Turn me Upside Down

Chapter 8: Exploring the Woods

The cold air slowly drifted past you and your mother as you stood in the open land of grass. It surprised you that you and your mother were the first to arrive but then again, who wanted to be early to a funeral? The casket hadn't arrived yet but the dug up hole in the ground was already enough to unsettle your stomach.

You were dressed in a long black dress that passed just under your knees and a black cardigan to go over the top half of the dress. While it wasn't revealing, the weather wasn't forgiving to the bare skin. It matched pretty well with the atmosphere of any funeral - cold, bitter, and empty. If you focused enough you would be able to convince yourself that the wind was screaming along in a wail of mourning but perhaps that was your tired mind playing tricks on you.

Your mother had spent almost the entire day yesterday trying to fix her work schedule in order to fit in the time for this event, but even then she still had work soon after. The hospital was surprisingly understaffed and decided and pulling in your newly hired mother to cover most of those shifts was the best idea. While the money flow was good since it was still a new place with not much money security for your family, the stress was clearly showing.

It was to the point that she would fall asleep immediately after getting home and waking up to the sound of her alarm telling her to get to work again. Despite wanting to stay longer with Jonathan and Nancy the other day, you forced yourself to go back home and help with household chores to make sure that there wouldn't be any added pressure to your mother's responsibilities. That didn't stop them from calling you back to back after you had left to catch you up on their plan of trying to catch the monster. Why they were insistent on doing it without help, you wouldn't understand, but some people like diving in head first into deadly situations.

The slow humming of other cars finally arriving brought you out of your silent contemplation and made you focus on who was coming in. Thankfully one of the cars happened to be the Wheeler family making their presence. Today would be the first day that you would see the kids again. From a distance they already looked better than you had expected. No slouching or hanging heads that would make you think that they were sad about the situation.

Of course, they were sad. Their friend's body had been found, but their body posture alone clued you in on something else - these kids knew something, they always did. Even if you wanted to integrate them at the very moment they joined your side, Nancy was there to interrupt any plans you had silently made. She walked up to you in a fast walk, wearing a black dress and slip on shoes. This might have been the first time you had ever seen her with her hair down outside the comfort of her own home. It was a nice change in appearance if you chose to ignore the situation that called for such a formal way of dressing.

Mike walked up behind her and silently took his stand two chairs down. He waved at you when sitting down as well as the other boys when they passed eye-contact on their way to their seats. It was comical how nonchalantly they were acting at the funeral of their friend, which again just made you want to question them and whatever information they had.

Mike had been observing your judging gaze moving between his friends before it had once again landed on him. He decided to throw a bone and realized that if they were ever going to find where Will was, they would need the help of someone older. Eleven was all powerful to a certain degree but having an almost adult around in case of emergency was the best back up plan in this situation. They wouldn't have to tell you everything, just the overview of what they had so that there was enough trust built.

The Byers family was the last to arrive. They walked out of their car being slowly followed by the priest and other workers of the service that had been waiting for their arrival. An arrival that came with a new face to you and one that others never truly knew. Despite understanding that this was the dad of Will and Jonathan, there was already a judgment present in your mind about the man. The little Jonathan let out about his relationship with the man was enough to put him on your list of men to never trust, but it was obvious why he was here. Even asshole parents had to be there for the funeral of their kids.