And the Earth, It Will Shake

Chapter Eight - Episode Two (CONT'D): The Weirdo on Maple Street

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Mike wasn't present for the daily ride to school the next morning.

After what you could only consider to be the worst night of your life- a headache unlike any other forming right behind your eyes that seemed to throb any time the thought of Will or that young girl, Eleven, permeated your mind- you ditched sleep, opting to think about the situation at hand.

There had been no sign of Will when out looking through Mirkwood, but you also had to consider the fact that the group had mostly gone down the stretch of land that they knew their friend used to get home. Nobody broke path, and add on the surprise of rain as well as another person popping up mid-search, nothing had gone as planned. For all you knew, there could be more to look for in the surrounding area; a piece of clothing, his bag, maybe even a part of his bike that had gone missing. You hadn't committed to all the options just yet, and it would take an absurd amount of time to check everything in just one night.

And this girl- small, frail, jumpy, and obviously abused in some form- pops up and puts the small search to a halt, making it harder to regroup and help. It wasn't her fault, you knew that, but it still put a major damper on things, especially when you spent until sunrise imagining where she had come from, if people would come looking for her as well.

And with that, you'd gotten up from bed, ready for a new start where everything would supposedly go back to being semi-normal, with Will being the only thing occupying the groups attention since Eleven was meant to be asking Karen for help instead.

But then Mike never showed up at the designated wait spot by the park, only Lucas and Dustin arriving slowly with barely contained exhaustion.

When you asked them about their friend, they waved away your worry, betting their weekly allowance that Mike got stuck helping the 'psycho' learn how to knock on doors. You hadn't found the joke funny, and the kids had ended up apologizing, still sure that Mike had only been held up for a moment and would be at school in no time.

Their 'reassurance' hadn't helped one bit, and now you sat in your car at the high schools parking station, debating on either just ditching class to go check up on the Wheeler house or take a quick cigarette break and hope for the best. Now that you weren't letting your judgement be swayed by sad eyes and shaven heads, the seriousness of the situation seemed to hound you, threatening to maul you with all its worth.

You've officially won the 'Worst Babysitter in the World' Award and the year wasn't even up yet.

After a moment longer of contention, you decided to leave the mess for the afternoon, your empty Metrics worksheet calling out for the need in comprehension. While you knew you needed to prioritize carefully- meaning the kid with a random girl in his basement should've came first on your list- you were also just a Junior in high school, and you couldn't let your grades suffer anymore than they already were. You knew Mike was resourceful and would probably be fine.

At least you hoped.

But just as you were about to call it quits and head into campus, Barbara Holland's Volkswagen parks a few spots down from yours, and out comes the owner and Nancy, the pair baring colored notecards, obviously studying as they rush onto school grounds, bags bouncing slightly with their pace.

Watching both girls walk away, you held back the urge of banging your forehead against the steering wheel. You'd totally forgotten that you attended the same school as Karen's eldest, and you figured asking her if she'd seen her brother leave wouldn't be a bad place to start, curiosity and stress getting the better of you.