The basketball spun on Valeria's fingertips as they waited for Birdie's decision, the bright orange a blur in the darkening night.

"My dad is going to kill me if he finds out but let's go look for Will," Birdie answered with a nod of her head, cementing her decision. The stress of the scout coming on Friday still loomed over her, threatening to suffocate her at a moment's notice, but she forced herself to ignore it. Whatever water Birdie was in, Will was out deeper. She could drown later.

"I'm all in, you know that," Morgan replied. "But where do we even start?"

The snapping of Valeria's fingers turned their attention towards her. "I babysat Dustin on Friday night and he told me that they had a Dungeons & Dragons campaign on Sunday at the Wheeler's," she answered, her eyes lighting up as she remembered. "That was probably the last place he was seen."

Birdie nodded her head along, following Valeria's train of thought. "So Will probably got lost somewhere between the Wheeler's and his house..."

"He takes...shit, what did Dustin call it?" Valeria began, stopping halfway when she got stuck. "God, that kid talks so much, we're lucky I listen half the time. Muck--no, Murkywood? Some Lord of the Rings name."

"Mirkwood," Morgan corrected her. "And technically it's from The Hobbit."

"Where is that?" Birdie asked before Valeria could start a lengthy argument with Morgan about what life choices had led to Morgan acquiring that knowledge.

"It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet," Valeria answered. Antsy from the mounting excitement of it all, she once more spun the basketball on her fingertips.

Birdie grabbed the basketball from Valeria's grip before it could complete a rotation, the slap of her hands on the leather echoing in their ears. "So we'll start there."

It was a short ride in Valeria's saturn gold 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass, a car that had been the pride and joy of her father's life for the short six months he owned it before he went to prison. It sat under a tarp, gathering dust, until Valeria's sixteenth birthday when she decided that it shouldn't have to suffer the same fate as her father, locked away in the dank cell that was the garage, and claimed it as her own. She immediately drove it to the prison where she showed her father the keys and both her middle fingers.

They had opted to take it over Birdie's more modest 1978 Ford Fairmont, the dark jade paint chipping around the wheel wells from rust and the left mirror hanging on by duct tape and a prayer. Morgan, who was not yet sixteen, had no stake in the argument because three people could not fit on her cherry red bicycle, even if one of them managed to fit into the wire basket strapped to the handlebars.

"Look, police tape!" Morgan pointed out as they turned onto Mirkwood, the beam of the car's headlights illuminating the bright yellow tape that was wrapped around the trees.

Valeria parked the car along the curb, only a short distance from three bicycles discretely hidden in the brush. Clicking on the flashlights that Birdie had grabbed from the garage, they began their search, ignoring the police tape as they crossed over it and the cool breeze that taunted coming rainfall.

"Looks like the search party has already been here," Valeria announced, her eyes tracing the many trails of footprints stamped into the dirt.

"We'll go where they didn't, then," Birdie replied, her flashlight cutting through the trees and creating shadows that sent shudders down her spine.

"There's less footprints over this way," Morgan called out and Birdie and Valeria hurried over to meet her.

"Do these footprints look smaller than the others?" Valeria asked as she studied the footprints at their feet, the beam of her flashlight shaking from her shivers. They hadn't been there long and yet the temperature already felt like it had dropped ten degrees.

"Yeah..." Birdie agreed, bending down to look more closely. "Almost like a kid's footprints..."

"Will's?" Morgan asked.

"Maybe..." Birdie answered, her eyes still glued to the ground. "We should follow them, see where they go."

The three girls hadn't made it far when a clap of thunder rumbled overhead, announcing the arrival of the storm. Fat drops of rain battled their way through the leaves and branches, striking Birdie, Valeria, and Morgan down below.

"Shit!" Valeria shouted, throwing her arms over her head to block the rain. "We should head back."

"But we've barely even searched!" Birdie argued.

"The rain is going to wash these footprints out anyways," Valeria replied, turning to head back when another loud sound stopped her in her tracks, only this time, it wasn't thunder.

Birdie froze, goosebumps freckling her skin from head to toe. She recognized the noise from the previous night, only this time it was much closer. As if in response, their flashlights began to flicker but every time the light came back it was brighter and brighter until everything appeared ablaze. Birdie dropped her flashlight to the ground and with a pop, the bulb burnt out, leaving them in darkness.

