Elijah Brooks's life is turned upside down when his best friend Will Byers goes missing one night. Teaming up with an unlikely group of friends, Eli finds himself transforming from a quiet bookworm to a courageous adventurer willing to do anything f...
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"HE'S PROBABLY JUST GOING AWOL," Brandy reasoned, her fingers lightly drumming the kitchen counter as she spoke. It had been a couple hours since they'd left the mall, still no signs of a darkly dressed boy. "Wouldn't be the first time he's done it since he came back."
Martha's gaze hovered over her friend reluctantly, frowning indecisively. "Yeah, but, overnight? Eve said he didn't sleep in his bed last night."
The Brooks twin nodded her head at the mention of her name, her body hardly pressed against the chair as she sat anxiously. "It's not like him."
"Everything he's done since he came back is not like him," Brandy retaliated with a groan, her fingers returning to run through her hair. "That little shit."
"Hey," Martha's hard eyes slid back to her best friend, the lines of her face deepening with stress. "Don't say that. He's fine, I'm sure."
Despite her desire to remain cool and unbothered by her little brother's disappearance, Brandy's nervous system was a torrent, dysfunctional mess. She had never felt so restless as paranoid questions and shadowed thoughts torched her brain. She let out another straggled sigh and focused her energy into aggressively chewing a banana.
"I just hope he turns up soon," Martha mumbled, her tone giving way to sadness rather than distress. "Mike didn't seem to take it well."
"Of course not," Brandy muttered with a mouthful of chewed banana. She began waving the yellow fruit dramatically as her arms raised. "He's probably gonna search half of Hawkins the same way Eli did for Will."
Her words brought up a series of recollections that made the three girls tense up, especially Eve as she shot a horrified expression at her older sister. "You don't think that's what this is, is it?"
The tension grew heavier as Eve continued to mumble, "or maybe...what happened to Dad?"
Brandy felt her face mold into a steely expression. "No," the older Brooks concluded harshly, shaking her head. "Dad made his own choice. He hasn't given a shit about us for years, it's no surprise he left."
Eve wanted to argue, wanted to fuel the flames of her anxiety and overthinking, but she deflated knowing Brandy was right. Leaving the family behind with no warning or trace of a call wasn't as unsurprising as one would think.
"Do either of you remember anything Eli last said to you?" Martha inquired curiously with her huge brown eyes. "Anything that might tell us where he could've gone?"
"No," Eve answered grimly, gaze falling to the table. "He barely talks to me."
Brandy's heart felt stricken by that, her chest squeezing tight remembering how close the twins had been before. "This is all Dad's fault anyway," she growled, her grief morphing rapidly into anger. "Fucker sent our brother all the way to Philadelphia just because he's gay. It's fucking stupid. This should've never happened."
