Once they got back to the Wheelers they entered the house through the basement door, sneaking the girl in and setting her on the couch with Mike's coat draped over her shoulders. She was still shivering and had a scared look on her face as the party stood in front of her looking on in shock and amazement. "Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked the girl.
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin rushed out. Riley slapped him on the arm following that dumb question giving him a look as he gazed over at her.
The boys kept asking questions one after another barely giving the girl any time to answer in between. Lucas started to lean forward asking about the blood on the girls shirt. Riley slapped his hand down.
"Stop it!" She yelled at the boy.
"Yeah, you're freaking her out!" Mike joined in, looking at Lucas incredulously.
"She's freaking me out!" He yelled back.
"I bet she's deaf," Dustin chimed in as the boys stared at one another. Suddenly he throws his hands out clapping in the girl's face as she jumps back startled by the movement and noise. "Not deaf," he states as he turns to Mike.
"Alright that's enough," Mike tells the group as the storm continues on with the heavy torrential downpour. "She's just scared and cold."
He quickly turns going deeper into the basement as the rest of the party look to one another. Riley makes eye contact with the girl and smiles a small smile. Feeling bad for her, she's freezing in just a large t-shirt surrounded by the group of weirdos, in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement.
Suddenly, there is a big bang of thunder causing the girl to squeeze her eyes shut tight. Riley's heart pangs and she reaches out to the girl coming to kneel by her in front of the couch. She lightly touches the girl's arm whose eyes shoot open but she relaxes seeing the other girl's light smile and nod of encouragement.
"Here," Mike says, holding out dry clean clothes to the girl. "These are clean. Okay?" She reaches out grabbing them from the boy, staring at them. She gently touches them to her cheek, before setting them beside her on the couch going to take the coat off her shoulders and stand up. As she's standing she suddenly reaches down to the edge of the large shirt grabbing it and lifting.
Jumping forward from her still kneeling position beside the girl she grabs her hands and the shirt as the boys freak out turning their heads and closing their eyes. Riley quickly stands while keeping a hand on the girl's arm.
"Hey, why don't you come with me?" She asks the girl before leading her over to the bathroom with the clothes in hand. "Here," she says, opening the door for the smaller girl. "This is the bathroom. Privacy," she says handing the girl her clothes. "Get it?" She asks gently. The girl just looks at her a second before entering the bathroom examining the room. Riley starts to close the door but before she can close it all the way the girl quickly grabs the door preventing it from closing.
"You don't want it closed?" She questions.
"No." The girl answers after a slight pause. Riley raises her eyebrows in surprise at seeing the girl actually able to talk.
"Okay," she responds with a nod. "How about this," she starts to slowly close the door and stops with about a three inch gap. Still able to see the girl in the bathroom but closed enough to give her some privacy. "Is that better?" She asks
"Yes," the girl answers quietly. Riley just gives her another soft smile and a nod turning around to go back to the boys who were arguing over the sanity of the girl.
"She just went like..." Dustin says reaching down to mimic the movement the girl did trying to take off her shirt earlier.
"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst." Lucas states pointing at Mike.
YOU ARE READING
Stranger Things: Riley's Version
FanfictionRiley was an outcast, considered a nerd by many called a freak by some but at the end of the day she was a normal twelve year old kid. Her whole life gets turned upside down with the mysterious disappearance of one of her best friends and she goes o...
