A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Ryan entered her empty house, immediately going to her room to change into jeans and a regular t-shirt. Once she was satisfied with her old Bob Seger shirt and denim jacket, she grabbed her backpack off the side of her desk chair, marching into the empty room that once belonged to her parents.
After their parents had died, none of them wanted to clear out their parents' belongings. After all, each of the Fordman's had their own room already, no one needed to move into the empty room. It wouldn't feel right to have someone else living in there anyway. Even when Hopper had temporarily lived with them for that year afterwards, he had stayed on the couch downstairs without a complaint.
In the back of the closet, Richard Fordman had installed a safe, one that they used to this day. Ryan wasn't entirely sure what was inside, just that Peter had kept her gun locked inside of it, the key in the pocket of her father's coat. She unlocked the safe, opening it up to see her gun on top of stacks of what looked like journals.
Ryan opened the first page, seeing her mother's handwriting and almost stayed in the closet to read them. Almost. She grabbed the journal closest to her and shoved it in her bag, running out the door to pick up Nancy.
Neither one of her brothers had yet to make it home or leave a message as to their whereabouts, something Ryan was certain meant they were together at the reception for Will. It also meant there was no one around to question her about where she was going and what she planned to do.
She quickly wrote a note on the notepad on the kitchen counter, sticking it to the fridge saying she had gone out with Nancy and Jonathan, not knowing when she'd be back. It was a pretty vague note, she knew that, but she didn't know what exactly she was going to do or where she would be. The only thing she knew of for sure was she wouldn't be doing it alone.
Once she was satisfied with the way she had left things, Ryan walked out her front door, not knowing she would never see the world the same way again.
*•*•*
Ryan parked down the road from Nancy's house, sitting in the drivers seat as she stared out the windshield. Not a single person in their group knew what exactly they were getting into, just that they needed to stop this monster before it took anyone else they cared about. Why it had to be them, she wasn't sure, but Nancy and Jonathan weren't about to back down, so neither was she. They were in this one together, however weird of a group they were.
She glanced over at her backpack in the floorboard, wondering what her parents would say if they saw her now, a gun in her bag, off to face a monster she knew nothing about with her friends, one of which she had only known for a few days. No doubt they'd find her plan reckless and dangerous, but a part of her felt that they'd be a little proud.
Sighing, she opened the car door, feeling the cool air hit her face. She thought about all the different ways things could go wrong and how to avoid them. Her favorite was throwing Jonathan's gun at the monster and running like hell. It was like an episode of Scooby-Doo.
