EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE | Stranger Things.

XXXI. Poor Innocent Mews

FRANCES SAT IN THE KITCHEN, PRETENDING TO LISTEN TO A CASSETTE IN HER WALKMAN.

She decided to spend her boring time listening to the odd conversation her mother was engaging in with these unknown people. Frances hummed to a fake tune and tapped her pen on the table, attempting to make it quieter so she could hear it more clearly.

"Have you seen your daughter recently?" The guy with hair only on the sides of his head asked.

Laura blew out a large breath, sputtering and tapping her fingers on her knees. "I saw her yesterday morning but... Frances, can you come over here?"

She took off the headphones that rested on each side of her ears. "Hm?" Her body turned to the side, facing the people that occupied the living room with curious eyes. She wanted to keep a memory of their faces unless they were some sort of secret police that Daisy had gotten in trouble with.

"We'd just like to ask you a few questions if that's all right?" The woman beside him asked and glanced over at Laura for confirmation, which she received with a simple nod.

Frances acted as if she wasn't sweating her ass off even walking to sit down next to her mom. "About?" She eyed the people in front of her warily, crossing her arms over her chest like a stubborn child that refused to do as she was told.

"Has your sister ever spoken about some... mysterious events or has she ever seemed like she was hiding something?" The woman next to the man questioned, keeping her face stoic of any emotion that could tip the family off as to what was happening.

"No." Frances lied straight through her teeth — only about the last part. It wouldn't be easy to pry it out of Daisy's lips but even then Frances didn't want to know about it, not really. "Did something happen? Is.. is my sister okay?"

"Everything is fine," The woman reassured. Laney, that is what the back of her pocket notebook read; property of Laney Stills. And almost as if Laney could see Frances reading it, she covered her hand before the girl could get to the name of her work.

The man once again cleared his throat, glancing at his partner and then back to the suspicious girl that sat in front of them. "We need full, complete honesty from you, Frances. Now... do you know where your sister was last night or any people she's close to?"

Frances narrowed her eyes. "I don't have to answer to you." She sat back in her seat and threw one leg over the other. "It's my constitutional right."

Laura shared a look with the two adults. She had heard her eldest talking with someone late at night after the loud ringing of their home phone went off, and she had a few clues as to who it could be. Frances wasn't saying everything.

She made it hard to even allow the three other people in the room to figure out what she wasn't saying and it wasn't going to take long until they got her to break. Exactly like a piggy bank leaking all of its valuables.

"Baby," Laura sighed, softly holding Frances's hand. "Daisy may have gotten involved in something that's.. something that a little girl shouldn't be involved in."

"Like a gang? That's bullshit." Frances laughed. This was better than those sitcoms she watched to pass by time.

"Frances!"

"He doesn't look like the type to chase after strong-headed gangs, am I wrong?" She asked with an amused smile. "Don't lie to me."

The man scoffed. "No, but I am the type to take you into our headquarters for further investigation." Frances raised an eyebrow at him, her smile turning downturned in an instant but never losing her amusement.