❝ you walk hand in hand with the
omen of death, don't you, harrington?
but, somehow, you're the only one
i can't run away from. ❞
→ 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 she claims to hate him, but fate decided to prove her wrong.
or two teens who think they're nothi...
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THREE MORE KNOCKS IN A ROW ON THE WHITE FRONT DOOR. It wouldn't be long before her knuckles started to hurt. And it wouldn't be long before Rory Hargrove went into feral mode and broke the door down, either.
But fortunately, her persistence paid off once again, and the door opened with an unpleasant creak, revealing the thin, pale man with a thick black mustache and slicked-back hair she was looking for.
He blinked several times. His demeanor showed that he was already awake but not mentally prepared to face the outside world.
"Rory, it's—"
"Seven thirty-seven in the morning, Mr. Clarke. It's not that early. The sun's already up." She lifted an arm over her shoulder and pointed at the sky, clearing into shades of orange and purple. "But I only have forty hours left in Hawkins, and you, my friend, are second visit on my list, so you should feel honored." She gave him two polite pats on the shoulder. "So, may I come in?"
She flashed a sweet, angelic smile and took a step forward, as if she had already received permission to convince him to help her.
Scott Clarke merely pressed his lips together beneath his mustache, letting out a long sigh through his nose, and stepped aside to make room for her to enter.
"We have fifty-three minutes until your first class of the day. There's plenty of time for you to give me a brief explanation." Her voice left no room for negotiation as her boots clicked over the immaculate hardwood floor toward the dining table. "Did you manage to find the documents I asked you for?" she asked over her shoulder as she dumped the contents of her bag onto the table.
It wasn't the first time that year Aurora Hargrove had shown up at his door looking for answers and dragging him into a risky investigative adventure about the secrets of Hawkins. She was far too persuasive and provocative. Even Scott himself felt compelled to dig deeper into everything Rory had told him the previous summer—some of it kept him up at night.
"Yes, let's say I found quite a bit of relevant information. I think we have the last pieces of the puzzle." He opened a cabinet and pulled out a black cardboard box that looked intimidating just by its appearance.
She rubbed her hands together excitedly after slipping out of her long gray coat. "Perfect! I knew I could count on you. You never let me down."
"Well," he cleared his throat, sat down, and began spreading the documents across the table. "I've been doing a deeper dive into Agent Orange, as you asked, and there's something you need to know... Its highly mutagenic dioxin isn't just a poison that damages cells and genes. In most people, it causes cancer and birth defects. But in extremely rare cases—truly rare—it unlocks genes that normally remain silent, genes that evolution left dormant. And that possibility was studied by the lab here in Hawkins."
