Love is the Craziest Thing Yet

chapter 2 // the weirdo on maple street

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"is there a number we can call? for your parents?"

"where's your hair? do you have cancer?"

"did you run away?"

"are you in some kind of trouble?"

"is that blood?"

mike, lucas, and dustin continued to ask questions to the frightened little girl with a shaved head, who was now sitting on the couch in our basement. she was wrapped in one of my jackets which was very oversized for her. she couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve years old. she looked the same age as my brother and his friends. i clutched onto the back of robin's shirt, we were both whispering to each other back and forth. "this is the craziest thing i've ever seen in my life" she leaned back and whispered to me. "the weirdest thing you've ever seen? this is my house she's in!" she chuckled at my comment, even though i was freaking out. that's what i loved about robin, loved in a.. friendly way.. of course. she could laugh at anything and could make a sarcastic joke about anything.

the boys continued to ask questions to her until i finally put an end to it.

"guys, stop it! you're freaking her out!" they all turned and looked at me. "she's freaking me out!" lucas cried.

"i bet she's deaf!" dustin then proceeded to make a loud clap with his hands to see if the girl was deaf. of course, she wasn't, instead, it just startled her more. "not deaf.." he added.

"oh, my god." robin slapped her hand against her forehead.

"all right, that's enough, all right? she's just scared." mike finally spoke up, and we were on the same page. that's a first.

"and cold," i added. i went over to the corner of the basement where our laundry basket was and found a pair of mike's pajamas that i was sure could fit her, considering there was no way she could fit in any of my clothes. i quickly ran back over to her and handed her the clothes. "here, these are clean. okay?" i told her. the little girl took the clothes out of my hands and held them close to her chest, it was like she didn't know what to do. who is this girl, what's wrong with her? and why is she in my basement?

she stood up and tried to pull the oversized benny's burgers t-shirt off but i quickly stopped her.

"no, no, no!"

"woah!"

"oh my god oh my god oh my god.."

all the boys exclaimed and turned around and shielded their eyes. robin and i tried our best not to laugh at them, failing. "see, over there?" mike pointed to the bathroom while still stammering in confusion about what had just happened. "that's the bathroom. privacy. get it?" the girl looked confused like she didn't understand what was going on.

"come on." i grabbed the clothes i had gotten for her in one hand while holding onto her hand with the other and led her to the bathroom. i tried to close the door until she grabbed onto it. "you- you don't want it closed?" i asked her.

"no."

"oh! so you can speak! it's nice to hear your voice. okay, well.. uh, how about we just keep the door.. just like this?" i left the door open about three inches. "is that better?" i asked her with a reassuring smile.