ONE MONTH.
That's how long it's been since everything.
Since Will Byers was brought back from the Upside Down.
Since Carla was attacked by the monster, left scarred.
Since Eleven disappeared, still yet to be found—since she died, truly.
Since everything went back to normal......or as normal as things could.
Currently, it's Christmas day—more so, night—and Carla Wheeler is in her kitchen, helping her mother as she baked dessert after dessert. Holiday music lightly hums in the background, and the brunette dances around as she does what she's able to do with her cast, (Karen insisted that Carla stay away from helping with her baked goods, given she was still in a cast, but that was Carla Wheeler for you; always helping).
Every few minutes, the sound of laughter or childish bickering was heard over the music, which always managed to bring a smile to Carla's lips. The boys deserved to have fun, to return to their games and fantasy after going through hell and back; Will deserved it, more than anyone.
Speaking of normal......Carla had returned to her regular schedule too.
After another day or so of staying at the hospital to make sure she was okay, Carla returned to school, cast and wrap still on her wrists. Given nothing interesting happened in Hawkins, she'd been the center of talk for the week—her fellow classmates wondered what had happened, whether she'd purposefully cut her wrists, why she seemed so closed off—but it had worn off. It helped that she had Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve to defend her.
Steve.
She was still friends with him—just friends.
The two had managed to keep a strictly platonic friendship over the past month, and Carla couldn't lie and say she wasn't grateful for it. She knew the Harrington brought out the better in her, as did she with him. While not together, she knew there'd always been a mutual love between them—Steve would always be her first love, and that would never go away. She'd always care, even if she shouldn't.
Rather than utterly ignore her, Steve called her on the regular—the two using up the landline to share whatever thoughts and emotions happened to come through—and always invited her to join him and Nancy, (though she usually declined, given Carla didn't like the idea of being a third wheeler to her ex and her sister).
Her and Nancy were okay now, too. Nancy had apologized for everything she had said in the woods, as well as for dating Steve so quickly in the first place and Carla merely forgave her. She didn't want to fight with Nance anymore—they'd been through too much. She was over fighting over Steve. They were done; they were friends. He was Nancy's.
The ringing of the doorbell takes Carla from her thoughts.
"I'll get it, Mom." the girl mutters before walking over to the front door, opening it to reveal her best friend, Jonathan Byers. A smile graces her face and she makes sure he receives it before looking back, nodding at her twin sister, who was cuddling up next to Steve, whom was also invited to the Wheeler's Christmas.
Nancy makes eye contact with the boy, who nods, before rushing up the stairs to her bedroom.
"I suppose you're here for Will?" the Wheeler asks, allowing the Byers boy to brush past her into the house.
Jonathan firmly nods, "Yeah."
"They're in the basement, as per usual."
The two teens walk over to the basement, the laughter and chatter getting louder with each step.
The Byers boy lets out a dry chuckle as he finishes down the steps, "Jeez, what's that smell? Have you guys been playing games all day, or just farting?"
Each Party member lets out a laugh at his comment, Lucas stating, "Oh, that's just Dustin. He farted."
His comment causes Dustin's face to fall, and the Sinclair proceeds to start singing a song with the lyrics 'Dustin farted', sound effects after every line. The Henderson seems rather unimpressed as he scoffs, "Okay. Very mature, Lucas."
Underneath all the ruckus that was no occurring—Dustin and Lucas were talking over one another, standing up to start play fighting—Jonathan makes eye contact with his little brother, "Will. Come on."
Will stands up and grabs his coat, "Bye, guys."
The boys all chorus in a goodbye, continuing to giggle and fight as the two Byers' walked up the stairs.
Carla doesn't follow. "Wait for me upstairs, Jonathan." The boys send her a look, and she continues with a light smile, "I just wanted to say a Merry Christmas to my favorite boys."
"Speaking of Christmas....." Mike trails off, a smirk working its way upon his youthful features, "We have a present for you." He hands over a small box wrapped sloppily in holiday wrapping, clearly done by one of the boys.
Carla slightly frowns, "Boys, you didn't have—"
"Just do it!"
Carla does as instructed, and unwraps the small box. Inside is a bracelet, clearly hand made rather than bought. It's a mix of dark and light blues, and by the looks on Dustin, Lucas and Mike's faces, it had been a bitch to make.
Mike explains as his sister examines the item happily, "It's a friendship bracelet."
"Every Party member gets one." Lucas adds.
