'tis the damn season

Seven: Clean

"When I was drowning that's when I could finally breathe"

I hardly slept that night. I was up, tossing and turning, my mind unable to be still. I wasn't necessarily scared, but I definitely didn't feel completely easy with what we figured out last night. If these Russians really were in Hawkins, what the hell were they doing here?

It was seven o'clock in the morning when I decided I might as well get up for the day. I wasn't very hungry this early in the morning, and so instead of breakfast, I had a shower first. I took my time, trying to relax under the hot water, but nothing I did seemed to wash my fears away. I was creeped out. I knew logically, that there probably wasn't anything to worry about. But that certainly didn't stop my mind from thinking up the absolute worst case scenario.

I step out of the shower, still dripping wet and wrap the towel around my body. Drying off, I try to focus my thoughts on something else entirely. I didn't want to think about the code, and what it meant anymore.

I thought about the possibilities of what I could do today. We hadn't made any sort of plans to work more on the code, so I didn't have to be anywhere. I could always go to the bookstore. But I shouldn't buy anything. I've spent way too much money recently as it is. I could however, write up a resume and hand it in. Maybe I'd work on that today. It would keep me busy enough.

I leave the bathroom, with fresh clothes and damp hair, walking back to my bedroom, and tossing my pyjamas into the basket in my closet. It was almost eight now, and I was starting to feel a little hungry. I made my way to the kitchen and dining room, where I saw Johnathan eating his breakfast there by himself. I never saw Johnathan in the mornings, and still hardly ever at night.

"Hey," he says, smiling, looking up from his cereal.

"Hi," I answer, smiling back.

I hadn't really been able to reconnect with Johnathan like I had with Will. Most of the reason being he wasn't around much. I wanted to be able to talk like we used to.

"How's your fancy new job going?" I ask, pouring my own bowl of cereal.

"Good," I hear him say from behind me. "We work for a bunch of assholes, but at least we're working in the field we want to be."

I furrow my brows, while I pour milk over the cereal. "Does Nancy take pictures for the paper too?" I ask, taking my breakfast to the seat across from him.

He shakes his head, finishing his mouthful. "No she's supposed to be helping write and edit, but for now she's mostly just running errands. She wants to be a writer," he explains.

I nod, taking the first bite.

"Is that still what you want to do?" He asks, curiously.

I shrug. "Well not for a newspaper, but yeah I'd like to write novels I think. Maybe work at a publishing office or something."

"You guys would probably get along pretty well," Johnathan remarks.

I didn't really know much about Nancy Wheeler. I knew her brother was Mike, and that she was a year younger than me. She was quiet in school. Got decent grades, and followed the rules.

"How did you guys end up together exactly?" I ask. The second the words came out of my mouth I knew it came out wrong. "Not that I'm confused or anything. I don't know, you guys just seem... different. But I don't know her that well I guess either," I stutter.

Johnathan just smiles at this and shrugs. "I know what you meant," he chuckles. "She helped look for Will when he was missing, and then I guess we just started hanging out after that," he answers simply.