• 𝙱𝚊𝚍 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚎 - 𝙱𝚘𝚗 𝙹𝚘𝚟𝚒 •

While looking for that little thing, the girls decided to check the gym. They didn't really talk much. They're too worried about this whole Dart thing. Their conversation consisted of 'find anything?' and 'nothing here'. After checking under the bleachers, they decided to look around the locker rooms.

They quickly turned around after hearing someone scream at them. It was Mike. And his weapon of choice; a mop.

"What the hell are you doing?" Both girls stared at him widely.

"What are you doing?" Mike repeated as he put his weapon down since he didn't need it. There was no threat. "Why are you here?"

"We're looking for Dart." Beatrice spoke in a 'duh' tone.

"This is the boys' room."

Max shrugs. "Yeah, so?"

"So you should go home!" Mike snapped to Max as he threw the mop down and left the locker room.

The girls kept up with his speed and quickly walked out behind him. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that too." Bea wondered as she followed them into the gym.

"I don't hate you. How can I hate you? I don't even know you." He stared forward, not even glancing back as he spoke.

"But you don't want me in your party."

"I do." Bea puts in her two cents.

"Correct." Mike responds to Max.

"Why not?"

"Because you're annoying." He spins around and points to the girl who he's had beef with since day one. Sounds like someone I know.

"No she's not." Bea defends, standing next to Max.

"Thank you."

Mike ignores her comment, "Besides, we don't need another party member. I'm our paladin, Will's our cleric, Dustin's our bard, Lucas is our ranger, Bea's our divination wizard," Max gives Bea a questioning look. If memory serves right, does that mean that Beatrice can see the future? "—and El's are mage."

Beatrice facepalms when Max asked Mike, "El? Who's El?"

"Someone. No one."

She scoffs with her face still in her hands. "Oh, God, Mike," Bea groans under her breath.

"Someone or no one?" Max questions.

"She was in our party a long time ago. She moved away, okay?" Mike lied as he turned to walk away.

Max looks at Bea for answers. "It's a sensitive topic for all of us. She was my first girl friend." She nods sadly.

"Sorry." Max apologized to Bea. After the strawberry blonde says that it's okay, the ginger places her board down and skates over to Mike. "She was a mage? What could she do? Like, magic tricks or something?" She stops in front of Mike as Bea walks over. "Well, I could be your zoomer."

"That's not even a real thing."

"It could be." Max suggests as she gets back onto her skateboard to do some tricks, "See? Zoomer."

"Mind-blowing." Mike spoke in annoyance.

Max scoffed at his attitude. "Come on, you know you're impressed."

"I know I am." Bea helped as she and Mike watched Max skate around them in a circle.

He was bored out of his mind. "I don't see any tricks. You're just going around in a circle."

Beatrice scoffs, "Like you could even go in a straight line."

"If it's so easy, you try it." Max challenged, agreeing with Bea.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know how."

"So, then you admit it's kind of impressive."

"I think if I spent, like, all day practicing, I could do that."

"That's why Max promised to teach me." Bea beamed at the girl.

Max smiled back before cocking her head in Mike's direction. "I would give you three million bucks if you could," she challenges.

The boy was growing dizzy from always spinning around. "Please just stop."

"I'll stop when I join your party."

As they continued bickering, Bea started to feel funny. Placing a hand on her stomach, her eyes flicker around the gym, with her eyebrows furrowed as she searches for what's making her feel like this.

Turning her head towards the right, she looked out the gymnasium doors. Eleven. Holy shit-balls it's Eleven! She's here! Beatrice knew she wasn't dead!

Hearing someone fall, Bea's head snaps away from where she was mentally patting herself on the back. She found Max on the floor after falling off of her skateboard. When Mike knelt to check up on her, Bea turned back to the door.

She made eye-contact with El. Sending a soft smile her way, she started to walk towards her. But, just her luck, Eleven ran away. She looked sad. Maybe betrayed?

Spinning around to see if Mike saw, she notices Max and Mike holding hands as he lifts her up. Max mentions something about a magnet which made Bea and Mike eyes flicker to each other.

As Max ran to pick up her rolling board, the pair quickly sprinted out the door in search for El, but came up empty handed.

"Did you—?"

