There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

FOUR

The Weirdo On Maple Street

The group had taken the girl they had found to the Wheeler's house, where they were all sat in the basement. The boys and Catherine were standing in front of the couch, watching the mysterious girl who sat there staring up at them in fear, now wearing one of Mike's coats. Catherine shivered as she pulled the blanket that was wrapped around her closer to her shoulders.

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

"Where's your hair?" Dustin asked her, confused as to why her hair was buzzed. "Do you have cancer?" Catherine hit his arm.

"You can't just ask people that, dude." She scolded.

"Did you run away?" Lucas asked her.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike questioned.

"Is that blood?" Lucas spoke again, pointing at the girl's shirt.

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

"She's freaking me out!"

"Shut up! All of you!" Catherine shoved them away from the frightened girl. "You're all scaring her." Catherine knelt down in front of her. "Hey, sweetie." Cat smiled softly at the girl. "My name's Catherine, or you can call me Cat for short." She received a small smile from the girl in response. "Now, I know you're scared. But we aren't going to hurt you. We just want to help you. Okay?" The girl nodded slightly, beginning to feel like she could trust the older girl. "Now, I bet you're cold." Catherine turned to Mike. "Do you have any spare clothes." 

He nodded, not getting at what the teen was doing. Cat let out a sigh. "Well, go get them then." Mike quickly walked over to the basket full of clean laundry and grabbed a jumper and a pair of sweatpants before handing them to Cat who gently handed them to the quiet girl sat in front of her. "Here you go, sweetie. These will keep you warm. You wanna go put them on?" The older girl slowly reached out a hand to which the younger girl hesitantly took.

Catherine stood up from her kneeling position on the floor, gently pulling the younger girl with her. The quiet girl took of the jacket she had borrowed and followed the older girl to the bathroom. "You can get changed in here, okay?" The girl frowned, slightly confused. "It's called privacy, okay?" Catherine went to close the door but was suddenly stopped as the small girl grabbed the door. "You don't want me to close the door?" The girl let out a quiet 'no' and Catherine heard one of the boys say, 'so she can speak' from behind her. "Okay. Well how about I close it, just not all the way so it's still technically open?" Catherine said, her actions mimicking her words. "Is that better, sweetie?"

"Yes."

Catherine gave her a smile. "I'll just be outside if you need me." She turned back to the boys just as Dustin exclaimed, "this is mental."

"At least she can talk." Mike pointed out.

"She said 'no' and 'yes'." Lucas interjected. "Your three-year old sister says more."