Who Am I To You? || Mike Wheeler

Chapter 3: The Pollywog

(Warnings, cursing)

- Byers Family, Bob -

"Have you seen them?" Joyce called as she walked from the living room to the kitchen, the whole house was searching for Joyce's keys, well, most of the house was. "We're looking, Mom." Jonathan sighed.

"Yeah. We're.. we're looking.." Will mumbled, walking over to stand beside his sister, who indeed was not looking and was eating her breakfast. "What? I'm hungry." She muffled, mouth full of food as Will just smiled, taking a bite from her pancake, she lightly shoved him with a pout.

"Ah-ha! Found 'em." Bob announced, walking out from Joyce's room. "Hiding under some jeans, sneaky little buggers." He smiled as he jangled the keys.

"Thank you. Thank you. You're a life saver." Joyce praised as she kissed Bob's cheek. Jonathan scoffed, which did not go unnoticed by literally everyone in the room.

"Can you take the twins to school today?" Joyce asked, turning back to her three kids, ruffling Esther's hair, Esther was quick to fix her hair, seeming as it took her way to long to brush it just for it to be all messed up. "I cannot be late again." She added. "He's staying over now?" Jonathan asked, his tone hushed. "Can you just take the twins? Please?" Joyce ignored him.

"I can take them." Bob offered. "Will you make sure that they both get in okay?" Joyce asked. "Yeah, of course." Bob nodded.

"What do you say, twibilings? Wanna go for a ride in the Bob mobile?" He asked. "Twibilings?" Esther asked. "It just means twins, slang.. I guess." He explained. Will and Esther shared a look, Esther smiled and nodded.

"Alrighty! Let's rock n' roll!" He exclaimed, Esther threw on her jacket and kept her backpack in her hand. "All right. I will see you two after school, alright?" "Mom, we have AV." Will reminded as he flung his backpack over his shoulder. "Right." Joyce nodded. Esther gave her mom a side hug, kissing her cheek before running off to Bob's car.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Was that you I heard milling around last night, or was that a ghost?" Bob asked, breaking the silence that lingered in the car. "Me probably." Will muttered, unamused.

"Another nightmare?" Bob asked. "Um.. no." Will obviously lied. Esther sat in the back seat, right behind Will's seat, listening to the two, but her eyes were out the window. "Did I ever tell you about Mr. Baldo?"

"Mr. Baldo?" Esther and Will asked at the same time. Esther looked over at the man.

"Yeah. I was a little younger than you and Esther, standing in line for the Ferris Wheel at the Roane County fair. And suddenly, I feel this fat white glove tap me on my shoulder. I spin around, and there he is. Mr. Baldo. 'Hey kiddo, would you like a balloon?'" He imitated the clown. Esther slightly chuckled.

"Go ahead, laugh. It's funny. It wasn't funny back then, I can tell you that. I couldn't get him out of my head. Every night, he would come to me in my dreams. And every night when he came to me... I ran. It got so bad that I made my mom stay in the room with me until I could fall asleep every night."

"Really?" Will asked.

"Really."

"It went on like that for months." Bob continued. "And then one day, the nightmares suddenly stopped. Wanna know how?" Bob ushered Will to engage in the conversation.

"How?" Will asked.

"Well, I fell asleep... and just like always, Mr. Baldo came to me. Only this time, I didn't run. This time, I stood my ground. I just looked at Mr. Baldo in his stupid face and I said 'Go away. Go away!" Just like that, he was gone. Never saw him again. Easy-peasy, right?"