𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

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"𝙄'𝙢 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠"

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𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 with the crowd was surprisingly easy at first, it was Hawkins after all. The residents were well becoming used to ignoring the bizarre events that took place in their very own town, but the infiltrated security was what had them currently sprinting through the mall like their lives depended on it. Funnily enough, they actually did.

The reality of their situation was more disastrous than Valerie wanted to admit to herself, instead she kept shoving the thoughts back as she pushed herself forward, though her mind kept wandering. Aminah was at home, completely unaware of the danger her daughter was in and most likely terrified that she'd been out of touch for a whole day with no explanation.

She wasn't too sure how she was going to explain that one, her lies had barely held up from the last time she found herself in life-threatening circumstances. Her dad however, had her feeling worse. Valerie knew she had to involve him in this, no matter how much she much she hated the idea, but then again, for all she knew, he already was. It seemed to be a trend, her father following Joyce like a dog on a leash, exposing the sinister secrets of Hawkins only for another one to rise up soon after.

"Over here!" Erica hissed, pointing to the churro stand Valerie had bought from less than twenty-four hours ago, before they skidded to a stop and dove behind the counter beside it.

Valerie pressed her back to the steel, inhaling deep breaths to calm herself from all the running. Today's exercise alone was probably worth a whole month at the gym — not that Hawkins even had a proper fucking gym, who the fuck in this town would spend their lousy time there?

She could see Robin moving next to her, hands rummaging through one of the counter draws searching for something in particular. Valerie raised her brows questioningly, "What are you doing?"

"I bet they have those wafers in here, you know, like the ones we serve at work. I'm hungry," the girl responded haughtily, and grinned suddenly when she spotted it, pulling it out of the draw and ripping open the packet impatiently.

"I thought you were loyal to Scoops?" Valerie reminded her, eyeing the bag pointedly. Robin made a dismissive gesture as she shoved a handful of wafer biscuits into her mouth, "Fuck Scoops."

Valerie scoffed but the echoing of loud footsteps had her shutting her lips tightly. They were slow and deliberate, as if the guards were calculating their every move and she suddenly felt small. 

She hated this feeling. It was the way she felt when Robin would look down at her, smirking like she knew something Valerie didn't, or when clerks would search her bags at the shop exit, only to let every other white person pass. Usually it was aggravating, patronizing, but right now, she was terrified. 

Robin stopped chewing and set the bag quietly on the ground beside her as everyone fell into a deaf silence, though Valerie wasn't sure what good that'd do. They had nowhere to escape and if the guards searched the entire food court they'd locate the five teens in no time.