Chapter 6
Chapter 6: The Monster
word count: 6.6k (sorry)
Finished this at 12;30 am, if theres any mistakes let me know and Ill fix them later. This is proof read but Im kinda out of it rn lol
A03 link
summary: bonding with Jonathan, spooky alternate dimension, injuries, fights.
usage of (name)
When the three of you arrived at the woods, you got out of the car with your goodies. You set up your targets, preparing to take turns shooting with the gun Jonathan had taken from that car at Will’s “funeral.” As you set up, questions spun through your mind: How did Jonathan know the gun was there? Would the owner notice it missing? Did it even belong to someone else, or was it Jonathan’s all along? While you considered these things, Jonathan took a mix of empty beer and soda cans from his bag and placed them on the tree stumps in front of you.
Targets.
Jonathan then took the gun out of his bag and began attempting to shoot the cans off the tree stumps. He had moderate success, missing most of the cans but hitting a few of them. He wasn’t horrible. Still, if a life-or-death situation required accuracy, you wouldn’t put your life in his hands. You and Nancy went to reset the cans, placing them back on the tree stumps so you both could practice next. Nancy was the complete opposite of Jonathan when her turn came. She hit all but one target—gunshots echoing, her voice rambling about her parents' loveless marriage.
When it was your turn, you just decided to aim for the can that Nancy missed. You managed to hit it off the tree stump, to your surprise. You felt a little left out, though, seeing as you didn’t have a sad story of your own; you just explained that you were the eldest daughter of a Vietnam veteran, and your father had taken you shooting a few times, though you never really enjoy. After your last shot, all the targets were down, and you guys decided to grab your bags and venture deeper into the woods. After you made a comment about him sticking to more hand-to-hand combat, Jonathan decided to grab the bat Nancy had brought, and you felt like it was the safer choice to give Nancy the gun on account of her shooting all her targets. You kept your hockey stick in your hand, opting to keep your hairspray in your bag.
After a while of you three walking silently through the woods, Nancy broke the silence. “You never said what I was saying,” she directed towards Jonathan. You both looked at her a bit confused before Jonathan asked what she meant. “Yesterday, you said I was saying something, and that’s why you took my picture,” she clarified. You raised an eyebrow and looked towards Jonathan for his answer. He retreated into himself, a habit that you're noticing he exhibits a lot, and shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know.”
You both looked at him, your eyes pressing him forward before he spoke up again. “My guess… I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else, but for that moment, it’s like you were alone, or you thought you were, and you know, you could just be yourself.” You grimaced at his explanation but waited for Nancy’s reaction before you said anything that could potentially earn an elbow in your side. She seemed surprisingly calm before she scoffed. “That is such bullshit,” she announced before trudging ahead of you two. A look of shock crossed Jonathan's face, and you watched as he internally panicked. “What-what do you mean?” he said before coming to a slow stop. She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I’m dating Steve and you don’t like him—” she started before Jonathan shut down and continued walking. “You know what, forget I said anything. I just thought it was a good picture,” he mumbled as he jogged ahead.
“He’s actually a good guy,” Nancy exclaimed, walking to catch up to him, eager to prove herself and, by extension, Steve. You rolled your eyes and rushed to catch up to them. You know this probably stemmed from her guilt about the situation with Barb, her blaming herself for her disappearance. “C’mon, Nance, no one thinks he’s a bad guy,” you mumbled, while Jonathan stuttered out a complacent “okay.”
“It’s just yesterday, with the camera, he’s not like that. At all. He was just being protective.” She rounded in front of you and Jonathan and forced the two of you to halt to a stop. Jonathan rolled his eyes and pushed past her to continue on into the woods. “Yeah, that’s one word for it,” he scoffed.
“And I guess what you did was okay?” Nancy questioned as she hurried to catch up with him, leaving you behind in the process. You lingered back as they continued their argument; you didn’t want to get involved in their quarrel, even as Jonathan looked back at you for interference or some backup.
You’ve grown to like him a bit more than you did before he enlisted his help in finding Barb, but you still didn’t consider him a friend. More like someone whose goals are intertwined with yours and Nancy’s. So you ignored him and let Nancy tell him off, hearing bits and pieces but not engaging in any way, opting to practice swinging your hockey stick to get some more practice in. After a particularly heated scolding, Jonathan left the two of you behind, nearly grazing his shoulder with yours as he passed. Nancy stood frozen in her spot before scoffing and hurrying to catch up with him, making you follow behind her. The last thing you wanted was to be in these woods by yourself.
