"Last one there's a Siren!"
Mike laughed, looking over his shoulder and zooming down the hill. His skinny, pale legs pumped up and down as he tried to maintain steadiness. He was going so fast he felt like he was going to fall off the bike, but Mike had gone faster.
Names were stupid, but for young boys, there was nothing more important than pride. Well, except for bragging rights.
The other boys pedaled behind him, weighed down by their backpacks. School was finally back in session. Summer had been fun – many hours devoted to lengthy and even more elaborate campaigns – but there were only so many stories Mike could come up with. And none of them compared to the story they had lived out in their very own lives. Life had become boring after that.
Mike looked over his shoulder and saw that Will was right behind him. Will began to lose his breath and fell behind Dustin and Lucas who were weaving in and out of each other. Mike's eyebrows knit together, but he was too focused on winning to fall behind. Mike arrived at the house, hopped off his bike, and raised his arms in triumph. Lucas arrived second, followed by Dustin, and eventually, Will. Will had been looking out of breath lately, always arriving last whenever they raced from one street to another. The other boys slid off their bikes as they arrived.
"I win again! All bow before me and my powers of destruction!" He pretended to slay them all with flames coming from his hands as they fell to their knees. They let out pretend shrieks, "You're too powerful," "we're not worthy," "it burns." Will was the only one who didn't join in, letting out a small smile. He hopped off his bike and headed towards the door.
"You want something to eat? Mom made brownies yesterday." Mike called over to him. "No, I'm not hungry. I'm just going to head downstairs," Will responded with a shrug and headed on in. Mike stared after him, eyes searching for a reason he couldn't think of. Finally, Lucas broke the silence.
"Am I the only one who sees he's been acting weird recently?" Mike looked back toward him and nodded his head. "Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just weird being back at school for him." Mike led his bike to the wall and stood it up straight.
Dustin interjected, through his dysplasia affected gums, "The whole school did think he was kidnapped."
Lucas added, "And then dead."
Dustin finished, "And then back from the dead."
Lucas, "You have to admit, it'd be weird for anyone."
Mike shrugged and headed for the door. The boys followed. "Sure, but we also fought off a Demogorgon, and it's not weird for us."
Dustin and Lucas exchanged looks as Mike opened the door and headed in. Dustin added, "It's not?"
Back downstairs, Dustin and Lucas munched on a plate filled with brownies. Mike stared down at a board game that was unopened on the square table. "Mom bought me this, but it looks dumb. Something Nancy would play, if she was cool and actually played board games." Will was standing by the window, looked back at Mike and smiled. He walked back over and sat down.
"What's it called?" He asked, reaching over for a brownie, despite his earlier comment. "'Life', I think. Looks girly. And boring." Will grabbed it out of Mike's hands and pulled open the top. "It's very… colorful?" He grinned towards Mike who grinned back through crooked teeth. "I didn't come up with another campaign yet. I'm trying to come up with something great involving several monsters and multiple Troll hoards, but I used up all my ideas on the last one."
Lucas bit a brownie and looked over. "Give it a day, I'm sure you'll think of something. Think about… you know." Mike shot him a look and then looked at Will, but Will was too engrossed in the colorful game to hear anything. "I'll come up with something. Just wait for the weekend. Mom's been complaining about you staying too late on school nights anyway."
"Just tell her it's for the AV Club! Mr. Clarke finally got a new radio after what happened to the last one. Say we're working on ideas for that!" Dustin said as he shoved two whole brownies in his mouth.
"Good idea!"
He was about to say more, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed something strange. It was like the wall wasn't completely there, fading in and out of reality. He took a double take, but when he looked back, it was normal.
"Mike?" Lucas asked, looking from Mike to the wall.
"I just… did you see that?" He wasn't letting something slide. Last year proved that anything could, in certain situations, be something. Nothing was too far-fetched.
"You mean that stain right above the couch? I think Dustin made that last year when your mom made sloppy joes."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"You got it everywhere and Nancy had to help you out, and you were like 'ooh, Nancy. I love you so much.'" Lucas made pretend smooching noises with his mouth, pretending to kiss the air in front of him. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips while Mike and Will laughed on. Mike laughed so much as Lucas taunted Dustin that he completely forgot about the wall.
It was just a wall, anyway, and he had been paranoid after the past year. It was nothing. And he didn't even remember seeing anything after Mom called the boys upstairs for supper. She had made macaroni and cheese, a rare treat. Mac and Cheese was more important than confusing visions out of the corner of his eye.
It was nothing, and after enough time of not thinking about it, that's all it ended up being. Nothing.