𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

viii. SHORT STRAW

  

Charles had went home for supper after making sure that Will was okay, after making sure that he was 100% okay and if Joyce was okay too, before he finally left to go home. Now it's the next day, Charles got to school where Max, Mike and Lucas were by the dumpster in the back.

"Hey dweebs." He says with a smile. "We're still looking for Dart." Mike said before he hands a stick to Charles who nods. "Who's going in?" He said as he looks over at the dumpster. They all share individual looks then Mike sighed. "Short straw." He says and Charles smirked slightly at that.

Max, Mike and Lucas all pick the three straws out of Charles' hands. Lucas had the shortest one meaning he had to the dumpster diving. "Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike tells Lucas who sighed then climbed up into the dumpster. "This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?" Max said as Dustin ran over. "What the hell's going on?" He asked and Mike looks at him. "What do you think? We're looking for Dart." He explained.

"Jesus!" Dustin yelled when Lucas throws a garbage bag out in front of them and they all back away. "Oh!" Max exclaimed as Lucas then threw out another bag. "Ugh!" Mike says. "This is so gross." Charles mumbled as Lucas jumps out of the garbage dumpster. "Well, well, well." He said as he looked over at Dustin next to Charles.

"Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient." Lucas said. "You stink!" Max exclaimed then walked over to stand between Dustin and Charles.

"Hi Max." Dustin said with a smile at the girl who gave him a confused look. "Hi." She said then looked away, looking at Charles who raised his eyebrows, shrugging slightly. "Where's Will?" Dustin asked and Charles sighs. "He'll be here." He says and Lucas grabs one of the other sticks. "Are you just gonna stand there?" He asked as he threw the stick over to Dustin who caught it.

"Or are you gonna help?" Lucas asked him and then they all start jabbing at the two garbage bags, trying to see if Dart was in there somewhere. But no Dart at all. It was a bummer.

"All living things, from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger. Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defense mechanism." Charles noticed Mike looking at Will's empty seat longingly, sort of wistfully.

Charles looked at him, then looked away, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms as he leaned back into his seat. "We're very much the same. When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding. Our palms start to sweat. These are the sign of the physical and emotional state we call.. Fear."

At lunch, Charles approached his friends with his hands in his pocket. "Hey." He said, sitting beside Max. "Who's Mike calling?" He nods towards the boy at the payphone. "Will's." Lucas says and he rolls his eyes, sighing quietly.

"Will isn't feeling that well, I'm guessing he stayed home.. Why the hell does Mike care so much anyway?" He asked then watched Mike hang up. "Anything?" Lucas asked as Mike ran over. "We need to talk. AV room. Right now." He says and Charles sighs, standing up. Mike rushes up the stairs past him and Max gets up as well.

"Party members only." Mike says harshly to her and Charles rolls his eyes. "Come on, Mike." Dustin says as he looks up at Mike. "No! This is non-negotiable." Mike says before heading inside and Charles looks at Max. "Sorry, Max." Dustin apologizes to the ginger which Lucas does the same.

"Charles?" Max says with a small frown. "You know I want nothing more than for you to join us, but.. Mike said so." He shrugs then heads inside.

Inside, Charles sighed before deciding to tell them, "Will didn't want me telling you guys and he knows that more than anything that he can trust me, that he can tell me anything, but.. I guess it will be the only thing to shut you guys up. On Halloween night, he saw a, uhh, shadow in the sky." He says as he is sitting on one of the chairs.

"A shadow? What kind of shadow?" Lucas asked right away and he sighs, leaning back. "I don't know. But it scared him. And he saw it again yesterday. In the field." Charles says. "So that's why he was frozen like that?" Dustin asked.

"Probably." He said as he looks down. "He.. he said it got him." He said then looked back up at them. "Can it hurt him? I mean, like did it? If this shadow thing isn't from our world.." Lucas trailed on and Charles sighed, looking down. "Dustin?" He says as he looks at Dustin next.

"Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him." He says and Charles looks at Lucas. "Yeah, if that's even what's happening." He said and Mike nodded.

"This isn't D&D. This is real life." Mike says and Charles looks down. "So what do we do?" Lucas asked and Mike looks up. "We acquire more knowledge. Charles and I can go to Will's after school. See what's going on. You guys stay here and find Dart." Mike said and Charles nodded in agreement with that right away.

"Dart? What's he gotta do with this?" Dustin asked him right away. "Will heard him in the Upside Down. I don't know yet but he's gotta be connected to all this. He's gotta be." Mike said and Charles sighs. "And if we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will." Charles says.

And so after school, Charles and Mike grab their bikes and start heading to Will's place. "Hey, so you've been spending a lot of time with Will lately.. Has he told you more than what you've told us?" Mike asked and Charles immediately thinks of his kiss with Will, it replayed in his head.

"Uh, no!"

authors note i love charles & will so much