• 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚍 - 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚂𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚑 •

When the boys woke up, Bea was still asleep on the couch. El was sitting across from her, playing with the walkie-talkie. Bea groggily woke up to the sound of her friends talking and the static coming from the walkie-talkie beside her.

Bea looked over at El and nodded with a smile saying 'good morning', receiving a soft smile in return. She then clutched her head. She had a headache from all the screaming and crying she did last night.

When the boys saw her awake, they first asked if she was okay. She responded with an "I'm fine." Even though she wasn't. She knew that now was not the time to worry about her when they needed to find Will.

She'd never admit this to anybody — especially the party — but she has begun to have a little crush on the missing boy. It's only little and it started during the summer before.

Bea and Will were at the community pool swimming around. They were waiting for the rest of the party, but it was so hot that they decided to wait for them in the water.

For the time being, they spent it showing off to each other. Who could dive the deepest? Who could make the biggest splash? Who could swim the fastest? Who could hold their breath the longest?

Bea was having such a great time with just Will, that when the rest of the boys were finally there, her smile dropped a little. It's not like she wasn't happy to see her friends — they're her best friends. But she wanted Will to be more.

Obviously the boy doesn't think the same way. I mean, they're just friends — best friends. They could be nothing more, nothing less.

When the trio stopped asking her questions, they told her about their plan they called 'Operation Mirkwood'.

"Did you get the supplies?" Mike asked Lucas. The latter and Dustin had left early in the morning to grab equipment from their houses.

"Yeah." He replied, "Binoculars... from 'Nam. Army knife... also from 'Nam. Hammer. Camouflage bandanna, and the wrist rocket." Lucas named off the things he brought.

"You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin remarks.

"First of all, it's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up." Lucas states matter-of-factly.

"You're wrong." Bea argues as she gets up to stand along with them.

"No, I'm right. But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye and blind it." He pulls the wrist rocket back, ready to shoot, making the others flinch back.

"Dustin, what did you get?" Mike turned to the boy, rolling his eyes at Lucas.

Dustin dumps his backpack onto the table as snacks fall out of it. He then names all the food he brought while Bea zones him out. She's tired. Even though she just woke up. Actually, she's more drained than anything. From fainting, to waking up screaming, to crying all night in her friends arms. She still can't wrap her mind around Barb. What happened last night? How does Bea know that she's dead? Why did Barb lie? She said she'd be safe and she wasn't. She's dead.

Barb's dead.

While thinking about this, her face visibly drops. El looks up from what she was doing and notices this. She opens her arms — as she saw the boys do this last night — and motions for Bea to come to her.

Bea gives in, finding comfort in her new friend. She lets the tears roll down her face as she sits there, not paying any attention to the boys arguing, again.

She lets go of El's hug when Dustin tries to have El make a spaceship from Star Wars hover in the air. El watched as he dropped it, expecting her to make it fly, with a blank expression.

Bea wanted to giggle at Dustin's shenanigans but she couldn't. Not when all she could think about was Will and her sister.

Mike's mom then called down to the four kids — that she knew of — to come upstairs because it was time for school. Bea stood up, grabbed her backpack and sent a small wave to El as she walked up the stairs, not noticing Eleven wave back at her.

"Hey, sweetie." Karen greets the girl who looks as white as a ghost, "You okay?" She asked, concerned and only got a nod in return. The girl was paler than usual.

Mrs. Wheeler didn't hear Bea scream last night. She was at the store with Holly and her husband buying snacks. So, she doesn't know what Bea knows. Or, what she thinks she knows. All Bea knows is that her sister is dead. But she has no proof and no way of knowing, yet she knows it's true.

She knows that something happened last night at Steve's. And the only person who can confirm her suspicion is at the High School.

Nancy Wheeler.

•••••

During recess, the party decided to look for rocks for Lucas' wrist rocket. They needed to find the perfect ammo.

"What about this one?" Mike suggested, examining a big rock. "Too big for the sling." He responds.

"So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like— like Green Lantern?" Dustin wonders to the group.

Bea doesn't answer. She just keeps her head down, searching for the perfect rock for the wrist rocket. The boys haven't brought up what happened last night, and she's thankful for that. She does, but also doesn't want to talk about it. The person she would normally talk to about these things is the one that's gone. She still can't wrap her head around the fact that she knows her sister is dead, but no one else knows.

She was brought back into reality when Troy and James, or as Bea likes to call them "Dumb and Dumber", walk over to them. It's up to you to decide who is who.

