Early the next morning Mia found herself snuggled up against a naked Jonathan Byers, the memories from the night before flooding back to her, making her grin as she started to play with his hair, humming softly.
She stayed like that for a good half hour before Jonathan started stirring, his arms tightening around her waist as he woke.
"Morning" she whispered, watching as his eyebrows furrowed,
"No fucking way are you awake before me" he shook his head as he cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the morning raspyness.
"I guess what happened last night must of tired you out huh?" She giggled,
"Don't act like it didn't tire you out too!" he smiled, quickly leaning up to kiss her cheek as he tried wiggling out of her grip "Jesus Mia, did you get super strength over night or something?"
Mia only shook her head and leant forward "I don't think you've remembered your lack of clothes..." she whispered, glancing down at the sheet only barely covering his area,
his cheeks flushed red as he shimmied back towards her "You could of told me sooner, I-I could of gone out there and flashed my mom!"
"You should of payed more attention," she smiled sweetly, grabbing the pillow from behind her head and handing it to him before she, in one swift motion, wrapped the sheets around her body. "Good reactions," She mentioned his quick moves as he almost slammed the pillow down, "Now," She searched the floor for his button up white shirt, slipping it on, followed by her underwear. As Mia got to the bedroom door, Jonathan was a white blob, the bed sheets thrown messily all over his body "I'll be right back"
That morning it took the two an hour and a half to get ready as they kept flirting back and fourth, trying to get changed with out one another starring. But once they'd made it to the Byers living room, what was their current reality hit them again- the stupid look of love had completely wiped off their faces when they saw the hole and the lights... Will was still missing, and there was still a monster to be killed.
Mia let out a stressed sigh as she walked towards the front door, "I'm going to head home for a bit... try'nd steal one of dads guns, when do you want to meet?"
She couldn't ignore the look he had on his face when she said that, but he still answered "I-uh, i think about 3?"
"Ok, plenty of time," She shot a small smile as she waltz out the door.
The grass on her walk back to her dads trailer was still wet due to the dew, so her feet we're soaked by the time she got to the front door- which wasn't locked, hell it wasn't even closed properly.
"Dad? Stiles?" she yelled before pushing the door, hoping for an answer, but the absence of both their cars made it fairly clear that there was nobody home. "Dad?" she shouted again as a caution, slipping through the door and grabbing the closest solid thing she could find, fondly enough, it was a metal baseball bat. Slowly she made her way around the completely wrecked trailer, all the rooms looked like they'd been searched, but nothing was missing.
then, as if he was summoned, Hoppers car turned up, and when he walked it he got startled by his messy daughter stood in the middle of the room, a baseball bat hanging by her head, ready to swing,
"Hey, hey what the hell? Mi put it down," He slowly approached her, pulling the bat from her grip, "What's wrong?"
"I thought someone broke in..." She whispered, leaning onto his arm as he looked around at the mess he hand caused the morning prior, "what happened here dad? because nothing is stolen! no one would break in to make a mess then leave!"
he chuckled lowly, pulling her to the couch "I broke into the lab, after i broke into the coroners, but i think i told you about the coroners didn't it?"
she only nodded,
"Ok so yeah that night, after you had gone to bed i went to the lab and there was some crazy shit there... vines and little spores floating around. and then there was this big... doorway like thing, i could stick my hand through it for sure. but uh these guys in white hazmat suits came at me, stabbed something into my neck- it take it was just a sedative or something," he showed her his neck where there was a huge red mark, when she locked eyes on the mark, instinctively she pulled the turtle neck of jonathans sweater up higher "But i woke up here, on the couch, i remembered everything, which they probably hadn't hoped for... I got a feeling i was being watched, or listened to, either one it made me pull out all the lights, pull out everything. i flipped everything over, tore the couch... beds..." he scanned the room, "Clearly, that was stupid of me, but the whole searching thing wasn't" he pointed up at the living room light "There was a microphone in there. they'd bugged the trailer" he only shook his head when he was done talking,
"they thought you'd spill?" she asked,
"Yeah... essentially they were right, because here i am telling you..."
"Jesus..."
He nodded "did you, see anything else?"
"No, uh... we didn't really look, you know with the funeral and everything I was trying to keep Jon stable... he was really upset that his dad was there."
