The Girl With The Flamethrower

I.VI.I

"Uh, Nancy?"

"Kimberly? What- what is this place? How- what was that thing? How-"

"Whoa whoa, slow down, slow down. I have even more questions than you do, but know this my answer to all of them is: I don't know, so let's try to find a way out yeah?"

Nancy nodded and hooked their arms together, slightly shaking.

"Jonathan!" Nancy shouts.

"Wait you're in the woods with Jonathan?" Kimberly's eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you-"

"Jonathan!"

"Ok, right answer questions later, getting out now. Jonathan!"

They both heard his voice, but it was far and echoey, "Nancy!"

Kimberly tugged Nancy in the direction of his voice as she continued to shout.

"Jonathan!"

"Nancy!"

Kimberly just focused on finding Jonathan's voice, and less on screaming, figuring that was the best plan. She tugged Nancy in the direction they needed to go.

"Nancy! Nancy, come on!"

"Jonathan, where are you?"

"Nancy!"

"Jonathan! Jonathan, I'm right here! Jonathan! Jonathan, I'm right... I'm right here!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm right here! Jonathan!"

"I'm right here! Nancy! Just follow my voice!"

"Jonathan!"

She looked back and saw movement, Kimberly tugs Nancy faster.

"Follow my voice, Nancy, I'm right here! Nancy! Nancy!"

Kimberly turns to Nancy, "Find his voice, I got your back." She pulls out her lighter and hairspray again and lets Nancy take the lead.

"Nancy? Nancy. Nancy! Follow my voice!"

Nancy sees the opening, "There!" She immediately goes through.

"Nancy?" Jonathan gasps.

"Jonathan!" Nancy shouts.

Jonathan grabs her hand and pulls her out, "Nancy!"

Kimberly looks back and sees the creature had caught up to her, she steps backward and waits until she hits the tree to light up the creature.

Jonathan pants and holds Nancy tight, "I got you."

"Kimberly!" Nancy turns to the tree to see Kimberly crawl out on her own. "Oh, Kimmy!" She hugs her friend, but Kimberly didn't return the hug.

Instead, Kimberly was torching the place where they had just come from. She didn't stop until her can was empty, then she returned Nancy's hug.

"Are you ok?"

"Am I ok? Are you ok?" Nancy pulled back and looked at her.

"Ya I'm good," Kimberly glanced back at the tree. "Let's get out of here."

Jonathan helped the two of them stand, "Good idea."

They all walked silently out of the woods.

"Um so I'll see you guys tomorrow?" Kimberly scratched the back of her neck.

Nancy gently placed a hand on her arm, "Are you sure you'll be ok alone?"

"Um ya I'll be good. You guys just be careful ok? And um I'm glad you both are ok." Kimberly thought for a moment, "I'll see you guys around ya?"

She hadn't given the two the opportunity to say anything else before jogging off to her own house.

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For someone with her ability to remember most things visually, writing it down and getting it all out onto paper helped her to collect her thoughts and organize her brain. It was her version of compartmentalizing. The heavier stuff that she didn't necessarily want to remember could be closed and set off for later in her mind if she put it onto paper, otherwise, she'd just get flashes and never be able to sleep.

So that was why she was sitting on her roof, writing in her notebook. Page after page of information spilled from her hands. From what the place looked like to what the creature smelled like. She needed to get everything that happened out, and so she did.

Once she finally got everything out of her system, she closed the notebook and laid back, watching the stars.

She sighed and searched for every constellation she could. Every time she found one she would mutter to herself the name and draw out the full image, smiling to herself. Remembering the times when she wasn't talking to herself, but talking to her best friend.

After a while she sat back up, pulling her legs close, wishing she could talk to him again like they used to. But Kimberly knew it was too late to salvage her old friendship with Steve Harrington. No matter how much she missed him, the real him. 

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