𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚝

𝟶𝟶𝟺

While Dustin got to stay home, Stephanie had to go to school. Stephanie and Nancy agree to meet up with Steve and tell them what they found, considering they went to his house.

"So, I don't understand, why did you go back to my house," Steve asked, clearly confused by everything the girls were telling him.

"We were looking for Barb," Nancy responded.

"Yeah ok, but why didn't you just come and talk to me? Cause what you're telling me is crazy." Steve tried to wrap his head around the information.

"Listen, it was scary ok?" Stephanie said, trying to get the boy to understand without explaining it a million times.

"Ok fine, but you're telling me that you two think you saw a guy in a mask just chilling in the woods behind my house." Steve was trying to find logic in what he was hearing but it was almost impossible.

"We don't think it's a mask," Nancy told her boyfriend.

"But he didn't have a face? Are you hearing yourselves?" Steve leaned against the wall. "This is bad." The girls looked at him in confusion, wondering why his demeanor suddenly changed. "The cops are gonna wanna talk to all of us now, Tommy, Carol, everyone who was at the party. So I guess you got lucked out of this one." Steve said, looking over at Stephanie. "My parents are gonna murder me."

"Are you serious right now? Barb is missing and you're worried about your parents." Nancy asked in disbelief of him.

"Listen when the cops wanna talk to you, just don't mention the beers. It's just gonna get us into more trouble and she's got nothing to do with it." Steve tried to persuade Nancy into doing what he wanted.

"I can't believe you right now. C'mon Steph." She grabbed the girl's arm and walked away from Steve, who was calling both of the girl's names.

❀❀❀❀❀

In the next period, Nancy was taken to talk to the police while Stephanie had to sit through the rest of the class. Nancy's mom took her home after hearing what she had to say to the police. But thankfully, by the time lunch rolled around and Stephanie was outside, Nancy's car pulled up.

"Thank god. I think I was slowly dying without you." Stephanie said, getting into the car. "So what's the plan?" She asked. Nancy handed the girl one of the pictures that Jonathan had taken. Except it was taped together. She started driving off toward the middle of town.

"We're finding Jonathan. He's the one that took the picture, so maybe he's the one who can help us figure out what this thing is." She pointed at a dark shadow in the corner of the picture, right behind Barb.

"You're thinking that whatever this thing is, it took Barb?" Stephanie asked, looking closely at the photo.

"That's what we're gonna find out. I'm also hoping he can give us a betting image of this thing."

"You mean like enhance the photo? Is Jonathan Byers that much of a photography master?" Stephanie asked, making the Wheeler girl smile. "Well look at that."

"What," Nancy asked, glancing at the girl, then back at the road.

"I think that's the first time I've seen you smile all week," Stephanie said, keeping her eyes on the girl next to her.

"You might be right." She said, looking over at Stephanie for a moment. "We're here." Nancy got out of the car and Stephanie followed right behind her. They walked inside and saw Jonathan talking to a man.

"You didn't tell me he was in the process of shopping for coffins for his dead brother. Nancy, what is wrong with you?" Stephanie whispered, tugging Nancy's arm in a desperate attempt to get out of there. She would rather be in school than in this awkward mess. Regardless, Nancy stood her ground as Jonathan caught her eye and began walking over.

"Hey." She paused, unsure of what to say next. "Your mom said you'd be here." Stephanie looked at the girl in disbelief. Nancy went to his house and when Mrs. Byers said that Jonathan was shopping for a coffin, she said 'ok cool, I'm gonna go there.'

"What the actual fuck Wheeler," Stephanie said under her breath, but it was unluckily heard by the two others. "I had no idea you would be here I'm sorry. Nancy let's go." She started walking but turned around when she noticed that Nancy wasn't following. The two walked out of the room and onto one of the benches so Jonathan could look at the picture that Nancy had brought. Stephanie was pacing back and forth, trying to connect everything that she knew to what she was now figuring out.

"She was there one second than just gone. I figured she bolted." Jonathan told the girls about the last moment he saw Barbara.

"The cops think she ran away, but they don't know her. Not like we do." Nancy filled the boy in.

"Yeah, then we went back to Steve's and we saw this weird-looking guy or something. I don't even know what it was." Stephanie explained, continuing to pace.

"What'd he look like? The man?" Jonathan asked, catching the girls off guard.

"It almost looked like he didn't-" Nancy began, trying to put the words together.

"Like he didn't have a face?" Jonathan finished the sentence for her, freaking Stephanie out.

"Please tell me that's a coincidental guess." She asked, finally stopping her pacing to look at him. The three teens looked at each other as if they finally put all the pieces together, but Stephanie knew that they were missing half of the puzzle. Jonathan then stood up,

"We need to enhance that photo. If we go to the school I can do it there." He said, grabbing his bag. The girls did the same and walked out to their car, planning to meet him there.

❀❀❀❀❀

As Jonathan was 'brightening and enlarging' the photo, as he called it, Stephanie and Nancy were asking questions about what his mom saw exactly.

"Dis she says anything else, about maybe where it might have gone?" Nancy asked the preoccupied teen.

"Nope, just that it came out of the wall." He answered.

"Yeah, that's not terrifying at all," Stephanie commented. Nancy and Jonathan continued talking while Jonathan moved on to the next step of the process. Stephanie on the other hand was sitting on the other side of the room, trying to put things together. What she had gotten so far was that this, essentially, was the Demogorgon from D&D that El had shown them. And if that thing took Will, then it took Barb. El had come from a 'bad place' that most likely gave her those powers and even possibly created the monster, but the question was, what was the 'bad place'?

"Steph?" Nancy snapped the girl out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry. What's up?" She said, walking over to the duo. She leaned over Nancy's shoulder to examine the photo. "Holy shit. That's it. That's what we saw." Stephanie pointed.

"My mom, I thought she was crazy. She said that it's not Will's real body and that he's alive." Jonathan began

"If he's alive, that means Barb can be too," Nancy said, looking over at her friend with a smile. Stephanie smiled at the thought of both her and her brother getting their friends back.