'tis the damn season

Forty-Eight: evermore (feat. Bon Iver)

"Staring out an open window catching my death. And I couldn't be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar, that this pain would be for evermore" 

Robin had two boxes that her family had gathered to donate. The trunk was completely full now; we'd have to put Nancy and her family's donations in the backseat.

The ride to Nancy's was quiet. There wasn't much to talk about other than the impending doom on Hawkins, and I think we were all just tired of that subject. When we pulled into Nancy's driveway, she was already outside, with a few boxes lined up by the garage. Her and her mom were outside organizing everything in them, as Steve parked and killed the engine.

The three of us step out of the car, when Mrs. Wheeler smiles at us.

"Thank you guys so much for taking our donations for us, it means a lot," she says, graciously.

"It's no problem," Steve says, picking up one of the full and finished boxes. I open the door to the backseat for him, when Dustin comes outside through the garage, with another smaller box.

He was walking slower than normal, and with a limp. He'd told us in trying to get back through the gate to help Eddie, he'd fallen to the floor on the other side with no soft landing what so ever. He'd sprained his ankle in the process.

"You really shouldn't be walking around like that," I say, hurrying over to him, taking the box out of his hands. "You need crutches or something."

He lifts up his pant leg showing me his ankle. "I've got a brace on it," he argues.

I shake my head at him. "It's not going to heal properly if you're constantly putting weight on it," I say, glancing in the box I was holding. "What is all of this stuff?" I ask, seeing it full of dinky cars, and action figures.

"That was all stuff in the back of Mike's closet. He doesn't use it anymore," Dustin shrugs.

That reminded me that Mike wasn't here. He was still in California with my family. I was pretty sure his flight was supposed to leave tomorrow like mine. This was going to be a pretty crazy scene to walk into if he had no idea what was going on in Hawkins while he was away.

I take the box with me, putting it on the floor of the backseat of the car, when Nancy appears beside me.

"You still haven't heard from anyone at home?" She asks.

I shake my head. "No, but I leave tomorrow so I guess I'll find out what was going on with them then," I chuckle.

"It's so weird," Nancy breathes. "My mom has been freaking out not hearing from Mike this whole week, she hasn't been able to get a hold of them either."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Steve says, from my left. "They were probably just busy."

"Yeah, maybe they took a trip to Disneyland or something and haven't been home," Robin suggests.

My eyes widen when I look past Nancy's shoulder to see that familiar van coming down the street, before pulling in front of the house. "Or maybe they were just driving across the country all week," I sigh, my heart freezing in my chest.

"What?" Steve and Nancy ask at the same time.

"Did someone order a pizza?" Mrs. Wheeler asks, coming out of the garage.

The back door of the surfer boy pizza van slid open, and out stepped, Will, Mike and El, while Johnathan got out of the drivers seat on the other side, and Argyle stepped out on the passengers.