❝ caroline

        The  girl  sat  on  one  of  the  bay  windows  inside  of  her  house.  She  trailed  her  fingers  along  the  window,  sketching  out  little  shapes  &  words.  She  had  never  seen  weather  like  this  in  the  Philippines  &  she  wished  that  she  could  go  outside  &  see  it  for  herself.  Margie  is  about  to  leave  &  go  up  to  her  room  to  finish  one  of  her  essay’s  when  suddenly  she  sees  a  figure  outside  slip  &  fall  onto  the  sidewalk  due  to  all  of  the  ice  build  up  on  the  concrete.  A  gasp  escapes  her  lips  before  she  runs  to  the  door,  grabbing  her  jacket  on  the  way  out.  She  hurries  over  to  the  other  &  ducks  down  beside  them.  ❛  Oh  aking  kabutihan  !  Are– are  you  o-okay  ?  ❜  She  asks  before  holding  her  hand  out  for  them  to  grab  onto.

Ice and Caroline was never a good match, certainly not with her attire choices while off the clock. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy winter clothes, she’d just never spent much money on them, so her shoes were far from reasonable in the storm. So, a struggle it had become, wandering along the pavement on her way back to the house, hoping to get there sooner than later. With each added step, the struggle of staying upright increased. But then, her heel slid against a sheet of thin ice, and within seconds, she crashed against the hard ground with a LOUD thud. “ fucking hell, who put that there?” she cried out, hand instantly going to her now throbbing leg. “is this my punishment for stealing some chocolate when I was ten?”

Priya watched the girl and knew that Matthew hadn’t run away. No matter how many people said that he might have or it was a theory, she knew it wasn’t true. It wasn’t Matthew. She knew she shouldn’t have attacked the girl like she did. But, it had just come out. “You’re right. I don’t know you.” She agreed but her demeanor didn’t change. Priya always went into attack mode when she became defensive. But then her words had rung in her head. “Wait you knew Matthew?” 

Caroline didn't know Matthew, not in the way Priya did, of course but she felt it was almost impossible to truly depict everything that went on in a teenagers mind. Though as the other agreed, the brunette dropped the topic altogether, it seemed pointless to stick on a topic they may never agree with. “ Yes, sort of, he came into the clinic on occasion. I’m a vet, and on occasion he even helped out and talked to the animals I had in that day.” Though it was rare, if she was able to see he was having a rough day, Caroline didn’t mind offering a place for others to unwind. 

“ Jesus f-fucking Christ .” The words echoed throughout the establishment, springing from the brunette that had just walked in from the blundering snow storm. The mustard coat gave way to her and the trashcan wavered after her foot had crashed into it - several times over. Outside, a yellow car sat, frost starting to catch its windshield. Her nose glowed rosy as well as her cheeks before and after she ripped her gloves off to reveal colorful fingertips. “ I can’t f-fucking -” They huffed from her mouth, the soft spoken voice betraying the vigor of the words.

Despite the storm, Caroline had come into work. She had animals to take care of, and if she didn’t ensure every one of them was safe and warm, no one would. Some of which, those that were incredibly sick, she’d even considered taking home with her but that almost seemed like more of a risk than keeping them there. If she managed to get a signal, she’d call home and ask her roommate to simply take care of her own pets. Locking up for a bit, Caroline decided to venture out in hopes to find a place to buy a quick bite to eat, not that she reckoned many places were open in these circumstances. But with little attention on the path before her, it was only a matter of seconds before she collided right into a cursing Lucretia, unable to help herself from laughing. “ That’s a bit unfortunate, fucking is a lot of fun, maybe not in this weather, so I can understand the frustration...but I do hope you don’t have to give it up entirely.” 

