She hated him. He hated her. And that was alright in their world until one night. Everything changed then, conversations exchanged between drags of a shared cigarette having developed a mutual respect between enemies.
-----
Slowburn enemies to frie...
Firey pellets of burning hot water ricochet off my skin. They trickle down to the porcelain tub, filling the empty air with monotonous sounds. My wet hair is heavily plastered to my neck and shoulders and my eyelashes are thick with water droplets. I blink rapidly, rubbing my eyes to clear the water from them.
My head feels heavy and my neck strained, as if my decrepit thoughts are hanging me.
Barb can't possibly be in that place.
Will died in there. That sweet, innocent boy...
I can feel control over the situation cascading through my fingers like sand.
Fix it. Fix it, I mentally tell myself. That was too close. Too close. We almost died, Nancy almost...
Everything's a mess.
Nancy and Jonathan know about my powers. There's a man-eating creature running around Hawkins. A girl with superpowers in the basement. Will is dead. Barbara is nowhere to be found. I've broken my cardinal rules of life and doomed myself to heartbreak.
I've never been so afraid in my life.
And here I am, hunched in Nancy's shower and willing the screaming voices in my head to silence their assault.
Failure. Coward. Freak.
A knock on the door, faint and echoing through the plywood.
"Y/N?" Nancy's voice is nearly indistinguishable over the shower.
"Yeah?" I croak.
"Are you alright?"
"M' fine." It comes out harsher than I wanted it to. I can picture her frown.
With the blood and dirt scrubbed from my body, I turn the water off. I'm immediately gripped by the freezing air. I shiver and wrap a pale pink towel around my body. Still, I feel Nancy's presence on the other side of the door.
"I'm fine, Nance." I reassure, scraping my sopping wet hair from my forehead. Her small footsteps leave the door and disappear down the hall.
I spend a chunk of time carefully patting dry the scratches on my face and limbs. While I do this, I consider the different lies I can use to call out of work tomorrow.