Over the course of the next few hours, as you all aimlessly walk through the woods, you’ve had time to notice a few things about your little group. One of the most notable aspects is that, regardless of the situation or previous discussion, the three of you always seemed to eventually fall into an awkward silence. Nancy would usually be the one to break it, seeing as it didn’t take a genius to understand that you weren’t particularly fond of Jonathan, but since she wasn’t either at the moment, there was no one to cut through the uncomfortable silence and tension between all of you right now.
It carried on for an hour or two after the sun had set, and the three of you were still walking. You were thinking about how you were going to explain to your mother why you were out all day when suddenly Nancy stopped in front of you, halting your footsteps. “What’s the matter?” you inquired, peering over to the side to get a glimpse of her face, to no avail. But she didn’t answer you. Jonathan looked back at the two of you and rolled his eyes, “What, are you two tired?”
“Shut up,” she quipped before taking a few steps forward, causing both you and Jonathan to raise your eyebrows in slight shock. “Nance, what is it?” you quietly questioned, walking next to her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I heard something,” she whispered, furrowing her eyebrows and intently listening for the noise she previously heard.
You emulated her actions and stayed silent, quietly listening out in the dense woods, and that’s when you heard it. A faint whimper further off through the woods. Jonathan must’ve heard it too, his face falling and taking a shuddering breath. The whimpers didn’t stop, so the three of you walked towards the noise until you found yourselves on the side of the road, flashlight in one hand and hockey stick in the other.
As you approached closer, you realized it was a wounded deer, curled up in the bushes. You lowered your weapon with a frown, Nancy shining her flashlight on the deer's open wound, blood dripping from its neck.
You three crouched down in front of it, you and Nancy lowering your flashlights as Jonathan shone his light instead, letting out a sigh as you and Nancy frowned deeply. She reached out to touch it, stroking its leg, and she sadly declared that it’d been hit by a car. She tearfully recoiled and shook her head. You frowned and, standing up, let out a breathy exhale to keep your tears at bay. “We can’t just leave it,” you mumbled.
Jonathan and Nancy looked down, and you followed their gaze towards the gun in Nancy’s hand. Your frown deepened as you all exchanged knowing looks, Nancy gripping the gun tight. You could tell she had reservations about shooting it, her face frowning up as she fiddled with the gun. Jonathan must’ve noticed it too, as he let out a sigh and extended his hand towards her. “I’ll do it.”
He grabbed the gun and stood up. You watched as he let out a deep sigh, took the safety off the revolver, and aimed the gun at the injured deer. You and Nancy looked at him in resigned sadness as Jonathan was about to squeeze the trigger, witnessing the deer in front of you take its last breaths, gripping your hockey stick tighter for some comfort.
When suddenly the deer disappeared with one last whimper, the bushes rustled as the deer was dragged behind them. In the midst of the shock, Jonathan let the gun go off, and you all jumped and shrieked at the loud noises. The mix of the gunshot, the rustling of the bushes, and the distressed noises the deer let out all startled you. “What the hell was that!?”
Jonathan lifted his flashlight at the spot the deer had been two seconds ago, blood staining the fallen leaves and sticks on the ground. The two of them followed the blood trail while you lingered behind. You whispered for them, calling them back towards you. “Guys?! Guys, come on, don’t do that! We don’t even know what that was! Hello?!” They either did not hear you on account of your low tone or ignored you completely to pursue their own shared goal, because they continued on ahead. You scoffed and looked around before grumbling and going to follow them. This was truly ridiculous. You were way too young to die.
The three of you walked farther into the woods, following the bloody trail the deer left behind on the ground, Jonathan pointing the gun around in case you found exactly what you were looking for. This was so stupid. So unbelievably stupid. Definitely not worth getting in trouble over. You mumbled to yourself while you gripped your hockey stick close, having it in a swinging position as you stayed near Nancy. “(Name), be quiet,” she whispered to you.
Thankfully (for you), the trail ended at a huge bloody tree branch on the ground, the blood stopping in tiny drops not too far from it. Nancy scoffed and looked around some more. “Where’d it go?” Nancy huffed out. “Do you see any more blood?” Jonathan inquired with the two of you, holding his gun above his flashlight, just like you’ve seen in the cop shows.
