CARDIGAN | SEASON II ; ACT I
.୧ ‧₊˚⋅🍂 chapter 3 ━━━━━━ ❛the pollywog❜
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WHAT HAPPENED LAST EVENING STILL CIRCLED THROUGH THE BRUNETTE'S MIND, EVEN AFTER THE FACT. Ara walked in the halls of Hawkins Middle School with Max and Lucas, not very involved in the conversation.
"I still don't get why they call him zombie boy." Max said. "I mean, I get he got lost in the woods for a week but why is he a 'zombie'. Did everyone think he was dead?"
"Yea, we had a funeral for him and everything."
"After a week?" Ara asked. Finally saying something.
"Well, see, some other kid drowned at the quarry. We thought it was Will cause his body was super decomposed." Lucas said.
"What?" Max exclaimed as she stopped walking. "Okay that's not funny."
"It's not a joke. It's public knowledge." He said. "You can ask anybody except Will because he is really sensitive about it. Alright."
"Okay." Ara went along with it although she didn't fully take Lucas's word for it. She's only believe Will but as Lucas said, she can't ask him.
Ara just came to the conclusion that this town is weird although the small town aesthetics that came with living there did help uplift her mood.
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"The case of Phineas Gauge is one of the great medical curiosities of all time." Mr. Clarke said to the class.
Barely anyone payed attention though. Kids wrote on their erasers, popped bubblegum in the back of the class or fell asleep.
Ara thought the lesson was pretty interesting but didn't pay attention as she had other things circulating in her mind.
"Phineas was a rail road worker in 1848 and had a nightmarish accident. A large iron rod was driven completely trough his head." Mr. Clarke added.
"Phineas miraculously survived. He seemed fine and physically yes, he was but his injury resulted in a complete change to his personality. So much so that friends that knew him started referring to him as no longer Gauge."
Will could feel someone's stare at the back of his head and found Max looking at him but she quickly turned to look out the window.
Ara saw this interaction tried to put the pieces together. Though it was being nosey Ara wanted to know a bit of what was going on to help the poor boy.
She snapped her head to Dustin who had barged into the class.
"Sorry mr. Clarke." He said, a bit out of breath. "Sorry, please continue."
Mr. Clarke continued the lesson.
"We have to meet. All of us. At lunch, at the AV club." He whispered.
"Why?" Mike whispered back.
Ara watched from her desk at the back of the class. Her hands in the pockets of her yellow sweater, matching with Max. Dustin turned to Max and Ara and whispered to them as well.
"AV club, lunch."
"Dustin!" Mr. Clarke scolded.
"Yes my lord." Dustin said.
"Would you care to join the class now."
"Please, yes."
"Case of Phineas Gauge."
"Phineas Gauge." Dustin repeated.
"Page 104"
"104"
"AV club." Dustin whispered to Ara and Max again, who both gave him a thumbs up.
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The group of six gathering in the AV room at lunch just like Dustin had ordered. They all stood around the table with the trap that the curly haired boy had as an accessory to his Halloween costume in the center of them.
It opened and revealed this weird, slimy, little creature.
"His name is D'Artagnan." Dustin said as he put the creature in his hands.
"D'Artagnan?" Mike said.
"Yeah, cute isn't he. His name is Dart for short." Dustin said as he turned to Max.
"And he was in your trash?" Max asked.
"Scourging for food." He added. "Wanna hold him?"
"No." Max kept on saying but Dustin but Dart in her hands anyways.
"Oh God, he's slimy." She said, quickly passing dart to Lucas.
"He's like a living booger." Lucas said with disgust.
"Eurgh. Oh gosh." Will said as he passed dart to Ara.
Though it was visible that she was disgusted she held the creature longer then the others before her and look at dart closely.
"I feel like if he were to bite me I would turn into the slimy, lizard version of Dr. Curtis Conner." She said, passing Dart to Mike.
"You read Marvel comics?" Dustin asked in awe of the girl.
She stared at him, giving him a 'not the time' look as Mike began to speak.
"What is he?" Mike asked.
"My question exactly." Dustin said. He took out some books from his backpack and placed them on the table.
"At first, I thought he was some type of pollywog?" He said.
"Pollywog?" Max asked.
"It's another word for tadpole. A tadpole is the larva stage of a-" Ara said.
"I know what a tadpole is." Max said, obviously annoyed.
"Just making sure." Ara said, sending Max a sarcastic smile while she rolled her eyes.
"Well we all know that most tadpoles are aquatic," Dustin said. "but Dart isn't. He doesn't need water."
