𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 | stranger things

nine

Life for Lauren Wheeler had pretty much gone back to normal – at least as normal as it could be for a 12 year old junior in high school. If it weren't for her best friend, Robin Buckley, she was sure that she would've been eaten alive by now.

Which was funny considering that she almost was eaten alive nearly a year ago by a creature from another dimension called a demogorgon.

Wren was laying on her stomach as she played with her tabby cat, Kiwi, on her bed. He was a gift to her from Robin last Christmas. Her mother wasn't thrilled about the idea of her having a pet at first, but after Wren wrote her a five page essay – front and back – explaining why she would be a responsible owner, she agreed to let her keep him.

Wren groaned softly at the sharp pain that hit her abdomen. She'd assumed she'd just eaten something that gave her an upset stomach, so she spent the afternoon in bed with Kiwi. He had laid down in her lap for a while, purring, when she was reading, and that had helped relieve the uncomfort a bit, but now that he was up and running around, it had come back.

Deciding she'd had enough of taking the pain like a big girl, she stood up from her bed to go downstairs and see if her mom had anything that might help.

That was when she saw the blood.

"Oh, no." She grabbed her jacket and tied it around her waist to cover it up. She took the money from her allowance out of her piggy bank and grabbed the walkie-talkie sitting on her desk. She ran downstairs and out to the garage, quickly hopping on her bike. She clicked the button on the walkie-talkie so that she could speak into it. "Robin, this is Wren. I'm having a female emergency. Do you copy?"

She'd taken a note out of Mike's book and gotten walkie-talkie's so that she could communicate with her friend. She pedaled down the street, anxiously waiting for Robin's response.

Out of all the things she should've been prepared for, she was internally kicking herself for not being prepared for this.

"This is Robin, I copy. Where are you? Over." Robin's voice came out.

"I'm on my way to Melvald's General Store. Over."

"Melvald's General Store, copy that. I'll meet you there and tell you everything you need to know. Over and out."

Five minutes later, Wren walked into the general store with Robin. Joyce Byers greeted them with a warm smile and asked if there was anything that she could help them with. Wren, who was embarrassed to talk about something like this with a woman she didn't know that well, replied that she already knew what she needed.

"You're gonna want pain medicine and chocolate, too." Robin said as Wren took a box of pads off the shelf.

"Chocolate?" Wren frowned.

"Specifically dark chocolate. Trust me, if you don't get it now, you'll just be craving it later, and then you'll have to come back, but you won't have the energy for that, so it'll consume your every thought until you finally force yourself to move so you can buy it and satisfy that craving."

Robin followed Wren to the candy aisle. "I'm glad you came to me. I never had an older sister to go to when I got my first period, so I'm happy that I can be that for you. I'm just curious, though, as to why you didn't go to Nancy first."

"I don't tell my sister anything. We were close for maybe a minute, but that was over pretty quickly."

Wren went over to Mrs. Byers so that she could check them out. Her cheeks turned red as the woman scanned the items, but she reassured her that she had nothing to be embarrassed about. This made Wren feel a little better as she handed her the money to pay.