"Yes." Bea nods, knowing what he was going to ask. "Yes, I saw her. Mike, it was her."

They heard their friends voices come through Mike's walkie, informing them on where the creature was found. The three of them met up with Lucas as they walked to the bathroom Will said Dart was through his walkie-talkie.

"Where's Dart?" Mike asked Dustin as he, Lucas, Max, and Beatrice all rushed into the boys bathroom.

"I don't know. Not here." Dustin shrugged suspiciously. He stood next to the last stall timidly, not moving a muscle.

"What?"

"He said it was by Salerno's, right?" Max asked. Bea and Mike check each stall to see if Dart might've been flushed down the toilet. One could only hope.

"Yeah, maybe Will has him."

"No, no, I don't think he does." Bea shakes her head and points towards the walkie talkie on the floor. "Where is Will? We have to find him!" Bea demands as she sprints out of the bathroom in search for one of her best friends, not looking back to see if anyone was following behind.

Mike caught up with her as they headed towards the field. And there he was. Standing in the middle of the football field. Motionless. Eyes tightly shut. Facing the school.

"Will!" Mike yelled as he continuously shook the boy's shoulders. Behind the pair was Will's mom sprinting towards the kids with the other three closely behind.

"We just found him like this!" Beatrice tells Joyce as her and the others run up to them.

"I think he's having another episode!" Mike tells them as he still shakes Will.

"Will! Will! Will!" Joyce calls out to her son who seems to be in another world. "Sweetie, wake up! It's mom!" She shakes his shoulders. All the other kids stand around them in a circle.

Beatrice has taken a step back. She can't stop the tears streaming down her face. She might not know exactly what's happening, but she knows what she wants to do. She knows what she's feeling. But there's no ticking. It sounds like strong winds are crashing into her. She can feel her hair hit her face, but doesn't see it happening. She starts patting the spot in between her neck and her chest. This gained some of the attention from the other kids.

"Bea! Bea, what's wrong?" Max asked as her friend continuously hit herself.

The three boys' eyes flit to each other. "Banshee." Mike whispered.

"What?" Max asked, turning to Lucas for answers.

Mike dismissed her question before turning to Beatrice. The girl who hasn't screamed in almost a year. "Bea! Bea!" He finally grabbed her attention, holding both of her shoulders. "Scream." He turns back towards everyone else. "Cover your ears."

Beatrice looks towards Joyce as she keeps on trying to wake Will up from his episode. Looking back at Mike, he gives her a reassuring nod.

And she screams. With her hands in her hair, she screams so loud that people across the country probably heard her. Her scream is so powerful that Joyce has to take her hands off her son's shoulders just to make sure she doesn't go deaf from it.

And just as Bea falls to her knees from her own scream, Will woke up from his episode. And all she could see were small black and blue tornadoes before her head hit the ground.

•••••

When Beatrice had woken up, she was in the school nurses room. She slowly lifted her head as she took in the surroundings, noticing the empty cot next to her.

Her friends were there, waiting for her to wake up. Well, except for Will who left with his mom. When coming to, she heard voices. They were muffled and she couldn't make of much of what they were saying.

"Ah, you're finally awake," The school nurse spoke softly, gaining the attention of the four kids. "Here you go." She handed Bea an ice pack. "You are all free to go."

Bea sat up, holding the ice pack to her head. She hissed — her head was throbbing. Looking up, she took note of her friends all staring at her in worry. She sent a small smile their way as she jumped off the bed, grabbing her backpack from the floor.

Walking out the door, her friends followed quietly. They treaded lightly around her, not being sure if she wanted to talk — afraid that if they pressed the wrong button, she would break again. What surprised them was that she was the first to break the silence.

"Is Will okay?" She wondered, barely above a whisper.

Turning to everyone, Mike made the executive decision to speak, "Yeah. Yeah, he's okay. Joyce took him home." Bea nodded.

They walked out of the school. Beatrice could sense eyes on her and turned around to see Max. Her eyes were full of curiosity and worry. For both Bea and Will. The boys asked if Bea wanted to ride with them back home but she declined, watching as they pedal away on their bikes.

She's going to talk to Max.

"How much did they tell you?" Beatrice sighed as she looked down at her scuffed shoes instead of looking Max in her eyes. She was afraid to see her look at her differently.