"Yeah..."
"but Nance, Jonathan and I are heading out later actually, to try and figure something out."
"For the love of god please be careful, ok?" Jim said as he head his head in his hands, walking to the fridge to grab a beer,
"don't worry, I always am!" she laughed light heartedly at him.
For the few hours leading up to three Mia sat on her torn up bed playing with the gun she's stolen out of her dads car just before he left again. It wasn't a small gun like Jonathan had stolen, it was a rifle, a police grade rifle- the thought it would do the trick.
Once two thirty had rolled around she started walking slowly to the clearing Jonathan had told her they were going to meet at to practice their shooting skills- all of them. But when she could finally see the gun shots she was hearing she saw the two of them-Chester-, and a load of bullet penetrated cans on the floor,
"What happened to three o clock?" Mia asked as she slung the gun off her back, leaning down to pet Chester quickly
"If portable phones were a things I'd of called you, We both came early without planning" Jonathan sighed,
"I'm sure you did" she looked to the floor, "What was the point in me bringing this, if the two of you had already gone on a killing spree?"
"I'm sure you don't need the practice!" Nancy shrugged "It's just point and shoot"
"Yeah, right..."
that's how the it went, bickering between the three of them the whole way through the forest until it eventually got dark. A couple minutes ago they'd found a dying deer laying by a tree, but as Jonathan went to put it out of its misery it got dragged away, fast, by something none of them saw- but it left the dog a barking mess as he tired pulling Jonathan.
By now they three of them were following the trail of blood, Mia and Nancy were pointing guns aimlessly around the place whilst Jonathan was taking false swings with a bat Nancy had brought.
"Where'd it go," Nancy whimpered, clearly scared,
"I don't know" Jonathan replied, turning frantically when he didn't see Mia stood near Nancy, His face slightly softened when he locked eyes with her "do you see anymore blood?"
"no," She shook her head and carried on scowering the grounds.
The three started splitting up, thinking they'd be fine with their own weapons and flashlights. Jonathan was even more sure of his safety with a dog on his hip,
Mia seemed to be the unlucky one, as she was the one to find the dripping, pulsing hole in the tree, where the blood trail stopped. She felt utterly stupid as she felt around the opening, a disgusted look on her face as some of the slime got on her sleeve. "Jonathan?" She yelled, no answer. "Nancy?" No answer. it was like they disappeared, just like the deer. That same utterly stupid feeling rushed over her again as she took her backpack off and left her gun on the ground next to it, slowly crawling her way into the tree- she was hoping it was just rot, and that she was going to end up smacking into the other side, causing herself a mild concussion to go along with her stupidity. But unfortunately, she actually came out the other side. It was much foggier, darker, wetter, the floor was covered in vines. and it had little spores floating around, making her cough. the more she looked around, the more connections she made to the gate her dad had described only hours earlier...
The second she started moving, her flashlight started flickering, staying off longer than it was on, everything she touched to keep herself stabilized as she walked was slimily.
The place was just derelict.
A loud snarling noise make her jump and turn towards the source, and there it was, this huge, human like creature, kneeling over the deer, completely devouring it. She tried backing away slowly, quietly. and that plan went smoothly until she stepped on a twig, the snap causing the monster to turn around and open its hideous flower like face to rawr at her, making her scream the loudest she'd ever done before as she took off...
Back on the other side of the tree Jonathan and Nancy we're frantically searching for Mia who hadn't answered their calls for a good few minutes- and then they heard it, a loud scream, echoing in a way trees don't make,
"Mia!" Jonathan jumped, running towards the scream, stopping when he and Nancy found her bag and gun, laying neatly at the foot of the tree, "Mia?"
by this point Chester had started barking non stop as he sniffed around her belongings, his nose finding the opening... but Jonathan was dragging him away,
"Mia?" Nancy joined,
"Mia, where are you?"
"Mia!"
as the two friends started powering into the forest the opening, door way, portal to where ever Mia was started to close up on itself...
"Jonathan!! Jonathan!" Mia could hear them shout, but even to her, her voice was distorted, like she was in some sick, twisted horror film. She ran around franticly, the monster still tailing her with all the noise she was making. "Jonathan!!" she didn't know where to go, she couldn't hear him anymore, "Jonathan, I'm right here!"
he came back, but sounded far away, "Jonathan, where are you?" she cried "Jonathan!" a low 'Mia!' came from... well from anywhere "Jonathan, I'm right... I'm right here!"
