dream » stranger things.

xvii. zoning out

wendy carmichael leaned against the kitchen counter, watching as chief hopper conversed with hawkins police department.

her eyes glanced at steve as he walked over towards her, and he looked out of the kitchen window.

"they didn't believe you, did they?" dustin asked from the kitchen table. max, lucas, and mike were all sitting around him.
"well see." hopper responded, turning towards the children.

"we'll see?! we can't just sit here while those things are loose!" mike wheeler exclaimed. wendy raised an eyebrow at his tone.

"we stay here, and we wait for help." jim said sternly. he walked off, leaving the kids, steve, and wendy in the kitchen.

wendy leaned her head against steve's shoulder as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"how am i going to explain all of this to my parents?" wendy questioned. steve looked down at her and he shook his head.
"you don't." he responded.

wendy looked towards the kids. all of them looked bored out of their minds, except for mike. he looked over towards something before getting up and walking over to some puzzles.

"did you guys know that bob was the original founder of hawkins av?" mike asked.
"really?" lucas asked.

"he petitioned the school to start it and everything. then he had a fundraiser for equipment," mike said, turning to face the kids.

wendy could only assume that bob was the person behind joyce's sudden distraught.
"mister clarke learned everything from him." mike stated.

wendy smiled softly. she remembered mister clarke, she had him as a teacher when she went to hawkins middle school. he was one of the best teachers that she knew.

"pretty awesome, right?" mike wheeler questioned as he walked over to the table.
"yeah." lucas and dustin agreed.

mike set the puzzle cube onto the table.
"we can't let him die in vain." mike said, looking at his friends.
"well what do you want to do, mike, huh? the chief's right on this. we can't stop those demo-dogs on our own." dustin retorted, looking at mike wheeler.

wendy carmichael let out a light laugh at dustin's name for the creatures.
"demo-dogs?" max questioned, looking at dustin.

dustin looked at her in disbelief.
"demogorgon....dogs.....demo-dogs. it's like a compound. it's like a play on words—" dustin informed, joining his hands together as he mashed the words together.

"okay!" max exclaimed, getting the point.

"i mean, when it was just dart, maybe." dustin commented, looking at mike.
"but there's an army now." lucas stated.

"precisely." dustin nodded.
"his army." mike pointed out.

steve looked towards mike, confused.
"what do you mean?" steve asked.

"his army! maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too!" mike conspired.

mike rushed away, causing everyone to follow him. he snatched one of will's drawings up, particularly the one with the shadow monster.

max grabbed the drawing out of his hands.
"the shadow monster." dustin stated.
"it got will that day on the field. the doctor said it was a virus, it infected him." mike informed.

wendy began to zone out, getting entirely way too confused to follow the kids' discussion.

"like the mindflayer." dustin stated.
the sound of lucas's snap gained wendy's attention.
"the what?" steve and max responded in unison, leaving wendy confused as well.