𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

15

𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 in the middle of her living room, unable—or moreso unwilling—to comprehend anything hopper was telling her and her mother. the red and blue flashing of the police vehicles peered through the living room window, accenting the black mascara that coated sherrie's cheeks and the red veins highlighting her light eyes. the girl sniffled into the cuff of steve's hoodie.

"a trooper found something... our working theory... crashed his bike... accidentally fell in... the earth must've given way..."

sheridan didn't believe a word of it. but, hopper wasn't buying joyce's story, either. the man was completely unconvinced of will being able to communicate through christmas lights, and the human-monster creature without a face. dani didn't blame the man, it sounded like the plot of one of will's favorite comic books. if she hadn't witnessed at least some of the events, she wouldn't believe her mother, either. but sherrie knew better than to hold onto false hope. she knew how far that got her.

the girl went to her room in the midst of the conversation. she gently shut the door behind her, and sat on her bed. dani tucked her knees to her chest, leaning against her pillows and her headboard. she wrapped steve's sweatshirt over her knees to create a cocoon for herself; an indestructible shelter in which no one could penetrate. she had done it the night she lost her father, and she would repeat it after losing will, too. sheridan's guard would be at an all-time high. this process was something she had gotten to know well.

seemingly no one could break down this wall sherrie was building; nobody except for steve harrington. it was a complete and utter mystery to the girl herself as to why she let him in so easily. how she could just forgive him for separating her and her former best friend.

the girl looked down at herself, and fully absorb just exactly what sweatshirt she was wearing. dani practically ripped the top off her body and threw it across the room; she'd rather freeze to death than wear that. steve harrington, are you kidding me?! sure, she was head over heels for the boy in middle school; and she might've been jealous when he started making moves on nancy.

"nancy, he so obviously likes you!"

"and i'm just not supposed to go for him?!" nancy yelled back. "dani, it's steve harrington." she paused and took a deep breath as her head bowed. "look, i know you've had a little crush for him for a minute, but can you not just be happy for me for once?"

"get out," sheridan instantly replied. her gaze was fixated on her lap. she refused to look at nancy.


"what?" nancy questioned. dani heard the disbelief and desperation in her voice.

"get out," the red-headed girl repeated. a sole tear fell from her eye, sherrie instantly wiping it away. nancy stood in the middle of dani's bedroom, the silence hanging in the air like smoke. inside, nancy was pleading with dani, begging her to rethink this and not let some boy get in the middle of their life-long friendship.

just as tears began to fill nancy's eyes, the girl grabbed her bag and exited the byers household.

that was the last time sheridan shaffer talked to nancy wheeler. nancy was one of the only friends she had at the time, but after visiting her father in california, dani knew that she didn't need friends. she could keep herself occupied with better things. she didn't need nancy wheeler. and she most certainly didn't need steve harrington.

✽

𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍, 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐉𝐎𝐘𝐂𝐄 𝐁𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 sat in silence at the coroner's office. the siblings glanced at their mother, who gave the pathologist the go-ahead. the man, dressed head-to-toe in the teal blue of medical attire, peeled the sheet back from will byers's face. sherrie could hardly see through both the blinding light, and the tears and mascara that had crystalized around her eyes. blood vessels still protruded around her iris.

her stomach might as well have been singing the beatles's "twist and shout" upon seeing will's pale body on that cold, metal table. she noticed they had combed out and given shape to his hair; it was comforting in a disturbing way. jonathan began to dry heave and ran from the room, leaving his sister and his mother behind. dani was used to this ritual of mourning by now, after seeing will the night prior and her father years before.

shortly after, joyce byers fled the examination room after the pathologist couldn't find a birthmark on will's right arm. sherrie followed hot on her trail. "mom, can you please hold on?!" the girl pleaded, her voice cracking.

"sheridan, you know as well as i do that that is not will!" the pathologist burst out of the room, trailing behind the women as well. they burst into the lobby, with the man begging joyce to simply sign the release paperwork. both jonathan and jim hopper stood guard at the disturbance. "i don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!" hopper tried to reason with her, before she bolted from the building entirely. all four people in the lobby called out for joyce, but their requests fell on deaf ears. jonathan and sherrie exchanged a glance, and both ran after their mother.

sheridan and her brother had driven separately. the shaffer girl took a tad bit longer to get ready, and to decide if she even wanted to witness this at all. she knew her mother would freak out, she knew it. as jonathan took his own car, and followed after joyce, she sat in betsy and processed. she processed her mother's newfound psychosis, her youngest brother's lifeless body in the coroner's office, and her brother's knack for stalking her ex-best friend and her middle school crush, causing her thoughts to wander even more onto that of steve harrington. where did he come from? he had disappeared from her life for years, only to stumble in when sherrie needed him least. she was well over her pre-teen crush; at least she told herself she was.

✽

𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 with jonathan to begin planning will's funeral, mike called and insisted she come over right away. once there, the young boy disclosed that eleven had contacted will on the radio. lucas said that there was a possibility she tapped into the neighbor's baby monitor.

"you guys were at the quarry last night, weren't you? you all saw what i saw?" sheridan questioned with crossed arms and a cocked brow.

"yeah, and we saw you cuddling with steve harrington, too," dustin piped up. the boy made kissing noises, leaning forward and reaching for mike. the girl scoffed, smacking his shoulder.

"yeah, what's up with that?" mike asked before swatting dustin away.

"guys!" lucas yelled, capturing everyone's attention. "i agree with dani. if will isn't dead, then what was in that water?"

"i don't know. all i know is will is alive," mike insisted. "will is alive! he's out there somewhere, we just have to find him."

"yeah i found him, he's in the coroner's office," dani chimed in. "i have no idea what's going on or who you think is talking to you, but i can almost guarantee you it isn't will," the shaffer girl spoke up over the crackling of the walkie talkie. sherrie knew what she had witnessed with her own eyes, and that was the creature in the wall, will speaking through christmas lights, and it was also will being dragged up from the quarry. after last night, there was no refuting that her mother's craziness had simply rubbed off on her.

mike snatched the device from the eleven's hands. "no, you don't get it, dani-" the wheeler boy began.

"i don't get it?!" sheridan asked, her voice raising. "i get that will was your best friend, guys, but he was my brother! i've lost my dad, and now him, too?" gloomy silence diffused throughout the room. until dustin henderson spoke up.

"dani, if you didn't have the slightest bit of hope that it was will, would you even be here?"

✽