lost [nancy wheeler]

1983

The body of Will Byers was found a day ago. It would've been a coincidence, and something Douglas did not wanted at all, for Violet's body to appear.

Douglas and Theo waited in the police station to fill a report, until officer Hopper told them someone had already done that. Theo was furious. He left the police station as soon as Hopper told the name and walked all the way to the high-school Nancy Wheeler was at. He searched her with his eyesight and watched her walking out of the facilities,

"Nancy!" he shouted getting closer to her. He noticed a facial expression which represented either sorrow or pity.

"Theo,"

"You had no right on doing that!" Theo exclaimed and grabbed her wrist, taking her away from the entrance filled with students observing the scene.

"I had to! Someone had to do something!" Nancy shouted back "Violet's missing! Something terrible happened to her and no one is listening!"

"I am listening Nancy!" Theo cried out "Everyday, I listen to the radio, hoping she's not the next Will Byers... hoping she'll come home and say "oops I forgot my house address" , but filling those reports- calling her missing before Douglas and I wanted to... was not cool"

"Well, how long was it going to take for you both to do something else from weeping?" Nancy said and silence followed the question.

Theo wipped a few tears away from his face and turned his back on her "We shouldn't be fighting on this, T" he heard Nancy say "We want the same thing!"

Nancy had never seen Theo so angry in the years she has known him, usually he's very calm and giggle, but Violets vanishing truly shook everybody.

Nancy remembered pasting the ripped pieces of the picture where Violet appeared, the one picture Jonathan had taken from her in Steve's party. The same creature she saw in the forest had been in the picture, which meant her friend had seen it too.

After school, Nancy headed to Jonathan's house seeking for an explanation. The house is smaller than Nancy's and is in the outsides of town. She couldn't believe this was the first time stepping into the Byers's house since she was probably eleven years old.

She knocked several times on the door, which made strange sounds due to the old wood from which it was made. Joyce, the mother of both brothers Byers, appeared. She looked a little careless, she looked like she hadn't slept in years and her smile was not the usual smile for which Nancy remembered her.

"Nancy Wheeler?" Asked Joyce, confused, looked over the girl's face searching for someone to accompany her but it was only Nancy "What brings you here?"

"Is Jonathan there?"

Joyce shook her head and felt a shiver down her spine "He's looking for coffins..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry about... "

"It's fine. It's... fine" Joyce said in hopes for this interaction to reach its ending "I have to... do some stuff, I'll tell Jonathan you passed by"

"O-" Joyce closed the door so hard, Nancy felt her nose hurting for a while "Kay"

Nancy walked through town, for she was determined to find Jonathan Byers. As she did, she started to remember one rapid conversation she once had in the supermarket with Violet, about the Byer's family:

Will was about 7 years old, just like Michael, and for some reason was playing hide or seek with his clearly older brother. Will ran into Violet at the cereal section, he was so surprised when Violet actually helped the little boy to hide.

Nancy smiled at the thought of how nice Violet was to Will... yet that smile fade away as soon as she stepped in front of the funerary place. Both Will and Violet were missing. And one of them is allegedly dead.

Jonathan's eyes met hers and, in a very awkward scenario surrounded by coffins, he blushed. Nancy asked him if he hadn't seen anyone else at Steve's party, he said no. Nancy assured him that there was more to the story, she explained the monster/man figure she had seen.

Jonathan took Nancy to a dark room to reveal the photography he had taken at Steve's house. Nancy noticed the figure of a monster, saying clearly that it was what she saw.

"My mom ... I thought she was crazy" Jonathan gasped "Cus she said ... That's not Will's body. He's alive"

"And if he's alive ..."

"So is Violet"

Nancy's heart filled with joy, hopeful that her beloved Violet was still out there - scared, clearly, of what could be found - but she felt Violet getting closer.

/\/\/\

It had been so little time since Violet disappeared but for Douglas it has been centuries. He has not been able to sleep well and has decided to spend most of his nights at work, because he does not want to get home knowing that Violet won't do it as well.

He knows that Theo is going through the same thing as him, and he made a promise to always protect and take care of him, however at this time Theo was much stronger than Douglas.

But, tonight was different. The strangest thing happened. Douglas decided to go home early, because Theo had forgotten his keys inside the house. While Douglas was driving in the streets of Hawkins alone, it started to rain.

His stereo was beginning to fail, and he could only hear static. He started to give the stereo a few hits, so that it recovered the signal, but it did not work. He was about to turn it off when the static volume was reduced and he heard a voice, "Dad?"

Douglas almost lost control of the steering wheel. He parked in the middle of the street and turned up the radio volume ...

"Daddy?"

"Violet?" he asked while confusion filled his face

He heard a silent cry, "Dad, where are you? Where are you all?"

"Violet ... are you okay?"

"No..."

"Violet, I need you to tell me exactly where you are."

"I dont know"

"Violet, concentrate, what are you seeing?"

"Nancy's room"

Douglas repeated what she said even more confused, he turned on his car and started driving to the Wheeler's' house. "Okay honey, stay with me ... how are you communicating?"

"A radio..."

"Okay" Douglas said, he knew it did not make much sense but it was working "You are in Nancy's room, is she with you?"

"No ... I'm alone, there's nobody"

"Have you always been there?" he asked, but there was no response "Violet? Violet!" Douglas started hitting his radio even harder, but the music played again. He had lost her. Or maybe he had lost his mind.

He stopped the car once again and cried himself to sleep, in the middle of the road.