Caught Up (Steve Harrington- Stranger Things)

Part 27

Three days have gone by and I've had no contact with Steve. We were done. Whatever we had was over, I thought.

My days have been average and quiet. I like it this way.

I walked to school and watched Steve's car pass me on the street. It didn't phase me all that much. A morning walk is refreshing.

Once I got to school, I sat in my class in the seat behind Nancy. She entered the room after me. When I looked at her, her expression was nervous and stressed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Mike. He woke up, but he doesn't speak or move. Something's wrong." She broke into tears.

Jonathan sat in the desk beside her. "He's unresponsive." He added.

I felt awful for her. She was visibly so torn up about her brother. "I can help." I stated.

———————
I needed a car. My plan was to drive up to the lab, hopefully finding clues in the room that we found Mike in.

I asked my mom if I could borrow her car, but that was a no. I couldn't tell her where I was going or why.

To problem solve, I walked to Jonathan's house. He had a car. I knocked on the front door and a woman opened it. Her hair was medium length and brown.

"Hi, I'm Kristen. Is Jonathan around?"

"Sure, yeah. Come on in, it's cold out there." She sweetly greeted.

I put my hands in my pockets and stepped inside. "I'm Joyce, Jonathan's mom." She introduced.

"Nice to meet you." I smiled.

Jonathan entered the room and was surprised to see me.

"Kristen, hey."

"Hi, can you help me with something?" I vaguely asked. His mother appeared concerned. "It's for class." I added.

He nodded and led me to the kitchen, where we sat at a round kitchen table.
Joyce excused herself to check on her younger son, Will.

"What's goin on?" Jonathan whispered.

"I need a car. I have to get to the lab." I whispered back.

"It's Mike, isn't it?" A small boy walked into the room, overhearing our conversation.

"Hey, buddy," Jonathan softly greeted. Will walked up to the table and stood beside his older brother. Joyce joined us as well.

"Don't worry. We're going to figure this out." Jonathan assured him.

"What's going on?" Joyce asked.

"Kristen and I need to go to the lab. Mike's sick or something." He explained.

"Oh..." She answered.

Jonathan stood up and grabbed his keys. I waved goodbye to Will and Joyce, and I followed Jonathan out to his car.

———————-
Jonathan parked the car and we walked into the lab with our heads down. Men in lab coats walked through the halls, but didn't give us much attention. They were all discussing something, I couldn't hear what.

"Where did you find him?" Jonathan whispered, wondering which hallway I was leading him too.

"Down here," I turned the familiar corner and rushed to the room that we found Mike in. Jonathan followed close behind.

I pushed open the door and we began rummaging through drawers, desperately trying to find any clues. The drawers each contained different things. I didn't bother investigating each item, I just threw as much as I could in my bag. There were injections and medicines and papers.

Jonathan tapped my shoulder. "Look," he said in amazement, holding a folder.

I took the manila folder into my hands and opened it. A packet of pages was held together with a paperclip. A photo taken of Mike was clipped to the front. It looked as if it were a mug shot, he looked miserable.

Before reading further, I stuffed it in my bag. "We need to get out of here." I demanded.