tulip [S. Harrington]

{ 9.} Mind Flayer

C h a p t e r 9
MIND FLAYER

HOPPER SIGHED TO himself once he realized he was merely minutes away from Joyce's house. It had felt like he had been driving for hours, when in reality it had been probably one at the most.

"Hey, kids, look alive," he said lowly. "We're almost there." Finally.

The kids straightened in their seats, Dustin pulling his head from leaning against his window, Lucas moving to pick his head up from Dustin's shoulder, and Max moving to pull her head from Lucas's shoulder. They had made a sleep train, and now their necks were paying for it.

"Oh—agh, my neck feels like it was broken and put back together with duct tape," Dustin groaned.

"That literally makes no sense," Max grunted, moving her head to glance out her own window, how long had she been asleep? And why was she still even on this "adventure".

"You make no sense," Dustin huffed, stretching his neck out as he leaned forward to talk to Steve and Tulip. "Hey, you guys—wait, aww look, Steve and Tulip fell asleep too!"

Lucas and Max leaned forward to see Tulip's face buried in Steve's neck and Steve's head leaning back against the seat as his mouth was left open, releasing small snores. Anyone could tell that the two teens had desperately needed a nap.

It had proved to be tiring chasing demo-dogs around Hawkins with three other kids.

"Should we wake them?" Lucas whispered loudly.

"Why wait?" Max shrugged. "Five more minutes isn't gonna change anything," she went to shove Tulip's arm, but Dustin intervened.

He knocked her hand away, "No!" He whisper-yelled, earning a challenging look from Max. "I have been waiting for this moment since... since, like... last night/this morning, okay? If you wake them up now then, then..." he didn't know why to say. "then..."