𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, ( 𝗺𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿 )

[37] DUMPSTER DIVE

THEY FOLLOW JOYCE THROUGH THE SCHOOL AND OUT THE FRONT DOORS, watching from the schools entrance as she leads a dazed Will towards the car.

Max looked to the four of them, all of them looking desensitized to what had happened — the fear and emotion flooded from them and just replaced with blankness. "Okay, that totally freaked me out. Did that not freak you guys out?" She says, looking for some sort of reaction. Any type of reaction. Anything but their blank stares and squinted eyes.

They all stay silent for a moment before Lucas speaks up, staring as Joyce gets Will into the car. "Two episodes in two days,".

"It's getting worse," Mike responds almost instantaneously.

Mariella sighs, leaning into Mike and resting her head in his shoulder. "Somethings wrong. Something really bad is happening," She mumbles softly.

"You think it's True Sight?" Lucas asks the party, looking between them.

Max stares back at him. "What's True Sight?".

Mike wraps an arm around Mariella, her closing her eyes — attempting to forget all that worried her before he turns to Lucas and shaking his head solemnly.

"It's nothing," Lucas shrugs, looking away as the car begins to pull away from the school and speeds off down the road.

In that moment, Mariella couldn't help but feel every ounce of dread in her body flood her mind. Will, oh, how she just wanted him to be happy. Eleven, the girl who seemed to have impacted her so deeply in only a few days time. Of course, the most minuscule but seemingly most terrifying to her, her feelings about her best friend, Mike Wheeler. And so, in pure fear and exhaustion from the world, she leans into Mike's arm and lets out a sigh of defeat.

♧

The next day, Mariella found herself sat in her dad's car with her backpack on her lap. It was 8 in the morning. "Dad?" She starts, turning her head to face him.

He nods, keeping his eyes on the road before responding, "Yeah?".

Mariella goes silent for a moment, pulling her bottom lip under her top while blinking a few times. "Do you remember how you told me about those cases? From Hawkins Labs? How they were unethical?" She asks, rambling on.

Charlie nods again. "Yes, I remember them. The cases were dropped. Why?" He tilts his head, furrowing his brows before catching a glimpse of how his daughter wore the same expression. It was the look they both did when they were mentally writing down each thing they heard.

She squints her eyes before shrugging. "Nothing, I'm just curious. Why were they unethical?" She babbles, twisting the ribbon tied to hair tie around her finger.

He sighs, not wanting to get into it with his daughter — not after what had happened last fall. Not after Will. Yet, he seemed to know that if it didn't come from him, she'd find a way to find it out one way or another. "It wasn't much, Marl. There were accusations from former employees, saying that they were kidnapping children for experiments and all things considered, it's not too far fetched. They dropped the case suddenly," He explains.

"So, it was just out of nowhere? Just like that, they dropped them?" Mariella presses, squinting her eyes as her dad turns the steering wheel to the left and the car turns a corner.

Inhaling, he nods. "Yes. What's going on, Mariella?" He asks her.

She responds with a shrug. "Nothing, dad. I just don't understand how they we dropped, after everything," Furrowing her brows with a sigh. "Hey. Would you mind if I were to look through the case files? Do you still have them?" She adds.