brutal ━ mike wheeler

ten. falling into place

TEN━━━━
FALLING INTO PLACE

stranger things;
season 4    ep 5

FRANKIE SAT IN THE back of Argyle's van as the others finished covering up the shallow grave they had dug out. They had all agreed that the man had at least deserved a burial for his sacrifice. But to be honest, she couldn't even bring herself to look up at the grave they had dug. She could only keep her hands clasped together to the point where he knuckles were turning white, her eyes screwed shut.

Her face felt numb, and her hands even more. She wanted to scream and cry and break things, but she knew that wouldn't end well. She just kept her eyes closed. She kept running everything over in her mind. El had been taken away from them, the Byers' house got shot up, and then the agent that was supposed to protect them bled out and died right in front of them. She couldn't help but wonder if she could've done something more.

Why is it that she came to California to spend time with El, only to find out that her friends in Hawkins are in imminent danger, El had gone somewhere to try and help them, and she had witnessed a guy bleeding to death in the back of a pizza van while getting chased by the government.

She was tired, and selfishly wishing she wasn't involved with this at all. She wasn't even supposed to be.

It all had only happened because she had just so happened to bump into Adrian that day that she was secretly helping her dad out with his shop in the mall.

If that hadn't happened then she wouldn't be stuck dealing with this bullshit.

She kept thinking back to the pen that the man had given them, and how they had all found out that it doesn't even work. She didn't understand why. He was insistent on giving them the pen, so why would he be if he knew it didn't work? It made no sense to her.

This was the point in time where she wishes Mike or Dustin were here. Even Adrian. Sometimes he had insanely stupid ideas that actually turned out to be spot on. She smiled sadly as she thought about them, hoping that they were all okay.

She listened to the boys argue as she tried to think about it. Argyle freaking out in the background while Jonathan and Will tried to get him to calm down. ". . . Why didn't he just say the number. . ?" She mumbled to herself as she watched Argyle walk back to the van, rummaging through his belongings.

She already knew what he was doing, and whatever she smelt a second later confirmed it. She rolls her eyes and moved a little farther away, resting her head on the palm of her hand.

She finally looked up to where the boys were digging the grave, and and suddenly that was the only thing keeping her sane, reminding her that this was all real and that she needed to get a grasp of the whole situation if she wanted to find El.

She took a deep breath as she looked at the pen that had been discarded in the back of the van. With curious hands, she grabbed it, bringing it up to her face to inspect it.

She pushed it down and tried to write on her hand with it, but nothing happened, just as she expected. She pursed her lips and started to twist the pen, wanting to see if the ink had actually run out or if it was just faulty. She knows that sometimes pens just need to be taken apart and fiddled with before they could work.