𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿.

iv. - the girl

THE HAWKINS CASE !

THE WEIRDO ON MAPLE STREET
FOUR — THE GIRL

                                          The girl was so small and fragile looking. Lucy couldn't help but get a weird feeling from her. Not a bad weird feeling, but she felt as if she already knew this girl. That was weird, cause she was positive she's never met this girl before. "Is there a number we can call for your parents?" "Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" "Did you run away?" "Are you in some kind of trouble?" "Is that blood?"

"Okay, guys! Let her breathe, you're all freaking her out!" Lucy told them. "She's freaking me out!" Lucas said back to her. "I bet she's deaf," Dustin said before clapping his hands together making the girl jump. "Not deaf." Slapping Dustin in the shoulder Lucy groaned. "My god guys. She's clearly scared and cold! Don't overwhelm her."

In reply to his friend's words, Mike headed over to the laundry basket that sat on the dryer. Pulling out a sweater and sweat pants before returning to the group. Holding them out for the girl to take. "Here, these are clean. Okay?"

The girl carefully took the clothes from Mike. Rubbing them gently against her cheek before pushing Mike's jacket off of her. She then stood up from the couch, leaning over and grabbing the hem of her shirt. As she began to pull it up the four kids shouted in panic, startling her.

Lucy held her hands out in front of her. Stopping the girl from taking off her shirt. "No, not here. You can go change in the bathroom. Over there." The girl glanced over to the boys before looking back at Lucy, nodding lightly. Lucy lead her over to the bathroom letting her walk in and shutting the door.

Just before the door could close fully the girl's hand came up to stop her. "Do you not want it closed?" "No." Lucy's eyebrows raised at the sound of her voice. "So you can speak? Hmm. well, what if we left it like this?" She asked pulling the door to a crack. "Is this okay?" "Yes."

Giving the girl a small smile she turned to head back to her friends. Giving her privacy to change. "This is mental," Dustin said. "Well, she can speak. That's good." Lucy told them. "She said 'no' and 'yes'. Mike's three-year-old sister says more." Lucas pointed out.

"She tried to get naked." "Somethings seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head." "She just went like..." Dustin said mimicking taking off his shirt, knocking his hat off in the process. "I bet she escaped from Pennhurst," Lucas said. "From where?" Mike asked him. "The nuthouse in Kerley County." "You got a lot of family there?" Dustin teased.

"Bite me." Lucas told him "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy." "Why she went like..." "She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho." Lucas stated. "Like Michael Myers," Dustin said. "Exactly! We should've never brought her here."

"So we were supposed to just leave her out in that storm? Alone?" Lucy asked. "Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem." Lucas nodded. "I think we should tell your mom," Dustin said looking at Mike. "I second that." "That's a stupid idea." Lucy simply told them both.

"How is that stupid?" "We aren't supposed to be out, remember?" "So?" "Oh my god," Lucy groaned. "If we tell Mike's mom and she tells your mom, Dustin's mom, and my dad... what do you think will happen?"

"Oh, man," Dustin said. "Our houses become Alcatraz." "Bingo! And how will we find Will that way?" "All right, here's the plan," Mike spoke up. "She sleeps here tonight." "You're letting a girl--" "Just listen!" Mike said cutting Dustin off. "In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door, and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will."

Lucy watched Lucas and Dustin as they walked up the basement stairs. Lucy didn't really want to leave, she wanted to stay here and she didn't really know why. Turning to Mike she watched as he placed a few extra pillows and blankets into the fort made for the girl to sleep in. Lucy made her way over to the two of them, watching as the girl settled herself into the fort.

"Hey, um, I never asked your name," Mike pointed out. The girl glanced at Mike before grabbing her sleeve and pulling it up. Revealing a familiar 011 tattoo. "Is that real?" Mike asked reaching out to touch her. Jumping away from him she grabbed onto her own arm. "Sorry, I've just... never seen a kid with a tattoo before. What's it mean? Eleven?"

The girl well, Eleven, pointed to herself. Silently telling them both that it was her name. "So your name's Eleven. That's a pretty cool name." Lucy complimented. "To get introductions out of the way he's Michael, though we only really call him Mike. And I'm Lucy, you can call me whatever you want."

"Maybe we can call you 'El.' Short for Eleven." Mike offered. Eleven nodded in agreement. "Okay. Uh, well... goodnight El." Lucy said standing up from the floor. Mike stood up as well, reaching over to grab the blanket and close off the fort. Just before he could though El spoke up. "Goodnight Lucy."

Turning around Lucy followed Mike over to the staircase her lips pressed together hard. "Hey, Mike." Lucy lowly said tapping him on the shoulder. "Yes?" He asked turning around to face her the two of them standing at the top of the staircase. "Do you think I could spend the night here?"

Mike looked at her confused. It wasn't the weirdest question, Lucy very often spent the night at Mike's house. Just this time it was a little weird seeing as there was a girl sleeping in the basement that could possibly be mental. "It's just that my dad is out on a business trip and Melanie has to comfort one of her friends and I don't want to spend the night alone in my house," Lucy explained.

Well, that was half of the truth. Lucy also just really wanted to spend some more time with Eleven. She was so interesting to Lucy and she couldn't get her mind off of her. She didn't want to seem weird though and give him the wrong impression. A white lie wouldn't kill anyone. "Sure. I guess you could."

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 — 1123