𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞~𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

𝒂/𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐, 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝒊 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝒆𝒘 𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒖𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 *𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔* 𝒊𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉
𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶𝓶

𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃?
ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀs ᴏғ ᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ғᴀᴛᴇ,
ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀᴘᴛᴀɪɴs ᴏғ ᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ sᴏᴜʟs

𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗
The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson and everyone began to pack up their bags and leave the classroom. Ashley didn't have a bag, so she stayed in her seat, waiting for Mike, Dustin and Lucas to leave. To her surprise, instead of leaving the classroom, they got up and walked over to Mr Clarke, staring at him expectantly. Ashley decided to do the same.
"So...did it come?" Mike asked and Mr Clarke frowned.
"Sorry boys, i hate to be the bearer of bad news but," he paused before continuing
"It came!" He smiled and led them all to the AV room. Ashley followed warily, remembering the conversation she and Will had had only a few days ago, and she began to frown. Will was missing, and the rest of the guys were playing with some radio thing? They could be using this time to be looking for Will, but no. They were talking to something called Australia in funny accents (𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂, 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚, 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕).

She snapped out of her thoughts when a man spoke at the door.
"Sorry to interrupt but uh, may i borrow Michael, Lucas and Dustin"
"And Ashley" Ashley murmured.
"Excuse me?" The first man asked
"And Ashley" she spoke, louder this time
"Uh, no thanks, just these-"
"Yes, thanks. For Will." Ashley walked towards him, as if daring him to say no again. She was surprised at her tone, but she was angry. Will was missing, and he needed her. Nobody was going to stop her from helping Will.
"Take the kid" the taller man behind him spoke with authority. On his shirt, the word "Hopper" was printed on a badge. She didn't know what it meant, but she guessed it was his name.

They walked into another room and Dustin, Mike and Lucas sat on the chair. Ashley decided to stand, but there wasn't really much choice. The boys all began to talk at once before Hopper cut in
"Okay, okay, okay. One at a time, alright? You" he pointed at Mike. Mike nodded.
"You said he takes what?"
"Mirkwood" Mike replies.
"Mirkwood" Hopper repeats, saying it slowly.
"Yeah"
Hopper turns to the man in blue. "You ever heard of Mirkwood?"
"I have not, that sounds made up to me"
"No, it's from Lord of the Rings" Lucas cuts in.
"Well, the Hobbit" Dustin corrects.
"It doesn't matter"
"He asked!"
"He asked" Lucas mimicks him and Dustin begins to argue back.
"Hey, hey, hey. What'd I just say? One at a damn time. You" he looks at Mike.
"Mirkwood" Mike begins "it's a real road, it's just the name that's made up. It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."
"Yeah alright, i think i know that" Hopper turns to the man in blue.
"We can show you if you want" Mike says, his voice full of hope. Ashley smiled, it was nice to know that he cared about finding Will as much as she did.
"I said that i know it!"
"We can help look" Mike argues
"Yeah" Dustin perks up and all the boys begin to talk again.
"After school you are all to go home. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating(𝒊 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈), no nonsense. This isn't some Lord of the Rings book-"
"The Hobbit"
"Shut up!" Lucas hit Dustin, and he hit him back.
"Hey!"
"Stop it!" Mike shouts, getting caught in the middle, again. Seriously? Ashley didn't know much but she knew when to shut up. This was not the time for arguing, they needed to be out looking for Will, no matter what anyone says.
"Do i make myself clear?" Hopper leans in, scaring the boys into silence. He stands up and grabs his hat.
"Do i make myself...clear?"
They all nod, clearly frightened.
"Yes sir"
Hopper turns to Ashley, giving her the same glare.
"So what did you want?"
"Find Will" she replies, standing her ground.
"No kid, you're gonna stay here with your little friends and let the adults deal with this. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."
"Know more than you." Ashley wasn't going to let this man scare her like he did the boys. She had seen much scarier things in her life than him.
"NO! You don't. I have been chief for four years" he held up four fingers and stepped closer to her "and i have never seen you in Hawkins before. That means that i know more than you, so you are going to listen to me or there will be trouble. You understand?"
Ashley opened her mouth to reply, but Mike stepped up.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that. You have no idea of who she is or where she's from...but i do. And i can say for sure that she knows more of what's going on than you do. Now do you understand?" Ashley stared at Mike with a mixture of awe and 'you're so stupid' before he grabbed her wrist and took her outside.
Once they were outside, Mike got on his bike and pointed to the backseat.
"Get on, we're going back to mine"
Ashley shook her head.
"Find Will" she told him
"Didn't you hear what Hopper said? We can't go looking for him" Mike stepped off of his bike.
"Not we. I" Ashley stepped closer to Mike
"What? No. You can't go by yourself. You could get hurt. O-or killed. I've already lost Will. I can't lose you too." Tears began to form in his eyes.
"Mike" Ashley took his cheeks in her hands, wiping his tears with her thumbs.
"Ash" he whispered
"Be okay. Be back soon"
"B-but what if you don't come back a-at all?" Mike's voice cracked and Ashley felt her heart begin to sink. Mike needed her here, for support. But Will needed her more. To live.
"Trust me, Mike. Be okay" she smiled and stood on her tiptoes to press their foreheads together, apparently it was comforting.
It worked, because after a few seconds she felt Mike relax and he pulled away, his eyes puffy and red.
"Okay. But you have to let me know how you're doing. If you can really do mind tricks like you said you could then can you talk to me through thoughts?"
Ashley thought for a moment before replying.
"Yes"
"Okay. Don't forget." he walked back over to his bike. "Oh, and, when you find Will, tell him that he's my best friend and i love him, okay?" (𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒃𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔)
Ashley had no idea what friend or love meant, but she told Mike she would tell Will exactly that. She went to leave before remembering that she had no idea where Mirkwood was.
"Mike?" She called.
"Yeah?" He turned to face her. Maybe she changed her mind? She heard him think and she frowned sympathetically.
"No" she spoke. He pulled back before realisation dawned on his face.
"Did you just read my mind?"
"Yeah" she replied, smiling sheepishly. That's when it hit her. If she got Mike to think of Mirkwood, then she could find her way there.
"Think about Mirkwood"
"What?"
"So Ashley can find it. Duh." She giggled, and Mike smiled too.
"Oh, okay. So if i'm thinking about Mirkwood, then you'll know how to get there?" She nodded and Mike's face lit up. "Awesome. But how will i know when you're there?"
"I tell you" she stated, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Mind powers, got it. Good luck, and, uh...see you soon?" it seemed more of a question than a statement.
"See you soon" Ashley replied, before walking off, deep in concentration and she listened to Mike's thoughts.
★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎☆︎★︎
𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 1301𓃠︎
𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝚓𝚞𝚗𝚎 20𝚝𝚑
𝒊'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𓃰︎
𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆
𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒚, 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