Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[3] Adventures in Babysitting...A Potential Escaped Convict

{The Weirdo on Maple Street, Part I}

"Are you alright?" Alice asked, stepping towards the girl. The girl instantly stepped back, afraid.

"No," Mike said gently. "Don't be afraid. We can help you!"

"We can?" Lucas asked, frowning.

"Yeah, we can," Alice said. "Where are you from? Are you lost?"

The girl simply stared, shivering in the rain.

"Hold my bat," Alice said, practically shoving it into Dustin's arms. She took off her raincoat and put it around the girl's shoulders.

"Here you go," she said. "Come on, let's get you out of this storm."

Alice reached out her hand, and the girl tentatively grabbed onto it.

"We need to get her inside," Alice said.

"Who put you in charge, again?" Lucas said, crossing his arms. He didn't like Alice—Dustin's annoying older sister—acting like she was the queen of the party.

"I'm oldest, so I'm in charge!" she said. "Where should we take her?"

"You're in charge," Dustin quipped. "Don't you know?"

"We can take her to my house," Mike said. "Come on, it's getting worse out here."

Alice started walking back toward Mirkwood. The boys followed dutifully.

Alice squinted, trying to see through the rain.

She wanted to ask the mystery girl how she ended up in the middle of the woods during a thunderstorm, but she didn't want to be too forward. The girl looked like she could get spooked easily.

"Holy shit, holy shit," Dustin kept repeating under his breath. "This is so weird. This is weird, isn't it?"

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Mike said with a groan.

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A few minutes later, Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and Alice stood in a semicircle in the Wheeler's basement. The girl sat on the couch, looking thoroughly confused.

The boys grilled her, all speaking over each other.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?"

"Did you run away—"

"Are you in some kind of trouble—"

"Is that, blood?"

"Stop it!" Alice said loudly. "You're freaking her out."

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas said, exasperated.

"I bet she's deaf," Dustin said.

Like any true scientist, he had to test his hypothesis. He loudly clapped his hands right in the girl's face, and she jumped.

"Not deaf," he concluded.

"All right, that's enough!" Mike said. "She's just scared and cold."

Mike began digging through the laundry in the corner of the room. He found a blue sweatshirt and a pair of gray sweatpants and handed them to the girl.

"Here," he said. "These are clean."

The girl took them gingerly, and slowly stood. She threw Alice's jacket off her shoulders, and went to pull of her Benny's t-shirt.

"No!" everyone shouted at once, causing the girl to flinch.

"Oh my God," Dustin said, face flushed. "Oh my God!"