Something ▹ STRANGER THINGS

VI. PHANTOMS

          She saw them walking out of the school in their huddle, as per usual. Of course, now, there was one person missing from that huddle. The three were so busy talking to one another that they didn't notice Faye standing near their bikes. 

         "Hey, boys! Over here!" Faye shouted, capturing their attention.

         Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all looked up in tandem and all gained a similar look on their faces. Faye noticed their forms that were now morphing into distressed expressions, but Faye didn't show it on her face that she noticed it. She just kept smiling and pretended everything was fine. The boys began stepping towards her with hesitation, and once again, Faye disregarded that.

         "Um... hey, Faye," Dustin said uncharacteristically. "W-What're you doing here?"

          "Well, I felt really bad about forgetting you guys this morning, so I thought I could make it up to you with some fries from Benny's, maybe?" Faye shrugged. She noticed the three looking at each other with semi-disapproving looks and guessed that they weren't in the mood for that. "O-Or maybe the ice cream shop down the road? Or even a movie if you guys are up-"

         "Faye," Mike interrupted her. "We're sorry, but we can't do anything after school today."

         Faye was confused. Typically all the boys did when they got home was homework and then did whatever they felt like after that. There wasn't much else they ever really did, so Faye was curious as to what they were planning. Still, she decided not to pry into it as to keep their bond strong by showing her wasn't suspicious and untrustworthy. So she thought that maybe she could offer something else instead.

         "Oh, okay. Then let me at least ride you guys home." Faye offered, getting onto her bike.

          "We actually don't need you to do that either."

         Her movements halted suddenly. It finally clicked in Faye's mind that the boys- the boys she babysat for years- were now trying to get rid of her. It wasn't a hard assumption to come to, what with everything else these three had done in her presence ever since Will disappeared... Oh, God... they didn't think that...?

          "What did I do, Mike?" Faye asked, a blank stare cemented onto her face.

          "What?"

         "First you keep secrets from me like you can't even trust me. You lie about being sick, and you lie about something you put in your damn closet like I won't notice. T-Then you break something that meant so much to me that you kept! I know that it wasn't what you wanted from me for Christmas but it meant so fucking much to me that you kept it! And what do you do? You smash it to piece just to get me to leave. And-And all I get is a damn half-assed apology on your part. I didn't even say anything! All I did was clean up the mess. And now? Now, you're all trying to push me away!

          "Look, I get it you're all worried about Will and so am I! Do you think I've been sleeping soundly knowing that I was in those woods with him the night he went missing? Do you think I've been okay with that? Well, guess what? I haven't! I-I've been losing sleep, I've been shutting my parents out, I've been seeing shit that wasn't even there! I was forced to watch someone die last night and I'm having trouble figuring out if that shit was real or not! I'm a back-seat driver in my own mind! So if you think that I did something to Will or-or you think I'm crazy or something like everyone else in this piece-of-shit town then go on ahead! But if you don't want to be my friend anymore, the least you could've done was tell me first instead of letting me figure it out for myself." Faye turned her bike around so her back was towards them.