Quick Money [Steve Harrington]

Two

Why Is She Bald?

When Corey arrived at Mike's house, she was greeted by Mike who was standing outside.

"Mike, what is this about?" Corey asked. It was getting pretty late and she could have been home studying right now.

"What I'm about to show you is... something else. You got to promise you won't tell anyone" Mike insisted.

Corey sighed, "Promise, now show me". The two entered the house together and went to Mike's basement. Down there was Lucas and Dustin also. "What's going on guys?".

Just before anyone could say anything the bathroom door opened. Corey turned to see a girl. She was about the boys' age and had a shaved head. She wore an oversized shirt and sweatpants. Corey has never seen her before. "Who the hell is this?".

Mike walked over to the girl, "This is Eleven. El for short".

Corey couldn't believe her eyes. Where did this girl even come from? "We have to call someone. The police maybe".

"I agree" Lucas interjected.

"No!" Mike argued, "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone".

"That was before I knew you had some stranger in your basement" Corey retorted.

Mike shook his head, "Don't call anyone. It's not what it seems".

Corey ran a hand through her brown hair, "Can someone explain to me what is going on?".

"Mike thought it was-"
"We were looking for-"
"We were in the forest and-"

"One at a time!" Corey exclaimed as the three boys were trying to talk over each other.

"Okay", Mike stated, "We went out to Mirkwood-"

"What is Mirkwood?" Corey questioned, cutting Mike off.

"It's a road that we named," Lucas told the girl.

Mike started up again once they were quiet, "Right, it's a road. So we were there looking for Will and instead, we found her. It was raining and she was soaking wet so I had to bring her back here".

Corey nodded slowly. She understood why he felt the need to bring her back. She must have been freezing. If he left the girl out there she could have got sick or was put in danger. After thinking about what Mike said, she realized something. "Wait, did you say you were looking for Will? Why were you looking for Will at night in the forest while it's raining".

"Because he's missing".

Corey felt like the air in her lungs suddenly vanished. Did he just say Will is missing? "What- what do you mean Will is missing? He was just in this basement two days ago playing D&D with you guys. How could he be missing?".

Corey had grown close to all the boys through babysitting Mike and Will felt like the little brother she never had.

"He didn't come to school yesterday," Dustin said.

"And then Chief Hopper came to school to question us. Turns out he never went home" Lucas added.

Corey took a seat on the couch. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.