"Yeah, shut up, Lucas." Troy interferes, "What are you losers doing back here?"

"Probably looking for their missing friend." James snickers.

"That's not funny." Bea whispers as her and Dustin speak in unison, only his voice a little louder, "It's serious. He's in danger."

"I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead." Troy states, and Bea stared at him, not hearing a word he said after that.

How dare he say that? How can he say that? No matter how much you dislike someone, how could you wish death upon them? Bea was angry — no, she was furious. She may hate both Dumb and Dumber, but she could never wish to see them dead. Even though she's thinking about killing them herself, right now.

She glares at Troy and stays still as her friends start to walk away. Then Troy has the audacity to trip Mike and have him fall forward on a rock. That was the breaking point for Bea. When Lucas and Dustin were aiding to Mike, Bea lunged forward. She punched Troy in the jaw and kicked James in his left knee.

After only doing that much damage, her friends realized what was happening and got up to hold her back. Troy and James ran off, holding their injured selves. Bea was breathing heavily. All she could see at that moment was red.

After a couple more minutes of calming her down, she collapsed in the boys' arms, crying. She couldn't handle it. Will going missing. Barb being dead. And some buzzing noise that wouldn't leave her alone.

"Just make it stop." She sobbed into the boys' arms. "Please. Just— just make it all stop."

"Wh— what do you want us to make stop?" Mike asked, both scared and concerned for his best friend.

"The noise. The ticking. Just turn it off."

The boys all shared glances, not knowing what to do, or what she was talking about. What ticking? They didn't hear anything.

They're lucky.

•••••

After school, the party rode their bikes to behind Mike's house. When they reached there, El was waiting. Eleven sent Bea a small smile but Bea didn't notice. She was looking at the ground.

When El sat on Mike's bike, they took off. They only had a few hours before they needed to be home, so they had to make this quick. And once they made it to the woods, they jumped off their bikes and walked beside them.

El and Mike were in the front, since Eleven was the one leading. Lucas and Dustin in the back with Beatrice in the middle. She didn't talk to anyone. When she heard Mike and El start a conversation she walked in front of them dragging her bike. She felt like they were going so slow. She then started to lead the group, not even knowing what she was doing. She did listen to El and Mikes conversation when she heard her name.

"Bea hasn't had the best day."

"Sad?" Mike nodded at El's question, "Because of last night?"

"We don't really know." Mike answers honestly, "She said that she heard some noise. Like a ticking sound. She asked for us to make it stop, but we don't know how. Do you think you do?" Mike asked hopefully only to get a shrug in return.

She doesn't blame them for not knowing what to do. Hell, even she doesn't. She is going crazy and she doesn't know how to stop. The ticking never seems to stop.

Next time she sees a clock, she's smashing it.

•••••

It's dark and Beatrice is still leading. She doesn't even notice that they are walking to Will's house. She stops when she hears Eleven say, "Here."

"Yeah, this is where Will lives." Mike tells her.

Bea looks up. Why are they here? Why did she know to come here? How'd she get here? Her thoughts get cut off when she hears the boys arguing with El.

"I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing—"

"That's exactly what we did!" Lucas cuts Dustin off, "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

"Okay, but what about Bea?" Mike retorts, "She was basically leading us here, and her eyes haven't left the ground since we started walking!"

"It's true." Bea spoke for the first time tonight, "I— I don't know how, or why, but I knew to come here. I knew, and I know that El is trying to help."

"Of course, you side with the weirdo." Lucas scoffs and crossed his arms.

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I'm the weirdo?" Bea yells, "I mean, I somehow know that my sister is dead. I haven't seen her since almost two days ago. The last conversation we had was about a bad feeling I had about her going out. And how can we forget about Will? Since that night at Mike's, I knew something bad was gonna happen. How? I don't know! And ever since then, I've heard this ticking in my head and it won't go away, okay? It won't! At first I thought it was buzzing, like a fly, but it's clearer now. It's sounds like a stupid clock chiming! And I just want it to stop! I don't know how I knew to come here. I don't know how Eleven does. I don't know anything! All I know is that my 'gut feelings' have never been wrong, so why ignore them now?"

The boys don't even have time to respond to Bea's rant as they spot cop cars speeding past Will's house. The party is quick to jump on their bikes and follow the scene.

Please, don't be Will. Please, don't be Will.

