𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 ➪ 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fᴏᴜʀ

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙾𝚗𝚎
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𝚖𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚡
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"Shit, shit, wait- no, shit." Genie frantically rushed around her room in search of spare change. So far she held two quarters in her cupped hand. "Steve!"

The girl ran down the hall to her brother's room. He was laying on his bed studying or something. Genie didn't have time to ask questions.

"I need money." She panted, leaning against the door frame.

"For the arcade?" Steve asked, not looking up at her. Genie rolled her eyes.

"No, I wanna buy a pony." She retorted sarcastically. Steve sighed and got off his bed.

"How much do you need?"

Genie looked down at her pathetic coin collection. "Like two quarters."

As soon as her brother dropped the coins in her hand, Genie raced down to her parents room. Sitting on a shelf beside Steve's was a jar labelled 'Genie's college fund.'

"I still got a few years." She mumbled, grabbing some coins from the jar and stuffing them in her pocket.

She dashed down the stairs, grabbing her coat as she ran and fled the house, hopping quickly on her bike and peddling off. She was supposed to meet the boys at the arcade but they'd inevitably find her before she got there.

As suspected, Genie met up with the boys a block or so from the arcade.  The group rode together—well four out of five did.  Will's Mom was driving him.  She didn't want to risk a repeat of last year.

When they arrived, Genie went off on her own and played her own games, different from the ones the boys liked to play. After about ten minutes, Mike came running up to her with Dustin and Lucas behind him.

"Genie, someone beat Dustin's score on Dig Dug!" He exclaimed. Genie raised an eyebrow, killing off her character and spinning around to face the group.

"Yeah! Their name is MADMAX." Dustin's eyes were wide. Genie scanned the group of boys and her brows knit.

"Where's Will?" She asked. Mike glanced behind him, as did the other two. Genie facepalmed quickly before pushing through the group and towards the game they were playing earlier. As she was doing so, she spotted Will standing outside, staring at the sky. "Shit."

She rushed out and met him but he didn't seem to see her. "Will?" She asked. When she placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to shake him out of his trance, her surroundings changed. The sky turned darker and the air smelled of sulfer.

"Genie." Will looked her in the eyes and pointed a shaking finger into the air behind her. There was a large shadow arched above Hawkins. It had a lot of legs.

"Holy shit." She mumbled.

"Will!" Mike's voice came from inside the arcade and the sky flickered back to normal. "You good?"

Genie blinked a few times and her hand fell from Will's shoulder.

"Yeah-yeah, I'm fine." He mumbled, grabbing Genie's hand and following Mike inside.