I hovered over mike as he put on headphones and leaned into the microphone that would be heard all the way to Australia.

"When Will sees this, he's gonna flip his shit!" Lucas exclaimed. Mr. Clarke cleared his throat. Lucas laughed awkwardly "uh, sorry..." he said.

"Come on, Mike, try it!" I yelled, lightly pushing Mike. He huffed and waved me away.

"'Ello this is Moike wheela! President of HAWkins midull A-V club!" Mike said in an awful Australian accent. I laughed. Dustin grabbed the headphones from him and leaned in.

"'Ello 'tis is Dustin Anduhsun, Treasurah of HAAAAWkins mid-all A-V club! Do ya eat kangaroos 'fo breakfast?" Dustin joked, his fake accent even worse than Mike's. I snorted, and grabbed the headphones, leaning over Mike and closer to the microphone.

"'Ello~! This is Maggay Byuhs, Secretary of haukins middle A-V club!! Ya left ya shrimp on the baaarbay~!" I screeched, doing the best accent I could. The boys laughed. Lucas grabbed the headphones, but before he could put them on, there was a knock at the door. We looked up. The principal....and....the police?! I had a bad feeling. Our Principal scanned his eyes over us.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can I borrow Michael, Lucas, Dustin, and Maggie?" He asked. We all shot worried looks at each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were sat down on the couch in the principal's office. The three boys were blabbing, all talking at the same time, yet I stayed silent, staring at my hands.

"Okay, okay! One at a time, alright?!" The bearded, slightly fat cop scolded them. He gestured at Mike. "You.". Mike nodded. "You said he takes what?"

"Mirkwood." Mike replied.

"Mirkwood." The cop asked, almost jokingly. Mike nodded again.

"Yeah." Mike said. The cop looked at the younger officer that was seated next to him.

"You ever heard of Mirkwood?"

"I have not, sir. It sounds made up to me." The officer said. I opened my mouth to protest, yet no sound came out, so I just slunk back onto the couch, sighing.

"It's from Lord of the Rings"-"Well, the hobbit."-"It doesn't matter!"-"he asked!"-"he asked~~!!" Lucas and Dustin continued arguing. The fat cop slammed his hands on the arms of the chair he was sitting in, making me yelp.

"I told you! One. At a damn. Time!" He yelled. I started to shake. Even though I knew I didn't do anything wrong, getting questioned scared the shit outta me. He pointed straight at me, making me sink even lower.

"And you. You're his sister, correct?" He asked. I started shaking even more, when I felt something brush against my hand. I looked down, and saw Mike hook his pinkie finger around mine. I looked up to meet his eyes, and he gave me a reassuring smile. My cheeks burned, but I returned his smile, and turned back to the cop.

"Y-y-yes sir. Will Byers is my brother." I said. The cop wrote something down, and looked back up at me, his narrowed eyes burning into my skull.

"And you didn't see him get home?" He asked. I froze completely. Guilt filled every hole in me. This is my fault.

"W-w-well sir....I-I stopped talking to him wh-when th-they stopped playing, a-a-and... I-I had a fever, so I couldn't go with him. I just thought he...I-I thought he stayed over at the Wheeler's!" I said, tears threatening to spill down my eyes. Mike let go of my pinkie, and wrapped his whole hand around mine instead. The cop's face softened a little.

"Alright, kid, calm down...." he said softly. I sniffled and wiped my eyes with the back of my hands. The cop looked over at Mike.

     "Mirkwood's a real street, it's just the name that's made up." He said. The cop nodded and scribbled some more notes. "It's in a cross section."

     "Yeah I know it"-"we can show you-""I SAID I KNOW IT!!"......."we can help look." Mike said softly. I nodded in agreement, Lucas and Dustin doing the same. "No." The cop shot us down. We all started pleading.

     "NO!" The cop's voice boomed over all of us. I swiftly looked at his name tag. Hopper. Jolly name, huh? We all went silent. "You are to go to school, and then go home. Immediately." Hopper spat. "There is no biking around looking for your friend-" he scanned his eyes over the boys, then his gaze fixated on me. "There is no biking around looking for your brother." He said. The lump in my throat only got bigger. Where is he. "This is no Lord of the Rings book." Hopper said.

     "The Hobbit." Dustin corrected.

    "Shut Up!" Lucas yelled, hitting Dustin. And then they were fighting again, Mike and I being pushed from one side of the couch to the other.

"Do I make myself clear?!" Hopper boomed. The two boys stopped, and Hopper walked over to us, leaning close to us. I gripped Mike's hand tighter, and sunk back lower. "Do I. Make myself. Clear." He asked quietly. We nodded.

"Yes sir"

"Yes sir"

"Y-y-yes, sir."

"Yeah."