𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

ALWAYS ON THE RUN !

☀︎

JOYCE AND MIKE HAD BEEN LOOKING OVER THE MAP OF THE TUNNELS WILL AND ALEX HAD MADE IN SEARCH OF HOPPER. Coming out of Jonathan's room, Alex had already had her shoes on with the intent of leaving— telling Joyce was the part she had actually dreaded. It was most likely that she would fight for her to stay, and Alex knew there was not a chance that she could. They couldn't face this alone stuck in the Byers house, and she knew she trusted Jonathan and Nancy after what they've already been through.

Making her way into the kitchen, she had spotted Mike and Joyce huddled together in front of an area of the map that had interested them. Alex slowly made her way over as she looked over the picture. "What's going on?"

"Do you know where this is?" Joyce asked quickly. Her thoughts had been running rampant and the idea of finding Hopper had become her biggest concern now.

Alex had hesitated as she looked at the picture of the tunnel that forked from one tunnel to two. Her eyes nervously glanced from them until landing back on the picture. "No idea," she said quietly.

Joyce had instantly become suspicious of Alex when she took a step backwards and avoided looking at them. "Are you sure you don't know? I'd settle for anything at this point."

"I-I mean, they're tunnels," Alex breathed out, hoping that would be more than enough information to satisfy them. She had known exactly where in Hawkin's the tunnels fell and where Hopper currently was, but the fear of the Shadow Monster looming over her shoulder had her doubt her ability to trust Joyce and Mike. "I have to go home."

"I can call your mom and see if she'll let you stay over here," Joyce had offered up. She hadn't wanted to force Alex to do anything, knowing that there was already so much going on already, but she needed her to stay.

Instead, Alex had backed up towards the front door with a small shake of the head. "No thanks, Mrs. Wheeler."

"Joyce," she corrected with a small frown. "Joyce Byers."

"Right," she laughed awkwardly. "It's just I have a lot of homework and there's this test coming up. So, I'm just going to walk home from here." As she reached for the handle, Joyce took a step forward with her mouth open, ready to give it one last shot at convincing her to stay, but Alex frowned instantly as her demeanor changed. "You can't make me stay here."

"We need you though," Mike said softly from behind Joyce.

For a moment, Alex had hesitated, but in the end, she knew it didn't matter because she couldn't stay. "I have to go. I'll call later," she said as she pulled open the front door. Just as she had, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway had Joyce and Mike race towards the door to see who had come— hoping more than anything for Jim Hopper to be back.

"Stay here," Joyce whispered to the two as she slipped out the front door. However, just before she could shut it completely behind her, Alex had barely caught it in time and pulled it open for herself. "Im sorry, Mike. You have to understand," she said quickly before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

"Bye, Joyce," Alex said under her breath as she slipped passed her and off the front porch and into the drizzling rain. She had hoped that if she was swift enough with her escape that Joyce wouldn't stop her. And just as she hoped, Joyce's panic with Bob's arrival had thrown her off for the moment.

"Oh, hey, Alex," Bob said with his usually large and warm smile.

She returned his greeting with a small tight lipped smile. "Hey, Bob. I gotta run."

"Always on the move!" He called out as she had made her way passed him. Chuckling softly to himself, he looked up to Joyce with a smile. "Awfully cold and rainy for her to be running around Hawkins. Maybe I should offer her a ride..." turning around, Bob had seen that Alex was already running off and gave up on the idea entirely.

Inside, Mike had stood in the living room, looking out the window suspiciously. Alex's behavior had been off once again, and he wasn't sure if there was a chance at helping her, especially if she was interested in heading home.

Coming up behind him, Will had stared out the window in disinterest beside Mike. Not much was going through his head and he felt empty. "Don't worry, the shadow monster is watching her. She doesn't know it though."

Glancing over to him, Mike gave him a questioning look. "That doesn't help me from worrying about her."

"She's going home to do homework," he explained plainly. "Nothings going to happen."

"Nothings going to happen," Mike repeated back. It was much more to convince himself than anything. Right now there wasn't much for him to do to stop Alex, but there was a chance of saving Hopper. Taking a step back from the window, he felt a bit more at ease despite Alex running off in the drizzling rain, set on finding his sister.