R I C K I E

A BANG AT THE DOOR made Rickie jump. The bang was quiet, barely audible over Rickie's music but it was enough to make the boy tumble off of his bed. He didn't even need to check to know who was at the door, "Go away, Mackenzie!" He yelled. His older sister always finds something new to nag about.

Another bang at the door, this one louder and followed by two more.

"Rickie! Open this door right now or I'll throw all of your tapes in the trash!" She yelled. Rickie knew she wouldn't, Rickie had spent the last four years building his tape collection, most of which Mackenzie had gifted to him on birthdays and Christmas's, but the threat was enough to make him open the door.

"What?" He asked, the music still raging in the background. She glared at his cassette player. Rickie rolled his eyes, walked over to the device and press paused. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you're the boss of me."

"That's exactly what it means," Rickie rolled his eyes and swung the door shut. Before it could close, Mackenzie wedges her foot in-between the frame, "It's your turn to take the trash out."

"No way! I did it yesterday, it's your turn!"

"I made dinner, Rick! You can take the bins out." He sighed, that was fair but he didn't understand why Allie couldn't take the trash out instead but then again if Mackenzie asked Allie to do anything, a tantrum would transpire.

"Fine."

A smile formed on Mackenzie's face, making Rickie automatically want to take back what he had said, she was proud of herself for getting her way. "Thank you." She removed her foot from the doorway, "Keep your music down, Allie's going to sleep soon."

Rickie rolled his eyes before closing his bedroom door. Mackenzie always gets what she wants, she's only sixteen months older than him but she acts as if she's an adult and him's a child. What annoys him the most about Mackenzie is that it isn't her fault, she didn't choose to be the responsible one that role just fell upon her. He sat back down on his bed, not even bothering to turn on his music because any volume would be too loud.

Rickie grabbed his walkie-talkie from his bedside table, "Owen, you there?" He asked but no response. "Owen?"

"What do you want?"

"Kenzie is making me put the bins out, want to come?" Rickie crossed his fingers, he impatiently played with the flashlight he kept beside his bed.

"Rickie, you're twelve, you can't still be afraid of the dark."

"Please."

"Fine."

Rickie grinned. He jumped off of his bed, grabbing his flashlight and walkie-talkie. He walked out of his room and into the rest of his home. The Austins live in a small two bedroom house, Mackenzie and Allie share a room, while Rickie gets a room to himself, his father sleeps on the couch and his mother doesn't sleep here, at least not enough to need a room. He knocked on the girls room as he passed, "If it takes me ten minutes or more I'm probably dead."

Rickie didn't need to see Mackenzie to know she had rolled her eyes, he poked out his tongue before grabbing the bag of trash, he opened the front door and stiffened, "Owen, you still there?"

"Right here, scaredy cat." Despite the insult, Rickie felt a lot more comfortable knowing that Owen was right there if something happened. "Why are you so scared of the dark? I've seen you do way scarier things!"

"Really? Like what?"

"Like the time you stood up to Troy and James."

Rickie stepped out of the house, he turned on his flashlight, and with a deep breath, he closed the door behind him. His grip on the walkie-talkie tightened, "You stand up to Troy and James all the time."

"Yeah, but that's me, I'm not afraid of anything."

Rickie chuckled, "Bull! I saw the way you reacted to Mrs Chuckpot's mouse."

"That's-"

Static came from the walkie-talkie.

"~pretty sure that was a rat, no mouse is that ugly."

The flashlight flickered on and off, Rickie felt his heart drop into his stomach, "Owen, my light is flickering! I-" his light flickered one last time before staying on. He felt his heart race a million miles per hour, his hands shaking but his finger still on the button.

Rickie breathed in and out, trying to regain his strength but then his saw something odd.

His neighbour, Will Byers riding on his bike, continuously looking behind himself as if someone was chasing him. Rickie wanted to call Will's name, to ask if he was okay but he was still so shaken up that he couldn't form the words. Rickie watched as Will jumped off his bike and ran into his home.

Rickie just stood there, he didn't finally regain his nerves until about a minute later. He should check on Will, see what that was about. Rickie ran towards the house, "Will!" He called as he knocked on the front door but no response. "Will! Are you okay?" Rickie tried opening the front door, Joyce usually leaves the front door open but it was locked, Will must of done it.

Rickie started walking around the back, he felt guilt raise within himself, if something had happened to his neighbour, it would've been his fault, if he wasn't such a scaredy-cat, spooked by a flickering flashlight. Rickie went to knock on the back door when he realised it had been left open.

Rickie looked around the yard when he spotted the light on in the shed, when he looked in the window there Will was. Will with shaky hands was holding a gun, aiming it at the entrance of the shed. "Will! Will, over here!" Rickie pleaded to get the boy's attention but no response, it was as if Rickie wasn't even speaking at all.

Rickie's flashlight started flashing again, "Shit, shit, shit," he began to cry, this is it, this is how he dies, he kept thinking. His flashlight stopped flashing, the light completely dissolving. Rickie dropped the flashlight, "Will!"

Rickie looked back in the shed but Will was gone and in his place a shadow, the light in the shed was off so he couldn't get a good look at the thing but he knew it wasn't human. He wanted to yell, cry, run off but he stayed there staring at the shadow.

"Rick! What are you doing?" Mackenzie's voice made him turn around. Behind him, Mackenzie and Allie stood.

"G— Go!" Was all he could say. "We need to get out of here," he grabbed his flashlight and raced ahead. "Come on, let's go."

Mackenzie and Allie glanced at each other, Rickie started leaving, he wanted to get him and his sisters out of there before whatever happened to Will happens to them.

"Rick, are you okay? You're shaking?"

"I'm fine, let's go."

Rickie turned back to the shed, his flashlight suddenly working again. The powerful light shined on the small four wall room, the creature was gone and he knew that wherever it went, it took Will with it.