⊹ RIVAL YEAR ⊹ ||stranger things

004

"ALLIES"

LAURIE Steps out of the car, her boots crush the orange leaves littering the ground, the first thing Laurie sees is the distraught face of her mother and Laurie's chin trembles as she looks at her mother, she hurls herself into her mother's arms squeezing her tightly.

"I'm sorry mom, I was supposed to look after will and I'm sorry-" the words spill out without stopping.

"Oh baby, it's not your fault I promise you. I'm not angry, honey" Joyce hugs her only daughter shutting her eyes hard, not letting her own tears fall, she pulls away after a minute to look at Laurie, she's making sure her next words are understood.

"Will is still out there. I know it. and we are going to find him and if I say we're gonna find him that's what we're going to do" she says this with such certainty.

     

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"Will!" Jonathan cups his hands around his mouth, they were standing near the fort and looking through the woods for any sign of will. The three have been circling the fort and screaming will's name for the past hour, searching for anything to give them any clues as to where he went. The leaves cracked under Laurie's boots as she searched the same area for the third time, her feet scream in protest with every step she takes.

Laurie can't bear to look at the sweater Jonathan had found abandoned in the fort, will must've left it weeks ago. The sweater had been missing for some time now.

The fort sits abandoned and cold, Laurie had never seen it until today, the boys had kept the location a secret for years 'no girls allowed!' They had said in unison when Laurie asked if she could join in on the fun.

Growing up, her brothers never let Laurie participate in the more boyish activities the two did together, such as building a wooden fort, or even playing in it.

She observed the comic books and Junk food stashed inside with a smile, picturing both boys stealing Twinkie's from home just to eat here.

when will started getting bullied She became more protective and would spend hours with him and his dorky friends at the arcade, those boys thought Laurie was the coolest older sister ever, all because she would buy them slushes and old gas station corndogs. who knew that was the way to win over 10-year-old kids?

Laurie's eyes water at the memories of will, snapping herself out of her own head Laurie ducks underneath the narrow entrance leading out the fort, her head makes harsh contact with the doorway.

Her mother ventured deep into the woods, Laurie has lost sight of her, but she can still faintly hear her mom calling out for will.

Laurie follows her mom's voice into the woods, she winces when she is scratched by branches swaying in the harsh breeze, she pulls her jacket tighter around herself and soon finds her mom in a clearing.

"Will!" Laurie strays away from her mom, she walks closer to a some piled up leaves not far from where her mother stands but the closer, she got the faster her heartbeat, she can no longer hear her mom's desperate calls, all she can hear is the beating of her own erratic heartbeat and blood rushing in her ears.