Elijah Brooks's life is turned upside down when his best friend Will Byers goes missing one night. Teaming up with an unlikely group of friends, Eli finds himself transforming from a quiet bookworm to a courageous adventurer willing to do anything f...
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ELI WAS MINDLESSLY POKING AT his eggs with his fork, the bristles stabbing into the yellowed food violently. He couldn't stop thinking about his nightmare, sleep still tugging at his restless eyes and monstrous growls rummaging in his mind. It didn't help that, despite the strenuous and prolific efforts, Will Byers wasn't found last night.
"Did you want more syrup, Eli?" Sandra peered over at her distracted son, holding the maple syrup container questionably. Eve glanced over at her brother incredulously, still aghast upon making the shocking discovery that her brother ate syrup with his eggs.
Alan Brooks was glaring down at his son, his butter knife thrusting vigorously into his hash brown. "Eli," he murmured menacingly, and the single word was enough to make the smaller Brooks boy jump. Once his wary chestnut eyes had fallen fearfully onto his father, Alan muttered, "Your mother is speaking to you."
"I'm fine, thanks," Eli politely denied the offer of syrup, his gaze not leaving the icy cobalt blue orbs of his father. Shockingly, he had heard the request for more syrup after all.
Before Alan could chastise his son for rudely ignoring his mother's comment, Eli burst out with a question. "Can I go to the library after school today?"
This caused everyone at the Brooks dining table to glance up at him, curious gazes of brown and blue burning into his skin. "Honey, you know the rules now. I don't want you going anywhere other than school until they find your friend."
Your friend. Eli was particularly on edge that morning, and his mother's refusal to even utter Will's name didn't help ease his annoyance and frustration. "I know, but, I just really want to get ahead on this project for history. I wouldn't be long, just an hour or so to do some research."
All whilst explaining his incredibly thought out lie, Alan's sapphire eyes were trained on his skittish son. The Brooks boy had always been particularly squeamish around his father, but he seemed to be more fretful this morning. "What's this project about?" He demanded, chewing thoughtfully on a lump of eggs.
Eli's eyes darted to his father, then to his twin sister, who was sending him looks of bewilderment. "It's um, about the American Revolution." Although the project had been entirely made up, the truth remained that his seventh grade class was learning about the American Revolution.
"Well, why haven't we heard about this from you, Eve?" Sandra asked sweetly, passing the syrup to Brandy, who had simply gestured to her mother for the container. "Don't you have the same teacher as Eli?"
"Oh!" Eve chirped, and Eli knew from the feign cheeriness in her voice that he would receive lip about this from her later. "Well, Rene is my partner, and she's actually going to the library to check out the books for us. We're gonna do our research at home."