"Not much, really. Lucas mentioned something called True Sight, but Mike told him to not tell me." The girl admitted with a sad sigh. She thought she was actually becoming friends with Mike.

She slowly lifted her head. "Well, it's not my place to speak about Will. So, do you have any questions for me? I'm sure you do."

"Um. What was with the scream back there?" She asked, nodding her head towards the field behind her. Max swayed on the balls of her feet. The pair had never been this awkward before.

"I'm a Banshee," Bea replied, bluntly. This made Max laugh. She couldn't believe it. Beatrice, a Banshee? That's hilarious. She does not look like those drawings from the D&D manual.

"Is this a prank or something?" The ginger asked through chuckles.

"No." She answered, holding eye contact with the girl. This makes Max stop and mutter, "Oh, shit. You're for real?" Bea nodded glumly.

As Max was processing her new friend being a Banshee, Beatrice took her backpack off. Moving her hand around, she found her art book, or, technically, Banshee Book. She handed Max the leather binding and the girl eyed it in confusion.

"Your drawing book?" Bea nods. "What's this for?"

"Look at the drawings." Max cautiously flipped through the pages. "If you notice, the skateboard drawing of your skateboard was drawn before I met you."

"Wait." Max paused, turning to a page in Bea's book. "Is this... Is this my step brother's car?" Bea nods. "When did you draw this? What happened to the windshield?"

"I drew it last year." Max looked at her wide eyed.

"Last year?" Max whispers in surprise as Bea nods. "As in, before you met me?" She nods again at the obvious question.

Beatrice continues, "Around that time, I also drew this strange man with a cigarette in his mouth. And this boy who looked our age, but I've never seen him in school before. I have no idea who they are."

Max turned to the page and couldn't believe her eyes. "Billy."

"You know him?"

"He is my step brother."

Oh, shit.

•••••

The next day, Beatrice had her dad drop her off at school. Bob had to go into work early and Joyce was staying home. At least she would be able to sit in the passenger seat!

Her and Max didn't talk much about her drawings after yesterday. All she knows is that she drew her new friend's brother, scratch that, step-brother for some strange reason.

At the school her, Mike, Max, and Lucas were searching for Dart. Because they couldn't find him in the school the other day, they thought to check the dumpster. Luckily for Bea, she pulled the long straw. Unluckily for Lucas as he had pulled the shortest one.

"This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?" Max asked in disgust as Lucas was searching for the creature in the school's dumpster.

"The hells going on?" Dustin asked once he finally came to school. He was the last person to meet up with them in the back of the school.

"What do you think? We're looking for Dart." Mike sassed like it was obvious.

To be honest, it was. Well, that is if you're part of the party then it would be pretty obvious what they were doing. Any outsider would not understand why middle school kids were dumpster diving.

"Jeez!"

"Gross!"

"Ugh!"

"Nasty!"

The four scowled as Lucas threw a garbage bag out of the dumpster and almost hit Dustin. Lucas jumped out and he smelled disgusting. Like, really, really gross. Beatrice had to cover her nose with her sleeve.

"Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient." Lucas spoke snarkily as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You stink," Max muttered as she walked over to stand by Dustin. Bea followed suit, nodding her head in agreement as she still pinched her nose.

"Hi Max," Dustin greeted all smiley. This made Bea smile at him as her eyes flickered between him and the ginger.

"Hi?" She greeted back in confusion as she looked back at Bea for answers. Beatrice just smiled and shrugged.

Dustin then turned to the rest of them. "Where's Will?"

"He'll be here." Bea spoke confidently with a nod.

"Are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna help?" Lucas rhetorically asks and he tossed Dustin a stick to poke at the garbage.

The five of them surrounded the bag that Lucas threw out earlier and started poking at it. Hopeful to find Dart. But, one fifth of them knew he wasn't there.

Afterwards, the group went to class. Beatrice was too occupied by looking at Wills empty desk to pay attention to Mr. Clarke and his teachings about living things.

She couldn't stop wondering if he was okay. Where is he? Is he at home? What if something happened to him? She still hasn't had the opportunity to show him her drawings! He needs to know! He's like her best friend, no,

he is her best friend.

•••••

(🕰) T TIME!

max knows! but where's will when bea needs him?

•••••