Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Nancy Wheeler. Elizabeth Henderson's best friend. Until 12:37 this afternoon when she admitted that she lied about not knowing anything about Barb's whereabouts.
Now, Nancy Wheeler was dead to Elizabeth. And her mind was set on taking it off the whole situation with a long, long drive.
Beth's car purred as it started up, a cigarette hanging between her shiny lips. "Oh my god." Beth whispered to herself as she recalled the day's troubles.
But, despite all the things she goes through, she still had to take care of Dustin, her first priority. He has been since he was born, especially since Will Byers went missing last year,. The so called 'Zombie Boy' was also one of Dustin's best friends and after Will came up found, Beth insisted on driving him everywhere and caring for him intensely.
Beth inhaled one last puff left in her cigarette as she parked in front of the middle school, tossing the bud out of her open window.
Beth honked twice to let Dustin know she was here and ready to pick him up, lighting her lighter mindlessly as she waited for his curly locks to pop up in her side mirror.
"Beth!" she heard, followed by heavy breaths. "Dammit, Beth!" Dustin's voice shrieked from behind her Mustang.
She rushed out of the car and sprinted towards Dustin's voice, pulling him into a huge, protective hold as he ran into her. His heavy breathing began to silence as he began squirming in her hug. "Dustin!" she cried, pushing him to arms length. "What the hell is wrong??"
He smiled, showing off his new pearly white teeth to his big sister happily. His purple sweatshirt hung comfortably on his small figure, his curls bouncing as he excitedly danced around a confused Beth. "You will never believe what happened at school today!" he smiled in a sing-song voice.
Beth scoffed and ripped the hat from his head, pulling it over her own and plopping her arm around his shoulders. "What, Dusty?"
Dustin giggled, running around to his reserved seat in the Mustang and sighed happily. "A really cute new girl showed up in Mr. Clarke's class today and someone beat our high score on 'Dig Dug' and we think it's the same person!"
Beth laughed, closing her door and beginning her drive to the arcade, as Dustin requested. "Does this cute new girl have a name?" She smirked, upping her speed and lowering the volume of her heavy music.
Dustin smacked his knee and shook his head lightly. "Max." he chirped.
Beth nodded in approval, happy it wasn't a name like Jenny or Carol. Those are popular, stuck up names. Max was cool, unique. "Max, huh?" Beth smiled, pushing a fresh cigarette between her lips and handing the lighter to Dustin, letting him put the dancing orange flame to her cigarette while she drove.
"Thanks," she mumbled, rolling down the windows to let some of the smoke out. "So, you think this Max girl is the same one whose got you beat, yeah?" she asked, switching her gaze from the road to Dustin every few seconds.
Clouds of smoke trailed from the cancerous nicotine stick hanging from Beth's lips as she inhaled and exhaled the toxins every now and then.
"Yeah, yeah, right. However," Dustin inquired, sticking his pointer finger up in the air. "Mike is very unhappy about us being so, I dunno, focused on her. He's acting like we're all in love with her and it's crazy!" He roared. "It's total crap, Beth, I'm telling you. We're just curious and he's acting like a total jerk. I mean, seriously, what girl plays video games, much less gets 750,000 points on 'Dig Dug' with the name Max?" He yelled, shaking his head angrily. "He's acting like we're obsessed, which we are not. We're just-"
"Curious." Beth finished, allowing Dustin to catch his breath and calm down a bit after his angry rant. "I get it, Dustin." she soothed, tossing the burnt out bud of her cigarette out the window and rolling them back up. "I mean, she sounds really cool just from your description, and hey, what boys aren't gonna pay attention to the new girl?Don't let him ruin your curiosity. You're fine, just the way you are. Your curiosity is part of what makes you special. So, screw Mike." she patted his shoulder, pulling into the arcade and parking her car.
Beth grabbed his shoulders and put his hat back on his head with a smile. "Be curious."
•
Three hours and seven cigarettes later, Beth was halfway across town and deep in her thoughts of Nancy and Barb and the night she went missing.
"It makes no sense!" Beth yelled, slamming her fist down on the leather steering wheel. Her speed was now over ninety and she was far into the wild and very long string of back roads that were used just about as often as hell froze over.
"Barb goes missing the night that she's with Nancy and her boy toy and his friends. She's taken and Nancy lies about it, but she doesn't tell the police or anyone at all. It's bull." As Beth relentlessly tries to unfold the given situation she takes her eyes off the road in a deep concentration.
Seconds after her focus is lost, she pulls her heavy eyes back to the dirt roads only to see a deer stood right in her path. She was going far too fast to stop, so she yelped and slammed both feet on her brakes, trying to get her car to stop. But it didn't stop quick enough.
The deer's body slammed into Beth's front bumper, the pressure of the large dead animal causing Beth to take a sharp right turn.
Her cars wheels spun her ruthlessly in circles, soon landing her right into a tree.
