bloody mishaps

✧

, " Five kids exclaimed with bright smiles. They were all huddled together at the front door of an old lady's home.

The woman beamed at the sight of them. "Oh! Well aren't you cute? The little exterminators and a baseball player!" she grinned, sticking out a bowl of chocolate bars.

All the boy's smiles quickly turned upside down while Rue thanked her for them. Dustin scoffed softly, taking a huge handful of candy, then all the other boys. Although, just before they could walk out of the lady's porch, Rue had started small talk with her.

"Don't you look wonderful tonight," She complimented the old woman who stood there baffled.

"Aren't you kind."

"When I was younger, my mother used to tell me that it's better to be known for my kindness and grace, and that rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength because kindness is the strength they're looking for," she said with her beautiful kind smile, her green eyes beaming under her cap.

"That is so beautiful, where's your mother now? I'd like to have a word with her."

Rue's smile flattered for a moment before she cleared her throat, waving her hand in the air and she said; "She's in Portland . . ."

"Oh, well, what's your name, darling?"

"Rue,"

"A pretty name for a pretty girl," she pinched Rue's cheeks, and the boys laughed behind her.

"Here take another handful, cutie pie," the lady told her.

Rue didn't hesitate before she took another handful, throwing all the candy in her bag. Forcing a captivating smile on her face, she looked back up at the woman. "Have a good night, ma'am!"

And she turned around and started to make her way down the porch, the boys slowly following.

"That's the sixth time tonight!" Lucas patted Rue's back as she split up the extra candy for the five of them.

"Did your mom actually tell you that?" Mike asked her as the group walked to the next house. "Or did you just say that for candy?"

Rue fumbled with the bat in her hand, "Yes she did tell me, she was always the one for kindness. She always told me there's always good in people, no matter what they've done."

She smiled sadly, remembering her mother telling her those words as they ate dinner one night. "Besides, that lady needed a compliment."

"How do you know that?"

Rue shrugged, not knowing if she should say that she heard the whisper in the back of her head again. Or that when the door had opened, she felt a wave of tiredness and fake happiness.

Will walked next to her, "You can really see through people, like read their minds or whatever," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so," Rue chewed on her lip before lowering her voice so Mike or the others wouldn't hear. "I might sound crazy but since, you know, I've felt different, like — "

"Have you read me?" Will cut her off.

Rue sighed but nodded anyway. "It took me a while, but you've been through a lot. All you want is happiness and to play D&D for the rest of your life with your friends."

"That's cool, like a superpower," Will grinned, then nudging Mike on his side, "isn't it cool Mike?"

"Yeah, sure whatever."

Rue frowned at his response but wasn't surprised about it either. "I wouldn't say superpower, Will," she told him. "But that would be cool, having powers."

Will agreed.

Feeling a stare, Rue looked to her side to find Mike staring at her as if he was trying to study her. But once caught, he looked away with an eye roll, then he stared at the night sky.

Rue shook her head, quickening her steps to walk between Lucas and Dustin.

"I swear if I get another Three Musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself," Lucas sighed after taking a glance at the candy he has.

"What's wrong with Three Musketeers?" Dustin asked.

"What's wrong with Three Musketeers?" He mocked with an eye roll.

"No one likes Three Musketeers," Mike butted in, now standing next to Dustin with Will at his other side.

Will nodded, "yeah, it's just nougat."

"Whoa, 'just nougat'?" Dustin said in disbelief. "What about you, Rue?"

"I prefer gummies."

"Wow, Three Musketeers are in my top three."

"Top three? Really? Oh god, give me a break," Mike rolled his eyes.

If he keeps rolling his eyes like that, he's going to get them stuck, Rue thought to herself. She jumped when Will laughed. Did I say that out loud? She thought, and her eyes widened when Will left Mike's side and walked next to her.

"It's okay, he didn't hear," Will said, holding the camera up to record her.

The girl narrowed her eyebrows. She swore she hadn't opened her mouth.

"Oh shit, Rue — " She heard Lucas say, his finger pointed at her nose as his voice became muffled.

Rue blinked, not hearing what he had said. "What?"

"You're bleeding."

For a second of panic, Rue looked down at her pants, thinking the worst. That was before she felt the dripping from her nose. "Oh," She quickly wiped it away with her sleeve, watching as blood stained the white, red.

Sniffing, she looked back up to see Dustin, Lucas and Mike staring at her. "What?" she asked. Their stares made her more worried than she should be. "Don't look at me like that. It's just a nosebleed, everyone gets those,"

Mike opened his mouth to say something, but before anything left his mouth, Michael Myers jumped out of the bushes, yelling at the group. Everyone jumped back, and Rue thought she heard herself screaming before realizing it was Lucas.