You shook your head, the grip on your weapon faltering before you snapped out of it and held it tighter, cocking it up higher in the air. “Look, I say we cut our losses and head on home. It’s been a good run, but there’s nothing we can do right now,” you mumbled before letting out a deep breath, eyes darting around the woods, looking for something you wholeheartedly did not wish to find.
Nancy ignored you and split up with you, and Jonathan went to look further into the woods, pointing her flashlight at the ground to see if she could find any blood trails. You whined, not wanting to be left alone, so you followed her. You stopped in your tracks as you noticed her staring inquisitively at a tree. You quickly rushed to her side before you, too, were staring at the tree in shock, your head cocking to the side as you loosened the grip on your hockey stick just a bit. “What the hell…” you mumbled under your breath. There was a huge hole in the middle of the tree, dripping with some type of… slime? You weren't entirely sure, but it disgusted you.
Nancy went closer to inspect it, and your eyes widened, extending a hand to yank her back, but she shrugged you off. “Nancy!” you whispered, rushing to follow her. She got on her knees and inspected it with her flashlight. That’s when you noticed it, the blood on the fallen leaves on the ground, causing you to turn up your nose. So the deer had been here? Did it go through the hole? “Nancy, this doesn’t feel right.”
She called for Jonathan, and she looked up at you knowingly when she was met with no response. You knew exactly what she was thinking, and you shook your head. “Absolutely not,” you added firmly. “What if Barb’s in here? Or Will? Could you live with yourself if you knew saving them could be so close? As simple as crawling through here?” she asked you softly, yet with all the conviction she could muster. You whined, but her words resonated with you enough to draw in a deep breath and follow her into the tree, trailing behind her through the narrow, slimy, dark tunnel.
It took you no time to arrive on the other side, adjusting your eyes to the blue-tinted darkness as Nancy helped you stand up on your feet. You looked around and pointed your flashlight into the darkness, brushing the… dust(?) off of your knees and jacket. “Nancy?” you asked wearily, voice shaking as you gripped onto her hand for comfort, trudging forward as you took in your disturbingly familiar surroundings. It’s like the woods you were just in , but… not. The blue undertones to the darkness surrounding you, the white particles floating through the air being the only thing you could see in front of you without straining your eyesight, and the fact that you climbed through a slimy hole in a tree made that incredibly apparent. “Stay close, alright?” Nancy whispered to you, holding your jacket sleeve almost as tightly as you were gripping her hand.
Her flashlight flickered, and she smacked it at the same time a growl let out from right next to you. You and Nancy snapped your heads to the right as you witnessed a humanoid figure gnaw on what was left of the deer. You both stood paralyzed in fear as you watched it disgustingly consume the piece of mangled flesh, hearing as it chewed through the bones and cartilage. Your face was nothing short of horrified, and a whimper threatened to slip out of your mouth before Nancy looked at you pointedly, tilting her head towards the tree from which you came.
You nodded and followed her. The two of you slowly backed away, not even so much as breathing. The flashlight Nancy was holding flickered as the two of you made your quiet escape, and you turned your head to observe the surroundings behind you for anything that might give away your presence. You saw a dark, slimy branch behind you and were about to pull Nancy to a stop so she could avoid stepping on it, but it was too late. Nancy stepped on it with a wet snap and immediately alerted the figure in front of you. He let out a growl, his face opening into five triangular fleshy mounds adorned with teeth placed on either side of the gaping black hole right in the middle of where its face is supposed to be.
You both let a blood-curdling scream, turning around and taking off in front of you, dropping your flashlights in the process.
As the two of you ran through the distorted woods, you could hear Jonathan calling out for the two of you in a panic. Both you and Nancy were running frantically, covered in the mysterious ooze that made it easy for the particles to stick to your clothes, skin, and hair. And she gripped you tightly as you both called out to Jonathan in fear, the monster hot on your tails.
“Jonathan, where are you?! We’re right here! Jonathan!” you called out into the air, not knowing exactly where to direct your attention. You could hear him, but you couldn’t see him; he felt close, yet far. Nancy called out for him and his whereabouts, and she protectively dragged you aimlessly around the woods. It didn’t help that he kept saying he was “right here”, confusing you even further. In the panic, fear, and confusion, you started crying, your senses thrown into overload, and your body, mind, and spirit feeling overwhelmed and frightened.
