Stranger Things: Beyond the Silver Rainbow

[17] (Nancy)

Nancy didn't want to break in, she had to break in. Steve did not understand this yet.

"You can't just go busting into somebody's house on a hunch, Nancy."

"Yes I can." Nancy broke a nail in the crack of the step and didn't let it slow her down as she pulled and jimmied from every possible angle. "I can today."

"Please stop. Please. Just stop. Breathe for five minutes. Think it through. You're being irrational. Mike, kid, other kid, both you guys, could you please back me up on this?"

But the boys were quiet. Good boys. "I am not listening to you right now," Nancy said. She was making headway. If she picked out this one rusty little screw then maybe she could pull the whole railing right off the step.

"Wait, wai... Wait. Remember the talk we had, like ten minutes ago? About chilling out?"

"Yeah, what was it you said? That he's 'sawing logs'? Well guess what Steve? You were wrong. He is not sawing logs. Jonathan is missing."

"And he's not―What, you think he's in there? Jonathan Byers is not locked up in Nicole From School's house right now either! You're losing your mind scrambling after a little clue that'll probably amount to shit-all, and before you even get that far you need, oh right, a fully functioning dark room, which isn't here. I mean look at this place. It's a complete shit heap. I bet they don't even have a color TV."

Glued in place by eons of rust, the screw would not budge. Nancy beat the railing with the palm of her hand. There was no reasoning with it. She was just going to have to pull on the step with everything she had, plus a little bit more than that. "You still don't remember?" she snapped.

"Remember what?"

"That's right, you didn't see." Nancy had hardly seen either. First she was so sure the monster would slaughter them both in the dark that she forgot she had a gun, then the gun jammed but it was actually just her finger trying to pull the trigger guard in place of the trigger, and by the time she figured that out the thing had already spat up all over Jonathan's face. "You didn't hear him choking. You were too busy―" The whistle through the air, the thump and squish. "Being really..." The howl of inhuman betrayal straight from the mouth of the faceless reaper itself. He's in the trap!  "Really awesome."

The cement chunk came loose, scraping the railing foot and sending Nancy into a backwards sprawl. Steve caught her under her arms and helped her to her feet, but when she turned around he tried to kidnap her new pet rock, so she shoved it up inside her coat, wrapped it in both arms and scowled at him.

"What didn't I see?" he conceded.

"It infected him, I know it. Whatever it is, it grew inside him and it took him away. I know that's what happened." What evidence did they have of another whole monster? Nothing, no missing people on the news, no sightings. It had taken Will six weeks to grow that thing inside him, and now in the same amount of time― "It's the only explanation that makes any sense."

Steve rubbed his hand over his mouth in sick acceptance.

With nowhere else to go, Nancy's frustration turned on her. "I practiced so much, I was so ready and then when it actually mattered I couldn't protect him. He didn't say anything about it. So I just... forgot." She fell forehead-first into Steve's shoulder and stayed there, holding her stone tummy as the cold breeze blew between their bodies, freezing her fingers. "I forgot. I'm the world's worst monster hunter."

Steve's hug transformed him into a strong warm pocket. "How many monster hunters are there? World's worst is still, what, third place? Worst case, you get bronze."

"Consolation for trying? Screw that." While it was nice to smoosh her face into Steve's pullover, Nancy refused to close her eyes. "I am not  done trying."

"Kay, how bout a cliche? You like those. I'll make a new one just for you."

That wasn't how cliches worked. Nancy headbutted him. "Shut up."

"A-hem. 'There are no dark rooms in straw huts.'"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Steve sighed out the grandiose defeat of a failed showman. "It means it's time to find a phone and call the cops."

"No way." The edges of Nancy's pet rock forced satisfying dents into her fingers through her jacket. "We are not doing that. They won't listen."

"Come on, between you and the braniacs and the camera we've really got something for them now." Steve's mapping hands skipped stones across her back, worrying their way from one knot-prone spot to the next. "They'll have to listen."

Nancy tensed up even more. Steve wasn't giving her a back rub, he was searching for an 'off' switch. It felt exactly like a fight. "If they listen at all it'll only be to twist whatever we give them into proof that there's nothing wrong." She grew dark and solid inside. "I'm not dealing with that again."

"Hey, shh, stop. You don't have to. Too much out-there stare for one night." Steve definitely wasn't just holding her anymore. This was a bear hug. He was restraining her. "Let somebody else deal with this. Let them do their job."

Oh, that was it. "Their job?  I've already seen them do their job, Steve!" Nancy hit him in the side, and with a little oof  he set her free. "It's their JOB to tell me to go home and stop worrying because Jonathan, oh, he just ran away! And why  did Jonathan run away? Because Jonathan likes me, just like Barbara liked me, and he 'ran away' because it turns out I'm just some average rebellious slut who slept with the wrong guy!"

''Nancy, you... ?"

"Pigs, Steve! The police are pigs!"

"Okay, but... The wrong guy?"

"No, you idiot. It's all bullshit. You are not the wrong guy. And I am breaking into this house." Nancy took the rock from her coat and hefted it in both hands to get a sense of the weight. "If you don't want to help because you're worried your dad might find out, that's totally okay. I understand. Go home. But if you call the police yourself I will never speak to you again."

Nicole's front door opened.

"Hi," said Will. "Mike boosted me through the window."

Mike appeared from around the corner of the house bundling Will's navy bedspread in his arms. "You were going to check for open windows before you actually broke something, right?"

"Um. Yeah."  The rock tipped from Nancy's hand and thumped into the dirt of the garden. "Of course," but no matter how hard she tried she could not bite the embarrassment off her own face.

Amazingly, Mike shrugged it off. "It's okay," he said, hopping up onto the stoop. "Everybody gets too focused sometimes."

Steve patted Nancy on the back from behind. She could feel the laughter in it.