Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[24] Scarred Hearts

{Will the Wise, Part I}

Alice spent the rest of the day inspecting the scar on her palm, wondering how Will's subconscious shock could cause such damage.

The jagged red scar, shaped a little bit like Orion's Belt, stung with a blistering pain. The longer she stared, the more it hurt, so Alice tried to distract herself: she painted, she listened to music, she even did her homework. Nothing worked. The scar was unabashedly there, taunting her and reminding her that she might not be invincible after all.

The next morning, Dustin slipped into his room with a Three Musketeers bar after breakfast, no doubt to feed his new pet. Alice shuddered imagining that slippery, reptilian bastard.

"Dustin, hurry up!" she said, pounding on his door. "We're going to be late."

Dustin opened the door just a crack.

"Give me a second!" he hissed. "I have to say goodbye."

Alice rolled her eyes and said, "Make it snappy."

She heard her brother coo at Dart as if he was a puppy or a kitten. She tried not to gag.

"Okay, now I'm ready," Dustin said, exiting his room and shouldering his backpack. "He should be fine alone today. He's got a candy bar to keep him full, and I turned off the heat lamp so he's not uncomfortable."

"Why do you think he doesn't like heat?" Alice asked. "Aren't reptiles all about warmth?"

"He's unique," Dustin said proudly.

"Did you show him to your friends?"

Dustin's expression darkened as he mounted his bike.

"They think he's from the Upside Down," he said. "They don't appreciate him like I do."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"You don't think he's from the Upside Down, do you?"

"No!" Dustin said. "He's just a normal kind of lizard! And he's my discovery—no one is taking him from me."

"Okay," Alice said, pedaling past her brother so he didn't see the wary look on her face. "Whatever you say."

They biked along, enjoying the cool November air. Alice wondered if Will was feeling better, and if Nancy would return her call about coming over for movies. When she'd called the Wheeler's house last night, Mrs. Wheeler said she was busy doing homework at the library and would call Alice back soon.

Alice and Nancy hadn't been as close since Barb died, but they were still good friends. She didn't want their grief to drive them apart when it should bring them closer together.

Thoughts of Barb, and the Upside Down, and Will, and the scar Will caused burning on her palm haunted Alice, until Dustin interrupted her: "I'm worried my friends are right."

Alice slowed her pedaling.

"Right about what?" she asked.

"Right about Dart," Dustin said quietly. "But he's not bad! Even if he is from the Upside Down, he's good. He likes me. Maybe only the Demogorgon is evil, and everything else in the Upside Down is just gross."

Alice shuddered at the thought of the cold, musty dimension.

"Maybe," Alice said, not quite convinced.

They got to school and went their separate ways, Dart on their minds.

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