☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ don't wanna keep secrets, act two

CHAPTER TWO — the mall rats

✧

I'm standing in an open field with the sun brutally beating down on me. There's nothing in sight, as I turn in circles like a dog chasing its own tail. A figure starts flickering in and out, in front of me, like it's glitching. When it becomes clear, it's the same man from every other dream. He's trying to speak, but nothing is coming out. Feeling a little more comfortable with the current situation, I move towards him. His hands aren't covered in blood this time and he's not holding an organ, thankfully. I get close enough to him, to hear his slight whispers. I'm unable to make any of them out, so I lean forward, allowing my ear to get dangerously close to his face. "Run." I pull away quickly, mentally debating whether or not to listen to him. "Run, Sam. Run." This time his voice comes out loudly and echoes through my head. I do what I'm told and start running, only to wake up in my bed. Son of a bitch. I can't remember a time when I had nightmares, let alone this vivid. And if I were gonna start having them, you'd think that they'd be a little easier to explain; like getting chased by Demo-Dogs or getting trapped in the tunnels or watching those things kill my friends. I don't know. Something more on brand with my living nightmare. And what the hell does 'run' mean? Run from what? Or who? None of it makes any sense. When I check the clock it's five thirty in the morning.

I get out of bed, wearing shorts and a tank top, and toss on some sneakers, deciding to go for a run. I climb out my window, to avoid waking anyone else up, and the second my feet hit the ground, I'm moving, fast. I run about a half a mile, stopping to watch the sunrise. I turn around and shortly into my run back home, something blocks my path, the man from my nightmares is in front of me. I stop short, falling to the concrete, scraping my elbow. "What do you want from me!" I shout at the figure before me. He vanishes and I'm left laying in the middle of the road, wide awake, realizing that my mental state is worse than I thought. My mind is so fractured that my nightmares are affecting my reality. I walk back to my house as quickly as possible, flashes of the man popping up everytime I turn a corner. Back in my room, I sit at my desk, and begin to tap my fingers against the wood almost rhythmically, zoning out. A knock on my door, removes me from my thoughts. "Yeah?" I question. The door swings open, revealing Griffin. Confusion washes over me, as I turn to check the time, which reads; '8:03 am.' Still too early for him to be here. "The fact that you're awake right now is seemingly more confusing than why you're in my house."

"Well, I never went home or to sleep. That's the only reason why I would ever be awake at this ungodly hour." He explains, dramatically. "And I need to talk to you."

"At eight o'clock in the morning, Griff?" I ask, as the boy closes my door behind him, while moving to sit on my bed.

"Yes. It's very important. Now, Jason and Chrissy broke up, so I was considering asking her out. But I don't know, I don't want the drama. You know? So, what should I do?" My brow furrows as he speaks. I cannot believe this is what he deems 'very important.' Actually, I can. He's normal compared to the rest of the people I hang out with. Griffin worries about basic high school bullshit. Meanwhile, the rest of us are reeling from the events that occurred last November. His friendship has been refreshing in one way and exhausting in another.

"Okay, you should ask her out."

"Really?"

"If you're looking for a fling, sure." I start. "I imagine that she and Jason will be back together by the time school starts. If you want something real, then ask literally anyone else out."

"You're right. An easy fling with no attachment because she's in love with Jason." He's thinking out loud. "The perfect situation. Thanks, Sammy."

"Anytime, dweeb." I smile.

"Why do you look...grody?"

"Grody? Screw you." I say. "I just got back from a run, prick."

"I don't want to believe you, but it sounds plausible." He laughs. "Anyways, what are you up to today? Because when I get home I'm gonna sleep the entire day and repeat last night's events."

"I'm going back to Starcourt to hang with Steve. Which is really my only plan."

"Hanging out with the boyfriend, so something new." He speaks sarcastically. "You know, I get the feeling that Harrington doesn't like me."

"Because he doesn't." I state with a slight laugh. "You need sleep and apparently I need to shower and stop looking so grody."

"Yeah, I mean it's just bad." He teases. I shove him back playfully, walking him to the front door.