“It’s different.” She told her quickly about running away. “It was different for me.” She clarified, the girl had no idea. “No, I mean our father left but Matthew hated him since the day he was gone.” Priya paused and when she told her she shouldn’t moan and complain, she immediately got defensive. “Moan and complain?” She asked stepping closer to the girl. “God forbid I complain when the person I love most in this world just disappears and no one is doing anything about it! It’s been a month and nothing. Nothing! So yeah, I may complain but at least I’m trying to do something unlike people like you who will never understand.” 

" So you say, and I'm sure you're right but that doesn't mean he isn't a fifteen year old boy with thoughts that you'll never know.." she pointed out, of course the other's story was different to her own, as was Matthew's but that didn't mean she was without a clue. "I was only asking, I've only ever met your brother a couple times, not enough to know him beyond check ups on his pet." Shaking her head, Caroline slipped out a heavy sigh, not having meant to offend the girl, she just was never good at this sort of thing. “ People have done things, but it’s not as though the town can stop moving forward, we can’t spend our every last minute looking for him, even if we want to. We have to work, take care of our own.” That was rich, coming from Caroline, aside from the animals, she had no one to look after, no humans at least. “People like me? You don’t even know me, to know that I’d never understand...so calling people out and trying to make them feel like shitty people for moving on with their life isn’t really going to help you..is it?” 

“Well, when people don’t care, then it’s like they’re forcing you to run away.” Madeline knew all too well what running away felt like, even if it was only because she had to leave everything behind. “In this society, it nearly is everything.”

" True, that doesn't seem to be the case with Matthew though, I don't know him too well, aside from the times he brought his lizard in to me, but even that was rare.” She admitted, not really having a strong connection with the boy beyond that, though she couldn’t deny that he seemed like a sweetheart. “A bit sad, don’t you think?” 

Troy hadn’t expected the staggering woman to actually fall on him. As a result, he stumbled a few steps too before managing to balance them both upright. Her slurred curse and question only made Troy smile and laugh softly. “Right? What the fuck is up with this weather?” She was at least trying to stand up on her own so while Troy kept a grip on her arm in case she fell again, he also let her try to stand without leaning on him completely. “Hey…” Troy said slowly when he finally got a good look at her face. “Do I know you?” She was certainly pretty and certainly familiar. His eyes darted back and forth around her face as he tried to figure out where they had met. He would have remembered if she grew up here with him but… that wasn’t it. It couldn’t be. Troy had met her in another city, one far more exciting than Hawkins.

Normally, Caroline would've taken an opportunity like this to make a rash, inappropriate joke, but with the cold and wind only worsening, nothing came. Regaining her composure, the girl managed to gain balance long enough to stand up straight, releasing the other’s shoulder from beneath her grasp. “ You’d think we were in Northern Canada, or something, not INDIANA.”  Sure, winters got cold, but never this drastic, and never without at least a little warning. If it wasn’t for the growing pile of hail, she’d have already taken off her heels to get her home quicker but as CRAZY as she was, she wasn’t quite that insane. “ It’s possible,” she said, finally looking up at the individual, the drunken state making it harder for her to make out who it was, but alas there was a familiarity about him. “I know a lot of people, we haven’t dated or hooked up, have we?” She asked bluntly, spitting out the first of thoughts that came to mind, only to resort to shaking her head. “ No, no, a face like that I’d remember going down on..it can’t be that.” 

Priya glanced down and after she heard the girl had been one to runaway she knew the feeling. “I’ve been the runaway too.” She said plainly, not giving too much away. “Not much to be done?” She asked shaking her head. “So you and everyone else expect me to sit here and do nothing?” 

" So then the idea that he could've done the same really shouldn't be all that surprising, you know? I mean, do you guys have family out of town, out of state? Old friends? Not that you haven’t looked there, but really, at that age, it’s impossible to know everything that’s going on in a kid’s life.” Caroline shrugged her shoulders, she understood the other’s frustrations and how upset she was, but sometimes the harsh reality was what people needed to hear. “ No, not nothing, but certainly not moan and complain and blame everyone, it’s only going to make things worse...” 

