The Next-Door Down

Basement

The next thing you know, you find yourself sitting on a brown and musty look sofa in basement of Mike's house.

Somehow he had managed to sneak the five of you down into his basement without his family realising.

This was quite an impressive feat for the boy considering that four other people lived in the house with him.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Dustin curses repeatedly as he paces in circles around the table, looking almost as if he was completing a ritual.

Lucas was sat beside you, looking completely mind blown and Mike was standing up, clearly deep in thought.

You all had decided that it would be best to take the girl back somewhere safe and Mike's place was the most accessible.

I mean, you would've offered your place since it was pretty close but you didn't trust the others enough to keep it a secret that your parents were now gone.

The girl was now changing into some of Mike's sister's old clothes in the bathroom whilst the boys contemplated what to do with her.

"I think we should put her back where we found her." Lucas suggests, "I don't want to get caught up in all this crazy stuff,"

"Come on, she has nowhere else to go!" Mike admits, "We have to at least look after her for one night."

"No, can't you see? It's more than enough that Will is missing, let alone a loony from a psych ward in your home Mike!" Lucas argues.

"You don't know that!" Mike says, throwing his arms up in the air.

"A hospital gown? A shaved head? Not being able to speak? Where else do you think she'll have come from?" Lucas answers smarmily.

"What about the lab?" Dustin suggests.

The room goes quiet as you realise that her escaping from that creature was an actual possibility.

It would explain why she was too stunned to speak.

"Wait, y/n, don't your parents work there?" He points out, expecting your opinion on the matter.

Luckily, you didn't have to answer since the bathroom door slowly began to creep open.

The girl slipped out from behind the door and shyly stood in front of it, unsure about what to do.

She had deep brown eyes that looked as if she'd suffered a great deal.

"Can-you-un-der-stand-me?" Lucas speaks loudly, making the girl flinch.

"Hey, hey!" You try to get Lucas to stop shouting in the poor girl's face, "Look, that's not going to get you anywhere."

You try to smile at the girl but she still looked a little afraid of you.

"Hey, don't worry, we'll get you a nice cosy safe place for you to sleep tonight." You say, crouching slightly to get to her height.

You attempt to grab her hand so that you can lead her to the sofa to sit down but the girl quickly pulls her arm away from your reach.

She scowls at you before speaking the first word you'd ever heard her say.

"No."