Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

xxi. slumber party

"𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒕,"

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Halley had managed to get back to Nancy's room without waking anyone up or before Nancy finished her shower. She understood the desire to scrub every inch of skin after being in that other word, trying to not only to wash away the grime, but the feeling itself.

Jonathan had been setting up a sleeping bag when she came in, Nancy's closet was still open, and there was an empty space where he must have retrieved it from.

It didn't matter though, because seconds after he got comfortable, and the silence had settled over them, Nancy's sheets had rustled, and she was sitting up. "Can you just come up here?" she had asked, gesturing to the empty space beside her. Halley motioned for him to take it.

While the two took Nancy's bed, Halley sat on a bench below her window, staring straight out and waiting for something to happen, some sort of movement, glowing eyes, another strange portal, anything.

Needless to say, she didn't sleep.

Instead, she rested her head against the window, and tried to keep her eyes open. The sun had come up, and she was still leaning against the cool glass. Nancy had woken up a bit ago, she had heard her, but hadn't said anything. The other girl had grabbed something from her desk and went back to sit in bed. Halley had little to no capability of making morning conversation while she waited for Jonathan to wake up— considering the all nighter she had just pulled added on to the shitty amount of sleep she had gotten the past few nights, it was a wonder she wasn't falling out like a narcoleptic.

Soon enough, there was a groan, and the sound of someone kicking a blanket off of them. Halley pushed herself off the window and caught Nancy's eyes, she offered a smile which was tiredly returned.

"Oh... hey." Jonathan looked between the two girls. He sat up slightly behind Nancy, and pushed his hair out of his face. Halley nodded hello to him, lugging herself off the bench and on the bed with the others. "Couldn't sleep?"

Nancy shrugged, looking down at a notebook. "Everytime I close my eyes, I just..." she paused, looking over Halley's shoulder and into the horizon. Her volume dropped as she picked up again, "keep seeing that... thing." She turned her attention to Halley, her eyes screaming urgence, "wherever we were, that place," she looked to Jonathan to make sure he was listening. He was. "I think it lives there. It was feeding there—on that deer, and that means if," she bit her lip and Halley could tell where she was going, "if Will and Barbra are there..."

"No." Halley said, her voice strained, and more forceful than she intended. "No," she repeated, softer this time. "My mom said she talked to Will. And if he's alive, there's a chance Barbra is too."

"But that means she's trapped there, in that place." She stopped, thinking over her words as her eyes traveled to Jonathan's to Halley's and back again. "We have to find it again." Her voice was barely above a whisper but both teens heard her loud and clear.

"You want to go back out there?" Jonathan looked ready to fight her on it, something Halley never thought she'd see.

Nancy shook her head though. "No, and maybe we don't have to," she flipped a page on the notebook she was writing in earlier, a page filled with chicken scratch opposite her usual dainty handwriting. "When we saw it, it was feeding on that deer..."

"Meaning it's a predator," Halley said, beginning to catch on.

She nodded, "Right. And it seems like it hunts at night, like a, uh, a lion, or a coyote," she pointed at something she had written down, "except it doesn't hunt in pacts like them. It's always alone, like... like a bear. And at Steve's, Barb cut herself, and then last night the deer..."

"It was bleeding too," Jonathan said slowly, looking between the two girls. Nancy nodded.

She pulled a textbook out from under the notebook, from the bright blue cover, Halley could tell it was biology. "One sec," Nancy said, flipping open to a previously marked page, "so 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." she traced her finger under the words, looking up expectantly.

"So you're saying it can detect blood?" Jonathan asked, tilting his head to get a better look at the book.

Shrugging, Nancy gave a sort of scowl, "it's a theory so—"

"We could test it," Halley said suddenly, bringing the attention to her.

Jonathan wasn't convinced, eyes flickering between the girls, "and if it works?"

"At least then we'll know it's coming," Nancy said, catching Halley's eyes. a small nod passed between the two of them. Even if it was a 'theory' Halley had no doubt Nancy was right, and it was clear the feelings were reciprocated.

The reality of what was said hung in the air for a moment, before it was replaced by the door knob rattling. Loudly. Halley went rigid as Nancy and Jonathan grabbed at each other.

"Honey, are you up?" Karen called through the door. The three sighed, all jumping to the worst possible conclusion at the sudden noise.

Nancy put a finger to her lips before calling back. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm just getting dressed." She made a face at the lie, but Halley gave her a thumbs up. Mundane enough to not raise any eyebrows, which was exactly what they needed.

There was a sigh from the other side of the door. "I, uh, I made some blueberry pancakes." it was spoken as a question, like an extension of an olive branch for a discrepancy of which Halley did not know. She didn't comment on it.

"I'll be down in a second."

They were silent. All of them held their breath until they heard the receding footsteps, waiting for them to be totally gone before they started talking again.

Letting go of Nancy, Jonathan cracked a smile. "Your mom doesn't knock."