𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊, stranger things 1

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬

"she's freaking me out!" lucas remarked, gesturing towards the quiet girl.

"i bet you she's deaf." dusting suggested, moving forward to clap his hands. this made the buzzcut girl flinch, looking at the boy like he was crazy. "not deaf."

"come on, guys. she's scared and cold, and i'm pretty sure clapping in her face isn't helping." arlo told her friends, sending a look to dustin, who just shrugged sheepishly. "mike, go get her some clothes."

the wheeler boy nodded his head, turning around to go over to the laundry basket that mrs.wheeler had put down there. the remaining party members watched the girl closely, seeing her flinch at the clap of thunder that echoed from outside. when mike came back, he handed arlo the folded clothes, the harrington girl seeing the look on his face as he looked at the unknown girl. she raised her eyebrows slightly but didn't think anything of it, turning around to face the girl.

"uh, these are clean." arlo told her, handing her the clothes. the buzzcut girl slowly grabbed the clothes before she started to rub them against her cheek.

arlo looked at the boys with furrowed eyebrows, all of them shrugging their shoulders. the quartet then watched as the girl got up from the couch, shoving mike's jacket off before she reached for the hem of her shirt, getting ready to pull. arlo's eyes widened at the action, her mind going blank as she just quickly slapped her hands over her eyes. she head dustin and lucas exclaim in a panic, knowing that they were covering their eyes too. she stood very still as she heard dustin say "oh, my god" over and over again.

"no, no, no!" mike yelled, stopping the girl from undressing herself. "see over there? th - that's the bathroom. privacy. get it?"

no one said anything for a few seconds, the only sound being the rain and thunder from outside. then arlo heard shuffling, still keeping her eyes covered. she heard mike talking behind her, but she didn't make a move to uncover her eyes, too scared that she would see something that she wasn't supposed to. her eyebrows did raise when she heard the girl speak, saying a simply "no" and "yes".

"arlo, you can look now." mike told her, making said girl slowly remove her hands. mike noticed the way her cheeks were pink, his eyebrows knitted together.

"this is mental." dustin announced.

"at least she can talk." mike tried, shrugging his shoulders.

"she said 'no' and 'yes.' your three-year-old sister says more." lucas pointed out, earning a nod from arlo.

"she tried to get naked." dustin reminded, earning a look from arlo.

"there's something serious wrong with her. like, wrong in the head." lucas told his friends.

"she just went like. . ." dustin started again, copying the girl's actions of almost lifting her shirt up. that made his baseball cap go flying off his head, the boy simply looking back at it before he turned to face his friends again.

"i bet she escaped from pennhurst." lucas suggested.

"from where?" arlo and mike asked in unison, their eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"the nuthouse in kerley county." lucas elaborated.

"you got a lot of family there?" dustin joked, a smile evident on his face as he looked at the sinclair boy.

"bite me." lucas told him. "seriously, though. think about it. that would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"why she went like. . ." dustin added, copying the girl's actions once again.

"why are you still stuck on that?" arlo questioned, really wanting to forget that it ever happened. dustin simply shrugged, picking up on how arlo was acting.