THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT ｡ STRANGER THINGS

8 - DISAPPEARING ACT

While children were tucked away under blankets, dreaming of sweet nonsense and while parents huddled around television sets to watch mind numbing news updates, one boy did not make it home November 6 1983. While hundreds of homes in East Hawkins experienced power outages and surges, while Daisy Lonsdale stared at a faded photograph of her long gone sister, little Will Byers was snatched away in the darkness by a monster with no face.

The news started as a trickle, nothing but a mother's worry at first. A few murmurs started among the students at Hawkins High and by the late afternoon, the entire town was engulfed with the disappearance of Will Byers, many speculating he was just lost in the woods. Daisy Lonsdale found herself stuck in the past, but this time it was a child missing, just a boy. It was not her older sister.

"Are you getting this weird sense of déjà vu?" Dottie Fields asked late Monday afternoon, the two girls leaving the art studio with strange feelings chilling their bones. The student carpark was almost empty, only a few stragglers left today. Dottie's trusty truck was waiting for them, ready to take them home and away from the crowded corridors with whispers about the Byers family, now stuck in the limelight.

Daisy glanced across at her friend. "Sure, but at least the town actually believes he's missing."

"I just mean...shoot, sorry." Dottie cringed, yanking open the heavy door of her truck and swinging her backpack inside. Sometimes, she had a habit of blurting out insensitive words, her lips moving and her brain lagging behind. She hadn't meant to bring up old memories of last year with Marigold, knowing her best friend was still haunted by that. "It's different though. Will Byers is just a kid."

The backhanded comment rolled off Daisy's shoulders. She had grown used to having so many people in town speak as though Marigold had indeed just run away, including Dottie Fields. It hurt though, knowing the only person that believed her theory was Aunt Beatrice. Which was not a positive thought, considering Beatrice had episodes of crazy nonsense where she spoke about storms and the dead coming back to life, something Marigold used to enjoy listening to. "We're all just kids." Daisy noted sourly.

Dottie sucked in her bottom lip, knowing she was skating on thin ice today. In her heart, she wanted to believe Marigold hadn't just packed her belongings and left town without a goodbye but honestly, becoming a mystery was something Marigold would do, always trying to be something more than she was. Despite the fact that Dottie did miss her friend, she couldn't stand by Daisy and shout to the town that Marigold was missing. It just didn't seem possible, not for a girl that had big dreams to get out of Hawkins. "Well, there's a search party tonight in the woods for him. I'm thinking of going. Wanna' come?"

"I've got a tutoring thing with Nancy again." Daisy said bitterly, the only thoughts circling around in her mind today was the past and that was haunting her enough. With Will Byers going missing, she couldn't help but feel empty inside, like all the decent happy memories were being sucked dry from her. "Plus, mum won't let me go wandering around the woods late at night. I would never hear the end of that conversation. So, no point in even asking."

The truck's engine roared to life, the heater blowing out warm air. Daisy was pressing her boots to the dashboard, letting her head rest back as her mind grew numb. A strange silence stirred between the girls and it almost felt like the ghost of Marigold Lonsdale was sitting between them, pulling them in opposite directions with their divided ideas of what happened last year.

As the colours of fall blurred by in the window, Daisy found herself growing irritated by the fact Chief Hopper and the rest of the town were putting more effort into finding Will Byers than her own sister. It was a terrible thought since a little boy was lost, but she couldn't help it. As they passed by Mulberry Street, Daisy thought she saw a blonde girl standing on the corner, her curls hiding her face. But the vision was gone within a blink of an eye, her heart falling in her chest. For a second, she thought she had seen Marigold.