“Follow my voice!” Jonathan called out. Nancy let out a determined huff and dragged you through the woods, towards Jonathan's voice. You walked forward, pausing a bit when Jonathan took a break from talking, but continuing on when he spoke up again. When you turned another corner, you were face-to-face with the same thing you were running from. You and Nancy let out a scream and took off in the opposite direction, towards the way you originally came in from.
You both hid behind a large tree, and you caught your breath. You gripped your hockey stick tight and closed your eyes even tighter, taking deep, shuddering breaths as you fought back tears. The growling continued close behind you. Your eyes trailed to the tree next to you, a soft orange glow emitting from the hole in it as Jonathan's voice faintly called out.
The monster growled next to you before the two of you booked it for the tree. You insisted Nancy crawl in first as the hole began to get smaller, staying back while she made ample room for you. You moved and camped at the tree for a bit longer, gripping your weapon tight and taking deep, shuddering breaths as the monster closed in from beside you. When Nancy called for you, you wasted no time in shimmying through the now much smaller hole. Just as you were about to put your right foot inside the hold, you felt something grab hold of it. You let out a blood-curdling scream, frantically kicking as something sharp and cold dug into the skin around your ankle. Just as you were face-to-face with the monster, it let out a growl, nothing but teeth invading your eyesight. You kicked at it, managing to free your right foot in the process, and grabbed your hockey stick, quickly shoving it down its exposed throat and crawling back inside the closing hole in the tree. Both Nancy and Jonathan took hold of your hand and dragged you through the hole; as soon as they did, it closed just as quickly as you had discovered it.
You tumbled onto the ground and scurried away from the hole, hyperventilating with wide eyes as you choked back frightened tears, being comforted by both Nancy and Jonathan.
The ride back to your and Nancy's neighbourhood was racked with heavy breaths, the constant reminder of the blood underneath the makeshift bandage on your ankle making you gag, the scent of that mystery goo mixed with the scent of sweat and the outdoors, sprinkled in with shaking shoulders and choked back sobs on your part, thoroughly terrified at what you had just witnessed. Nancy was explaining what the two of you had seen when you crawled through the hole, but you were far too terrified to even let out a word, letting Nancy do all the talking so you wouldn’t fall into an uncomfortable silence. One thing was back to normal: Nancy was back to dominating every conversation the three of you found yourselves in, breaking through any would-be awkward silence. But one thing that was different this time was that you really don’t think you could handle any silence. For once, you were grateful that Jonathan was conversing with Nancy.
When you arrived at Nancy’s house, you assumed everyone was asleep, and headed up to Nancy’s room with her and Jonathan. Keeping quiet in the darkness. You sat on her bed with her as you rested your head on her shoulder, holding her wrist with shaky hands. She comforted you as well, rubbing your back as Jonathan wrapped his sweater around Nancy’s shoulders, awkwardly trying to position it so it would cover you as well. Since he felt bad that his sweater didn’t fully cover you, he opted to awkwardly rub your back, too. When he realized it probably didn’t come off as comforting since it was coming from him, he drew his hand back and patted your shoulder, inquiring about your ankle. You ignored him and stared at the floor, everything from the day of Steve’s party to an hour ago replaying in your mind.
You and Nancy took turns in her shower. After she was finished with hers, she handed you some of the clothes you’ve accumulated at her house over the course of the years, and walked you to the bathroom. While you were in the shower, the silence invited every horrible memory into your head, and you held back tears as you tried to envision the running water taking all the bad thoughts you collected from this night down the drain. But the burning of your ankle and the refusal to look down at the cause of the water running pink, becomes your breaking point as you let quiet sobs ring out in the bathroom.
When you were finished, you saw Jonathan snuggled up with Nancy in bed, asleep. You smiled a bit, glad Nancy had someone to comfort her. Images of her protecting you in that hellscape popped into your mind, and you broke out into a smile that was never as rare as it had been these past few days. You went to pull your sleeping bag out of her closet, the one you had for the rare times you didn’t just sleep in the same bed as her during your sleepovers. When you approached the closet and reached for your sleeping bag, your hand faltered, and you broke out into a deep frown as you saw Barb’s sleeping bag right next to yours. You let out a deep sigh before talking to no one physically, but Barb in particular. Wherever she was. “We’re so much closer to finding you. Just hold on a little longer, okay? We’re closer than we ever were before, I promise,” you whispered before grabbing your sleeping bag, setting it neatly on the floor closest to the lamp, and trying to hold back tears as you fell asleep.
