Crush Culture [M.Wheeler]

[28] WORRIED ABOUT WILL

"Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike shouts the next morning as Lucas rummages through the trash for Dart. "This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?" Max comments.

Suddenly, Dustin walks out from around the corner, having heard them. "What the hell's going on?" He questions. "What do you think? We're looking for Dart." Mike explains.

Soon after, Lucas throws the trash bags up, hitting the floor and exploding out, all the trash spilling. Nori jumps back, sticking behind Mike so she wouldn't get dirty.

"Jesus!" Dustin exclaims. "Oh!" Max gags at the stench. Lucas jumps out, landing gracefully on his feet. "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient." Lucas crosses his arms in disbelief.

"You stink." Max says, causing Nori to let out a snort as the girl walks to stand beside Dustin. "Hi, Max." He smiles brightly to the girl.

"Hi." She says in a confused tone. "Where's Will?" Dustin asks as his smile drops. "He'll be here. Right, Nori?" Mike grins down to the girl beside him. She looks up into his eyes, then sighs. "Yeah, right." She nods.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Lucas speaks up, handing Dustin a stick so they could look through the trash. "Or are you gonna help?"

They begin to poke at it, kicking it, hoping for anything. When a cockroach comes out, Nori panics, flinging it away with her stick, causing it hit Dustin and fall back down onto the pavement.

"Tiny, What the hell?!" He yells. "Sorry! I— I panicked, okay?" She defends.

***

"All living things from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger." Mr. Clarke says to the class.

"Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defense mechanism" he continues, though Nori wasn't quite listening.

She had noticed that Will's seat was still empty beside Mike's. She could tell Mike was worried too, as every few moments he would glance down at it. "We're very much the same. When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding." The man tells.

"Our palms start to sweat. These are the signs of a physical and emotional state we call...fear."

***

"Mike, he's not here what are we supposed to do?" Nori says stressfully as Mike hangs up the school phone once again after not being able to reach the Byers. "They're not answering." He sighs.

"Then— call again." She responds, but Mike shakes his head no. "I've called four times already, Nori. They're not gonna answer for the fifth." He says softly.

"Look, maybe he's just taking a day off, we can go stop by after school." He suggests, taking her hand in his, though her hand was sweaty from the stress. "You promised me he'd be okay, I knew I shouldn't have believed you because that's not a promise you can just keep. And I know it's not your fault but— I just had hope, Mike." She lets out a shaky breath.

Mike purses his lips anxiously, then nods. "Come on. Let's go. The others are waiting." He says, pulling her back to the party.

"Anything?" Lucas asks. "We need to talk. AV room. Right now." Mike states. When Max goes to follow, Mike stops her. "Party members only."

"Mike.." Nori attempts to reason with him. "No! This is non-negotiable." He refuses, then pulls her inside before she could even apologize to the girl.

They walk into the AV room, then close the door, gathered around the table where Mike sat. "Will didn't want me to tell anyone, but on Halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky." Mike begins.

"Is that why he freaked out and ran away?" Nori asks. "Yeah." He nods. "A shadow?" Lucas questions, confused. "What kind of shadow?"

"I don't know. But it scared him. And if Will really has True Sight...." Mike trails off. "I mean, if he can really see into the Upside Down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday."

"So that's why he was frozen like that?" Dustin chimes in. "Maybe." Mike nods. "Can it hurt him?" Lucas asks as Nori stressfully leans her head on her palm.

"I mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world.." Lucas theorizes. "I'm not sure. Dustin?" Mike looks to the boy. "Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him." He concludes.

"But that's theoretical. It doesn't mean we know anything about this. I mean— we're not scientists. Even Mr. Clarke wouldn't understand this." Nori speaks up in a stressed manner. Man, was she really worried about her friend.

"I agree. This isn't D&D. This is real life." Mike says. "So what do we do?" Lucas inquires. "We acquire more knowledge. I'll go to Will's after school. See what's going on." Mike offers.

"Can I come? I really want to see how he's doing." Nori requests, earning a nod. "Yeah, sure. Nori and I will go." Mike corrects himself.

"You guys stay here and find Dart." Mike instructs the other two. "Dart? What's he gotta do with this?" Dustin furrows his eyebrows. "Will heard him in the Upside Down. I don't know how yet, but he's gotta he connected to all this. He's gotta be." Mike explains.

"If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will."