The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

001. has my friend been abducted or am i just anxious?

He slammed another figurine on the table.

"The Demogorgon!"

Everyone began groaning, throwing up their hands helplessly. Sam gaped incredulously at Mike, glasses inching down her nkse.

Dustin eyed the game board miserably. "We're in deep shit."

"Will, your action!" Mike called.

Will shook his head in distress. "I don't know!"

"Fireball him!" Lucas shouted.

"Cast protection!" Dustin argued.

Will's head darted between the two boys before he locked eyes with Sam. He was wordlessly asking for her input on the situation.

Sam felt suddenly touched to be addressed, because it was often that being stuck in a group full of boys meant being forgotten as the only girl there. But Will was Will, so Sam shouldn't have been surprised.

Sam shifted her glasses back up her nose in distress. "I mean," she started, frowning, "I don't know. I would fireball, but I think you should cast protection."

"No, Will, screw that!" Lucas disputed. "You need to fireball him!"

Will groaned. "I'd have to roll a thirteen or higher!"

"Too risky." Dustin shook his head. "Cast a protection spell."

"Yeah, keep yourself safe," Sam pleaded. Dustin was right. It was too risky, and Will could get hurt. Not only that, but the whole party could get hurt too.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Don't be a pussy! Fireball him!"

"Cast protection," Dustin argued.

Mike slammed his hands on the table, gaining his friends' attention. Sam was about to fuss at Mike again before he interrupted her: "The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you. Boom!"

Lucas turned to Will with wide eyes. "Fireball him!"

"Another stomp—boom!"

"Cast. Protection," Dustin urged.

"Can we all just take a few seconds to calm down?" Sam attempted, but was unsurprised when her voice went unheard.

"He roars in anger!"

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin were all yelling at Will over each other. Sam gave up trying to calm everyone down, now scratching her arm nervously and watching the anxious Will make his decision. She knew that all the shouting voices weren't helping at all.

Finally Will rolled the dice. "Fireball!"

Instead of rolling it onto the table, Will must have underestimated the strength of his throw. The dice slid across the board and onto the floor. It continued rolling until the location became unknown.

"Oh, shit!" Mike cursed.

They all scrambled out their chairs to look for where the dice went.

"Where'd it go?" Lucas asked.

Sam crouched down to look under Mike's stairs. She couldn't help herself from saying, "See, look what you guys did!"

Mike scoffed. "What we did?"

"Yeah!" Sam turned to argue with him. "If you guys weren't freaking Will out, he wouldn't have thrown like an electroshock patient!"

"That wasn't our fault!"

"Is it a thirteen?" Dustin questioned anxiously, trying to look for the dice.

"I don't know!" Lucas cried.