𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥

❝ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴘʏ?❞

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃, reading a pretty interesting book. she didn't know the name of the book, but she was enjoying it. as she was reading, her eyes started to droop. they felt like they had weight pulling them down. her door opening is what made her jump up, hitting her head on her headboard. she turned to see steve standing in her doorway, holding up two shirts as he looked looked at his sister with raised eyebrows. she stared back, not knowing what he was asking her.

"which shirt, arlo?" he finally asked.

arlo let her eyes examine the shirts, seeing that they were both polo shirts. she looked at her brother before looking back at the shirts. "th - they're the exact same shirt, steven."

"are you colorblind? one's pink and one's blue. now pick one, charlotte." steve told her, growing frustrated with his sister.

"don't get an attitude. you're the one coming to me for fashion advice." arlo remarked, a small smile on her face as she watched steve grow angrier by the second.

"arlo, i swear to god!" steve grumbled, making the younger harrington chuckle.

"the pink one." she finally answered.

"really? pink?" steve quizzed, looking at the pink polo shirt. "i thought you would've said blue."

"you wear too much blue. don't get me wrong, you look great in it. but try a different one for a chance, yeah?"arlo explained, bringing her hand up to rub her tired eyes.

"see, this is why i keep you around." steve mumbled as he threw the blue polo onto arlo's chair. the girl looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, watching him pull his shirt from earlier off and pull the pink polo on. he then combed his fingers through his hair, looking at his sister with expectant eyes.

"you look good, steve. stop worrying." arlo assured, smiling at her brother.

he nodded, leaving arlo's room to go into his. she realized that he left his blue polo, but didn't think anything of it. just add that to the collection of clothing that she stole from him. she calls it the big brother collection. sounds fancy, huh? she went back to reading the book, not being able to focus. her mind started to wander towards will, hoping that he was okay. her eyes started to droop again, the book slowly falling out of her hands. her eyebrows furrowed when all she saw was darkness. it almost seemed like she was in an endless void. but then a red lightning bolt flashed through the air, followed by a loud clap of thunder. arlo flinched when she saw that she was in some kind of dark place. it was familiar to her, but nothing was recognizable. everything was covered with these weird vines and dust particles was floating through the air. the sky above her was red, gray clouds swarming almost like a storm was coming.

"arlo!" a familiar voice called, making the harrington girl turn towards it. "arlo! help me!"

"arlo!" steve's voice called, making the girl jump awake. she turned towards her brother, seeing him looking at her with worry. "i was about to head out, but i can stay if you want me to."

"no, no. go ahead." arlo mumbled, a look of confusion on her face. what the hell did she just dream about?

"are you sure?" steve asked, seeing the look on her face. "i can call nancy and cancel. me and you can watch whatever movie we find."

"i'll be fine, steve. go have fun on your date." arlo reassured.

"it's a study session." the older boy corrected.

"okay, well, have fun on your study session." arlo said as she rolled her eyes. "either way, don't get my best friend's sister pregnant."

"okay, i'm leaving now!" steve announced, not wanting to hear anything arlo was about to say.

"i'm serious, steve. if i find out you got nancy pregnant, i will end you! i'm too young to be an aunt!" arlo yelled after him, a teasing smile on her lips as she watched him turn around. she laughed when she saw him stick up his middle finger. "be careful, dipshit!"

"i will, asshat!" steve yelled back.

arlo shook her head slightly. she heard steve shut the front door, meaning that he was out of the house. she looked around her room, not exactly sure what she should do. she could do some homework, but she didn't want to. she could read one of her comic books, but she's already red all of them. she could just go to bed early, but that would just end with her waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare.

"arlo, do you copy?" mike's voice appeared, making the girl in question look over to her walkie talkie. "it's mike. do you copy?"

the dark skinned girl got up from her bed and made way over to her desk, picking up her walkie and extending the antenna. she brought it to her mouth and pressed the button on the side, "yeah, i know who it is, mike. over."

"me and the boys are going to look for will. do you wanna come? over." mike asked, arlo practically seeing the eye roll he sent her.

"where are we meeting? over." she questioned.

"dustin's since he lives closest to where will disappeared. meet us there in ten. over and out." mike answered before his line went staticky.

arlo pushed her antenna down before she placed her walkie back on her desk. she slipped her sneakers on before she left her room, running down the stairs. she grabbed a flashlight from one of the kitchen drawers before she went over to the front door. she grabbed her jacket and left her house. she practically ran over to where her bike was on the front yard, picking it up and climbing onto it. she pushed the button to her bike lamp on, making the space in front of her light up. with that, she was off, pedaling in the direction of dustin's house. she would usually take a short cut to get there faster, but given the current circumstances, she took the long way. when she got there, all of the boys were waiting for her.

she continued pedaling, looking at the boys with raised eyebrows. "are you three gonna sit there all night, or are we gonna do this?"

