𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 ✯ steve harrington¹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 : the element of surprise

WORD COUNT : 3.5k

After their less-than-friendly encounter with their father the other night, the Webb kids were much more hesitant when entering the house after getting home from the movies. Gordon peeked his head in through the front door first, silently looking around to make sure that the old man was nowhere to be found. With his head poked through the slightly ajar doorway, the oldest of the three siblings could hear the foundation-rattling snoring coming from within the house. The sound of their sleeping father put him at ease immediately. Gordon fully opened the door then, allowing for all of them to enter and escape the freezing Indiana weather.

Owen made a beeline to the phone upon entry, not even bothering to take off her coat. Despite the fun evening she and her brothers had, her mind had been preoccupied the entire time, thinking about what had happened with Jonathan and Nancy that night. Her fingers quickly dialed the Wheelers' phone number, taking a seat on the couch while she waited for an answer. Her free hand picked at a loose thread hanging from the end of her sweatshirt as she listened to the repetitive ringing.

"Hello?" The voice that crackled through the speaker certainly did not belong to Nancy. Nancy's voice has never been that deep and raspy.

"Hi, um, is Nancy there," Owen inquired, thinking that Mr. Wheeler may have answered the phone instead. Nancy might not have made it back home yet. This thought caused her mind to run through all of the worst possible outcomes. Jonathan and Nancy had gone out there completely unprepared and understaffed, after all. Something really awful could have happened to them while they were out hunting for this thing. Owen could feel her heart thumping increasingly louder in her chest at the thought, unsure if she could stomach losing someone else like this.

"Owen, is that you," the person on the other end asked, voice dropping just above a whisper. Her body stiffened at the question. She suddenly felt seen by the anonymous person on the phone with her.

"Who is this," she probed, avoiding giving an answer at all.

"It's Jonathan," he replied, swiftly. His answer made some of the stress roll off of Owen's shoulders for the time being. Although she was glad to know that Jonathan had made it back from the woods that night, her mind instantly jumped to Nancy.

"Is everything okay? Where's Nancy?"

"We're fine," Jonathan assured her, "Nancy's in the shower right now. She's alright, but she's pretty shaken up." Owen's ears perked up at this, worried about what could have happened that made Nancy freaked out.

"What happened? Did you guys find it," Owen queried, urgency painting her tone. Jonathan's silence through the phone did not provide any sort of clarity or comfort. Instead, it just allowed stress to sit heavy on her shoulders again. The silence was finally broken up by a heavy sigh on Jonathan's end.

"We, uh, we found something. But it's a lot. I don't think I can explain everything over the phone," Jonathan divulged, his voice strained. Owen immediately began to beat herself up for leaving them to do everything by themselves. She could hear the exhaustion in Jonathan's voice. "I... I think Nancy's almost out of the shower. She just needs some rest and then we can tell you everything tomorrow, okay?"

"O-of course. I'll come by Nancy's tomorrow or something," Owen nodded. Her lips were pursed as she dragged her free hand across her face. She knew that there was nothing that she could do now to help with whatever they had seen tonight. But if they were going to find Will and Barb, then she needed to be just as committed to killing this faceless thing as Jonathan and Nancy were.

"Okay," Jonathan agreed, quietly. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Owen said, guilt still hanging over her as she hung up. The moment the phone was returned to the receiver, the pink-haired girl inhaled a deep breath and blew it out slowly. With everything that had been going on, she had no idea what to expect out of her debriefing with Jonathan and Nancy the next day. Unfortunately, from the sound of it, things may have just gotten so much worse.