Stranger Things | y/n POV |

4. The Body

1983, November 8th - 7:38 pm
"Byer's body was found in the water of this quarry by state police earlier this evening," the TV said," He was discovered by state trooper, David O'Bannon, just after dark.
You look down at your lap as the news spilled to everyone in the room.

"Should I go down and talk to Michael?" Dad said.
"Give him time," Mom said hoarsely, "He'll come to us when he's ready."
You got up from the couch, bolting upstairs. You sat in your room. Listening to the piercing screech in your ear.

You grab the photos from the cabinet. You looked through them, grabbing your sketch book. You sketched out the figure in the photo with Barb. You look at the drawing in your hand. It looked like it had no face, a tall body. Strong build, and claws. You groaned at the work you made, you threw the papers on the floor, shut off the light and tried to sleep.

—
6:01 am
You got up from the floor of your bedroom. You didn't sleep last night. You look down at the mess on the floor.
You hovered over them, walking to the door.

"Y/n?" Nancy said from behind.
"Morning," you replied.
"What happened to your room?" She asked.
"Couldn't asleep last night," you said, walking downstairs.
"Hey Mom, where's Mike?" you ask, pouring yourself a glass of milk.
"In his room," Mom said before leaving, "Bye, honey!"

You chugged down the milk before heading upstairs for your bag.
You shoved the papers and drawings in before leaving for school.
As you biked to school, you notice Tommy and Carol glaring at you. You ignored them while parking your bike.

You walked through the school field as the bell rang, holding a joint. You look to your right to see Nancy and Steve talking. Before you could hide, Steve noticed you, his nose bandaged, his eyes purple and blue.
You walked away.
You sat at the bleachers, watching the football team practice.

You walked into language arts. Most of class you tried avoiding eye contact with Nancy.
"The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness," the teacher read aloud, "bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress. And Kurtz's life was running swiftly, too—"

The door bursted open, it caught everyone's bored attention. You look to see a lady dressed in black.
"Nancy Wheeler?" she said, "If you'll come with me, please?"
You look at Nancy as she walked out with the lady.
The phone rang a few minutes after
"Y/n Wheeler," the teacher said, "You're going home for the day."

—
Mom had picked you up today. The car ride was silent. You thought maybe Nancy and Mom had a fight. As soon as Mom parked her car in our driveway, Nancy ran inside.
"You lied to the police!" Mom yelled.
"What police..?" You question as you placed your bag on the counter.

"I didn't lie!" Nancy yelled as she clutched onto her binder.
"How naive do you think I am?" Mom shouted, "You and Steve were just talking?"
You rushed behind Mom, curious what happened.
"We slept together!" Nancy shouted back.

"Oh, man.." You gasped.
"Is that what you want to know? It doesn't matter!" Nancy yelled.
"It does matter!" Mom replied.
"No! It is all bullshit!" Nancy screamed, "It has nothing to do with Barb, and she's missing. And something terrible happened to her. I know it."
You look as Nancy screamed her lungs out at Mom.
"I know it!" Nancy pointed to herself, "And no one is listening to me!"

"Sweetie, sweetie, I'm listening," Mom grabbed Nancy's arms, "I'm listening to you—"
"No! You're not!" Nancy yelled back.
"Nancy... Nancy!" Mom begged Nancy to come back.
"Just leave me alone!" Nancy yelled as she stormed upstairs.

Mom sighed as she looked at you.
"What happened?" you ask.
Mom just walked away, not answering your question.
You scoff as you exit the house you grab Mom's car keys and your bag. You started walking towards Mom's car.

You rushed to the Byer's house. As soon as you got there, you parked and raced onto the front porch.
"Jonathan! Jonathan?" You banged your hands on the door, "Is anyone home?"
You sighed after waiting for five minutes.
The door opened, Ms. Byers came out.

"Oh, hi." you turn around.
"Hi," Ms. Byers said in a low tone.
"Do you know where Jonathan is?" you ask.
"Yeah, he's at the Mullerton Caskets," Ms. Byers answered.

You thanked her before driving to the shop.
You frantically walk through the shop. It was clean and neat. You notice Jonathan in the distance, next to the shop owner.

Jonathan noticed you in the hallway.
"Can you just give me a second?" Jonathan stammered.
"Of course," The man nodded.
Jonathan walked towards you with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey," He said.
"Hi, your Mom, she said you'd be here," You looked at him.
Jonathan looked like he's been sobbing.
"I'm sorry," You said before leaning in for a hug.

You felt no warmth on his body as you hugged him. You could feel his grief sobbing into your shoulder. You patted his back as he hugged you tighter, squeezing your guts out.

"I need to talk to you." you said, backing away from the hug.
"Sure, what is it?" he pulled on his sleeve.
You pulled out the photos and drawings of that thing you saw.
"This picture, you took it," you said, handing him the stack of photos.

"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion," Jonathan said, scanning the photo, "But I wasn't using the wide angle."
"I know, so what is it?" you ask.
"I don't know," he said, "It's weird."
"When you took the picture, you're sure you didn't see anything?" you ask, "I thought I saw something, but I'm not so sure now."

"No, I didn't, I was fixing my camera," Jonathan replied.
"It's weird. Barb was there for a second, then, she disappeared," You said, "I thought I saw something, when she was there.. It was some, weird, tall man."
You grab the papers in his hand.

"Look, I made some sketches of what I thought he looked like." You pointed at a specific drawing.
"It was like he had—" you spoke.
"No face...?" Jonathan interrupted.
"How did you know that?" you ask.
"My mok, she saw the same thing."
"Do you think you could get a clearer image of it?"

—
Jonathan pulled you into the darkroom and started doing his magic.
"Brightening... Enlarging," Jonathan whispered to himself.
"Did your mom say anything else? Like where it might've gone to?" you ask.
"No, just that it came out of the wall," Jonathan said quietly.
"Weird."

The machine dinged and Jonathan carefully placed the paper in water.
"My sister, she's...she's freaking out about this situation. She thinks something horrible happened to Barb.," you said.
Jonathan sighed as he shifted the water onto the paper.

"Gross," You mutter as you saw the enlarged photo.
Your eyes widened as the photo cleared up.
"My mom," Jonathan gasped, "I thought she was crazy, 'cause she said... that's not Will's body and that he's alive."
"And if Will is alive," you said.
"Maybe Barbara too."
You got the photo of the beast from Jonathan, thanked him then drove home.

"Nancy!" You yell, "Nancy!"
You bolted upstairs and entered Nancy's room.
"What are these?" Nancy asked, holding onto the drawings.
"I need to tell you something," You sat on her bed, "It's awesome news."

"Me too," Nancy gasped.
"You first," you said, covering the photo in your hand, the other pulling the hair from your face.
"I went back to Steve's, and I saw something," Nancy said, pointing at your drawings, "I saw this.."
"What about...this?" you showed her the enlarged photo.
"Yes, that's exactly what I saw."
—