"we were waiting for your slow ass." lucas shot back, starting to follow her on his bike. mike and dustin did the same, joining the two.

"it's not my fault i live the furthest." arlo shrugged simply, turning to look at the sinclair boy. he simply made a face at her, to which she copied.

the group of four rode down the dark road for a few minutes, silence falling over them like a blanket. the closer they got to mirkwood, the more anxious arlo got. she could tell that dustin was feeling the same way, the curly haired boy looking behind them every few minutes. as they got closer and closer to where will disappeared at, arlo couldn't help but think back to the dream she had earlier. that place she was in, it felt so familiar but she couldn't tell why. and the voice that she heard, she knew who it belonged to, but it was like something was blocking her memory.

"ah, man. this is it." lucas announced, snapping arlo out of her thoughts. this made the four preteens pull at their brakes, facing the barrier that was blocking off the entrance to the woods.

they all looked into the dark and creepy woods, mentally preparing themselves for whatever they were about to encounter. it didn't help that thunder clapped in the distance, signaling that it was about to start storming. arlo and dustin looked up at the sky, seeing dark clouds instead of the bright stars that they were used to.

"hey, guys, you feel that?" dustin asked as he looked up. arlo, lucas, and mike all climbed off their bikes while a raindrop fell onto dustin's face. "i think maybe we should go back."

"no. we're not going back. just stay close. come on." mike told him before he started to walk off the road. lucas followed, arlo right behind him. she patted dustin's shoulder to try and encourage him, but he still didn't move. "just stay on channel six. don't do anything stupid."

the trio ducked under the barrier that was blocking the woods, lucas helping arlo down to the lower part of land. arlo sent him a small smile as a thank you before they followed mike deeper into the woods. the faint sound of dustin running behind them is what made the girl look back at him, hearing him yell for them. when he did finally join the group, arlo wrapped her arm around his shoulders before she fixed his baseball cap on his head. he always wore it, nobody really knowing why. but they didn't question it either, knowing that it made him comfortable. they all had that one thing that made them comfortable.

"oh, by the way." mike started, turning to face arlo. "i saw you're brother trying to sneak into my sister's window. for the co-captain of the swim team, he's not really athletic."

"yeah, well, obviously, he's not good at the climbing stuff." arlo mumbled, looking up at the sky when she heard a clap of thunder.

before they could react, big heavy raindrops started to fall from the sky. arlo, dustin, and lucas immediately pulled their hoods over their heads, mike already having his on. all of them walked through the woods, aiming their flashlights in every which way to see where they were going. they had started to shout will's name over the storm, wanting to bring their best friend back to them.

"will!" mike yelled.

"william!" arlo shouted, bringing her hand up to cup her mouth.

"byers!" lucas added.

"i've got your x-men 134!" dustin announced. he then turned to look at is friends. "guys, i really think we should turn back."

"seriously, dustin? you wanna be a baby, then go home already!" lucas told him, making arlo roll her eyes.

"i'm just being realistic, lucas!" dustin shot back.

"no, you're just being a big sissy!" the sinclair boy spat.

"did you ever think will went missing because he ran into something bad?" dustin questioned, making arlo look at him with a look of worry. "and we're going into the exact same spot where he was last seen? and we have no weapons or anything?"

"he does have a point, guys." arlo mumbled.

"guys, shut up." mike said, his eyebrows knitted together.

"i'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?" dust asked, raising his voice so he could be heard over the heavy rain.

"shut up. shut up." mike repeated, making the henderson boy fall silent. "do you guys hear that?"

arlo was about to ask him what he heard, but she was interrupted by the sound of something rustling in the bushes. the boys heard it too, all of them turned to their lefts as they aimed their flashlight towards a bush. they saw nothing there, but arlo furrowed her eyebrows when she heard the distant sound of something screeching. she was about to step forward but stopped when she heard more rustling coming to her right, her and the boys pointing their flashlights towards that direction. they definitely didn't expect to see a girl in an oversized yellow t-shirt with all of her hair shaved off. arlo tilted her head slightly as she scanned over the girl's features. she seemed scared, and she was obviously cold, shivering in the rain. but that wasn't why arlo was looking at her like that.

it was almost like she knew her.

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daij speaks!
another update!!!! might get another one because i'm not tired whatsoever. i love arlo's relationship with everyone. it's so cute.

but i hope u guys enjoyed this chapter