One

Chapter Four - part three

Once the three Wheelers got home, Nancy and Karen rushed into the house, arguing, loudly. Phina walked inside behind them, a deep sigh escaping her lips. Her head was pounding due to the on going stress of the past few days, and the fight her mother and sister were having didn't help any.
"You lied to the police," Karen shouts.
"I didn't lie," Nancy defends herself.
"How naïve do you think I am," Karen yells, "you and Steve were just talking?"
Nancy stops walking and turns to her mom, "we slept together! Is that what you want to know? It doesn't matter!"
Nancy goes to walk upstairs again.
"It does matter," Karen says.
Nancy turns back to her mother, livid.
"No! It is all bullshit! It has nothing to do with Barb, and she's missing, and something terrible happened to her and I know it. I know it!" Nancy pauses. "And the only one who cares in Phina!"
Nancy tried to storm away, but Karen stopped her, "sweety, sweety. I'm listening."
"No!" Nancy's voice breaks. "You're not."
Nancy storms upstairs. Karen calls out after her, but Nancy doesn't listen. Phina pushes past her mom, following her sister.
"Phina," Karen pleads.
"Just leave her alone mom," Phina bites out at her, "leave us alone."
She runs up the stairs and walks over to Nancy's door. The door had been slammed shut and locked by her upset sister.
She knocks, "Nance, it's me. Open the door."
After a few seconds, the door unlocks with a click and Phina turns the handle. She pushes open the door, seeing her sisters tears instantly bringing tears to her own eyes. They sit down on Nancy's bed in silence. Comforting each other with just the others presence.
Nancy sits forward and grabs her bag, a look of complementation on her face.
"What are you doing," Phina asks her.
Nancy reaches in her bag, grabbing out the pieces of Jonathan's pictures, "he had one of Barb, Jonathan was the last person to see her."
Nancy shows her a piece, it had Barb sitting on the diving board, looking down at the water. Nancy let's Phina look at it for a second, thinking. She then starts to piece together the picture, the pieces fitting together like a puzzle.
"Grab me the tape," Nancy tells her sister.
Phina complies, grabbing tape from Nancy's desk and handing it to her. Nancy tapes the pieces together and Phina looks at the picture over her shoulder. For a minute it looks normal, like Barb was the only one there, but as she looked closer, she saw the tall figure standing behind her.
"Look," Phina points at the figure.
Nancy looks closely at it and turns to Phina, "is that what we saw?"
"I think it might be," Phina nodded.
"If it was there, then Jonathan might have seen it," Nancy says.
"Maybe, he didn't say anything about it to me though," Phina says.
"We could show him, ask him what he saw that night," Nancy says.
"Yeah, I guess we could," Phina sighs, "but Jonathan is going through a lot right now. If he doesn't want to speak, I won't make him."
Nancy nods, "got it."
"I'll call his house, see where he's at," Phina says.
She walks downstairs and calls the Byers' number. Joyce answers.
"Hello?"
"Hey Joyce, is Jonathan home?"
"No, no he's picking out a coffin," Joyce says, the pain showing in her voice.
Phina nods, "ok, thank you Joyce. I'll come by tonight if you want, I'll bring some food."
Joyce smiles, "thank you Phina."
"No problem at all Joyce," Phina says, "I'll see you later, bye."
"Bye."

Phina waited in the hall for Nancy to get Jonathan. She nervously played with her hands, glancing at the door every few seconds for Nancy and Jonathan. Being in the funeral home was feeding the bad feeling in her gut, if it got any worse she would soon expect the end of the world to happen.
When the two of them walked through the door together, she immediately noticed the awkward air surrounding them. They went and sat next to Phina, Nancy pulling out the picture and showing it to Jonathan.
They showed him the figure behind Barb, and Jonathan examines it carefully.
"I mean. It looks like it could be some kind of perception distortion, but I wasn't using a wide angle," he explains.
He shakes his head and looks at the girls, "I don't know, it's weird."
"And your sure you didn't see anyone else out there," Nancy asks.
"No, she was there one second, and then, gone. I figured she bolted," Jonathan tells them.
"The cops think that she ran away, but they don't know Barb," Nancy says, "and when we went back to Steve's, we thought we saw something."
Phina nods, the image of the monster flashing in her head. A shiver ran down her spine at the image.
"Some weird man. Or," Nancy sighs, "I don't know what it was."
"It was not like anything I've ever seen in those woods Jon," Phina tells him.
The theee go silent, Jonathan contemplating what they had told him. Nancy gets a little unnerved, and starts to shake her head.
"I'm sorry, we shouldn't of come here, today, I'm so sorry," Nancy says, grabbing Phina's arm.
"Nance wait," Phina says.
Nancy continues to pull her away but Jonathan's voice stops them, "what'd he look like?"
"What?"
"This man you saw in the woods," Jonathan says, his voice slightly shaking, "what'd he look like?"
"Um, I, I don't know," Nancy pauses, "like... he didn't have a..."
"Didn't have a face," Jonathan asks.
Nancy looks at him, slightly shocked, "how did you know that?"

Three teens went to the school, so Jonathan could use the red room to enhance the photo. Phina elected to sit outside the door, to make sure no one went inside and saw the monster in the photo. She also had elected the roll of match maker.
Phina could see the chemistry between her sister and her best friend. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife, it was suffocating really. The only thing holding them back was Steve.
Nancy wouldn't leave Steve for Jonathan, no, she wasn't the type of girl to just jump from guy to guy. Nancy wanted to have a long lasting relationship, and since she already is in one, she wouldn't leave it.
Phina continued to think about Steve Harrington, listing off all the things that described him. Most of the words she thought of would make a sailor blush. Steve Harrington is the most ignorant, selfish, piece of shit person Phina had ever met, but she could never get him off her mind. He stayed there, like a parasite, waiting for the chance to take control.
She hated him, with a passion, but couldn't admit that she had another feeling for him, small compared to the hatred, but it was there. No matter how much she tries, it just won't go away, stinging like a paper cut on her heart.
All Phina wanted to do is punch his perfect face, so it would leave her mind for once. Or to rip his hair out, so she could stop thinking about how soft it might be. She wished that she didn't know him at all, so she could live in peace.
She groaned and let her head fall onto the desk in front of her, her forehead smacking the surface. The door opened behind her and Jonathan and Nancy emerged.
Phina stood up quickly, "did it work?"
Nancy holds out the picture for Phina to look at it, "it's what we saw Phina."
Phina nods, she looks them both in the eyes, before turning her head back to the picture, "so what do we do?"
"We go to Will's funeral tomorrow, and we'll come up with a plan then," Jonathan tells them.
The girls nod, "got it."

   A warm hand grips mine, adrenaline pumps through my bones as we run for our lives. An awful, truly terrifying screech echoes behind us. The hand around my own tightens, we jump, and then I'm falling.
   "Phina!"
   The hand is gone and I'm alone, laying on the cold hard ground, in indescribable pain. I sit up, screaming out in pain, my eyes instantly finding the middle school I laid in front of. One single thought goes through my mind, the kids.

-1411 words-
Hmmmm what could that little dream at the end mean?????? If you're already guessing it, yes, Phina's dreams will have something to do with the story later on. If you have any theories feel free to share.
-Morgan