"I'll see you tomorrow or sometime next week, seeing as you'll be very busy with Chrissy Cunningham." And with that he was off to crash and burn, while I was taking another shower. I got ready pretty quickly, packing a bag for tonight, having breakfast with Max, then taking her to the comic book store. After that I drop her back at home and drive once again to the mall. I enter Scoops and walk straight to the counter. "Hey, Ro. How's business today?"

"Not too bad. Although I would like to take my break eventually." She says her last statement loudly, while moving to look over my right shoulder. I turn to follow her gaze and see Dustin and Steve in a booth together. "Now, I know you two have somehow adopted all of these rugrats, but seriously are there anymore?"

"I had no say in the adoption decision." I state. "And no. There's no more." The two boys are in a deep conversation, so I approach quietly, moving behind the booth. I jump up, grabbing each of their shoulders, and yelling 'boo.' They jump and scold me. "Hey, Dustin. Welcome back. How was camp?" I move around the booth, sliding in beside my boyfriend.

"Awesome. I got a girlfriend." He says proudly. "She's smart and super hot."

"Wow. Who knew science camp was the place to find your soulmate?" I ask rhetorically, looking towards Steve. "The only question I have is, exactly how hot are we talking?"

"Hotter than Phoebe Cates."

"Which is ridiculous because no one is hotter than Phoebe Cates." Steve interjects. I'm so glad he said that because now I can mess with him.

"Really?" I question, turning to look at him. "No one is hotter than her?" Dustin has an 'oh shit' look on his face, while Steve looks like a deer in headlights.

"Oh, well, you know, obviously you are. I just meant that-"

"Relax. I'm messing with you." I confess with a smile. "But the look on your face...priceless." Dustin starts laughing and Steve rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, very funny. Laugh it up, assholes." He scoffs. "Henderson, tell her about the thing."

"Thing?"

"So, last night, The Party and I were trying to get in contact with Suzie..." He starts, glancing around to make sure no one is listening, then leans forward. "I intercepted a secret Russian communication."

"Seriously?"

"How is it that she heard me just fine, but I had to yell for you to understand?" The pair begin to bicker. I snap my fingers in front of their faces, catching their attention and gesturing for Dustin to go on. "We're all going to be heroes. True American heroes."

"Sounds promising...what do you need us for?" I ask.

"Translation. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"And you think either of us do?" Steve looks at the younger boy like he's nuts.

"No, but three pairs of eyes and ears will make it easier." Dustin states, matter-of-factly. Steve and I agree to help him, so I make my way over to the only bookstore in the mall and buy a Russian dictionary, while the pair hang in the back room and play the tape, trying to get a feel for the saying. I return to the ice cream parlor and we proceed to translate. I erase Robin's scoreboard and start writing out the Russian alphabet. Dustin plays the tape again and Steve mentions how the music sounds familiar and the boys begin to argue. "Listen to the Russian! We're translating the Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music-" Steve is cut off, as Robin enters, standing beside me.

"Alright, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there." She commands, then notices her board. "Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds."

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin argues.

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin questions, causing the boys to share a look of shock.

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin looks toward the older boy.

"I don't know." He replies. Robin and I share a disappointed look. Even I heard the pair, as I was making my way back here. They're not quiet nor are they inconspicuous.

"You told her about..." Dustin starts.

"It wasn't me." Steve defends himself.

"Hello, I can hear you. Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet. Sound about right?" Robin speaks. She picks up the tape recorder, which causes Steve to ask what she's doing. "I wanna hear it."

"Why?"

"Cause maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know." She informs.

"Russian?" I ask, sitting down at the table. She says something in another language, but it doesn't sound quite like Russian. The boys get excited, only to get shut down.

"That was Pig Latin, dingus." Robin states. I laugh at the pair's gullibility.

"Idiot." Steve hits Dustin with his banana peel.

"But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." She tries to convince them to let her help, but Steve is still hesitant. "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." The boys finally give in and Steve returns to the front, while the rest of us stay here and try to figure this out. It's been a little while and we nearly have our first sentence done. "Wait, that last part, just one more time."