Birdie's hand shot out, instinctively latching onto the first thing it could find, which ended up being Valeria's arm. Birdie tugged Valeria forward, her feet pushing her away from the direction of the noise and Valeria followed without protest.

They crashed through the darkness, stumbling over upturned roots but never stopping until they turned a corner and were met with blinding brightness. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust and when they did, their fear was quickly replaced with confusion.

"Dustin?" Valeria exclaimed, the form of the curly-headed boy she babysat becoming clearer as his flashlight lowered.

"Val?" Dustin Henderson replied, equally shocked. Flanked on either side of him was Mike Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair. Birdie didn't know them well but she recognized them from the many times they hung out at the Byers'.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

"We're looking for Will," Dustin answered. "What are you doing out here?"

"We're looking for Will too," Birdie replied, her eyes glancing between the confused expressions on the boys' faces. It was at this point that she noticed a fourth kid in their company. They stood behind Mike, peering over his shoulder with big brown eyes. Their hair was buzzed to their scalp and they wore a bright yellow Benny's Burgers t-shirt that hung to their knees. Mike caught Birdie's glance and quickly shifted to block the kid from her sight. "Look, since we're all out here, maybe we can search together. You guys shouldn't be out here by yourselves."

"We don't need your help," Mike snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do your parents even know you're out here?"

"Do yours?" Mike retorted, his eyes unblinking as he held Birdie's gaze.

"Shit, okay," Birdie muttered to herself.

Dustin moved to stand between the two, motioning for Lucas to shuffle closer. "Mike, it's okay, Val is cool," he informed them in a whisper. "We can trust them."

"Trust your babysitter and Will's neighbor?" Mike replied, not caring to keep his voice down. It was at this point that Birdie realized that something was wrong; there was a person missing from his description.

Birdie turned on her heel to glance behind her but the only other person she saw was Valeria. Morgan was gone. Eyes wide and face flushed, Birdie latched onto Valeria's shoulders. "Where's Morgan?"

"I--I don't see her," Valeria replied, shaking herself free of Birdie's grip to take a look around. "She must have gotten spooked and ran back to the car."

Birdie was stuck, her feet pointing in opposite directions. One itched to go looking for Morgan, to make sure that she was okay, but the other argued that it wasn't smart to leave a group of kids by themselves in the dark woods. The storm helped her to make her decision by emitting another loud crack of thunder that shook the trees.

"Come on," Birdie said to the kids, gesturing for them to follow. She was nearly soaked through at this point and the rain was only getting harder. She didn't want to give up on their search for Will so easily but with the kids out there on their own and Morgan now nowhere to be seen, she knew she had to reprioritize. She also hadn't forgotten that noise or the strange anomaly with the flashlights. They seemed to have escaped it but she still didn't entirely know what it was. "We need to get out of here."

Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and the other kid shared a glance but followed without protest. They had been heading back in that direction anyways. Birdie let Valeria lead the way, taking station at the back of the group so that she could keep an eye on the kids. In particular, her eyes lingered on the kid in the Benny's Burgers shirt. Their skin was pale, like it had never seen the sun, and they were barefoot. The other kids were dressed in jackets with backpacks and flashlights, clearly prepared for the search, but this kid looked looked like they had just been dragged out of bed...or somewhere else...

Despite not having made it very far, the trek back to the car felt ten times longer than it actually was. Not only because Valeria took a slightly more roundabout way, avoiding the area where they had heard the noise, but also because each step closer to Valeria's car brought Birdie further dread that Morgan wouldn't be there waiting for them when they arrived.

At long last they broke through the trees to the sight of the Cutlass sitting alone and empty.

"She probably walked back to your place," Valeria informed Birdie, trying to maintain a steady tone of voice to reassure not only Birdie, but herself as well. "It's not that far."

Birdie nodded her head, holding this thought firmly in her mind. Faulty wiring, sick animal, Will was okay, Morgan was okay, Morgan was okay, Morgan was okay...

"Squish in," Valeria instructed the kids, opening the back door for them. "We'll give you all a ride home."

"We're okay," Lucas answered, picking his bike up out of the brush and dusting off the seat. "We've got it from here."