“You ran away?” Madeline’s face fell into a bit of a surprise as her brows shot up at the young woman who spoke. “Yeah, I can see that. Money might not buy happiness, but it sure helps, right?”

The concrete under his bare feet was rough, cold, and unsympathetic about the shit day he was having. Troy didn’t even want to think about the events that led to him walking along a practically freezing neighborhood sidewalk holding his shoes. It wasn’t even HIS neighborhood which meant he had to walk all the way home in this thin, ruffled button down shirt and jeans. Shit, he suddenly remembered, I left my coat there too. Groaning aloud, the long haired man slowly lowered himself to sit on the sidewalk so he could at least put his shoes on before his toes had a chance to turn purple.

Alcohol still coursing through her entire body, Caroline had yet to pay much mind to the sudden cold as it struck the town. Her tights ripped underneath her black party dress, the time of year meaning nothing to her. She was used to dressing for colder weather, aside from work days when she dressed for the job. But that night, she’d found herself partying too hard, but as she walked further and further out into the cold, an ABRUPT gust of wind nipped at her face and caught her off guard, causing her to loose her balance some, but quickly grasping onto the first thing she could, in this case, Troy. “ SHIT, ” she cursed out, a breath of cold air blurring her vision for a split second as she glanced up. “ When did it become DECEMBER? I swear it was Halloween yesterday.” Her words slurred together as she tried to use the other to straighten herself up. 

“Look, man. It’s been a really hard year. Kurt Cobain is dead, now some boy is missing. I get that we are all under stress here but there is no reason you need to take it out on me. Fuck you and your no blasting music after midnight rule. This is how I cope.” Cade was not happy as he flipped the person off gathering his stuff as he prepared to flee the scene. 

“They’re not wo-” and just as she was ATTEMPTING to calm Cade down, his words cut her off, only causing her to chuckle inappropriately in amusement. “On second thought, why not start a brawl? Might be more exciting than tales of a run away kid.” Caroline pointed out with a shrug, watching the exchange, half tempted to join in. “Or you can take a deep breath and go get a drink with me, the call is all yours.” 

Priya’s stern look didn’t change as the woman defended herself and then proceeded to tell her that nothing bad could happen in this town so he would turn up. “You sound like everyone else in this town.” She said with a shake of her head and then her eyes wandered around. She knew it was more than just Matthew running away. “It only takes once.” She said. “For something bad to happen.”

Grimacing at the thought of sounding like the rest of the town, Caroline shook her head. "But see the difference between the rest of the town and I, is that I've been that kid that ran away...for all you know, that's what happened. Granted, I never returned home, but that’s an entirely different tale...your household I’m sure is a lot better.” She spoke confidently, still in a defensive state. “But there’s nothing to say that anything bad did happen? Guess there’s not much to be done until clues start to show up..” 

She grimaced at the thought of a white picket fence. “Boy do I relate to that. If I get stuck in a house with a white picket fence, the first thing I’ll do is tear that shit up. Or paint it black.” Pausing to consider the idea, Catherine shook her head before continuing. “But you haven’t seen the paper today, have you?”

"Painting it black has a bit of an appeal to it, does a better job at hiding any of the blood stains, I'm assuming. Not that I know a thing about that." Wiggling her brows at the other, Caroline couldn't help but snicker. “No, I never do, the only time I bother with reading it is if the headline catches my attention, but I haven’t been anywhere that sells the paper today.” 

Katrina couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, the brunette’s statement helping to distract the redhead from her thoughts. “Yeah for real, for real. Apparently he never came home, or he dissappeared early this morning.”

Caroline was mildly relieved as the other chuckled, a crack of a smile gracing her features. “That’s rough, but isn’t he a young teen? It’s not too out of the ordinary, even if this is Hawkins?” She spoke her curiosities aloud, after all, it had only been a day according to the redhead, it was too soon to jump to the worst of conclusions in her mind.