Mall Rats

The shower head sprayed cold water down Dylan back, as the boy hummed a song. He tried to let the water ease the burning thought in his mind, and the sight of Mike's face.

He stepped out of the shower, grabbing his towel, trying to wipe of the feelings he had

putting on straight cut navy jeans, with a white t shirt and green flannel. Trying to cover what was said to him.

Dylan had remembered what Dustin's plan was for this day, which was go to Steve at the mall and advise a plan. So that's where he left to.

_______________________________

HAWKINS STARCOURT MALL

He saw the people of Hawkins walk into the mall and exit with the same bright smile. He saw how their arms and legs were free from cloth, as the sun glared at him. He quickly parked his bike making his way inside

The A/C felt like heaven, he took a couple of deep breaths of it as he faced the crowd of People. He observed them, seeing men who looked like they were buying gifts for their wife's and others buying gifts for their mistresses. Kids who walked around with traces of candy and ice cream all over their faces as they pulled and tugged at their mother's hair who was out buying things for her family and not herself.

He then faced the people he would avoid the most which were teens, girls who gave him weird or sexual looks, boys who would laugh at him taunting him as a way to impress said girls.

Dylan saw the Scoops Ahoy sign and quickly darted his way towards it, seeing Erica Sinclair with her friends talking to Robin who was behind the counter. ________________________________

WHEELER RESIDENCE

"I had no choice Lucas, I really had no choice!" Mike said as he faced Lucas who was sitting on the basement chair

Will was in the back setting up the DnD board hoping his friends would play when they stopped complaining about their girlfriends.

"I just wished you consulted me, consulted anyone! Because the way you handled this....your in deep shit." Lucas said not sugarcoating anything.

Mike sat down on his couch his head in his hands, "I did consult someone....."

Lucas confusingly looked at Mike "Who?"

Will then spoke up. "Hey where's Dylan?"

Lucas then turned to Will before looking at Mike whose face was still drooped and unhappy. "Did something happen?"

"Me and Dylan got into an argument....over this....and I said something I shouldn't have said." Mike responded as he looked to Lucas for advice

"Well, that's something we have to deal with later...right now we need to help you with El!" Lucas said as he continued with advice to apologize to Eleven

Mike spaced out as questioned filled his head

What's Dylan doing? Where is he?

Will he forgive me?

"MIKE! Are you listening to me?" Lucas yelled as Mike snapped back to reality

"Huh? Yea, I'm listening!" Mike replied

"What did I just say?" Lucas asked

Mike blankly stared at Lucas

Lucas signed"Max has broken up with me five times." Lucas held up his hand "But have I despaired? No! I marched back into battle and I've won her back every freaking time! "How?" Mike asked

"I'll show you." Lucas then ran up the stairs as Mike followed him, the two leaving Will in the basement

"Guys! I'm still here! Guys?"

_________________________________ HAWKINS STARCOURT MALL

"Steve!" Robin yelled as Erica kept on asking for more samples

Dylan slightly pushed his way forward "Sorry Erica." He said as he faced Robin, he finally was able to really observe the girl, her dirty blond hair that had a slight curl cut to a bob, her messy mascara being the only makeup she had on, as the only personality she was wearing being her red converse that had drawings of women's breast.

"Hey! Robin right?" Dylan asked

"That's what my name tag says." Robin replied

"Is Dustin with Steve? Here?" Dylan asked

Robin was about to reply before Dylan cut her off "You know what it's fine." Dylan smiled as he  walked behind the counter

"Hey! Your not allowed-" Robin yelled as Dylan just ignored her walking through the door to the back "Honestly I don't even care anymore." Robin tiredly sighed

Dylan saw his older brother eating a banana circling a table that Dustin sat at, the two listening to the Russian that played on the tape.

"Dylan? Whath ar yuu doen her?" Steve asked banana mush slurring his speech.

"Dylan! You're here!" Dustin exclaimed excitedly

"Uhh yea, I'm here what-" Dylan heard the door sling open as Robin came bursting in

"Okay, I'm done, babysitting time is over! You need to get in there." Robin said as Steve backed away the two looking like they were just caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

Robin caught site of the white board hanging on the wall, plastered with the Russian alphabet "Hey! My board, that was important data shit birds!"

Dylan chuckled at this interaction, he didn't know much about this girl but he liked her, she was cool, not the "popular" cool that Steve was named in high school....but the cool, that actually meant, cool.

