"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Thirty-Six: Finish What We Started
(The Bathtub, Pt. 7)
***
El's immediately taken out of the kiddie pool and onto the bleachers, one of the boys' jackets wrapped around her. The adults are moving to the doors, Jonathan following after them, and Rowan knew they're going to find Will. She doesn't even care they're leaving the rest of them behind. She never wants to step foot into the Upside Down ever again.
However, that means there is no longer a buffer between Nancy and Alistair.
The brunette girl in question is striding up to Alistair, who gave El a hug and whispered, "Thank you," before he turned to Nancy, looking visibly uncomfortable, but his eyes held a weariness to them that Rowan never wanted to see in her little brother's eyes again, as she moved herself by his side, crossing her arms and watching Nancy warily.
The girl didn't beat around the bush as she asked straight out, voice cracking slightly, "How... how long have you seen her?"
Alistair met Nancy's eyes for only a second before looking away, muttering, "Since Wednesday."
"Since—" Nancy can't get the rest of the words out, sticking in her throat, her eyes glassy. She turned to Rowan, and whispered, "Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That Barb was... that she was gone this whole time? Did you know?"
"No. Nance, I... I thought she was alive! I didn't know she was... that she'd..." Now Rowan can't get the words out, unable to say it, to admit the grim truth verbally, to spit out the word laced with grief and survivor's guilt, the air becoming heavy and thick, until Alistair's soft voice cut through it.
"I... I didn't know she was Barb," he said quietly. All eyes snapped to him, as he curled into himself, hugging his knees to his chest. "I just... saw this girl, covered in slime, with a bleeding leg, hovering around your house, who started hovering around me after she noticed I could see her, and treated her like the usual ghosts. I... I-I didn't think she was Barb until... until earlier, b-but I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to believe that wasn't her. But I'm sorry, Nancy. I'm so, so sorry."
Alistair's shoulders shook and Rowan instantly pulled her brother into a side-hug as he began to quietly cry, rubbing his back as the anger melted away from Nancy and the grief returned, bowing her head as she swallowed back her own tears even as her eyes were glossy with them. Beside them, the Party looked at Alistair, now understanding why their friend hated his powers so much, witnessing just how painful it could be to see ghosts—especially if they were the ghosts of those close to the people you loved. And that was not counting the traumatising ways the ghosts would try to get Alistair to look at him, or even the sight of them if their deaths had been brutal.