The next day, when you woke up, Nancy was already awake, sitting up in her bed as Jonathan slept soundly next to her. You rubbed your eyes and stretched, sitting up from your rather uncomfortable spot on the floor, and looked over to her. “I guess you couldn’t sleep?” you inquired.
She shook her head and sighed. “Every time I close my eyes, I just…” she started before you cut her off, not really wanting to be reminded of it either. “It's alright… I got maybe an hour before I woke up and just stared at the ceiling.” You mumbled with a forced chuckle, sitting up to sit at the edge of the bed next to her; you couldn’t take another minute on her carpeted floor.
“If that… if that thing lives in that place we were in, then that means Will and Barbra…” Nancy trailed off before stopping herself. You frowned and turned to fully face her. “No. Jonathan’s mom said she talked to Will, right? So if Will’s still alive, then that means Barb has to be too…!” you exclaimed wearily, more trying to convince yourself than Nancy. Despite the horrifying encounter you had last night, it filled you with a bit more hope that maybe Barb was alive. Just maybe she was okay. If you had survived that thing, then she had to have too. Nancy furrowed her eyebrows, frowning at you before her face softened and her voice dropped to that comforting tone she usually reserved for when you were getting your hopes too high. “(Name), we don’t know that.”
“But we don’t know anything. All we know is we have to keep looking,” you spoke with a bit more determination in your voice. You were sure that the sleeping bag you saw last night was a sign. Nancy didn’t like where this was going, but she also felt like it was wrong to burst your bubble, feeling like Barb’s disappearance was a weight on her shoulders that she should bear alone. If you got your hopes up— if the mistake she made that caused you so much hurt could be put to rest for even a millisecond— then she felt she had no right to impose. She buried everything she felt like she should say to you deep inside and firmly nodded her head. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. We’ll find her (nickname), don’t worry,” she assured with a choked smile.
“We have to find it again,” you declared as Jonathan blinked into the world from his REM sleep, rubbing his eyes. It took a minute for your words to process with both of them before they looked at you with a mix of shock and confusion. “You hated it out there last night, (Name), you got hurt,” Nancy stated, looking at you like you just hit your head. Maybe you lost more blood last night than she originally thought. “You want to go back out there? Willingly?” Jonathan added, rubbing his head and quirking an eyebrow up at you. “We don’t have to.” You smiled knowingly, an epiphany popping into your head. You hopped up from the bed, honestly, the reason being it was a bit weird and crowded now that Jonathan was awake, and paced the room as your bare feet padded on the carpeted floor.
“When we saw it, it was feeding on that deer, right? So that means it’s a predator…” you started. Nancy quickly caught on to your train of thought, and a look of recognition graced her face. “And it only hunts at night. Like a lion or a coyote,” she added, sitting up a bit straighter on the bed. “Exactly! But it doesn’t hunt in a pack. It’s always alone… like… like a bear,” you started, your pacing stopping to fully face the two of them on the bed. “And remember at Steve's party when Barb cut herself on the bottle?” You grimaced at the mere remembrance of it. “And then last night, the deer…” you started, hoping one of them would catch on. Jonathan’s eyebrows quirked up, and his met yours, all the sleep he had on his face a few seconds ago gone completely. “The deer was bleeding last night, too,” Jonathan added. “Exactly!” You exclaimed.
Nancy hopped out of bed and went to the bookshelf on the left wall of her room, searching the contents of it before grabbing a book off the second shelf and heading back to the bed. She opened the book until she landed on a page with a shark. “And sharks can detect blood in one part per million. That’s one drop of blood in a million. And they can smell it from a quarter mile away,” Nancy explained, pointing to the illustrated picture of a shark on the page. You sat next to Jonathan, peering over his shoulder to look at the book. “So you two are saying it can detect blood?” Jonathan questioned, not looking up from the book.
“We’re saying it’s.. Possible?” You shrugged, his inquiry making you unsure of yourself. “It’s just a theory,” Nancy clarified softly, backing you up as she detected the uncertainty in your voice. “Then we could test it,” Jonathan suggested, shifting his weight on the bed. You all gave each other reassuring nods, both trying to convince each other and yourselves. “But if it works…” Jonathan trailed off, like he was preparing for impending doom. “At least we’ll know it’s coming. And we can prepare. We’ll be ready for it,” you assured, nodding your head with every ounce of conviction you had left in your body. As far as preparing to face a faceless, flesh-eating monster goes, you felt pretty confident. You’ve survived it before, even when it had the advantage on what you assumed to be its home turf. Now you can prepare to take it down on yours.
