~ Hidden Love ~

CH6 - The Monster [PT1]

As we ran, we yelled for Jonathan. We heard his voice echoing to us. "Just follow my voice!" He yelled out to us. We still had our hands locked with each other as we made our way 'closer' to Jonathan's voice."Follow my voice, I'm right here!" He yelled to us. I turned my head and saw it. It turned to me and made a growling sound. I stepped back and that's when Nancy saw it. We both screamed and made a run for it. We hid behind a tree. We were trying to catch our breath. Jonathan yelled at us again, "Y/n, Nancy! Follow my voice!" We looked over and saw the hole. She looked at me and mouthed, "Run." She squeezed my hand and we ran for it. I let her before me. We crawled as fast as we could. He helped Nancy out, then he moved over to help me out. I just sat there, looking at the hole while Jonathan comforted Nancy. The hole started to cover itself up.

After we all called down, we made our way back to the car. We decided to go to the Wheeler's house for the night. We arrived outside and we snuck inside. She let me take a shower first. Everytime I closed my eyes, I could see that thing. I just really hope Will is okay and alive. Nancy let me borrow some of her clothes for the night. I got out of the shower and changed into clean clothes. I then walked back into the bedroom. She grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom. I sat down on the edge of her bed and Jonathan sat down next to me.

"You okay?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I think." I sat there quietly for a moment. "What if Will is in that place and that's why we can't find him?" My voice cracked on the last word. Jonathan sighed and pulled me in for a hug.

"If he is in there, he's okay. He's a strong boy." He assured me. He stood up a minute later and went to the closet. "I don't wanna go home tonight. Do you mind if we stay the whole night?" He asked me.

"No," I answered him, "I don't mind." He grabbed a quilt out of the closet and laid it onto the floor as Nancy walked in. She looked at him.

"Is this okay? Uh, I found it in the closet." He said to her, "We can go home, I-I just figured.."

"Yeah, no." She interrupted him, "I.. I don't wanna be alone." She said to both of us. "Do you?" She asked us.

"No. Uh.. no." Jonathan told her, as I shook my head no in agreement. She walked over to her bed to lay down. I stood up and made my way to the quilt to lie down. Jonathan and I sat down, and he laid down. I made my way to the other end of the quilt to lay down. We sat there in silence for a minute until Nancy spoke. "Could you two just come up here?" She asked us. We both sat up and made our way to the bed. She motioned Jonathan to lay on the end of the bed and me next to her. "Do you want the lights off, or-" he asked her.

"On." she said to him.

"You know it.. it can't get us in here." He said, trying to make her feel better.

"We don't know that." She told him. No one else uttered a word. I don't remember when I fell asleep.

I woke up to Jonathan and Nancy talking about something. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "It was feeding on that deer." she said to Jonathan. "Meaning it's.. it's a predator, right?"

"Right." He responded.

"And it seems to hunt at night, like a.. a lion or a coyote." I sat up fully as I listened to them. "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone, like.. like a bear. And remember at Steve's, when Barbara cut herself." She looked over to me. "And then, last night, the deer.."

"Yeah, the deer was bleeding also." I said to her.

"Sharks can detect blood in one part per million. That's one drop of blood in a million, and if they can smell it from a quarter mile away."

"So you're saying it can detect blood?" He asked her.

"It's just a theory." She corrected him.

"We could test it." I told them. They both looked at me and nodded in agreement. "But if it works.."

Nancy cut me off, "At least we'll know it's coming." She said to us. Suddenly, the door knob started rattling and we all flinched. They both grabbed each other's hand. It was Mrs. Wheeler at the door.

"Honey, are you up?" Mrs. Wheeler asked her.

Yeah, I'm getting dressed." She responded to her.

"I, uh, made some blueberry pancakes."

Nancy sighed, "I'll be down in a second."

"Your Mom doesn't knock?" Jonathan asked her. We all decided that we are going to go look for some things to help us kill that thing. We snuck out of her bedroom window to Jonathan's car. We've been going to hunting stores and army suppliers. We found a bear trap, a gas can, some lighter fluid, flashlights, a yo-yo, nails, ammo and I grabbed a hunting knife. The cashier asked us what we're going to do with all of that. I simply told him,"Monster hunting." We made our way outside with all of our things and put them into the car.

"Monster hunting?" Jonathan asked me. We both chuckled.

"You know, last week..," Nancy started, "I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And.. and now-" Jonathan cut her off.

"Now you're shopping for bear traps with the Byers kids." I chuckled.

"Yeah." She said to him.

"What's the weirdest part?" I asked her. "Jonathan or the bear trap?"

"It's definitely Jonathan." She said as we laughed. Then someone honked their car at us, or more specifically, Nancy.

(1041 Words)