Other Friends

7

"Honestly, it feels like a fever dream." She admits staring off at where Johnathan continues to talk with Nancy off in the other room.

"Okay, but a full-on monster?" she questions again.

Windy sighs before looking over at her friend, "Listen, that thing is creepy as all hell. And I'd rather not go looking for it."

Lizzie raises an eyebrow, "Even if it means finding Bella again?"

"Yes? No? Ugh, I don't know? Once you come face to face with it, you can question me. Okay?" Windy says before looking back down at her own plate that she has also barely touched.

"So, does that mean you aren't coming with me and Johnathan to look for it?" Lizzie asks as she looks over to the two other teens.

"No." Windy says simply.

"Oh, okay."

Windy sighs, "I'll be right back." Getting up, the teen makes her way to one of the snake tables to grab a drink. There she meets her little brother who looks far to not sad to be at the wake of one of his best friends. "Okay, what's up?" she questions causing him to look up at her like a deer in headlights.

"Up? Nothings up..." he says, in a very unsure tone. Windy raises an eyebrow at him, "The sky?" She crosses her arms. Dustin sighs, "Okay somethings up." he caves.

"Spill it." she demands.

Dustin grabs her arm and pulls her over to where Lucas and Mike were standing off away from the crowded adults talking. "Will's alive, El has superpowers, and we think Bella and Will are in another dimension." Dustin rambles in one breath.

Windy blinks at the information before looking over to Lucas and Mike, "Explain." she tells them simply as they stare at Dustin like he's lost it.

Lucas sighs, "This is insane. Okay, so the girl we found has these freaky powers, but it helped us hear Will talking, we heard Bella for a second too, so they're alive just somewhere else. He said that he was here but it was darker and colder. We think they're in a parallel universe, we just need to figure out how to get them out." he explains much calmer.

"Okay, okay so they're fine?" Windy asks slowly as she takes in the information.

"Freaked out, but alive, yes." Mike confirms.

"Do you have a plan?" Windy asks, hoping it was better than the last plan she heard.

"Working on it." Mike tells her.

—---

The more the sun sets the more Lizzie regrets agreeing to going with the others into the woods to kill some monster. But she just kept telling herself this was for Bella and made her way to meeting the others.

The three began their trek through the dark woods, each with their own flashlights, each hating this plan for their own reasons. Lizzie had a tight grip on the pocketknife in her jacket when Nancy stopped randomly.

"What? Are you tired?" Jonathan questions as the other two stop to look at the girl.

"Shut up." she replies as she looks around at the trees, listening.

"What?" Lizzie asks, seeing the look on her face.

"I heard something." Nancy tells them. They remain quiet as they listen, faintly hearing a noise, whimpering almost. Silently they begin to make their way to where they think the noise was coming from.

After some time they come across the body of a deer. "Oh, God." Nancy says as the animal whimpers again. Blood coating its fur as it barely moves its head. "It's been hit by a car."

"Are we sure? I feel like we're pretty far from the road by now." Lizzie whispers as she looks around, not comfortable looking at the dying animal.

"We can't just leave it regardless." Nancy tells them. Johnathan sighs as he gestures to the gun in her hand causing Lizzie to fully turn her body to not watch whatever was about to happen.

"I'll do it." Johnathan offers.

"I thought you said-"

"I'm not nine anymore." the boy says.

Lizzie looks over her shoulder at them, confused by the exchange but makes no comment as they stand up. She looks away again when he cocks the gun. Before anything the deer's body is suddenly dragged away. The sound and gasps make Lizzie turn and see the body get dragged into darkness.

"What the hell?" Lizzie whispers in shock.

"What was that?" Nancy also questions, just as freaked out.

Slowly, they begin to follow the trail of blood to figure out what happened to the deer. Jonathan keeps the gun pointed up as they walk. Nancy now holding the bat and Lizzie having the knife, out and open. The three of them, now on edge.

"Where'd it go?" Nancy questions as they still couldn't find the deer.

"I don't know. Do you see any more blood?" he asks the two.

"No." Lizzie answers as she has her light on ground as she and Nancy continue to look.

Jonathan looks back around where they found the deer when the girls find something.

"Johnathan?" Nancy calls out but they get no response as they look at the weird hole in the tree. It didn't look natural, whatever was coming out of it sure as hell didn't look normal.

The two look at one another, a silent debate before Nancy takes the lead and begins to crawl into the hole. After a quick mental debate and a sigh, Lizzie crawls in after her.

Crawling through the hole in the tree was creepy and unpleasant, on the side it wasn't any better. It was dark, darker than it normally was just a few seconds ago. They were in the woods still, but it looked all wrong. The lights on their flashlights begin to flicker, Lizzie hits hers to stay on before the two hear a loud growl.

Spinning in their spots they shine the lights at a creature that was hunched over something, making noises. The two slowly begin to back up as they realize they were far too close to that thing. The girls were fine, until one of them stepped on a twig.

At the noise, the creature turns towards them and lets out a roar; it's face open showing rows upon rows of teeth. Nancy screams as she drops her light and grabs Lizzie, pulling her to run. "Johnathan!" she screams out as they begin to run.

The girls hear the faint shouts of the boy as they run. "I'm right here! Just follow my voice!" They could hear the faint echo of him as they looked around for him, seeing no sign of the teen anywhere.

"Johnathan?!" The two girls shout, before another growl makes them turn and see the creature once again, causing them to run and hide behind a tree. "Follow my voice!" they hear again, but closer, and less of an echo.

Lizzie spots the tree they had crawled out off, nudging the Wheeler girl, she points and they book it over to the tree, Nancy crawling in first and Lizzie quickly behind her as they hear the growls again.

"Johnathan!" Nancy says as she struggles to push the mesh out of her way, her hand sticking out for the boy to grab, to which he does quickly pulling her out followed by helping Lizzie out as well.

Nancy was sobbing and the boy pulled her into a hug as Lizzie lay on the ground staring at the stars in shock. What the hell did they witness?