suıʞʍɐɥ oʇ ǝɯoɔlǝʍ sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs

Chapter Two: The Weirdo On Maple Street

ʇǝǝɹʇs ǝldɐɯ uo opɹıǝʍ ǝɥʇ
oʍʇ ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ

November 7, 1983

While we walked through the woods it started to downpour. "Great. Just great," I said. "You didn't need to come with us," Mike said. "Well, Michael, I'm your babysitter and it's my job to watch out for all of you and make sure nothing happens to you. That includes helping you look for Will," I said. "You care about us," Dustin said, smiling. I rolled my eyes, "of course I care about you guys. You're all annoying as hell but I still love you," I said.

The sound of twigs snapping came from somewhere behind us. Dustin had handed me a flashlight as we were walking into the woods. We all turned around as the sound got closer. I pushed the three boys behind me, "who's there?" I asked. The boys looked around me as a small figure walked closer to us from behind a tree. As they got closer to the light of our flashlights I could see it was a little girl. She was only wearing a yellow shirt that reached past her thighs. Her hair was cut closer to her scalp. "Oh, my god," I whispered.

Mike had taken off his jacket and gave it to the little girl as we walked back to the road. I did the best I could to get all three bikes into my trunk. Since I wasn't able to close it I had to drive slowly back to the Wheeler house where we currently were. We had snuck the girl into Mike's basement. She was sitting on the couch as it continued to storm outside.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked. I smacked him alongside his head. "Ow! What was that for?" He asked. I looked at him with a look that said 'really?'. "You can't just ask someone if they have cancer, Dustin," I said.

"Did you run away?" Lucas asked.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike asked.

"Is that blood?" Lucas asked and reached his hand out to touch her. Mike smacked his hand away. "Stop it! You're freaking her out!" He said. "She's freaking me out!" Lucas said. "I bet she's deaf," Dustin said. He clapped his hands together and she flinched. "Not dead," he said. "Alright! Stop it. All of you. You're scaring her. Mike, do you have any clothes she can borrow so she can change out of the wet clothes she's wearing?" I asked, looking at him. He nodded and walked over to a laundry basket. He came back with a pair of dry sweatpants and a shirt. He handed them to me and I looked at her, "how about we get you out of those wet clothes," I said.

She took Mike's jacket off and stood up. Then she went to grab the bottom of her shirt to pull it up over head.

"No!"

lol, my god."

"Oh, my god."

The boys turned away and I stopped her. "Not here. Come on. You ca n change in the bathroom,"I said. I walked her over to the bathroom and Mike followed. She walked inside and when I went to close the door she stopped it. "You don't want it closed?" Mike asked. "No," she said. "So you can speak," Mike said. I looked at her, "would you like it if I helped you clean up a little?" I asked. She looked at me and then to Mike, "YN is really nice. You can trust her,"he said. She looked up at me, "yes."

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door, only leaving a small gap. I turned on the light while she looked around. I could hear the boys outside talking about her. "Let's get you out of those wet clothes and clean up," I said, giving her a small smile. I found a clean washcloth and turned the water on until it ran warm and wet the cloth. I set her down on the closed toilet seat and Kendall in front of her.

"May I wash your face?" I asked. I wanted to ask permission first before touching her. I didn't want to scare her more than she already was. "Yes," she said, quietly. I gently ran the washcloth across her face until it was free of dirt. Then I moved to her arms and legs. I helped her change into the clothes Mike had given to her. "There. Do you feel a little better now?" I asked. "Yes." I opened the bathroom door and let her walk out into the room.

Mike had made a makeshift tent for her to sleep in and was giving her a sleeping bag while Lucas, Dustin, and I were walking up the basement stairs. They stopped and I sighed. "You really think she's psycho?" Dustin asked. They were both watching Mike and the girl. "Wouldn't want her in my house," Lucas said and walked up the stairs. I put my hand on Dustin's shoulder, "come on. Let's get home," I said, pushing him gently to walk up the stairs.

I dropped Lucas off at his house before taking me and Dustin home. Luckily mom hadn't woken up while we were gone. "Get dry clothes on and go to bed. I'll take you guys to school tomorrow," I told Dustin. He nodded and walked to his bedroom. He stopped, "YN?" I turned to look at him, "yeah?" I asked. He looked down before looking back up at me, "Do you think Will is okay?" He asked. I sighed and walked over to him, "He is going to be just fine. We'll find him," I said. I kissed the top of his curly head and went to my room.

November 8, 1983

The next morning I got up early, showered, did my hair, got dressed and went to make sure Dustin was up. After breakfast I took him and Lucas to school. Nobody answered the door at Mike's house so we figured he left early. After dropping them off I went to the high school.

As I was walking down the hall I saw Nancy and Barb standing with Steve, Carol, and Tommy. They were talking about a party at Steve's when I heard Steve say, "Oh, god, that's depressing." When I got closer I could see they were looking at Jonathan Byers, Will's older brother. We used to be really good friends but as we got older we kind of grew apart. I was one of those people that could get along with pretty much anyone. I wouldn't say I was popular but I did get invited to all the parties. I never went though. I preferred to be alone instead of being in a group of people.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked.

"I don't think he speaks," Carol told her.

"How much do you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy said. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. I walked up between him and Steve, smacking him alongside the back of his head, "Shut up, Tommy. Don't be such an asshole," I said, walking past him. "Fuck you, Henderson," he said. I turned around to look at him, "I bet you'd love to but unfortunately for you I'm allergic to douchebags with small dicks," I said, shrugging. Carol glared at me, she's never liked me. Steve laughed and pushed Tommy.

I turned back around and walked up to Jonathan, "hey," I said, standing beside him. He was putting up missing flyers of Will. He turned his head and looked at me, "oh, hey," he said. I looked at the flyer and took a deep breath, "How's your mom?" I asked. "A mess," he said. "Understandable. What about you?" He looked behind me and I turned to see Nancy walking up to us. I looked back at Jonathan, "I'll talk to you later. Call me if you guys need anything," I said. He nodded his head and I walked away just as Nancy stopped beside us.

I walked back the way I came and Steve stopped me, "What's she saying?" He asked. I looked at his hand that was wrapped around my arm and then looked up at him, "I don't know. And why the fuck do you care? She's being nice and checking to see how he is. His brother went missing. Mike and Will happen to be best friends. Now take your hands off of me Harrington," I said. He let go of me and I walked away.