"Okay, that word. Um...it's pronounced...dly-nna-ya." Robin says.

"Dly-nna-ya..." Dustin and I repeat to ourselves.

"Which is spelled..." I start. Dustin runs to the board.

"The... The chair. The chair-looking thingy." He points out.

"We've got our first sentence." I go out to the front, letting Steve know where we are with this project.

"Oh, seriously?" He turns, approaching me with two ice cream cones in his hands.

"Yeah." I respond. "It's "the week is long."

"Well, that's thrilling." He says, slightly disappointed with the translation.

"I know. But, progress." I huff. I spin around, stopping short after seeing my sister and El standing at the counter. "Uh, hey. I'm not even gonna address the fact that El shouldn't be here, but instead ask what you guys are up to."

"I'm showing El what life is like without boys." Max replies, while El gives me a big smile at her statement.

"Well, in that case. Have fun. Just, be careful." I offer, while returning to the back room and the mission at hand. It's after hours now, everything else in the mall is closed and we've finally finished translating the code.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." The four of us read aloud, simultaneously. We ponder what it could mean, while collecting our things and exiting the parlor.

"I mean, it just...it just can't be right." Steve argues, closing and locking the gate at the front of the shop.

"It's right." Robin states.

"Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin speaks.

"Agreed." I breathe.

"How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense." Steve continues as we all walk towards the exit of the building.

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code." Dustin responds.

"What do you mean, a code?" The older boy asks.

"Like a super secret spy code." He says.

"That's a total stretch." Steve states.

"I don't know, is it?" Robin offers.

"You're buying into this?" He asks, looking towards her.

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, "Fire the warhead at noon"?" I question, looking at him.

"Exactly." Dustin agrees.

"And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so..."The silver cat feeds." Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message?" Robin adds.

"Exactly." Dustin repeats.

"And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" I say.

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion." Robin says.

"Evil Russians." Dustin states.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians." Robin looks back at Steve and I, laughing slightly.

"So how do we crack it?"

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

"A pattern. Right, like maybe "silver cat" is a meeting place?" Dustin asks.

"Or a person." I speak.

"Or a weapon." Dustin offers.

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." She starts, getting interrupted.

"Where's Steve?" I ask, noticing the boy is no longer beside me. We all turn around and see him standing at some childrens ride.

"Hey, Steve. What are you doing?" Robin asks.

"Uh, it's a quarter. I need...do you have a quarter?" Steve shouts. We all jog towards him.

"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin teases, while I search my bag for loose change.

"Quarter!" He shouts. I finally locate one and toss it to him. He places the quarter into the ride and it starts.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin continues to make fun of him, Dustin and I laugh, only to be shushed by the teenage boy crouching next to a kids ride.

"Would you three just shut up and listen?" He asks.

"Holy shit. The music. The music!" Dustin comes to some realization, joining Steve on the ground and pulling out the recording.

"I don't understand." Robin says.

"It's the exact same song on the recording." Dustin states loudly.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin offers.

"Indiana Flyer? I don't...I don't think so." Steve breathes. "This code, it... didn't come from Russia..."

"It came from here." I finish. The four of us stare in astonishment at the machine. "I know that we need to figure out what this means, but it can wait until tomorrow right?"

"She's right. We've been working and running around all day, we deserve some sort of peace for at least a few hours." Robin agrees, the two of us starting to walk towards the doors. The boys follow hesitantly, while continuing to discuss the fact that evil Russians are in Hawkins.

"So, I'm gonna drop them off and then I'll meet you back at the house. The spare key is-"

"Under the mat. I know." I cut him off. I say goodbye to Dustin and Robin, while feeling a small sense of deja vu from the night prior and getting in my car. I drive to Harrington house rather quickly, unlocking the door, and returning the key to its rightful place, before entering. I go upstairs, heading into Steve's room, and changing into a pair of pajama pants and an old t-shirt. I find myself under the covers and reading the book I started a while ago, but quickly falling asleep. Not too long after, I feel a pair of lips attach to my forehead, before the bed dips beside me and the darkness gets darker.

[word count: 2776]

lexi's letters; the scoops troop solos