, a memory of himself as a young boy, fishing with Thomas and his father on the banks of the Penobscot River, enjoying the precious moments of happiness shared between friends.
The End