WORD COUNT : 3.5k
"Y'know, I'm kinda starting to regret coming along for this trip," Gordon whispered, leaning closer to Owen so that she could hear him.
Although she shot him a stern look after the comment, she honestly couldn't blame him. Gordon had pushed for him and Law to accompany her back to the Byers' house, thinking that they needed to be with her in case some crazy shit went down. However, not much had actually been happening at all. In reality, the group had just been sitting silently in the Byers' living room, lit only by the dim lamp in the corner of the room after the sun had set.
Not to mention, the tension in the room was thick with concern over the return of Hopper and all of the children. With the police chief brilliantly taking the walkie talkie along with him, the group hadn't heard from him or the kids since he left. Basically, Joyce and the teenagers were just left to twiddle their thumbs and watch the door. It was mind-numbing at best and anxiety producing at worst. Left with nothing to do, everyone's minds began to spiral with worry about what was taking Hopper so long. With everything that had been happening as of late, anything could have intercepted them at any point in the journey – whether it be a monster or all of those agents from Nancy's house. Owen wasn't exempt from this concern by any means, as could be seen in the way she chewed at her lip till a small bleeding gash had formed.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, bright headlights burst through the slivers of uncovered windows. The entire group winced at the light breaking through the shadowy interior of the house. Joyce excitedly stood to her feet, rushing over to throw open the front door. Each of the teenagers got to their feet, swiftly following after her to see what was happening in the front yard. Owen and her brothers stepped out onto the front porch together, framing Jonathan on either side.
Outside, Hopper was standing alongside a group of four young kids, who looked to be just a bit younger than Law. Obviously Mike Wheeler was standing at the apex of the group, flanked by the same two boys Owen had seen at Will's funeral. Except this time, the group of boys were accompanied by a girl. The girl was wearing a large navy jacket over a dirty pink dress and some beat up white Converse. But most notably, her hair was shaven down to a buzzcut – one that may have had her mistaken for a boy had it not been for her pretty, soft features. This must have been 'the girl' Hopper had mentioned on the walkie talkie earlier.
"Mike! Oh my god! Mike!" Nancy's words left her in a relieved gasp before she scurried off of the front porch to wrap her younger brother up in a hug. "I was so worried about you," Nancy scolded, pulling away from the hug just enough to tightly clutch the boy by his shoulders. Mike's arms hung limply at his sides, unsure of how to respond to the rapid change in emotions upon his arrival.
"Yeah, uh... me too," Mike replied, his tone making it sound like more of a question than a statement. Finally, Nancy's attention slowly turned to the rest of the group, eyes narrowing in on the girl. She studied her for a moment, her hands dropping from Mike's shoulders.
"Is that my dress," Nancy inquired, examining the entire outfit from top to bottom. The girl with the buzzcut tensed up at the question, her attention nervously darting back towards one of the boys behind her. The curly-haired boy behind her met her gaze, his lips quirking up in an amused, reassuring smile. She turned back around to face the group, looking only slightly more sure of herself. Oddly, not a single word left the girl's mouth, which left everyone with more questions than answers.
"Alright, let's head inside. We can't risk being seen out here," Hopper reminded the groups, hands coming up to usher everyone back into the house. Owen had barely even heard the older man speak, though. She had just been examining the young girl, unable to shake the feeling that she had seen her somewhere before. Gordon had to literally reach out and spin Owen back towards the front door in order to tear her attention from the girl.
YOU ARE READING
𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 ✯ steve harrington¹
Fanfictionfighting monsters, putting together pieces of her complicated past, and taking down a corrupt government program all seem to be daunting tasks for seventeen-year-old, owen webb. but none of those tasks seem to be nearly as difficult as putting up wi...
