↻ Radio silence, Stranger Things

iii. The Quarry

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ ⁰3 THE QUARRY

Hawkins woods were beautiful.

     Forest leaves part in a crashing melody of discordance and water droplets, broken apart by battered shoes and scratched ankles. Dew fleetingly remains from the torrential rain the previous night, so the mud is earthy and damp as ever. Choked by its own overgrown branches, the forest resembles a sprawling fortress, barricading the floor bed from the warmth of the morning sun and selectively letting in the light of the blue sky. A carpet of fine evergreen needles cloak the ground, perfuming the clearing with a pungent yet sweet scent.

     Here she walks, strolling alongside the small group carrying out their pre discussed search party— or at least try to, despite it being close to impossible due to the boisterous racket generated by her newfound friends. Penny Nadir's perfect pink cap masks her face accordingly, shielding her porcelain skin from the daybreak sun that shines radiantly in patches in the cloud-ridden, cornflower blue sky above. Every now and then there's a whisper of breeze, growing more frequent as the minutes pass, gently caressing her hands legs and rosy cheeks, catching strands for her golden hair and helpfully placing them behind her ears. It's only now that she feels the tiredness crowd her body and a band of stinging pressure to her eyes— if they wanted set out on their exploration by six in the morning, it had required a prompt rise; it had dragged her to the ground and rendered her weak, though this didn't cease her want to be here. It was hard making new friends, especially in a small town like Hawkins, consequently suffering countless lonely days over the past few months.

Sometimes, on the bad days, Penny isn't sure if her loneliness —brought on by this new home— would ever end. Though, of course, she knew this was a mindset triggered by her spiralling thoughts. Time would pass so achingly slow that she couldn't distinguish quite when her isolation would end, or whether her own psychological tricks would continue for as long as she was in Hawkins. When there are days when there is nothing she can throw herself into, it becomes easier to dwell on how rotten her luck was sometimes... though when TJ Griffen had asked her if she wanted to go on an adventure with him and his friends, maybe her luck had changed— though she had been warned of his accomplices excitable natures.

School hadn't started for the day, but this meant the morning was theirs to spend however they wish, providing they navigate their way from the depths of the forest with plenty of time to return to the mains of the town in time for first lesson. And, assuming that they don't somehow get lost in the process of escapade, of course, school will continue as normal next week. Seizing the autumnal morning, she and her newfound friends enjoy their few hours of freedom. With a belly full of syrup- drowned pancakes, and a mouth fresh with the taste of minty toothpaste— the remnants of orange juice still irritably remaining— Penny's adrenaline and excitement set in.

TJ had explained to her that it was needless to worry about going astray in the woods, as he had walked these paths an innumerable amount of times in his life. With time, he had explained, the people who had joined him in his wandering had accumulated. At age eight, him and Bailey. Nine, Bailey had dragged Ruthie along. At ten, he had finally persuaded Seb that it was safe. And finally they had welcomed their newest adventure member today: herself.

A perplexed sigh sounds from Penny's right shoulder, and there's no doubt in her mind of who it belongs to. "Why are they like that? Every damn time?" Ruth inquires, her voice laced with an annoyance that Penny had quickly come to learn in the past hour.

"Who?" Penny replies, her response slightly delayed as her attention is torn from the comfort of her own thoughts and instead dragged to the brown eyed girl next to her.