Birdie would have argued them on it were she not anxious to get back to her house to see if Morgan was there. Birdie and Valeria waited as the kids clambered onto their bikes, Mike instructing the kid with the buzzcut how to hold onto him before they took off down the street. Once they were out of sight, Birdie and Valeria climbed into the Cutlass and headed back to Birdie's house.

They were just about to their destination when a new problem presented itself: Birdie's dad was back. The headlights of his car blinked out just as they turned onto Birdie's street, meaning he had only narrowly beaten them there.

"Stop!" Birdie instructed Valeria, who immediately slammed on the brakes. "Fuck, I wasn't supposed to go out tonight."

Despite the fact that they were hidden by the towering hydrangea bushes that grew in Eleanor Gillespie's yard, Birdie and Valeria sat stock still, watching silently as John climbed out of his car.

"Do you see Morgan?" Birdie asked, her eyes glancing around the yard. The rain had let up, providing a clearer view. Valeria shook her head no.

"Fuck!" Birdie cried, her chest heaving as she fought to keep up with her ragged breath. A slideshow of all the terrible outcomes that could have befallen her best friend began to play in her mind.

"Listen to me," Valeria snapped, turning in her seat to face Birdie. "Morgan is fine, okay? Don't get all wigged out on me. I don't see her but I also don't see her bike. So here's what happened: she got spooked by the storm and took off for my car but when she got to it she realized that it was locked. She didn't want to stand out in the rain so she headed back to your house, grabbed her bike, and went home. Okay?"

Birdie listened but her face was blank, showing no recognition of understanding.

"Okay?" Valeria repeated, pressing Birdie to respond.

Birdie forced herself to nod her head. "Okay."

"Good," Valeria said, turning back to face the steering wheel. "Now, you're going to cut behind these bushes and sneak in through the back before your dad sees you. Because if he catches you, you're grounded, and if you're grounded, I'm practically grounded too because you and Morgan are the only people I hang out with. Now go, we'll all see each other tomorrow. You, me, and Morgan."

Birdie was jolted back into reality by the sound of the doors unlocking. Before her mind could trap her once more, she pushed the door open and scrambled out, ducking low as she raced around the backside of the car. Thankfully her dad had stopped to check the mailbox at the end of the driveway, buying her a couple minutes.

Birdie bolted behind the hydrangeas, not even pausing when a light turned on in the upstairs window of Eleanor Gillespie's house and her raspy voice called out into the night, "Mr. Murder Mittens? Is that you, you sneaky little man?" The bushes, now brown and crippled by the cold weather, ran in a straight line parallel to the properties on either side, providing her proficient cover until she reached the back of the house.

Birdie made it to her backyard and quickly scaled the oak tree next to her window. This wasn't her first time coming and going via this route so she knew exactly what branches to grab and what knobs to use as footholds without even having to think about it. The slick bark made it hard for her to get a good grip but she was still able to make it to the top in under a minute. Silently thanking the universe that she had left her window open to let in the cool autumn breeze, Birdie scrambled inside. She fell onto her bed, allowing herself a brief second to catch her breath before she rolled to her feet and rushed to close her bedroom door. The door clicked shut at the exact same time that the front door opened.

"Birdie, I'm back," John called out, his voice followed by the clinking of his keys as he tossed them into the basket next to the door. A couple moments later, she could hear his footsteps coming up the stairs and it was at this point that she realized that she was still wearing her coat and shoes, and that she was soaked through to the bone. A soft knock rattled Birdie's door.

"Don't come in, I'm changing!" Birdie shouted, hopping around the room as she peeled her wet clothes off and shoved them in the closet. She quickly changed into her pajamas and wrapped her damp hair in a towel before opening the door for her dad. "Hey," she greeted him, trying her best not to act like she was out of breath.

John gave her a strange look but decided to stow whatever suspicion had passed through his mind. "Sorry," he replied. "It started to rain so I headed back to the station with Hopper and ended up staying longer than I intended."

"Did you find anything?" Birdie asked.

John shook his head no. "That's not necessarily a bad thing though," he explained. "There's going to be another search party tomorrow and I promised to help with that one as well but only if you're okay with it. I don't want to leave you all by yourself two nights in a row."