A familiar laugh came from behind the mask, and Rue could feel her heart slowing down the slightest. Her hand holding her pillowcase full of candy clutched onto her chest while the other one held onto her bat.

"Very funny, Max," she huffed breathlessly.

Dustin furrow his eyebrows "MadMax?"

"Holy shit! You should've seen the look on your faces," she laughed as the boys stared at her in shock. "And you?" she looked at Lucas. "Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl." she finished with a chuckle before walking off.

Max turned around again, "Hey, you guys coming or not?" she asked, waving her plastic pumpkin basket around.

Rue quickly ran up to walk next to her.

"Oh! I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?" she snickered, turning back around, linking her arms with Rue, "Hey," Max whispered, "I thought you weren't coming?"

"'Game got cancelled."

Not even trying to show sympathy, Max smiled brightly, "Great! I was hoping so, I didn't want to go trick-or-treat with these losers alone."

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

They had finished another mansion in Loch Nora, walking down the steps Dustin and Lucas were talking with Max, enjoying the night.

Rue and Will were close behind them, laughing along, while Mike — annoyed — followed everyone.

"Stop, my ears are hurting," Max laughed as Lucas and Dustin went off about "totally tubular," mocking surfer dudes.

"Here," Rue mumbled, helping Will with the camera.

"No, it's fine," he said, turning the camera around to record Mike, who seemed like someone got his pants in a twist.

"Did you agree to this?" he looked over at Will.

"What?" Will put the camera down, handing it over to Rue, who gladly took it, recording herself making silly faces.

"To her — joining our party." He nodded his head towards Max.

Rue looked over at Max, biting her lip to suppress a smile as the girl had a big grin on her face. Rue thought about how pretty a genuine smile looks on her freckled tanned face.

Will tugged on his shoulders, shrugging. "It's just for Halloween."

"They should've checked with me," Mike scoffed.

Rue scrunched her nose, giving the camera back to Will. "Don't be so rude, Mike."

"Don't get me started with you, Ruth," he mocked her name. "I may have given you the free card for being good friends with Will and your Dad being the founder of our club. But — "

"But what?" Rue asked, stepping closer. Here it was, the same excuse she'd heard before. The lame and rude lie someone would make up so she wouldn't be their friend. Everyone in Hawkins seemed to like her so far, but there was always someone.

"Come on, tell me, Michael," she mocked back, "what is it? What part about me do you not like? Tell me! I can take it!"

"You're trying too hard."

She nearly laughed, "I'm trying too hard? I'm trying hard for what?"

Mike went silent as Rue stared at him.

Just tell me!

"You're replacing El!"

Rue stepped back, watching as Mike's eyes went wide, shocked at the words that he had slipped. He had said it so fast as if something forced it out of him.

"Who — ?"

"Rue, you're bleeding again!" Will pointed at her nose, rushing to help her wipe it away. But the bleeding wouldn't stop.

Rue waved his hands away, tasting the blood in her mouth. She tilted her head down, trying not to get her clothes dirty.

She felt a hand hold her shoulder softly, while another pinching on the bridge of her nose. "Breathe out, you don't want to inhale it," Rue heard Max say.

They stayed in that position for a few minutes, Max rubbing Rue back while the boys stood and watched them. Blood began to puddle at Rue's feet before the bleeding stopped.

She stood straighter, wiping her nose one last time. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Did you hit your nose or something?" Max asked, cupping Rue's cheeks and checking on her, "Or your head? You should see a doctor."

"No, no, it's fine," Rue stepped back again, nearly bumping into a little girl in a tooth fairy costume. "Sorry."

"How are you feeling?" Lucas asked.

"Just a little dizzy," Rue said.

He nodded, taking candy from his pillowcase and unwrapping a lollipop, handing it to Rue, "I don't know if it'll work but, maybe you need more sugar?"

She took it gingerly and looked at all of them, feeling smaller. But then, she noticed someone was missing. Rue panicked, seeing her dad's camera on the floor. "W—where's Will?"

They all turned around to find the empty spot where the boy had once stood. "Will?"

The party split up, searching for Will Byers.

Max ran around with Rue by her side, "Will?" they called, zigzagging between trick-or-treaters. "Will," They turned, pushing past a couple of older teenagers who stole candy from kids. "Will?!"

