Shit Happens. (Eddie Munson X Female OC)

The Body

Stephanie was in her room laying down staring at the wall covered in Will's drawings he made for her over the years. When a knock was on her door. "I don't want to talk right now mom." Stephanie said with a brittle voice. "It's me, Steph." Nancy's voice called out. "Come in, I guess." Stephanie said. The door opened and closed signaling Nancy was in her room. Nancy sat next to Stephanie's legs looking at the same wall. "I'm so sorry." Nancy said not knowing what else to say. "Mom says you can stay home tomorrow if you want. Mike is going to." Nancy said in a soft voice rubbing Stephanie's legs. Stephanie got up and sat next to Nancy. "I have to tutor Eddie tomorrow. I can't miss it. Did you find out what happened to Barb? I noticed she wasn't in school." Stephanie asked. "I'm going to Steve's house tomorrow to find anything. I'm sorry I have not been the best sister lately, I'll try to make it up to you. I swear." Nancy said looking Stephanie in the eyes. "It's okay. If you need my help to find Barb let me know." Stephanie told Nancy smiling the bit she could before hugging Nancy. Nancy got up and left to her room saying a 'goodnight' before closing the door. Stephanie turned off her bedside light and let the darkness in the room consume her as she closed her eyelids.

Mike was staying home because he was not feeling the best for obvious reasons. Stephanie mentally ready for school but she knew she had to go because she told Eddie she would be there. She got into her mom's car with Nancy. Waiting for Karen to come out.

The ride was quiet. Stephanie just looked out the window not bothering to actually focus on anything. She wondered what exactly happened to Will for him to get there, in the Quarry. She was told the Demogorgon was involved. She wondered how Joyce and Jonathan were handling this, Jonathan was not going to be a school today. She wondered how  the boys were taking this especially Mike. She wondered why El would tell them why Will was still alive. She felt tears build up in the eyes. She took a deep breath in to calm down.

Karen pulled up into the school. "Bye girls." Karen called out. Stephanie waved saying nothing.

Stephanie walked inside the school, everything felt like it was in slow motion. She continued to walk not realizing her name was being called. She turned around when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "Robin." Stephanie muttered out. "Hey I saw the news. You doing okay? Sorry that was a stupid question." Robin said noticing Stephanie looking down. "I thought you were not going to be here today." Robin stated. "I told Eddie I would meet with him today." Stephanie said as he hung her head low walking down the hallway with Robin. She got to her locker and put in her combination. Grabbing her books she walked to her first class with Robin by her side.

A couple of hours later. It was lunch time, robin went to the band room to practice while Stephanie went to the football field and waited for Eddie. She got her notebook out of her bag and grabbed a pen. "Hey stranger." Eddie's voice rang in the soft air. Stephanie lifted her head to look at him. "Hey." Stephanie said back. Eddie sat next to her, beginning to open his mouth but Stephanie started to talk first. "I'm fine, if that is what you were going to say. I said I would be here, so I came. I'm fine, I promise." Eddie nodded. Stephanie began to help Eddie with his history but she was distracted and so was Eddie. Stephanie was thinking about Will and Eddie was thinking how he could make this better for Stephanie. "Steph." Eddie's called out. Stephanie looked up. Her eyes looking into his. "You're not fine. It is okay to not be fine. I thought you were going stay home today because of everything going on. I don't care if you said you were going to meet me. You come first. I'm fine. Your needs come first to me. So we will just catch up with this some other time. Okay, it no problem." Eddie said to her holding one of her hands he grabbed midway through his sentence. Stephanie could feel herself breathing harder. He eyes burning. Wanting to cry. Eddie noticed this and wrapped his arms around the girl. Stephanie wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed into his chest. "It's not fair. He never did anything wrong." Stephanie muttered out as more tears ran down her cheeks. The teens stayed there for the remainder of lunch. When the bell rang Eddie walked Stephanie to class and made sure she was okay before walking to his own.

