To Love a Boy ☆ S. Harrington

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𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

November 10, 1983

"Uh, now I... don't know what your budget is, but over here we have copper and bronze," the bearded man explained, as he led Jonathan towards more caskets that all looked similar. All of which he didn't want to put his brother in.

When he glanced to his right, he met the eyes of Nancy Wheeler, who timidly stood in the doorway to the showroom. His eyes then traveled to Magnolia Henderson, who stood behind her.

"Can you just give me a second?" he asked the man, who solemnly nodded in return.

Hands digging into his pockets, Jonathan approached the odd pair. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey, Byers."

"Your mom, um... she said you'd be here," Nancy explained. "I just... Can we talk for a second?"

𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I wasn't using a wide angle. I don't know. It's weird," he said as he hands the torn up photo back to Nancy.

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?"

"Or hear anything?" Magnolia added.

His eyes flickered between the both of them before landing on Nancy. "No. She was there one second and then, um... Gone."

Magnolia shivered at the word.

"I figured she bolted," he continued.

"The cops think that she ran away. But they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's... and I thought I saw something. Some weird man or... I don't know what it was." 

All it took was one look at the boy's face for Nancy to regret everything she had said. "I'm sorry. I... we shouldn't have come here today," She grabbed her things, and started walking away. "I'm sorry."

Magnolia followed close behind her.

Before they could leave, Jonathan blurted out one last question: "What'd he look like?"

The girls turned to face him. "What?" Nancy asked.

"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?"

"I don't know," she stammered. "It was almost like he... he didn't have-"

"He didn't have a face?" he finished for her.

"Holy shit," Magnolia muttered under her breath.

"How did you know that?" Nancy questioned, voicing Magnolia's own suspicions.