the other woman! - 𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲

There were no words to describe the complex emotions that Monica went through all at once in seeing Will Byers' unconscious body being carried out on the stretcher. She watched his limbs sit uncomfortably as his face stayed stiff like a rock, gray-toned. Confused about whether to let the tears fall, scream, vomit, or all of the above. Yet she stared at the police car including the ambulance driving it away. He was gone, she managed to construct it at that moment. I'm sorry.

At that point of that cursed night, Monica grew severely tired and wobbly to stand. She stood as if she was a regular drunk about to throw up. Her vision, although not the best, noticed blurry shadows of what seemed to be kids with bikes. She felt disturbed at the sight, but in the end, she slowly staggers through the dirt, hugging herself once again. She began to also sense how the world tends to spin around in circles and slow down with each step. Her body started to become weak as her back hunched over in an attempt to be more comfortable. Instead, it just made the pain ache worse.

One of the kids in the near distance, however, called out with the name, "Mike!" and "Mike, come on, please!" out of the blue and noticed the exhausted Monica stumbling away. Monica hadn't gotten so far to miss what the child shouted but she continued to walk nonetheless. It was only a matter of time until that strength wore out. The voice felt familiar to her but she didn't bother to stop. She had to keep going to stay alive.

"Hey, you! Lady!"

Please keep going, Monica. You've dealt with too much tonight.

"Wait, I think that's Monica. Monica?!" Police officers started to glance over the teenage girl's terrible state. Struggling to stay awake.

Don't turn around. It's a setup...

"Monica, wait! It's me Dusti–" Dustin Henderson was the first to notice Monica for who she was and rushed over to grab her attention. He nudged her over to snap her out of it. Out of her trance. Instead, however, she wobbles over to fall on the ground unconscious.

You're going to die.

"Holy shit! Shit, shit, shit! Monica... I'm so sorry!" Dustin cries while the police officers finally come to help, rushing to her side in aid and assistance. She slowly moves around, groaning while still struggling to breathe without feeling any pain. The closer she lay there, the further she was into death. The ambulance took several minutes before arriving back at the quarry. Monica just stared at the plain dark sky, hoping her death was as peaceful as she finally left, laying down. Slowly closing her eyes with a sad smile on her tear-stained face. As soon as the ambulance van stopped, the officers carried her out of the stretcher as quickly and sloppily as possible, taking her back out of the van.

As they pestered her with questions, the last words Monica could utter before knocking herself out was "Where's Nancy?"

Monica was stuck in the hospital bed for the rest of the night, knocked out due to exhaustion and weariness. The doctors and nurses were quick, too quick to test her vitals if she was still alive and if she had any warning symptoms. They only detected the lack of warmth in her body, irritated ears, and dark circles around her eyes. The only way that they could notice the pain that Monica felt was when she woke up the next morning.

Luckily, Dustin told Hopper, the chief who was there at the quarry, who Monica was so it didn't become so hard to contact the mother. Speaking of, her mother Linda was picking another late night shift at the market called Bradley's Big Buy, mobbing up all of the spills that customers made earlier in the day before restocking. It was close to 1:30 am at the moment and Linda wasn't anywhere close to being happy as she thought she would be when first arriving at Hawkins. However, she was grateful for what she had; a daughter, a house of her own, and a job that pays the bare minimum. Even if she couldn't spend any time enjoying it.