"Fuck! Mia I'm right here!" Jonathan yelled , her panicked voice shouted his name yet again, "I'm right here! Mia!"
Nancy looked around the forest, "Just follow our voices ok!?" she yelled,
"Jonathan!" Mia tried heading in the direction she hear him, and he did seem louder,
"Follow my voice, Mia, I'm right here! Mia!"
as she turned towards where she could of sworn his voice echoed from she gasped and screamed at the sight, it was stood there, slightly hunched over, growling at her, it was so close she could almost count how many millions of teeth it had before she shot off. She got far enough away as to where she could hide behind a huge tree, her heavy breathing not helping.
The growling didn't seem to distance or stop, but it neared. the monster closely skimmed past the tree she was hide behind,
"Mia! Follow my voice!" She could hear Jonathan again, be he was so much louder and as she looked to her side she realised why, the opening she'd crawled into was on the tree next to her, and there was a light shinning through it.
After trying to calculate her speed and distance she took the risk and sprinted over, kneeling over by the opening and her hand through first
"Jonathan!" She yelled, having to follow it with a scream as the monster screeched from behind her. It was clear the opening had gotten smaller as he used all his strength to pull her out of there, Nancy having to join in and pull her legs out.
Once that final piece of goop freed her leg both her and Jonathan flopped on the hard forest floor, his arms quickly went to embrace her as she started uncontrollably sobbing,
"I got you," he panted pulling her closer and closer to his body "I got you, your ok...." he kept saying over and over as the opening fully shut before his and Nancy's eyes. The couple had stayed like that, swaying side to side as she carried on sobbing, the dog trying to push his way between them before Nancy spoke,
"Jon we should get her home..." she put her hand on Mia's back, making the very frail looking girl jump, "We'll take her to mine..."
Jonathan only nodded as he picked her up with him, handing Nancy the bags and guns and the leash. They hadn't realised how far into the forest they had gone since it took them about 40 minutes to even get to his car, "Can you drive?" He asked Nancy softly, holding his keys out towards her.
"Yeah, yeah" she nodded, smiling smally at him as she threw the bags into the passenger seat let Chester climb over before sitting in the drivers, letting the two wriggle themselves into the back as she did. Mia wouldn't loosen her grip on Jonathan as she carried on crying, the last time she'd let so much tears fall was when her sister died, and those tears were shed onto another boys shoulder.
Back at Nancy's she helped Mia get her shaky self ready for a shower since she was still covered in slime,
"You ok?" Nancy asked slowly, as she helped her get her jacket, which was stuck to her, off,
"No," She whispered not looking up, all Nancy shot back was a huff and a hug before leaving the girl.
Jonathan was sat with his head in his hands at the foot of her bed when she walked in, shut the door and let her tears fall.
"oh," he lifted his head and nodded her over letting her put all her weight on him, not like it was the first time that had happened that night,
"We shouldn't of gotten her involved" Nancy breathed out,
"Yeah... yeah I know. its my fault, If i didn't drag her around like i owned her all week she wouldn't of had to witness half the things she has..."
"You missed her Jonathan, you cant blame yourself for that, it's not like you would of known is it?" she shivered,
He sighed from his place before he stood, "I'll grab you a blanket," He walked over to where he'd seen one a couple minutes ago before racing it back to her and gently smoothing it over her shoulder as she started to calm down.
"Do you think Chester will be ok in your car all night?" she asked lowly, worrying about the dog,
He nodded "Yeah, i left the window cracked open and there's a bowl of water and some food for him.. he'll be fine"
As they spoke, neither of them knew of Steve's presence in the window behind them, he must of climbed his way up, presumably to catch Nancy on her own, and not with Jonathan Byers hands on her. Of course what he was probably seeing was the two of them making out on the bed, completely naked, but as always he was wrong, Jonathan was comforting a friend, his hands only brushed her shoulders as he smoothed the blanket down, making sure she was warm. They we're no where near making out, but ones mind does seem to think of the worst when another man has their arms wrapped around ones girlfriend...