troubled souls ~ Steve Harrington

*three*

Since Dustin has AV club on Mondays, Barb and I normally sit outside the middle school and do homework. But to our surprise, he's already out waiting for us by the time we get to our designated bench.

"What are you doing out so early?" I question.

"Oh my gosh, Mattie!" Dustin shouts, bursting with excitement. "You won't even believe it!"

He shuffles his backpack on and runs over to us.

"The chief came and asked us questions at school today!"

Barb and I glance at each other, "What?" I blurt.

"Will never showed up at school, so the police had us answer some questions. It was crazy," he shakes his head, "I've never talked to the police before."

"Are you talking about Will Byers?" Barb asks as we walk to her car.

I nod my head, "His mom called me this morning asking if he stayed at our house. Sounds like she never found him."

"Do you know if he made it home?" I swivel in my chair to face him. "Like did he disappear last night?"

He responds with a shrug of his shoulders, "I left him on Mirkwood."

"Mirkwood?"

"Over by the lab," Dustin points. "Between Cornrows and Kelsey."

Barb gives Dustin a confused look in the rearview mirror, "You mean Cornwallis and Kerley?"

He snaps his fingers, "Yes, that's it!"

My stomach flips.

That was near where I saw the figure last night.

***

I was hesitant to let Dustin hang out with his friends, especially with Will missing. But he begged and begged me to, and he promised he wouldn't go outside and try anything stupid. So, I finally gave in.

"Be back by 10 or I'll eat your turtle," I tell him as he rushes out the door.

"Okay!" he shouts. I watch him as he jumps on his bike, heading down the main road. 

It's nice to have extra quiet to get a few things done before my mom gets off work. I manage to finish almost all the weekend laundry and dishes by the time she's home again.

It's the same ritual day in and day out. Missing Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy was a crime in our household, so she plants herself in the same spot on the sofa where the cat awaits her return.

"When will dinner be ready?" She shouts as her homecoming greeting.

"Uhhh, great question!" I haven't even thought about it, but I wasn't about to tell her. Frantically, I search to see what we had that I could throw together quickly.

Miraculously, I find three freezer burnt microwave dinners. "Give me five minutes!" I yell back as I poke holes in the plastic, tossing one into our ancient microwave oven.

"Is Dusty home?"

"Nope," I tell her. "He left to hang out with friends about an hour ago."

"What?" she shrieks, taking me off guard. 

She usually doesn't give a shit what either of us do. In fact, Dustin once stayed at the Sinclair's for a week and she had no idea.