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THE BODY
"And you're sure it was will?" hopper asked hesitant. after she got the phone call steve went immediately to pick up the phone and call the cops.
"yes- idk maybe" she sighed "it sounded like him, he sounded scared" hopper looked at her like she was crazy "he asked for help, i did not imagine this shit ok?! i am not crazy!" she stated as hopper grabbed her by her arms and gently sat her down on the couch beside them.
"calm down kid, I-know your not crazy just-" he sighed "what did he say?" he asked "he was quiet and then he asked for help- and- and then..." she said her throat closing up as her eyes started tearing up "and then what?" hopper asked "and then the line went dead" she sniffled "hopper even if i am crazy and it isn't will some kid out there needs help" she said.
"ok,ok, we will figure it out but for now i'm going to need you to get some rest ok? everyone has had a rough night, and you have school in the morning" she laughed.
"ok?" he asked "ok."
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after the cops left steve decided to wait awhile until her dad got home to leave.
"thanks for staying steve" she said walking him out of the door "yeah, of course" he said with a smile "remember where-" she started to say but got interrupted.
"not friends"
"bye, steve" "bye valerie"
once she closed the door and headed back inside she saw her dad sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands.
"what's wrong?" she asked, he looked up at her.
"what's wrong?!" he said angrily "what's wrong is the fact that once you got that call instead of calling me you called the chief of police!" he shouted.
"i know, im sorry" she said "i just didn't want to- your work-" she got cut off "my work?! i don't give a shit about my work if your in trouble" he said calming down once he realized his daughter look scared.
"look kid, i know i have been distant, and i know that we don't talk anymore i know that. but you can talk to me" he said "i know" she said calmly.
and walked upstairs.
Valerie shed a few tears that night.
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at school the vice principal asked for her, the cops wanted to speak to her.
"so after you guys jumped into the pool, what happened?" the police officer asked me "after that we went up to steve's room to change into some dry clothes" she said calmly.
"nancy said that barb wanted to go home..." he said "i mean looked like it" "and what do you mean by that" "i mean that barb isn't one to party, she hates interactions with people outside of her family" "and what do you think made her want to leave? you going up with steve and nancy to his room" the other officer asked.
"i don't think that's very inappropriate, don't you think, officer? and i don't think that matters either, what matters is that barb is missing. i saw her sitting on the diving board, asked if she was okay. i went inside to get a drink-" the officer interrupted her "so there where drinks" he said.
"no, no there wasn't when i mean drink i mean water, i asked if she wanted any- she said no but when i came back outside she was gone." she said.
"now am i free to go?"
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after thinking about it for a while she thought about what she said
i saw her sitting on the diving board
if they where going to find barb she needs to retrace her steps, so she did the only logical thing she could do, she snuck into steve's backyard.
once she got to the pool she saw something small and it looked red and stringy, like a pothole in the pool right under the diving board.
she could barely see what it was, she had to take a closer look.
she took of her jacket, along with her shirt and pants and shoes.
and she took a dive.
once she got closer it looked terrifying. it wasn't a pothole, it was something else.
she stuck her hand through it.
suddenly, the pot hole closed, and scared the shit out of her.
took her breath away as she swam back to the surface, only to see steve looking at her pile of clothes in confusion.
"valerie? what the hell are you doing here?" he asked "uh..." she looked back down at the non existent hole "i- i felt like a swim, to clear my mind" she lied "well you could've just asked" he said confused.
"yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry" she said, he handed her a hand. she took it as he pulled her out of the pool.
"do you want a towel?" he asked "yeah, thanks" she said as he ran inside to get the towel.
she was zoning out until she heard rustling in the bushes which made her turn her head.
nothing.
she gasped, "jesus christ" she said as steve put the towel over his shoulders "sorry, didn't mean to scare you, what you looking at?" he asked as she turned back around "nothing"
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by now it was night time, she got another call.
she ran to it "hello?" she asked panic.
"valerie?" a distorted voice from the phone, once again.
"will?" she asked "M-mia" she said in realization.
holy shit.
"help-c-cold" the line was breaking up "listen mia i'm going to need you to listen to me, where are you?" she asked
"here" she said
the line ended.
"mia?mia?!" she started crying "mia" her voice cracked.