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin said

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway?" Robin smoothly said, as the two boys shockingly looked at each other

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asked Steve and Dylan

"I don't know!" Steve shrugged

"Did you tell her?" Dustin asked Dylan

"Why would I tell her?" Dylan asked "I just got here!"

"she knows somehow." Steve said

"Well it wasn't me!" Dylan argued

"Hello I can hear you. Actually I can hear everything. You both are extremely loud"  Robin said

Steve had his hand on his hip next to Dustin as the young boy with a green and yellow hat just blankly stared at Robin.

"You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a single word, because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet then we do, Sound about right?" Robin said

"Damn." Dylan said as Dustin and Steve glared at him"What? It seems she got you, she got you good." Dylan smiled

Robin then tried to grab the recording before Steve quickly snatched it.

"Woah! What do you think you're doing?" Steve asked

"I wanna hear it." Robin replied

"Why?" Steve and Dustin simultaneously asked

"Cause maybe I can help." Robin stated "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

"Russian?" Dylan asked

Robin turned to him"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day."

Dylan rolled his eyes chuckling, before he heard Dustin and Steve excitedly celebrating

"That was pig Latin, dummies." Dylan said as Steve hit Dustin with his banana skin blaming him for his own stupidity.

"But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for 12 years." Robin said

"A lot of "ands"." Dylan said impressively, as he was mostly trying to convince his brother to let Robin help. 

"My ears are little geniuses, trust me." Robin smiled Steve was hesitant not wanting to give Robin the recording

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream my turn to translate. I don't even want credit, I'm just bored." Robin said as she extended her hand across the table to Steve the sound of her bracelets scratching the table.

Steve sighed and handed Robin the tape, as he walked out to the front.

________________________________

  Mike, Will, and Lucas walked around the Mall looking for items to buy for El.

Mike was also looking at Items Dylan would like, seeing things that he felt like would be a good apology, according to Lucas's advice.

"Lucas, if something has a little bit of orange on it, do you think Dylan wouldn't like it, I mean it's a good item but he hates orange so-" Mike asked before Lucas exasperatedly looked at him

"Mike! Focus! You can get something for Dylan later, right now you need something for El, something pretty and shiny that says "I'm sorry."  Lucas explained

"Wait something that literally says I'm sorry?" Mike asked

"No!"

_______________________________

Dylan didn't think his summer would include sitting in the back of Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor with Robin and Dustin listening to Russian on a tape.

But here he was. Robin was walking back and forth as she listened  to the recording. Dustin would rewind and forward when he was asked while Dylan wrote down the translations Robin would come up with.

They had gotten a few words but not full on sentences, Dylan couldn't help but feel a bit bored as he waited for one of them to tell him to write something down. He would put the effort in to help if he didn't have something else on his mind.

He thought of what Mike was doing, or at least guessing. Did Mike feel bad for what he said? I mean why would he. Mike wasn't wrong.He did lie to Cindy and everyone in his life, he's hurt people, and he's not a good guy.

At the end of the day, Dylan felt a little bad. He let his jealousy take over him and when his best friend asked for help.......he caused the fight...it was his fault. He couldn't help but still be a little upset with Mike........maybe this is good? Maybe he's one step closer to getting over Mike.

Dylan snapped back to reality to see he was writing his feelings, making sketches, and just filling the page with Mike when it was supposed to be with Russian.

Dylan grabbed the paper quickly tearing it apart and throwing it away. He looked to see Robin and Dustin staring at him

"Sorry....the paper was....um....not good." Dylan said cursing at himself for that stupid of an excuse

Robin and Dustin ignored him focusing back on the task at hand as Dylan grabbed another paper rewriting the Russian he had written before. Micheal still embedded in his mind.

________________________________

   Robin opened the slide window, to tell Steve about the sentence they had translated, (The Week Is Long). Dylan looked up to see El and Max together behind the counter, Eleven was in a new groovy look that Dylan didn't hate, he also saw a smile on his sister's face that was genuine.

"What the hell?" Dylan mumbled smiling to himself as he got up and walked out of the room.

"Okay, here you go, thats strawberry and vanilla with sprinkles." Steve said as Dylan walked up next to him

"Max? Eleven? What are you guys doing here?" Dylan asked as the two girls ate their ice cream

"Shopping." Eleven said with a smile.

