I Know The End ✸ Steve Harrington

iii. dead or alive

chapter three . . . dead or alive

WHAT FELT LIKE A SECOND OF SLEEP, Josie's alarm blared in her ear drums, signalling it was time to get up for school, to her dismay. Slapping her hand on top of the small device, silencing the sound, she lifted her smushed face off her pillow with a tired groan, wiping the drool smudged across her cheek with the back of her hand. Sitting up in her bed, Josie stretched her arms in the air, a series of cracking filled the air, the tenseness releasing itself from her back.

The sudden thought of Barb popped into her mind, causing the girl to throw her covers off her body and grab her telephone propped up on her desk. She spun the dial clockwise, putting her finger on the corresponding series of numbers of her house phone, shaking her foot up and down in anticipation waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" The sweet voice of Mrs Holland came through Josie's ear.

"Hi, Mrs Holland. It's Josie."

"Oh, hey, Josie. Why are you calling so early?"

"I just wanted to check in on Barb. To see if she got home safe last night." Josie held in a nervous breath.

"I thought she stayed with the Wheeler's last night."

Josie internally scolded herself, blurting out a response, "Oh, yeah, totally forgot about that."

"Josie, will you please have her call me as soon as she's in school?"

"Yeah. Of course. Sorry for bothering you, Mrs Holland." Josie put the phone down as she thought to herself. It was blatantly obvious that Nancy had stayed over at Steve's last night, so, where would've Barb gone other than to her own house?

Brushing the thought off, assuming to herself that she was most likely overthinking the situation, Josie grabbed the first thing she found in her closet to wear and brushed through her nest of curly tresses as she quickly left for school, on a desperate search for Barb.

By the time lunch had rolled around, Barb still hadn't shown up, making Josie now fear the worst. She reluctantly sat on a cafeteria table alone, settling for the lunch her mom had packed her as she continuously glanced over at the doors each side of the cafeteria, just hoping that Barbara Holland would walk through.

"Hey, Josie!" Carol called out her name, surprising her that she hadn't been called 'Henderson', "Come sit with us."

Josie snapped her eyes away from the doors, getting up from her spot and couldn't help but feel self conscious at the four pairs of eyes watch her plop herself down next to Nancy. "Did any of you see Barb leave last night?" She got straight to the point.