Tʜᴇ Fʟᴀʀᴇ ꕥ Lɪᴢᴢɪᴇ Jᴏʜɴsᴏɴ

sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏɴᴇ ꕥ 5

The next morning showed a rare occasion. Lizzie's mother was awake and downstairs by the time Lizzie stumbled there, ready to make some toast for breakfast.

"Mum?" She asked. "What are you doing? Didn't you only get back at two?"

"I got the night off, Elizabeth," Edith explained. She was the only person that called Lizzie 'Elizabeth'. Not even her dad did it. "I got back at ten but you were already out and so was Flo."

Lizzie smiled. "Why d'you get the night off?"

"Oh, my boss gave it as a reward," Edith shrugged. "So I get to be with you this morning. I thought it would be nice to spend a bit more time with you. I mean, I'm always working, and look at what's happened when I was gone! My baby girl's grown up and I didn't eve notice!"

Lizzie grinned. "I'm not that grown up, mum, really."

Edith Johnson smiled. "Well, you say that, but..." She shrugged. "Anyway, what do you say about spending some time together?"

Then Lizzie realised. "I- I'm sorry mum, but... um... I have to go to Mike's before school. I have to... do a homework project, and it's due tomorrow."

Edith Johnson looked slightly disappointed at this, but she wasn't surprised. She knew her kids knew how to stand on their own, because she and her husband worked so hard to provide for them that they were hardly ever there.

"Oh... that's unfortunate, sweetie, maybe another time-"

"Mum!"

Flora had come hurtling towards her older sister and mum and hugged the latter tightly. Lizzie sighed. She knew she probably wouldn't be missed.

Because even though she had never said it, and the thought only lived in the deepest, darkest bit of her mind, Lizzie was quite jealous of her younger sister. And sometimes so much, that she wished she was Flora.

As Lizzie headed to the toaster and put a slice of half stale bread into it, she shook her head. As if all the negative, jealous thoughts that she had used to have when the Johnson's saw eachother all the time would go away. They didn't.

Lizzie had shifted the memories inside her, bringing those ones to the top.

And she didn't like it one bit.

ꕥꕥꕥ

"We just tell our parents we have AV Club after school. That should give us enough time for Operation Mirkwood."

Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Lizzie were huddled over the table in Mike's basement, discussing their plan to find their friend.

"You seriously think the weirdo knows where Will is?" Lucas asked.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Mike said loyally. "Did you get the supplies."

"Yeah," Lucas said, pulling out the such named 'supplies'. "Binoculars... from 'Nam. Army knife... also from 'Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandanna, and, the wrist rocket!"

The wrist rocket was just a posh name for 'slingshot' as Lucas thought it sounded more fierce. But Dustin didn't find it so. "You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" He raised his eyebrows in a questioning fashion.

"First of all, it's a wrist rocket," Lucas said firmly. "And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up. But if there is something out there, then I'm gonna shoot it in the eye-" he snapped the 'wrist rocket' -"and blind it!"

Mike sighed. "Lizzie, your stuff?"

Lizzie took out her Swiss army knife, her torch and her binoculars.