tulip [S. Harrington]

{ 3.} Code Red

C h a p t e r  3
CODE RED

IT HAD BEEN days since the Halloween party and Tulip Henderson had done nothing but eat, sleep, wake up, go to school, and repeat. She would occasionally spice things up and study for her quizzes and tests, maybe even throw in some homework here and there, but besides that nothing.

In those few days after, the Henderson family's cat, Mews, had gone missing. Tulip and her mother had been quite upset at the revelation, though her mother seemed the most distraught about the whole situation. Mews was Mrs. Henderson's best friend, one of her only friends.

Luckily, Tulip heard that Dustin had gotten a phone call from the McCorkles saying they had seen Mews wandering around Loch Nora, so the kids' mom quickly went across Hawkins to search for the cat. 

"Seriously, is there anybody there?" Tulip groaned as her brother yelled into his radio yet again. He had been going on and on for what seemed like hours now. "This is a code red, I repeat, a code red!"

"If you don't shut up about a freaking code red I'm gonna make sure you never hear those two words ever again!" Tulip shouted, fed up and annoyed with her brother's constant relay of pleas. "Better yet, I'll actually make your code red!"

"Alright, dear sister, nothing to worry about!" Dustin called suspiciously. "Just doing a bit of, uh, Spring cleaning and was calling for back up? Don't worry, you can stay in your room and do what girls do, I can handle it now!"

Tulip went to yell back a reply, though she stopped herself.

Spring cleaning? She thought.

Dustin never cleaned no matter the season, not to mention it was still very much fall in Hawkins, Indiana so the metaphor wasn't very well used. Tulip closed her textbooks and tucked her faded silver Walkman into her back pocket, securing her headphones around her neck as she stood to her feet.