"I'll be fine," Birdie promised him, pressing a smile to her face in demonstration. John just nodded his head, returning the smile. He turned to head to his bedroom at the end of the hall but paused when his eyes caught sight of something. Birdie's breath hitched in her throat, her stomach held in suspense as she waited for him to ream her out.

"Make sure you shut and lock that before you go to bed," John informed Birdie, pointing towards her open window. Birdie nodded her head with more energy than was warranted, holding in a sigh of relief. She had done it; she had successfully snuck out and back in without her dad finding out. "Good night, kid. Love you."

"Love you too."

Sleep didn't come easily that night. As Birdie lay in bed with her eyes pressed shut, tossing and turning as she battled a barrage of nightmares, a shadow grew across her front yard. Unseen, the shadow watched, its darkness looming over a cherry red bicycle lying in the grass on the other side of the hydrangea bushes.

By the time Birdie left for school the next morning, the bicycle was gone, only an indentation in the grass left to indicate that it had ever been there.

Birdie was in better spirits as she drove to school but anxious thoughts still gnawed at her mind. She wouldn't feel better until she saw Morgan with her own eyes. But when she arrived at her locker, there was only Valeria waiting for her.

"Where's Morgan?" Birdie asked, her heart beating in her throat.

"Probably went to class early," Valeria replied, too casually for Birdie to be comfortable with. Valeria's hands tightened their grip on her backpack straps as she leaned her shoulder against the locker next to Birdie's.

Birdie gave Valeria an odd look as she opened her locker and hung her backpack inside. "Aren't you worried?"

"Worried about what?"

Birdie had to pause to gather herself before she replied. "What do you mean, 'what'? About Morgan!"

Valeria just rolled her eyes, turning her body so that her back was pressed against the locker. "I told you," Valeria responded, her voice clipped. "She's fine."

Birdie slammed her locker shut, the clang of the metal echoing down the hall and drawing a few stares. She turned to face Valeria, her brows knit and her mouth grim. "This isn't some joke, Valeria. Somebody else is missing, she could be too."

Valeria laughed in disbelief. "She's not a child. Christ, she's six feet for fuck's sake. Who would take her?"

Birdie glanced around before leaning in closer and whispering, "You heard that noise too."

Valeria's face paled, her mouth stretching into a thin line. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Birdie was seething now. She had a lot more that she wanted to say but none of it was kind, so instead she turned on her heel and headed to class, leaving a bewildered Valeria behind.

First period came and went without Birdie even noticing. The only indication of the passage of time was the chiming of the bell to indicate the start and end of class. She didn't share any classes with Morgan, so she was still unable to determine whether Morgan was there, but she knew someone who did.

Immediately after first period let out, Birdie headed straight for Barb Holland's locker. Barb and Morgan shared first period English together so Barb would be able to tell her whether or not Morgan had been in class. When Birdie didn't see Barb at her locker, she sighed. If she wasn't at her locker, she was probably at Nancy Wheeler's locker, which meant there was a good chance that Steve was there too.

"Barb!" Birdie called out as she approached Nancy's locker, the two engaged in what appeared to be a tense conversation. Thankfully she had been lucky and Steve was nowhere in sight. Yet, anyhow.

"I still don't think it's a good idea..." Birdie heard Barb say to Nancy, catching the tail end of their conversation. At the sound of her name, Barb looked up, offering Birdie a small smile. "Hi, Birdie."

"Was Morgan in first period?"

Barb shook her head and Birdie's stomach dropped. "No, sorry, I didn't see her. Maybe she's out sick today?"

"Um, y-yeah," Birdie stammered, her face turning pale. "Maybe."

"Is everything okay?" Nancy asked, noticing the bead of sweat accumulating on Birdie's forehead.

"Can you," Birdie began, fighting to get the right words out. "um, can you just let me know if you see her?"

Barb and Nancy both nodded their heads, sharing concerned glances with each other. Then the universe decided that Birdie's luck had run its course and Steve appeared.

"So, made up your mind about the party, yet?" Steve asked Nancy, oblivious to Birdie's presence at first. When Nancy's eyes didn't meet his, he glanced up to see that they had company. "Oh, hey, Birdie."