Rue couldn't see straight, her vision was blurry with tears. She promised Jonathan nothing would happen to Will. Rue promised she would get him back to Mike's by nine. She hoped Will was okay, that he wasn't lost or in pain.

"Max! Rue, we found him!" Dustin yelled breathlessly, running up to the two girls. "Come, this way!" he tugged on Max's arm, pulling her away.

Max quickly grabbed Rue's arm, and the three ran off in a chain, rushing down the side of someone's house.

They found Will in Mike's arms, looking around horrified, lost in a different world, and out of breath.

"Is he okay?" Lucas asked, kneeling next to Mike and Will.

" I don't know," Mike said before turning his attention back to Will. "I'm gonna get you home, okay?"

Will whimpered, and Rue could feel her heart shatter.

"I'm gonna get you home," he said again, "Hold on," Mike struggled to get Will to stand. Dustin noticed and went to help

"Take it easy."

"I got him," Mike pushed him away.

"Mike — " Lucas tried, moving to help as well, but Mike pushed him away too.

With a grunt, Mike got Will to stand, "Keep trick-or-treating. I'm bored anyway," he turned around with him under his wing.

"Mike," Rue was about to step forward, but Mike turned around again.

"No!" he exclaimed, and Rue teared up again, her throat clogging up. "I don't need your help! He's fine with me, alright?! I'll take care of him!"

The rest watched as Mike left them behind. The fun of Halloween had disappeared as the small group was now worried and scared.

Without a word, they all stepped back onto the street and stood in silence.

"I think — " Lucas started, "I think I'm gonna go home, now,"

"Yeah, me too," Dusting nodded, "Bye," they waved at Rue and Max as they left, leaving the two girls alone.

"I'm gonna go, too," Rue said softly, staring at the floor and her blood-stained shoes.

Max looked at her, "Where are you going?"

Rue held her candy bag and bat with both hands in front of her stomach, "Home,"

There was a beat of silence before Max spoke up. Her voice was quiet as if she didn't know if she should be asking this or not. "Can I come with you?"

Rue let out a watery laugh, smiling at Max. "Maybe next time."

"Oh," she said, defeated, "oh, okay. Next time."

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

Rue froze in her steps, she was only about three houses away from the Wheeler's after she told Will and Jonathan that she was going home. Rue started to dig in the pillowcase, which had a few red stains from her bleeding mishap.

She dug past the candy for her Walkman. She was so concentrated on finding it she didn't see the car pull up next to her.

"Um, hey," The guy in the car said, making her jump and look his way.

When she did, she saw a guy, probably in his last years of high school, with really big hair and sunglasses. "Hi?" she awkwardly waved.

"Come with me if you want to live," he joked with a sad smile as if he just watched his whole world break before his eyes.

"Did you just quote Terminator?"

He sighed, pulling off his sunglasses, which she thought was strange of him to wear since it was night time. "I might've," he said.

"I'm not allowed to get into cars with strangers," she said, walking a bit closer to look at his face, "no matter how good looking they are."

The teenager let out a laugh at her words, "I'm Steve Harrington," he introduced himself.

"I'm Rue Newby," she smiled.

"Now we're not strangers," he played, still voice coming out a bit broken.

Rue noticed and walked closer to the car, resting her arm on the top of the car, she poked her head inside, spotting his tear-stained face. She hesitated but asked anyway, "Are you okay, Steve Harrington?"

"I'm fine," his voice cracked, "just girl problems," he shook his head, sniffing, "Anyway ,you seem lonely and it's gonna be late, and it's not safe for a young girl to be alone at night with assholes around. So I was wondering — "

" — If you could give me a ride," she finished with a chuckle. "Yeah, I got that," she grinned before opening the passenger door and hopping in the seat.

"Tell me your girl problems on the way."

"Don't make me regret this," Steve frowned, running a hand through his long luscious hair.

She smiled softly, "Don't worry, you won't." Rue clicked on the seat belt, then looked at him. "So . . . what happened?" she asked after telling him her address, and the car started to take off.

The two talked, Steve told her how his girlfriend didn't love him back, and that he caught her with another guy in her room. Rue winced and quickly changed the topic as his eyes teared up again.

She told him about how she moved to Hawkins that summer and Steve told her about the best record stores in Hawkins, even though Rue had already visited them all. He told her about how he's in the basketball team in high school, and she told him about how she's in the baseball team for Hawkins, one-upping him.

They've learnt more about each other every minute. But what they didn't know was that it was the start of a great friendship, and this wasn't the last time Steve Harrington would see Rue Newby.

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

rue and steve