Nancy didn’t like where your mind was at the moment; she felt you were getting your hopes too high, trying to convince yourself that a very realistic scenario wasn’t even within the realm of possibilities. But she did agree that it was better to prepare and organize instead of going into an inevitable fight blind. All of you nodded silently amongst yourselves again, and a loud rattle on the door spooked all three of you. You jumped up at the same time as the two of them, swearing you saw their hands fly to eachothers… Mrs. Wheeler called out from the other side of the door, still jiggling the door handle and calling out for Nancy.
Nancy wracked her brain for an excuse, eventually landing on “she was getting dressed,” and after a bit of back and forth, with her mother, you heard footsteps receding. When you looked back towards Jonathan and Nancy, they met your gaze, and their hands immediately untangled from each other. It made you raise an eyebrow, but you didn’t pry or question. And so one of your famously wonderful plans was set into motion.
The three of you were at a store downtown, taking advantage of a military surplus sale. You were next to Nancy, putting almost everything on the shelves into your basket. Hammers, rope, lighters, a circular metal thing you found next to the heavy-duty dummy, anything you could get your hands on that looked like it could inflict damage. You wondered if the man at the counter would let you buy the shelves to use as barricades. But you noticed Nancy was being a bit more reserved with her pickings, while you went to grab two of the different hammers after realizing you weren’t able to decide, Nancy tested out both and took her time to best pick out which one would work better for her. This was one of the rare times you felt like you shouldn’t be following her lead. You were going to war, and it was better to have and not need than need and get eaten by a flesh-eating, faceless monster.
Nancy broke away from you to browse more of the store, but stopped in front of a display that caught her attention. You moseyed over to her and gazed upon what caught her eye— bear traps. A bright smile graced your face, and you immediately went to grab the one to your left, your hand almost grazing Nancy’s as she reached for the one to the right. That seemed to conclude your shopping, all three of you meeting at the counter and plopping your treasure on the counter in front of the greying middle-aged white man behind it.
He looked at the three of you inquisitively. It didn’t help that as soon as you were done unloading everything, Jonathan asked for a box of bullets. The man didn’t speak as he walked over to the side of the wall, grabbing the bullets from a select box lining the wall above the huge green and yellow sign that read “GUNS”. He came back to the counter, placing the bullets right next to the rest of your findings, and finally spoke up. “What are you kids doing with all of this?”
The three of you stammered, hoping the other would have a creatively fabricated answer to his question. Nancy finally broke her gaze with the two of you, making eye contact with the man and shrugging. “Monster hunting,” she answered calmly. He let out a satisfied “hm” and started scanning your stuff. You guess sometimes it’s just easier to tell the truth.
The three of you exit the store, boxes, canisters, and bags in tow. “Monster hunting?” Jonathan spoke up, loading your equipment into the trunk of his car. You and Nancy giggled and helped him, placing your remaining bags and gear next to his. “You know, last week, (name), Barb, and I were going shopping, and I was trying to pick out a top I thought Steve might like. It took us alllll week, and it seemed like life or death. And now—”
“You two are shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers,” he finished, finally closing the trunk of his car. You and Nancy exchanged a look and nodded. “What’s the weirdest part, me or the bear trap?” Jonathan asked, meeting your gaze. You let out a teasingly contemplative huff before nodding your head in assertiveness, like you had finally found the answer. “Definitely the you part,” you teased, bumping shoulders with him as you laughed. As he laughed with you, you felt the exact moment you started warming up to Jonathan; it felt as if you had finally taken off the big red “CREEP” sign you had stapled to his forehead. He laughed along with you as Nancy softly chuckled next to you. It finally felt like something was normal for once, despite Barb, despite the nightmare dimension, the creepy monster, your ankle, the battle you were preparing to have with the creepy monster, laughing with your friends felt nice.
Just then, a honk cut through the effortless laughter, and you all looked towards the street to see a dark red car driving past the three of you. A greasy, black mop of hair was poking out from the passenger's seat, and he looked over to Nancy.