"Hey, Steve," Birdie returned the greeting with a tight-lipped smile. She thanked Barb and Nancy before turning to leave.

"See you in gym," Steve called after her as she headed down the hallway but she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to pay it any mind. She needed to sit down. She needed to breathe.

Birdie nearly knocked into two people on her mad dash to math class. It wasn't until she passed the bulletin board and spotted a new flyer that read, "HAVE YOU SEEN ME?" with a picture of Will that she stopped. To taunt her, her mind pictured a matching poster with Morgan's face tacked right next to it and Birdie had to push herself onward so that she didn't break down right then and there.

Birdie tried to collect herself as she sat down at her desk. Just because Morgan wasn't in first period didn't mean that she wasn't okay. Like Barb had said, she could have been sick, or maybe she even skipped. She had done so before so it wasn't totally out of character for her. As mad as Birdie had been at Valeria that morning and still was, even, she started to wonder if maybe Valeria was right. Maybe she was just overreacting. With Will missing and the scout coming on Friday, she was experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety.

Birdie reminded herself over and over again that there were perfectly rational explanations for everything that had occurred and that nothing was wrong until she felt her heart rate begin to slow and her breathing begin to steady. But then she remembered that noise and she was back to square one.

Second period ended and Birdie had to drag herself to third period. She wasn't in the mindset to deal with Tommy and Steve and she was sure that Tommy was planning some sort of retaliation for yesterday's humiliation. But thankfully the two were too absorbed in whatever party Steve had mentioned earlier to pay her much mind, which came as a blessing since she was too distracted to play her best. It wasn't until the end of class that either even said a word to her.

"Heard about the scout from Purdue coming to see Steve play on Friday?" Tommy's snide voice came from behind Birdie as she leaned over the water fountain to take a drink.

"I did, actually," Birdie replied after a long sip, wiping her mouth and turning to meet him and Steve. "Coach MacLeod told me yesterday at practice that they're coming to my game as well."

"Bullshit," Tommy spat but the matching look of surprise on Tommy's and Steve's faces gave them away. Steve even looked a little upset, which gave Birdie some satisfaction.

"Well, you know," Steve began. "people usually get an appetizer before the main course."

Birdie's face burned bright as she struggled to think of a response and came up short. Instead she rolled her eyes and pushed past them for the locker rooms. She didn't have the time or energy for Steve and his stupid ego.

Birdie cooled down in the showers, washing the sweat and stress off her body. For a blissful moment, standing there under the cold water, she almost forgot about everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. She forgot Steve, Tommy, and Carol. She forgot about Will and the scout. She forgot about her spat with Valeria that morning. She even forgot about Morgan. But she was quickly reminded of how cruel the universe was when she ended her shower and went back to her locker to find it standing wide open, all of her clothes, including her gym uniform, missing.

The sound of water dripping from Birdie onto the cement floor echoed around the empty locker room as she stood there in her towel, completely dumbfounded. Everybody else had already cleared out for their next class, and since Coach MacDonald was the only gym teacher, there was no office in the women's locker room. Birdie desperately searched for any article of clothing that she could borrow but everything was locked up tight.

Birdie contemplated waiting in the locker room until the next period of gym to beg someone to lend her some clothes, but there wouldn't be another class until sixth period. Wrapping the towel tightly around herself, Birdie had to psych herself up to even open the door wide enough to peer out into the hallway. The bell had just rung to mark the start of the next period so the hallways were mostly clear. If there was a time to go for it, it was now. She just had to make it to the main office at the end of the hallway where there would be clothes in the lost-and-found.

Taking a deep breath, Birdie shoved open the door and raced for the main office but she only made it five steps into the hallway when a fit of obnoxious laughter erupted from behind her.

"Hey, Philippe, looking for these?" Birdie's face flushed in embarrassment as she turned to find Carol holding her ratty bra and pink panties up in the air, waving them around like a flag.

"Nice underwear, grandma," Tommy complimented Birdie with a cackle. Steve stood behind them, his face nearly as red as hers.

Birdie rushed towards them, yanking her clothes out of Carol's hands before she took off back towards the locker room, their laughter following her the entire way. Birdie tried to keep her sight straight ahead but she caught a couple other students passing by, their stares fixed on her as they hid smiles and stifled laughter.

