sweets// patrick hockstetter

6

Ben's house was a two-story house, it looked nice from the outside at least. Lavender shivered when they went inside the cold house.

Eddie and Richie were talking about some nonsense beside her and Stanley was rolling his eyes about it.

Ben rushed past the group to his room, "Probably has to pick up his dirty underwear or something." Richie says to Lavender which made him smack his arm playfully.

The group walked into the room where Ben stood against the door, Lavender walked in behind Stanley before they started looking at some of the research that littered his room.

Lavender was a research junkie much like Ben but she didn't have a whole room dedicated to it. That was what her brain and notebooks were for. She had a drawer in her dresser half full with notebooks of things that finds interesting or things she wrote.

"Cool, right?" Ben asks with a small smile.

"No, no, nothing is cool," Richie says, his lips pursed out and Lavender frowns at him.

"Be nice," She whispers to him and he rolls his eyes.

They walked about the well-house but Lavender wasn't paying attention instead she was looking at a picture of an eerie-looking person, it looked like the clown from the sewer, with the same weird head shape, wide smile, and it was just weird.

Her heart sank as she looked at all the missing people, "Imagine all the parents, their siblings." Lavender knew those feelings better than anyone.

Bill put his hand on her shoulder, he didn't know the full story but he knew that she had lost a sibling, just like he had.

Lavender put her hand on top of his. Bill still thinks that Georgie is out there somewhere and Lavender was determined to help find the truth out, either way, she was going to help Bill find closure in his life.

Unlike Lavender who would never fully get the answers, she so longed for.

They walked back outside after they talked over the research some more, lavender looked over to see a familiar woman at the telephone pole with papers.

"Mrs.Hockstetter?" The woman turns to look at Lavender. Amelia smiles at her, Amelia loves Lavender. The teenage girl would come over to the Hockstetters quite often. She also spent the night at Patrick's now and again, she had dinners and lunches. Amelia loved the side that Lavender brought out in her son.

"Lavender, honey." Amelia says, hugging the shorter girl, "Have you heard from Patrick?" The older woman's wrinkles moved as she brought her eyebrows together.

"No, ma'am. Not since yesterday at school." Lavender felt guilty lying to the lovely woman but Mrs.Hockstetter frowned and put her hands on Lavender's shoulders.

"I don't know if you've heard but he's missing. Nobody knows where he is. I'm so worried."

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Hockstetter." Lavender felt, even more, guilt rise in her.

"It's not your fault, dear." Lavender didn't think that, she felt like it was her fault. That if she didn't run away, they could have made it out of that sewer, "I'm also sorry. I know how close the two of you were. If you ever need anything, our house is open for you. Come over for dinner sometime."

"I'd love that, Mrs.Hocksetter. I'll call you sometime. If you need anything. I'm always here." Mrs.Hockstetter lovingly moved the hair off the girl's face.

"You're too sweet for your good, Lavender. I have to hang more signs, I'll be expecting to see you soon, dear." The two women hug again and Lavender waved goodbye before turning back to her friends.