They followed the cop cars to the quarry. There were already firemen and other policemen there. The kids hid behind one of the ambulances and watched as the scene in front of them unfolded. The sheriffs department pulled a body out of the water on a gurney.

"It's not Will. It can't be." Mike denies, shaking his head.

"It's not. It— I," Bea struggles to find the right words as she chokes back tears, "I— I know he's alive. I feel him. Guys, that— that's not Will." She tries to not only convince her friends but herself, too.

"It's Will." Lucas concludes, teary eyed, "It's really Will."

Bea then stumbles backwards. It can't be Will. It can't! She starts shaking her head as she repeatedly says 'no' over and over again. He can't be dead. He's not! She jumps on her bike and starts to ride home. She can't be here. First Barb and now Will. She doesn't even turn around to her friends shouting her name as she peddles home.

Maybe she'll go to sleep and when she wakes up this'll all be over. It's all just a dream — scratch that: a nightmare. And she's gonna wake up from it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Barb will wake her up to get ready for school. She'll take forever and they'll be late. She'll see Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will and they'll all go to class. No one will be dead. Everyone will be happy and alive.

If only this was a dream.

•••••

That morning, Bea's parents weren't home. They were at the police station, filing a missing persons report for their oldest, Barbara Holland.

Beatrice's parents asked her questions, since the two were always close. They tried not to bombard her with questions, as seen on the news, they just found Will's body.

His dead body.

Bea didn't say much. Only that Barb said that she was hanging out with Nancy at Steve's. She didn't tell them that she was dead. They probably wouldn't believe her. Where's her proof? Her instincts? No body, not dead.

Even that's not true anymore.

Beatrice numbly rode her bike to Mike's house, just like everyday, and put her bike down in the Wheeler's garage. When she stepped inside, she was automatically brought downstairs to the basement.

According to Mike, El somehow contacted Will last night. She didn't know how to react. She hadn't shown any feelings since she woke up.

"We keep losing the signal, but you heard it, right?" Mike asks his friends around him. Lucas rolled his eyes, Dustin had his eyebrows furrowed, all the while Bea stared off into space, barely paying attention.

"Yeah," Lucas sighs. "I heard a baby."

"What?"

"Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor." Lucas explains, "It's probably the Blackburns' next door."

Bea ignores Lucas' disbelief and scoots closer to El. She held her hands out, silently asking if she could give it a try. Eleven hands her the walkie-talkie as she silently watches the strawberry blonde.

Beatrice looks up and sees El already looking at her. She communicates with her eyes — as girl best friends do — and asks if she could show her how to talk to Will. Eleven seems to understand the 'eye language' and grabs the walkie-talkie and starts playing around with it like before. Neither of them uttering a word.

"All I know is, Will is alive. Will is alive!" Mike shouts, knocking Bea out of her trance.

Bea snaps her head to them. "It's true." She agrees, barely over a whisper.

"Oh, great. This again." Lucas mutters, "All you ever seem to do is agree with the weirdo."

"Will's alive." Bea states.

"Yeah? Okay. Prove it."

"Remember when I screamed bloody murder because I felt that Barb was dead. I don't feel that way for Will. That night, the ticking in my head was excruciating. But now, it's only like— like—" Bea repeats, snapping her fingers, trying to find the right word.

"Static." Eleven finishes the girl's thought.

"Yeah." Bea agreed, pointing at El, "I hear a low static. I don't know what I am but maybe, maybe I predict bad things, like death. What if all my gut feelings are actually predictions?"

Dustin's eyes widen as he comes to a realization. He snaps his fingers and stands up. The boy rushes towards the table and grabs the D&D manual and looks through the creatures.

"Oh, my God." Dustin mumbles.

"What?" Mike and Lucas ask getting up to stand with Dustin, while Bea stays sat next to El.

"Well, if what El has been saying is true. And when she flipped the board and said the Demogorgon was with Will." Dustin reminds the group, "What if it is real? What if creatures from D&D are real?"

Lucas is clearly impatient. "What are you getting at?"

"Well if those creatures are real, then can't they all be real?" Dustin implied, pointing to something on the paper the girls can't see. The two boys' eyes go as wide as saucers. Their eyes flicker to their friend, then back down at the paper, then back to Bea.

They do this for a little more until Bea has had enough. "Oh, my God! Can you just tell us what it is?" Bea shouts, huffing in annoyance.

"Bea, you're a Banshee."

•••••

(🕰) T TIME!

i have been doing my research on the banshee character from d&d to make bea more accurate and i will have them go more in depth next chapter

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