The second the door slammed shut behind her, Birdie collapsed to the floor and cried, her tears an accumulation of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Steve, Tommy, and Carol. Will and the scout. Her spat with Valeria that morning. Morgan. She cried until her lungs burned and her breath was raspy, until she was so tired that she could slip into a coma right there. And then she picked herself up off the floor, changed into her clothes, and finished the rest of the day.

Whispers of what was being dubbed, "the towel incident" followed Birdie until practice but she tuned them out. No matter how badly she wanted to get in her car, go home, and never return, she stayed. Her leaving was what Steve, Tommy, and Carol wanted and she wouldn't give them any more satisfaction. No, she would stay and better yet, she would come back the next day and the day after that. She would practice so that she could play so well on Friday that the scout didn't even bother to show up to Steve's game. That's how she would win.

"Holy shit, is it true?" Valeria asked Birdie the second she entered the locker room. Birdie had contemplated changing in the bathroom so she could avoid returning to the scene of the crime, but she wasn't going to let Steve and his minions make her life even harder. "The whole...towel thing?"

"Yeah, it's true," Birdie replied, her eyeline everywhere but Valeria. While she was determined not to let the incident affect her life, it was still difficult to talk about. She changed the topic before Valeria could ask any more questions. "I talked to Barb, Morgan didn't go to class early. She wasn't in class at all and now I don't see her at practice."

The look on Valeria's face shifted. "So then she's sick or she skipped or something. But whatever, I was thinking we could go to Benny's tonight if you want to—"

"Whatever?" Birdie repeated, cutting Valeria off as she turned to face her. A raw anger swelled in her chest, an anger that had been waiting and building all day. It crawled up her throat and tinted her vision red. "Whatever? Our best friend disappeared last night and didn't show up to school today and it's whatever? It's fine, we'll just go to Benny's and forget about her? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" Valeria snapped, her face turning red. Drops of spit flew from her mouth as she jabbed her finger at Birdie. "What the fuck is wrong with you? It was your idea to go out last night! Morgan and I just went along to make you feel better after you treated us worse than shit. If Morgan is missing, then it's your fault!"

Birdie's jaw dropped but any words she tried to say stuck in her throat. And when she finally could speak, it was too late. Valeria had already stormed out of the locker room. Birdie's insides churned and for a brief moment she thought she was going to vomit. If the "towel incident" hadn't taken every last tear she had left, she would have broken down again. But all that was left was anger, and a deep fear that Valeria was right.

Birdie finished changing, double- and even triple-checking to make sure that her locker was locked before joining practice. She wasn't entirely surprised when she noticed that Valeria wasn't among her teammates on the court. Valeria was prone to skipping practice when she was too tired or when she just wasn't in the mood to go; it wasn't too far-fetched that she'd skip because she was mad at Birdie. Birdie briefly contemplated leaving to find her and sort things out, but she was still too upset to have a productive conversation and she needed to practice for Friday's game.

Birdie lost herself in practice, allowing her body to take over from her brain. She used her anger as fuel, which led to her playing much more aggressively than usual. When a second teammate retreated to the bench with injuries, a sharp whistle brought practice to screeching halt.

"That's enough for today," Coach MacLeod announced, eliciting several murmurs of relief from the team. "Philippe, join me at the bench."

Birdie jogged over, her face burning with embarrassment. From playing like shit during gym to playing like a raging psychopath during practice, Birdie knew that she wasn't playing like herself.

"Coach--" Birdie began to apologize when Coach MacLeod cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"Who are you? I called for Birdie Phillipe."

"I am Birdie..." Birdie replied slowly, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"No. You look like Birdie and you talk like Birdie, I'll give you that, but you sure as shit don't play like Birdie," Coach MacLeod continued, her features stoic. "So where is she?"

Birdie sighed, realizing the point that Coach MacLeod was making. "She's right here, I promise."

Coach MacLeod softened as she took a step closer to Birdie and lowered her voice. "Look, I can take a guess at what's going on with you based on who didn't show up to practice today, but you can't let what happens off the court affect how you play on the court. The scout is coming here to see Birdie Phillipe, not whoever that was."

"Yes, Coach," Birdie replied with a nod of her head.

"Do what you need to do to come back tomorrow with a better attitude. Okay?"