Max was staring at Dylan almost like she was testing him trying to figure out what he was gonna say next.

"Oh, okay. Well have fun!" Dylan said as he smiled back at the two girls.

"Wait, is she even allowed to be here?" Steve asked as Eleven and Max ran away laughing.

"No....but one day won't kill her." He responded as he looked forward to see Max had left her sunglasses on the counter.

He picked them up walking out of the ice cream shop. Looking around for Max he saw the ginger haired girl skipping towards the entrance of the mall, he started to make his way there before someone stopped him.

It was Cindy, she grabbed Dylan's arm and faced him. "Hey Dylan!" Cindy said as she wrapped her arms around Dylan's neck and kissed him.

Dylan was shocked and a bit uncomfortable as he didn't enjoy public display of affection so he gently pulled Cindy away.

"H-hey Cindy." Dylan said confused "What are you doing here?"

"It's a public mall Dylan." Cindy replied "Oh yea, sorry I meant-" Dylan said before Cindy cut him off.

"Who's are those?" She asked a slight hint of jealousy in her tone

Dylan followed her gaze to the red sunglasses in his hand. "These? Well....there....there mine!" Dylan put the glasses on to cover up the fact they belonged to another girl "think they look good?"

"No, red isn't your color." Cindy responded as Dylan took the glasses off. "You should come with me, we can hang out at the mall, get some food, and then...." Cindy leaned towards Dylan's ear "we can go to my house" she said in a whisper

Dylan immediately jumped back, a shiver of discomfort down his spine. "About that! I'm doing something right now, but how about......tonight! Yes at 8:00! Meet me near the road of your house."

Dylan knew he didn't want to meet with Cindy near her house, but he couldn't think of any other way to get out of this situation without Cindy freaking out. Even if it meant he had to deal with it later.

He still remembered when Cindy was nicer and less possessive, when she made him feel safe.

_______________________________

   HARRINGTON RESIDENCE 1 month ago

Dylan and Cindy sat on the roof of his house, talking on the hot summer night with a slight breeze in the air.

"Wait, So then you just left?" Dylan laughed as he rested his head on his knees looking at Cindy who was smoking a cigarette

"Yep." Cindy replied as she smiled

Their was a comfortable silence with strong white smoke in the air, when Cindy sprung up a question

"The guy at the mall, he called you Scars. Why?" Cindy asked

Dylan looked at the girl trying to find the words he was gonna answer with "Well, I have a scar on my face....that could be a reason."

Cindy rolled her eyes "Well duh, but why do people make fun of you for it?"

"Well I'm not sure, they just do. Sometimes you don't really know why people make fun of you. It's like with my friends we're all equally bullied by the people at our school. It's mostly because we're in Av club and we like DnD. But they only use our physical traits to make fun of us...............I don't think there's anything wrong with my friends." Dylan replied as he looked to the forest

"Do you think there something wrong with you?" Cindy asked

Dylan paused, he knew there was something wrong with him, something he couldn't explain to Cindy "It doesn't really matter what I think, if most people believe I'm weird and have some problem, then it's true." Dylan shrugged

"Well no." Cindy frowned "if everyone thinks you Dylan Harrington have a problem, well then listen to the one person who doesn't think that." Cindy said "me."

Dylan smiled at Cindy's encouragement, but he couldn't help thinking about who that one person used to be.

______________________________

PRESENT STARCOURT MALL

"Dylan!"

Dylan snapped out of his trance looking at his girlfriend "W-what?"

"8:00 right? That's what you said." Cindy repeated

"Yea, totally!" Dylan said impatiently

"Okay then, I'll see you later." Cindy kissed Dylan on the cheek, as he put on a fake smile and quickly ran towards the entrance wiping her lipstick off.

"I dump your ass!" Eleven yelled _______________________________

  Eleven looked to her right seeing her brother walk out dumbfounded holding Max's sunglasses.

"Uhh, you forgot these max.." Dylan said as he handed the red sunglasses to Max not taking his eyes off of Eleven and Mike

"Thanks Dylan." Max sputtered trying to keep in her laugh.

Eleven then looked to see the bus that was coming in before grabbing Max's hand and darting towards it.

The two girls left leaving Dylan alone with three confused and shocked boys.

