STITCHES - S. HARRINGTON

05

the sauna test pt. 2

♛

"Erica, do you copy?" Robin's voice rang through the walkie talkie, Erica with an immediate response back, confirming the question.

"You nerds in position or what?" Erica asked, clipping her helmet as she prepared herself for the treacherous climb into the vents.

"Yeah, we're in position. It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light." Robin affirmed, the five friends sitting on the roof of the mall, looking out for Erica and any obstacles that may be in the way.

"Green light, Roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment." The little girl on the other end began her journey. "See you on the other side, nerds."

Scarlett sat in between Steve and Robin, nervously playing with her hair. "I'm still not too on board with the whole idea of my cousin crawling through vents that could potentially lead to a secret Russian base."

Dustin's eyes stayed glued to his binoculars, "Well actually, we know it leads to a secret Russian base. There's probably explosives down there too.." Scarlett covered her mouth to assure the gasp that was threatening to escape her lips, didn't. Steve noticed, placing a comforting hand on her back while silently telling Dustin to cut it out. "..But nothing will go wrong. It's a foolproof plan." Dustin attempted to save himself.

On the other end of the line, Erica had finally reached the vent. "Alright nerds, I'm there." Her voice sounded through the device.

"Do you- see anything?" Robin grinned, their plan slowly falling into place. Steve noticed another change in Scarlett's demeanor, bringing her closer to him with a comforting arm. She felt her cheeks heat up and thanked God it was dark outside.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about." Erica's voice was unamused, as she was simply staring at brown cardboard boxes.

"Any guards?"

"Negative."

"Booby traps?"

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"

"Thank you for that." Robin said sarcastically, shaking her head.

Scarlett couldn't help but let out a laugh. "She obviously gets that from you." Steve whispered with a grin, poking the girls side. Her smile only lasted a moment, as it wiped right off her face when Erica reported she was now in the room. The nerves came flowing back to her, as they did to everyone else.

"She'll be fine, right?" Ben asked, quite worried for the little girl whom he had known forever. Steve nodded slowly, not knowing for sure himself.

Suddenly, Erica stepped through the doors, and the five on the roof let go of the breath they'd been holding since she'd been in the room. "Free ice cream, for life." Erica yelled up to them, but they were too ecstatic to even argue with her.

♛

At the Hawkins Public Pool, the rest of the party had conjured up a genius plan to get Billy to confess to what they suspected him to be doing. Billy stormed around the locker room, hungry for blood. Spotting something in the sauna, stopped for a moment, stunned. "Scarlett..?" He blinked, only seeing the girl in the sauna, but how could she be there?