"Okay."

Thankfully when Birdie got back to her locker, her clothes were still there. She changed as quickly as she could, mumbling soft apologies to her teammates as she passed them on the way out. During her drive home, all Birdie could think about was hugging her dad. His hugs were infamous for curing bad days, and she had just had the mother of all bad days, but she arrived home to his car missing from the driveway and a note on the fridge.

Hey Kid,

I left to help with the search party, I'll try not to stay out too late again. There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge for dinner. Same rules as yesterday: stay inside, keep the doors locked.

Love you, Dad

P.S. The Foster's left a voicemail but I wasn't able to call back because I was on my way out the door. Give them a call when you can.

Birdie's heart pounded in her chest as she picked the phone up and began dialing the number for the Foster's. Her stomach flip-flopped with each ring, hoping that the next sound she would hear would be Morgan's voice but it was Morgan's mother, Sandra, who answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Foster," Birdie replied. "My dad said you called?"

"Oh, hello, Birdie," Sandra replied. "Yes, I was just calling to ask if you know where Morgan is. She told me she was going over to your house last night and when she didn't come back I assumed she had stayed over, but she hasn't returned home from school and it's getting late."

Birdie's mouth opened and closed, speaking silent words. She stood frozen in the kitchen, the phone cord braided around her arm as she retreated into her mind and the nightmares that awaited her there.

"Hello?" Sandra asked, bringing Birdie back.

"Um, no, sorry, I don't," Birdie answered at last, covering her nose with her hand so that Sandra wouldn't hear her sniffle. "She came over last night and we--" Birdie once more lost the ability to speak. She didn't know how to tell the mother of her best friend that they had gone out into the woods to find a missing kid only to lose her daughter instead so she hung up. And when the phone rang again, Birdie ignored it.

Birdie's legs wobbled, barely able to carry her to the dining room. She collapsed onto a chair at the table, her watery eyes glued to the window. Morgan was missing. She didn't spook and head home early last night. She didn't call in sick to school or skip. Morgan was missing and Valeria was right. It was Birdie's fault.

And since it was Birdie's fault, she had to fix it. But how? Going it alone likely wasn't a good idea. She couldn't help Will or Morgan if she was missing too. And part of her was also too terrified to enter those woods alone after hearing that noise again.

Birdie's first thought was to call Valeria and beg her to put aside their differences for the sake of finding Morgan but that was easier said than done. Morgan was always the one to mediate their arguments. Without her, they'd spend more time arguing than searching. Her next thought was to find Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. Those kids had been out there when Morgan had gone missing, they might have seen something or they might know something. Valeria said they usually hung out at the Wheeler's, which was a start, but after how Mike treated them last night, she didn't even know if they'd talk to her.

Unable to decide, Birdie turned to the one thing that could help: shooting hoops. It meant breaking her dad's rule but she was already planning on breaking it anyways. The rhythm of the ball bouncing between her hand and the asphalt, followed by the swish through the air and the clang against the backboard helped Birdie to think. She continued to repeat this until a new option presented itself to her: Jonathan.

She watched him emerge from his house, his camera slung around his neck as he walked down the driveway towards his car. She hadn't seen him since Sunday and she had been hoping for a chance to talk to him. This could be that opportunity. Perhaps they could even help each other to look for Will and Morgan. But if she was going to act, she had to do so fast, because his car was already backing out of the driveway.

Birdie took one last shot, the basketball flying through the hoop in such a clean arc that the net barely moved. She had made her decision.

What should happen next?

Call Valeria

Find the kids

Talk to Jonathan

AUTHOR'S NOTE !
Wow, never have I been so consistent with updates in my life. Also, the chapters I typically write are around 3,000 words and these ones are averaging 5,000. Who even am I? If you can't tell, I'm really having a lot of fun writing this story, even though I'm kind of putting these characters through hell (apologies to Morgan, Birdie, and Valeria -- it's only going to get worse from here you poor, poor saps). Voting for this chapter will close Saturday, April 22nd so get your votes in ASAP to help torture these characters even further!

For science: Would you rather...have your clothes stolen from your locker at school and all you have to cover yourself is a towel...OR...be abducted by a Demogorgon...

Thanks for reading! ♥