Halfway through the lesson the principal came in. "Stephanie is leaving." Stephanie grabbed her things and put her books in her bag then walked out of the class room to the office and saw her mom there with Nancy. They both looked angry. The ride home was difficult. Nancy and Karen were arguing with each other. Karen pulled into the driveway and Nancy got out first with Karen following close after her. Stephanie opened the backdoor and grabbed her bag before going into the house only to see Nancy storming upstairs and Karen running her hand through her hair. Stephanie ran upstairs to Nancy's room. She knocked on her door. "Go away." Nancy's distraught voice rang through her ears. "It's Steph." Nancy opened her door and enclose her arms around her older sister. "Something terrible happened to Barb." Nancy let go and wiped her tears away from her eyes. Nancy walked back over to her bed and opened her bag and emptied out the contents. Jonathan's ripped up photos. Nancy was looking at the photo of Barb's crying. Then Stephanie saw something strange. "What the hell?" Stephanie reached over and grabbed the torn photo. Her breath caught in her thought. Nancy looked at what Stephanie was looking at. Grabbing the photo and looking at it closer. Nancy found a piece that looked similar and they wins continued to find pieces that were a part of the same photo taping them together. The Demogorgon got Barb.

"We gotta go see Jonathan." Stephanie said grabbing her coat with Nancy following her. The twins walked into town and went into the funeral home. Seeing Jonathan picking out a coffin for Will. This was incredibly hard for Stephanie but not any harder for Jonathan. Jonathan noticed the girls and walked over. "Hey." Jonathan said. "Hey. Your mom, um said you'd be here. I just... Can we talk for a second." Nancy said. She did all the talking because Stephanie felt like she was suffocating in the building.

Stephanie sat on the wall opposite of the teens on the bench looking at the photo. "It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I was not using a wide angle. I don't know. It's weird." Jonathan explained. Stephanie knew exactly what it was but didn't want to say anything because it was already hard enough for Jonathan. "You're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" Nancy asked. "No. She was there for one second and then, um...gone. I figured she bolted." Jonathan answered. "The cops think she ran away. But they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's...and I thought I... Saw something. Some...weird man or...I don't know what it was. I'm sorry. We shouldn't have came here today. I'm...so sorry." Nancy said as she got up signaling the she was going to leave. Stephanie got up also following Nancy. "What did he look like? This man you saw in the woods. What did he look like?" Jonathan asked gaining the twins attention. "I don't know. It was almost like he...he didn't have-" Nancy said but got cut off by Jonathan. "Didn't have a face?" Nancy and Stephanie looked confused. "How did you know that?" Stephanie asked.

Jonathan and the twins left the building and drove to the school to go get a closer look at the photo. "And you're..." Nancy trailed off. "Brightening, enlarging." Jonathan sias back. "Did your mom say anything else? Like, um where it might have gone to, or..." Nancy asked trying to get another answer. "No, just that it came out of the wall." Jonathan explained. "How long does this take?" Nancy asked. "Not long." Jonathan sias back focused on the photo. "Have you been doing this a while?" Nancy asked trying to make small talk. "What?" Jonathan asked. "Photography, Stephanie has been doing it for a while so I thought you might've as well." Nancy explained. "Yeah. I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know..." Jonathan said. "Talk to them." Nancy finished this sentence. "I know. It's weird." Jonathan said only to have Nancy disagree. "No it is. It's just sometimes...people don't really say what they're really thinking. But you capture the right moment...it says more." Jonathan explained. Stephanie nodded her head in agreement. "What was I saying? When you took my picture." Nancy asked. "I shouldn't have taken that. I'm, uh...I'm sorry. It's just--" Jonathan was about to speak but Stephanie saw the picture. "That's it." Stephanie said. "That's what I saw." Nancy said. "My mom...I thought she was crazy 'cause she said... That's not Will's body. That he's alive."Jonathan said breathing head. "And if he's alive--" Nancy sias but got cut off by Jonathan. "Then Barbara." Stephanie looked at the two teens in the red room with her. "He's alive." Stephanie said. She turned to walk out of the room. Mike was going to flip out once Stephanie would tell him or just lash out which would be understandable. Stephanie was walking in the halls of the school since clubs were still going on. Clearing her mind she turned the corner bumping in to Eddie. "Hey, I was just looking for you, to see if you were okay." Eddie's said. Stephanie pulled him to her and hugged him tight. "Thank you!" Stephanie said as she closed her eyes. "You're.. welcome." Eddie's said confused, but he still hugged her.