PARANORMAL | ❝Nothing is stranger than believing...❞
Cath knows a thing or two about Will Byers. Daphne, on the other hand, knows virtually nothing about Tonya McCarthy. Still, none of that changes the fact that both of them have up and vanishe...
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WEDNESDAY 9th NOVEMBER, 1983
AT 3:15pm, just as had been planned that morning, Cath met the boys by the bike rack outside school. The dull clouds hung low in the sky, even painting the vibrant dashes of primary colours on kids' rucksacks in an unsaturated grey. Since it seemed they were taking 'turns' now, it was once again Lucas's responsibility to chauffeur her on his bike (he had offered up Mike, but the boy had protested, claiming his seat was saved for El). Maybe she should think about getting her own bike some time soon.
And, just as planned, Eleven had been waiting for them. It was the first time Cath had seen the girl in daylight, and she looked even more lost now than she had curled up under that blanket fort in the basement — her deep brown eyes blinked curiously, both void of any thought and yet bursting with words going unsaid. Just as silently, she'd hopped on the back of Mike's bike and the group had set off on their journey...
Which brings them to now: an hour and a half, three Reese's pieces and atleast two wrong turns later. With every feeble step she takes along the dirt path, Cath feels a pang of regret that she didn't wear more appropriate shoes for the occasion, for her trusty Mary Janes grow more muddied and scuffed by the minute. What's more, they have started to ache, leaving her feet with a vague throbbing sensation that she hopes is the worst it will get.
She's debating whether it would be out of line asking Dustin for another chocolate bar, when Lucas breaks the focused silence between them. "Do you think she even knows where she's going?" he conspires, nodding ahead to where Eleven plods quietly next to Mike as he drags his bike alongside his hip.
"I don't know..." Dustin showers the last of his Smarties in his mouth, crumpling the wrapper into his pocket. "She looks pretty sure. If she wasn't, we'd be goin' in circles."
"But we're trusting this weirdo with Will's life! What about you, Cath?"
She glances off to the side, as if she hadn't the foggiest idea who he was referring to. "Hm? Who?"
"What do you think of her?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Biting her lip anxiously, Cath observes Eleven from behind. All of a sudden the girl whips her head around and catches her gaze — she darts her eyes down to the flakes of bark sticking and un-sticking to her soles. "I guess..." she begins, "It does seem pretty odd. And out of the blue."
"See? She gets it!" Lucas runs a hand down the side of his face and considers the girl sceptically once more. She knows she is fairly rational-minded herself, never quite being able to reach such far-flung states of mind like her sister could, but Cath is starting to feel almost certain that Lucas Sinclair is, out of every kid around her age she's met, the most pragmatic to a fault.