"What the hell......are you going to do something?" Mike anxiously asked Dylan

Dylan turned towards Mike with an annoyed expression. That's all he says? Now Dylan was really pissed off. Mike didn't feel bad at all. "What do you expect me to do?

"I don't know, she's Your sister-" Mike argued

"And! she.........Was your girlfriend." Dylan replied trying his best to rub it in.

"El just broke up with Mike! You had the chance to convince her or something, she listens to you!" Lucas said

Dylan paused completely shocked."Ok wow...first of all I don't control El, and second of all....yea you're right I could have done something but I didn't!" Dylan looked Mike up and down "because, He, deserved it."

Dylan walked away opening the mall door before yelling back at his friends "You know what I am going to do?" He faced them specifically looking at Mike, as he flipped them off.    Lucas looked to his left seeing Mikes face which was contorted and unrecognizable, maybe this fight between Dylan and Mike was more serious than he thought.

_________________________________

It was late at night, as the Mall was completely closed, the lights were still on as the empty building echoed with a blue hue. Dylan was still in the back of the ice cream parlor reading their final translation, which didn't exactly make sense

"The week is long........" the group of four read together. "The silver cat feeds......when blue meets yellow in the west?"

He stood next to Robin, Steve, and Dustin all who shared the same look of confusion.

_____________________________

Steve closed the gates to Scoops Ahoy as he complained to them like a client to a therapist "I mean...it just doesn't make sense! It can't be right!"

"It's right!" Robin argued

"Honestly it's great news." Dustin commented as he walked forward with Dylan and Robin

"How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes." Steve chuckled catching up to them

"It's good news because even if we don't know what it means, yet!, we figured it out in general." Dylan said

"What? No there's nothing figured out! It's just nonsense." Steve responded

"It's not nonsense! Dylan is right...I-it's like a code, a riddle!" Dustin said

"What?" Steve asked again

"Oh my gosh Steve, a secret Russian code." Dylan said "why wouldn't it be secret? It was made by Russians."

"That's a total stretch." Steve said

"I don't know, is it?" Robin responded

"You're buying into this?" Steve asked

Robin went on an explanation of Russians and their tactics, when Dylan couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something, he didn't have any over the summer assignments and he didn't eat breakfast so he didn't leave the stove on. What was it?

He walked forward until he heard his brother start screaming for a quarter He looked behind him to see Steve by a little horse ride as he grabbed the coins Robin threw at him. He started the ride as Music echoed threw the mall.

"You need some help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin asked as Dustin chuckled

"Look would you two just shut up and listen." Steve seriously said as he crouched next to the horse

"That sounds like......? Dustin turn on the tape." Dylan said

"Why-" Dustin asked

"Just fucking do it." Dylan said as Dustin took his backpack off and grabbed the tape turning it on

It started to play the same creepy carnival music as the sound overlapped. "The music!" Dustin yelled

"I don't get it." Robin said

"It's the exact same song in the recording." Dustin said

"Maybe they have horses like this is Russia." Robin devised

"Indiana Flyer, I don't...I don't think so, this code it didn't come from Russia." Steve said pointing at the tape

"It came from here."

________________________________

Cindy stood by the road Dylan promised to meet her. It was late and the hot breeze didn't make it comfortable, she looked at her watch which read 9:30 pm

"Are you shitting me?" Cindy mumbled to herself as she picked up her bags and started to walk back to her home fuming

She passed by the Brimborn Steel works, which was an abandoned factory. It was unsettling she never enjoyed it. But one thing that she was most creeped out by was how empty it was.

She looked forward into the bushes seeing a Camaro which was on. She looked to see a man walk out of the drivers seat and open his trunk. To which a girl laid tied in ropes and tape

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cindy yelled at him as she walked forward, she knew some self defense and wasn't gonna let some other girl get hurt.

The man paused what he was doing and turned to face Cindy, his eyes were bloodshot as his skin was covered in dirt and wounds. Cindy could see his veins slightly pop out which were black as the road.

"What the hell......" Cindy was shocked at the man's appearance, the look on his face was unrecognizable, he looked pained but evil.

Like he was being controlled

Cindy could swear on everything she loved she heard a deep voice surround her

Take her..........

Within a second Cindy was hit over her head She crumpled to the ground as she could feel blood trialing down her face. Through her blurry vision she saw the man who was twitching lift his leg up

As her world faded to black.