Experiment - BYLER + REDDIE

➵ chapter three

"That's my cousin, Mike. Asshole."

Will was extremely confused, and he was barely noticing the pain of his arm or head anymore. Mike seemed really familiar. Although he looked remarkably similar to Freckles, they definitely were different. Freckles had bright eyes, neat hair, and tons of freckles, obviously. Mike had dead-looking eyes, messy hair, and very faint freckles. If he went outside more, maybe they would show up better, but as they were, Will could barely see them.

So no, Freckles and Mike were definitely not the same person.

Right?

—

After Mike left the basement, he flopped down on the couch in the living room, then picked up the phone and dialed a Hawkins number.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Buckley, may I speak to Robin? I'm a friend from school."

"Sure, hold on a sec. Robin! Phone!"

"Hello?"

"Hey, Robin, it's Mike."

"Oh, hi, Mike. Dad, get off the line."

There was a sigh, then one of the lines clicked dead. Robin laughed, and so did another voice faintly behind her. "What's up, Mike?"

"Just checking on Ivy, seeing if she's doing okay."

"Yeah, she's fine. We went to the mall and got her some actual clothes that aren't Nancy's."

Mike sat up, alarmed. "What the hell, Robin?!"

"Oh, come on, she's fine. We were talking about the whole lab thing-"

"In public?!"

"-and she said she hadn't heard from them since she was seven. It'll be fine. You worry too much."

"Yeah, well, I have a lot to worry about." Mike laid back down and sighed. "My cousin is keeping a fugitive in his basement."

Robin shorted. "Sounds familiar."

"Shut up, I never let El break her arm and get a concussion while she was staying with me!"

"Woah, what happened?"

"She fell out a window or something. And it looked like she was wearing a wig."

"Hm. Ever think that maybe she could be another lab kid?"

Mike thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so. There's no lab in Maine, as far as I know. And she could talk a lot more than El could."

"Well, Mike, Ivy came from Maine and she can talk just like everyone else."

Mike sighed again, rubbing his eyes. "Fine. I'll see if I can figure anything out. Look, I have to go, but I'll talk to you guys and the rest of the Party later?"

"Yeah, talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye, Mike!" Ivy called from across the room, then Robin hung up.

Mike stood up to set the phone down and turned around to go to the kitchen, then jumped back when he realized Richie had been standing right behind him.

"Jesus Christ, Richie, what are you doing?"

Richie scowled. "Let me just get this straight. I told you, in the basement, to not tell anyone about her, not even your stupid girlfriend in stupid Illinois, and then you come up here and call someone to tell them about her?"

Mike's eyes widened. He had forgotten about that.

"I- um... I forgot! I'm really sorry, I swear, they can keep a secret. They won't tell anyone."

"Mhm." Richie crossed his arms and walked over to the phone. "Call them again."

"What?"

"You heard me. Call. Them. Again." He smiled sweetly. "I just wanna talk."

Mike cautiously dialed the number, then handed the phone to Richie.

"Hello?"

"Hello, who is this?"

"Uh, it's Robin?"

"Robin, what a nice name. Listen up, Robin. The girl that Michael just told you about - you know the one?"

"Um... yes?"

"See, he wasn't supposed to tell you about her, and now I have to kill him, but first I need to make sure that you won't tell anyone about her — and I mean anyone — or I will hunt you down and kill you too, got it?"

"Who is this?"

"I said, got it?"

"Yes, I understand, not a soul, whatever, who is this?"

Richie scowled. "Tell no one, and you will be allowed to live." Then he smiled sweetly again. "And have a lovely day, Robin! Buh-Bye!"

He hung up the phone and smiled at Mike.

"So, what's your preferred method of death?"

—

➵ word count: 1757

AUTHOR NOTE:

WHY ARE ALL OF MY CHAPTERS SO SHORT?? HELP??

anyway sorry about that :)) I'll try to make them longer in the future lmao

also Richie is so dramatic and for what wkjhefgwjh

ALSO graduation is todayyy woohoo

I love you all and drink some water and eat something and thank you for reading <33 (also I love all of your comments so much wtf)