“Hey Nancy, can’t wait to see your movie,” he laughed before speeding off down the street. You tilted your head in confusion before looking over to Nancy, seeing if she knew what he meant. Judging by the furrowed eyebrows and agape mouth, she was just as confused as you. “What was that?” Jonathan questioned. Both of your eyes were now on Nancy. She mumbled an “I don’t know” before looking towards the direction the car had come from and started jogging down the sidewalk. You and Jonathan called out for her, quickly following her and repeatedly asking what was wrong.
You all turned the block towards the movie theatre, taking your eyes off of her to follow the direction of her gaze.
STARRING NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER
in bright, red spray paint on the movie premiere sign on top of the theater building. You gasped and placed a comforting hand on Nancy's shoulder. “Oh, Nance…” you empathetically mumbled, heart beating out of your chest just imagining what she’s feeling right now. You noticed people walking past you on the street, casting their judgmental stares. You angrily shooed them away and yelled at them like a crazed person, a mix of “Mind your business” and “Keep walking, what are you looking at,” flying out of your mouth from bystander to bystander. You tried to lead Nancy back to the car, but when the rattling of a spray can and an annoying laugh came from down the alleyway, you knew she was about to fly off the handle. She broke out of your gentle grip and marched towards the alley, holding back hot tears and taking deep, angry breaths. Jonathan tried to stop her, but you shot him a look that read “It’s pointless”. You must’ve been too caught up in your newfound friendship, however, because you completely forgot that you weren’t at the mind-reading stage yet, realizing as he called out for Nancy again, rounding the corner to catch up with her.
You stood next to her as she confronted the suspected perpetrators, Steve, Nicole, Carol, and Tommy. Watching as she took angry, determined steps towards the four. You quickly followed behind her, hoping she didn’t punch anyone. Thankfully, she stopped in front of Steve and took shuddering breaths, eyes welling with tears as her fists balled up near her sides. Just as you were about to convince her to leave before anything got out of hand, the fist that was balled up at her side released, and her arm lifted until her open palm collided with Steve's cheek. You grimaced at the noise and the way his head forcefully turned… maybe she could fight.
But unfortunely the thought quickly left your mind as Steve turned his head back to face her, his cheek red but ultimately unharmed. Back to square one. “What is wrong with you?!” She shakily exclaimed, fists balling back up at her sides. Steve scoffed and matched her intensity, voice rising and inching closer to her as he yelled. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? I was worried about you. I can't believe I was actually worried about you,” he finished with a scoff. You quirked an eyebrow in confusion and spoke up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The red-headed demon— Carol— stepped up to you and donned a condescending look. “I wouldn’t lie if I were you. You don’t want your friend to be known as the lying slut, now do you?” she finished with a fake pout. You scoffed and grabbed Nancy’s wrist, ready to drag her away from all of this as soon as you were finished with the girl in front of you. “Of course not, then you’d have to start going by something else,” you scoffed before turning to head back to the car with a disgruntled Nancy in tow, but then you saw Jonathan round the corner into the alleyway, and witnessed how Steve’s face immediately fell. It shocked you a bit, seeing him go from angry and annoyed to completely furious. It caused you to stay glued to your spot on the asphalt.
“Speak of the devil,” Tommy spoke up, hopping off his spot on the top of the stairs, taking a puff of his cigarette. Nancy seemed to gather something you didn’t, her face slowly gathering a look of realization. “You went by the house last night?” she concluded with a roll of her eyes. “Look, I don’t know what you thought you saw, but it wasn’t like that,” she clarified.
“What, you just let him in your room to… study? Some weird, creepy throuple the three of you have going on?” he asked condescendingly. “Or another pervy photo session,” Tommy added, wrapping an arm around Carol's shoulder as he laughed at his own joke. “It's not that. We were just…” she said before trailing off. That's when Steve got in her face, daring her to finish her sentence. When she couldn’t, he scoffed and shook his head. “Go to hell, Nancy.”
You grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight, urging her to just leave the four of them and return to the car. Jonathan followed your lead, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around and out of the alleyway. But Steve called out for him as he was about to leave, getting in his face as he pushed his shoulder. “You know what, Byers, I’m actually impressed! Two in the same night is truly a feat. I always took you for a queer, but I guess you’re just a screw-up like your father.” Steve barked, pushing his shoulder one last time before you saw Jonathan's fist collide with the same cheek Nancy slapped him on earlier.