HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 006.

November 4th, 1984

Arwen, Steve, and Dustin found themselves slinging raw meat out of a bucket and onto the train tracks the next day as they made their way towards the junkyard. Lucas was supposed to meet them there, but they'd heard no word from Will or Mike. 

Will, Mike, Hopper, El... where the Hell were they? It was all Arwen could think about as they walked. She barely even registered the fact that Steve was giving Dustin some horrible dating advice, but she did manage to retain the secret to the teen boy's hair routine. When she was feeling less anxious and miserable, she'd be sure to use that against him. 

The sun was setting, casting an orange hue around them as they started to pile rusty sheet metal and tires around the old abandoned bus to try and 'armor' it against Dart... or anything else that might show up. Lucas finally arrived with a familiar red-head riding passenger on his bicycle. Arwen dropped what she was doing to run to Max.

"Max! Have you seen El at all in the last two days?" she asked the younger girl with hopeful eyes.

"No..." Max replied, looking a bit confused. "Why? Is she missing or something?" 

Arwen let out a shaky sigh before explaining to her in detail how she came home yesterday to find their cabin completely empty. But with the files on El's mother scattered about the entire place. 

"Well, maybe that's where she went, then." Max said simply.

"Where?"

"To find her mom."

The elder girl paused and nodded slowly. It had crossed her mind before that that's where her sister could've gone, but... she wasn't entirely sure. Max having similar thoughts helped to ease her mind a little. 

"You're probably right. I just hope she's okay..." Arwen frowned, adjusting a piece of sheet metal against the bus.

"It's El," Max replied reassuringly. "She's tough. And according to Lucas, she has super powers." She said while wiggling her fingers dramatically and laughing as if it was some joke.

Arwen quirked a brow at her, then moved her gaze over to where Lucas and Dustin were currently arguing. Probably over the fact that Lucas definitely told Max about everything.

"Did he, uh... mention me at all?"

"Yeah, he said you have powers too, but you can also 'manipulate fire,'" Max smirked and rolled her eyes. 

"What an absolutely insane thing to say, honestly." Arwen couldn't wipe the grin off of her face that was making her face hurt. She probably should've been angry like Dustin was, but she trusted Max. She seemed like a dependable girl.

The sun sank lower into the horizon. The blanket of darkness to slowly fell over the two teens and three kids with the moon being their only real light source. They did their finishing touches and clambered inside of the bus, waiting for their trap to lure in at least one horrible creature. 

"And you're like, totally a hundred percent sure that it wasn't a bear?" Max asked Steve in reference to the monsters.

"Shit. Don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear." Dustin answered in a blunt tone as he paced the bus with his hands in his pockets. "Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home."

Arwen gaped at him while Steve just continued flicking the lighter open and closed.

"Geesh. Someone's cranky," Max responded with a scoff, getting up to climb the ladder to the roof of the bus and join Lucas. "Past your bedtime?"

Once she was out of sight, Steve smirked at the younger boy.

"That's good, just show her you don't care."

"I don't." Dustin shrugged, then paused to stare at Steve. "Why're you winking, Steve? Stop."

"Yeah, Steve." Arwen stood up and snatched the lighter out of his hands, glaring down at him. "Stop giving the boy wrong information. You're training a future douchebag at this rate." 

She huffed and went to sit where Max once was. She honestly wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but she could hear the girl's conversation with Lucas pretty clearly and, well... there wasn't much else going on at the moment. 

"You miss it?" Lucas asked her. "The ocean? The waves? California? Hawkins seems pretty lame, I bet."

"No, no, no, it's not that... It's just..." Max paused for a moment, her tone getting a little tinge of sadness. "My dad's still there... so..."

"Why?"

"See, it's this legal term called 'divorce,'" she answered sarcastically. "See when two married people don't love each other anymore -"

"Yeah..."

"My mom and my stepdad... they wanted a fresh start away from him. As if... as if he were the problem, which is total bull. And things... are just worse now. My stepbrother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry... all the time and... well, he can't take it out on my mom, so..." 

"So he takes it out on you?" Lucas asked.

Arwen had to stand up and walk to the front of the bus. She just couldn't listen anymore. Her heart wrenched for the poor girl. Nobody deserved to have misguided anger let out on them like that, especially a child. Her knuckles went white as she gripped the lighter and stared out into the night at nothing in particular for a long moment. 

Then the roar ripped through the air and all of their heads snapped towards the sound.