Patrick Hockstetter and Avery Hockstetter

Patrick Hockstetter was a profoundly disturbed child, a sociopath who lacked any sense of the reality or value of other living beings. His most significant and defining act was the murder of his infant brother, Avery, an event that occurred when Patrick was only five years old. This crime, which was initially dismissed as a crib death, revealed the chilling depths of his psychopathy and set the stage for his later, more grotesque end at the hands of the entity known as It.

The Murder of Avery Hockstetter

Patrick's resentment toward his baby brother, Avery, stemmed from the disruption the infant caused to his own routine and the attention his parents lavished on the new child. Fearing that Avery's presence might lead to his own abandonment, Patrick acted on a cold, calculated impulse. One afternoon, while his mother napped and his father was at work, Patrick entered Avery's room. He turned the sleeping baby's face into the pillow, holding it there until the infant's struggles ceased and he died. Patrick felt no guilt or remorse; instead, he experienced a profound, drug-like excitement, a feeling of power and color that was entirely new to him. He then went downstairs, got himself a snack, and watched television, completely unaffected by the death he had just caused. His father, who later saw the tracks from Patrick's wet boots near the crib, suspected the truth but never confronted him, and the death was officially ruled a crib death.

A Pattern of Cruelty and the Refrigerator

Following the murder of his brother, Patrick's cruelty found other outlets. He killed flies with a ruler, collected their bodies in a pencil box, and derived pleasure from watching insects and small animals die. He discovered a discarded Amana refrigerator near the town dump, which he used as a killing bottle. Over many months, he trapped and slowly suffocated numerous neighborhood pets and strays, including a cocker spaniel puppy that lasted three days before succumbing. The refrigerator became a focal point of his dark fantasies, and he was drawn to it even when he had no fresh victim to offer. This secret was discovered by Henry Bowers, who used it to threaten Patrick, forcing him into a sullen submission.

The Encounter with It and Death

Patrick's final act was to visit the refrigerator to dispose of a dead pigeon. When he opened the door, he was attacked by a swarm of flying leeches, a manifestation of the entity It. The leeches drained his blood and drove him, screaming, into the Barrens. There, a shape with a running, wax-like face greeted him with the words "Hello and goodbye" before dragging him into the darkness. Patrick was taken to the creature's lair, where It began to feed on him. His body was later found in the sewers, partially eaten, a grim testament to the cycle of violence that began with his own monstrous act against his brother. The connection between Patrick and Avery is a dark echo of the novel's central theme: the way childhood trauma and evil can perpetuate themselves, creating new monsters from the old.