⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐍 ᵃ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ᵃᶠ

𝟎𝟎𝟒

FOUR

-- THE WEIRDO ON OAK STREET --

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"LAST NIGHT i had the strangest dream...i sailed away to china in a little rowboat to find ya..."

christopher's eyes flick down to the stereo on his car. of all the songs to play, of course it's this one.

"and you said you had to get your laundry clean...didn't want no one to hold you, what does that mean? and you said-"

he remembers when he first played this song for meg. it was just before their parents got divorced, and they were sitting in chris's room, playing the mix he'd made for upbeat songs he thought his sister might like.

and he was right. she loved it, nodding her head along with the beat, until their parents' voices rose and washed out the music. meg had looked at chris, her eyes wide, and his chest had burned. how dare they disrupt this moment with their petty bickering. meg shouldn't have to go through that. he had rose and made his way across the room, shutting the door without looking out into the hallway. he didn't want to risk seeing his parents.

then he'd returned to sit next to meg on his bed, and she'd smiled at him.

chris turns his blinker on, effectively drawing himself back to the present, and he turns left into the driveway of john dahlia's house. he never thought he'd have to come back here, but his mom isn't willing to check, so chris will do it himself.

"ain't nothin' gonna break my stride...ain't nothing gonna slow-"

the car switches off.

chris's dad's house is more run down than his own. the shutter paint is peeling, the roof is cracked and sagging. he hops out of the car and approaches the front door.

the man who answers it is one who chris could live a continent away from and still wish for more distance between.

"christopher?" john stares. "what're you doing here?"

"your daughter's missing. meg, if you even remember her. i'm just here to check that you haven't...taken her, or whatever. so let me in, yeah?"

chris doesn't wait for a response. he shoves past his father and into the house, which is even worse on the inside.

"meg?" chris moves through the hallway, opening each door and peering into the rooms.

"she's not here," john trails behind him as he goes. "some cop called me last night, said he was deputy officer or something."

steve. chris still hasn't figured out why the brother of his sister's best friend is so keen on helping the search for her and bringing his whole friend group with him, but at least one of them has power in hawkins as an officer. thank god for that, he thinks.