Josie Byers has always been different to her family, she wasn't a freak.
When her brother Will goes missing, her mom is Acting out, thinking he was in the walls while Johnathon was too busy with Nancy Wheeler to help. So she seemed help in unlikely...
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"This damn thing is heavy." Lucas says trying to straighten the pool in the middle school assembly hall. "Come on. It's upside down." Dustin says as they both try and open it up. "No, this way." Lucas says, and it just completely falls on them. "Okay, um..." Dustin says looking for me and Nancy for help. "Don't look at me!" I say and they roll their eyes. "Try that side." Lucas says and Dustin hurts his arm "Son of a bitch!" Dustin yells. "Pull it back. Pull it back!" Lucas yells back. "I am!" Dustin yells back. "Stand back." Nancy says getting up and unfolding it for them. "Whoa." They say and she goes to sit next to me and Mike. "What did she even eat?" Nancy asks Mike. "What?" He says not really listening. "Eleven." She says. "Oh. Candy, leftovers, Eggos..." he says. "She really likes Eggos." I say. "I knew you were acting weird. I just—I thought it was because of Will." Nancy says putting his arm around Mike "I knew you were acting weird, too. I thought it was 'cause of Steve." He says and he looks at me. "Why were you with him anyways?" He asks and Nancy shoots me a look. "No idea what your on about!" I say awkwardly. "Hey... No more secrets, okay? From now on we tell each other everything." Nancy says brushing off the last comment. "Okay. Do you like Jonathan now?" Mike says and I almost choke on laughter. "What? No. No, it's—it's not—it's not like that." She stutters, I raise my eyebrow. "Do you like Eleven?" She says raising the subject "What? No. Ew. Gross." He says. "Oh what happened to, oh El you look pretty! Oh el I love you." I mock and Nancy joins in. "Oh El you look pretty!" She says and he goes red and walks away. "He's so easy to annoy." I say. "Why were you with Steve." She says instantly stopping her laughter. "I don't know what you mean." I say getting up and sitting next to El and mom.
"This will keep it dark for you. Just like in your bathtub." Mom says handing her glasses she taped with duck tape. "You're a very brave girl. You know that, don't you? Everything you're doing for my boy... for Will... for my family...Thank you." She says hugging El. "Me and Josie are gonna be there with you the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary... in that place, you just let me know, okay?" Mom says stuttering a little bit. "Yes." El says looking up at us both. "Ready?" I say and she nods. "Remember, tug my arm if you need me okay?" I say and she smiles at me. "It it hot enough?" I say dipping my hand in the water." "Too hot." She says. "COLDER!" I yell to Lucas. "Warmer." She says. "WARMER!" I yell to him again. "Good." She says. "OKAY RIGHT THERE!" I say and he turns the rap off. "Okay ready?" I say and she puts her glasses on. "Be careful." I say as she jumps in the water.
The whole gang stays silent, all gathered around the pool. Static suddenly starts. "Barb? Barbra?" El says and Nancy perks up. El starts to toss and turn, like she is distressed. "Your alright!" I say as she grabs onto my arm. "Is Barb okay!" Nancy says before El screams. "Oh god," I say on the verge of tears. "Get the boys out of here." I whisper to Johnathon who is met with protesting boys. "Gone! Gone!" El yells, Nancy deflates. "GONE! GONE! GONE. GOne. gone." She says finally settling down. "Hey. It's okay." Mom says hugging her arm. "It's okay, we're right here." I say hugging her too. "We're right here, honey." Mom says comfortingly. "It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. " she continues. "I'm right here with you. I'm right here with you. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." I say and she stops turning. "It's okay, you're safe. You're okay, honey." Mom says looking at me in tears. "Castle Byers." El whispers. Mom gasps. "Is Will there?" I say grabbing on tighter. "Will?" She says and mom is being comforted by Johnathon. "Tell will- tell will I'm coming." Mom says before bursting into many more tears. "Mom is coming." El says and I quickly wipe my tears away. Will is alive. "Your mom- she's coming for you." She says again. "Hurry." I hear coming from the radio. "Oh my god." I say almost exploding with emotion. "Tell him to stay where he is- we're coming." I say, mom can barely talk. "Will?" El yells and we hear growling on the radio. "WILL! WILL!" El screams before jumping out of the water. "Hey I've got you!" You done so good! Your okay!" I say as she collapses on-top of me. "Your okay." I say and she sobs.
"Okay so where is this castle Byers?" Hopper says as mom is back to reality. "It's in the woods behind our house." She says, el is really tired, she's practically asleep. Her head is on my lap and is relaxing on the bleachers, Lucas on one side of her Mike above and Dustin below. "I'll go get him." Hopper says getting up. "No I'm coming with!" Mom says jumping up. "Dustin put her on your lap." I say getting up and joining the conversation. "I'm coming too!" I say and he sighs. "No you need to look after the kids!" He says and Johnathon buts in. "Then I can go!" He says. "No! None of you are!" He yells. "He's my son!" Mom protests. "He's my brother!" Johnathon says. "Me too!" I say. "Please you need to stay!" He says and he fucks off to his car, mom gets in before he could drive away. "TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS!" Mom says before driving off with hops. "Fuck sake!" Johnathon yells. "We have to go back to the station." Nancy says coming up to us. "What?" Johnathon says confused. "Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait. That thing is still in there. And we can't just sit here and let it get them, too. We can't." She says, she just lost her best friend it's understandable. "You still wanna try it out?" Johnathon sighs. "I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it." She says going over to some random car. "So this is your plan?" I say as she tries to Hotwire a car. "Worked for me before, didn't it?" She says as she can't start it. "Well, did it?" I say taking over. "Come on, trust me." She says as I start the car.
