November 7th, 1983; Mirkwood
"I can't believe you've convinced me to do this." Windy groans as she follows the group of middle schoolers down the dark road.
"Would you rather I go in here without you?" Dustin fires back at her.
Windy rolls her eyes, "No."
Mike suddenly stops, "Why are we stopping?" Lucas questions. Mike doesn't reply, looking off into the dark woods where police tape can be seen. Lighting fills the sky, breaking all their gaze making all the boys realize that it is a lot more serious than before.
"Oh man. You guys feel that?" Dustin chimes, holding his hand out as a few drops of water fall from the sky. "Maybe we should go back?" he suggests as they begin their trek in the woods.
"No splitting up, or anything stupid like that, but stay on channel six. Just in case." Mike tells the others before continuing forward, going under the caution tape. Lucas was quick to follow.
Dustin looks at his sister before letting out a sigh, "Hey, guys, wait up! Wait for us!" he shouts before rushing forwards with his sister in tow.
As they continue into the dark woods, thunder, lightning, and now rain surround them; soaking them. "Will? Will?!?!" Mike shouts into the forest.
"Byers!?" Lucas shouts.
"William!" Windy yells out.
"I've got you X-men 134!" Dustin shouts as well.
They receive no response.
"Guys, I really think we should turn back-" Dustin tries to convince his friends.
"Seriously, Dustin, we already let your sister come along with us, if you want to be a baby, just go home already." Lucas argues with him.
"Hey, it's not just Will that's missing, you ass, so cool it." Windy defends her brother.
"I'm just being realistic, Lucas- Wait," Dustin pauses to look towards his sister, "Who else is missing?"
"Bella." Windy says, making all the boys look at her stunned.
"What?!" All three of them question in a shout.
"Well, she wasn't at school, or at home. We can't find her anywhere." Windy starts to explain.
Dustin's eyes widened, "And last time I saw her, she was taking Will home..." he says as if putting the pieces together.
"Exactly." Windy confirms.
"You ever think Will and Bella went missing because, you know, they ran into someone bad? And now we're going to the place where they were last seen, and we don't even have weapons or anything-" Dustin was listing off in a slight panic.
"Dustin, Shut up." Mike tells his friend as he continues forward.
"I'm just sayin', does that seem smart to you?" Dustin sasses.
"Shut up!" Mike says before stopping his movements, "You guys hear that?" he questions them.
They all pause to listen, listening past the rain; suddenly the bushes around them rustles. Everyone tenses, slowly with their flashlights they turn, pointing the light at a bald, wide eyed little girl.
Later that night, Wheeler's Basement-
"Is there a number we can call? For your parents?" Mike asks the out of breath, dripping wet, frightened girl who is sitting on the couch in Mike's basement.
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin was quick to ask.
Windy was fast to smack the back of his head, "You don't ask people if they have cancer."
Lucas rolls his eyes at the siblings, "Did you run away?"
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike continues to ask the girl.
"Is that blood?" Dustin points out. Lucas goes to reach out to her, but Mike slaps his hand.
"Stop it! You're freaking her out!" Mike scolds him.
"She's freaking me out!" Lucas retaliates.
"Shut up, all of you. You're all freaking her out. First things first we should get her warm, and -" Windy is cut off.
"I bet she's deaf." Dustin says before clapping his hands, causing the girl to flinch, "Not deaf."
"Okay, you stop it. That's enough, all right. She's scared and cold." Windy scolds the boys. Mike makes his way over to the laundry handing them over to Windy who then holds them out to the girl. "Here, these are clean." the girl doesn't move, "Okay?" Slowly, the girl takes the clothes from the older girl.
The girl rubs her face on the fabric before standing up from the couch. She then goes to take off her clothes in front of everyone before they all stop her. "NO! No, No, No!" they all shout in surprise, causing her to stop.
"We can go to the bathroom, and you can change in there." Windy says, slowly leading the girl over to the other room, "See, in here without these smelly boys watching."
The girl hesitantly enters, and as Windy goes to shut the door the girl stops her. "No." she tells the older girl.
"You don't want it closed?" Windy asks her, a bit surprised and confused.
"No." was all she said in reply.
"Okay... We can keep the door like this then." Windy says, having the door open just enough so the boys wouldn't be able to see in, but open enough for the girl to see Windy. "This okay?"
The girl nods and turns away from the door. Windy sighs and turns to the boys, standing in front of the door. When she sees the boys not looking over, she makes her way over to them.
"This is mental." Dustin says to the others.
"At least she's talking." Windy says, crossing her arms.
Lucas looks at the teen skeptical, "She said No. Mike's three-year-old sister says more."
"Maybe she's in shock, Lucas." She scolds him.
"She tried to get naked." Dustin reminds them.
"There's something seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head." Lucas argues.
"She just went like-" Dustin continues, making hand gestures as if he was removing clothes.
"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst." Lucas says.
"From where?" Mike questions.
"The nuthouse in Kerly County." Lucas explains to his friend.
"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin asks sarcastically.
"Bite me." Lucas tells him.
"Okay that's enough!" Windy stops them.
"We should've never brought her here." Lucas argues with them, a little frazzled.
"So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike questions.
"So Lucas, if you were out in the middle of some storm, dressed like how she was, you wouldn't want anyone to help you?" Windy brings up, glaring at him.
"Yes! No! Who cares! We went out to find Will, not another problem." he nearly shouts at them.
"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin brings up.
"I second that." Lucas agrees.
"Absolutely not!" Windy says to them.
"Who's crazy now?" Mike tells them.
"How is that crazy?" Lucas questions.
"'Cause we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?" Mike tells them.
Lucas crosses his arms, "So?"
"So, if I tell my mom, and she tells your mom... and your mom." Mike reminds them.
"And then we're busted." Windy says looking at her brother.
"Oh man!" Dustin says.
"Our houses become Alcatraz." Lucas says in realization.
"Exactly. We'll never find Will or Bella!" Mike tells them. "Alright, so here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight."
Dustin tries to argue but the other two stop him. "In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst, or wherever she comes from, we'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will." Mike finishes.
They all look at one another and Windy sighs, "That's a stupid plan."