"Aw, boys.....I love it." the Wheeler girl exclaims with pure joy. The gift might not have been what she asked for, let alone nicely wrapped or anything expensive, but it was perfect. It came from the heart, and to Carla, that's all that mattered. "Come here you guys."
The four share a hug.
They stay together for a few moments, before Carla pulls away and smiles down at the three, "I have to get going, but thank you, really."
"Bye, Carla!"
"See you later!"
"Merry Christmas!"
The girl rushes up the stairs to see Jonathan and Will by the front door. In front of the elder boy is Nancy, a wrapped box in her hands.
Not wanting to ruin the small moment, Carla instead trails off to the living room, where Steve Harrington sits on the couch, watching television beside the lit up Christmas tree. His face is slightly illuminated by the lights upon the tree, and his hair is neatly put together. He has no more wounds blemishing his face, and his nose has healed—it's still straight, but if you look hard enough, you can tell it's not as perfect as it used to be. On his figure is a tacky Christmas sweater, (Carla's doing) and a pair of Khaki pants.
"Has she given it to him yet?" Steve asks, noticing the Wheeler entering the room. She looks back to see that her twin sister now has her hand outstretched towards Jonathan, who looks confused.
"I think she's handing it over now." Carla replies, slightly smiling. Rocking on her heels, the girl adds, "Thanks for the Walkman, again. I appreciate it."
"Of course. Thanks for the sweater—" Steve gestures towards his outfit as he speaks, "—and....the Farrah Fawcett spray." He pauses for a moment, giving a more stern look to his ex, "But if you say a word about the hairspray to anyone else—"
Carla recalls what she had been told ever since Steve spilled his hair secrets to her during their relationship—she was the only one who knew how Steve Harrington got his hair to look that good. "My ass is grass, I know. Your secret is safe with me, Steve."
"It better be."
Noticing Jonathan slightly backing away from Nancy with the box in his hands, Carla sent a smile towards Steve, "Well, I better get going......Merry Christmas, Steve."
Steve returns the smile, "Merry Christmas, Carla."
The Wheeler skips away, not catching the way Steve watches her figure go with fond eyes.
The girl comes over to the front door, where Jonathan and Nancy are looking at one another—there's something in their eyes, but Carla decides not to mention it. She looks at her friend and asks, "Okay, are you ready?"
Jonathan nods, "Uh, yeah."
"Okay, see you later, Nance."
Nancy smiles, "Bye, Carla."
The three exit the Wheeler home.
The ground outside is covered in a light sheet of snow, and Carla finds it rather beautiful. She wraps her arms around herself as the winter air nips at her skin, and carefully walks over to Jonathan's car. She allows Will to take passenger, leaving her in the back of the vehicle.
"Alright, buckle up." Jonathan instructs once the three get in the car—targeted at Will, rather than Carla.
Will does as he's told, the present his brother received catching his gaze. He looks at his brother and asks, "Can I open it?"
"Yeah, sure."
Quickly ripping open the neatly wrapped paper, the Byers boy lets out an exclaim as he reveals an expensive camera to his brother. "Whoa. Pretty cool." He turns the box so Jonathan can get a good look at what now belonged to him.
"Yeah." Jonathan lets out, a small smile creeping on his face, "Yeah, pretty cool."
Carla smiles at his reaction. The camera had been Steve's idea originally, but the two Wheeler's decided to pitch in some money given they too felt responsible in some ways.
Jonathan pulls out of neighborhood and starts for his home.
Carla was helping out at the Byers household too.
She'd been helping Joyce with a Christmas dinner since she stepped into the house—Joyce had never been amazing at cooking like Carla's own mother was, let alone with these sort of foods—and together the two had managed to provide slightly overcooked meat and runny potatoes.
Joyce thought it was okay. Carla thought it was perfect.
Jonathan had immediately opened his camera, and the click of documentation was heard every few seconds. He maneuvered between rooms, capturing images of his mother cooking, of his brother smiling over wrapped gifts, of Carla setting the table and helping in whatever ways she could.
As Joyce came in holding two bowls of food, Carla trailing behind with silverware, Jonathan snapped a photo. The flash slightly surprised the mother, and she looked at her oldest son, hands raised with a meek smile. "What are you—what are you doing?"
Camera up to his face, Jonathan replies, "Documenting."
"Haven't you documented enough?" Carla raises a brow jokingly, setting down silverware. She knows Jonathan could never take enough photos of the people around him, of memories. "You got the camera an hour ago and I'm sure you already have twenty photos of each of us."
"So? Everything looks great."
As if Jonathan hadn't just complimented the food, Joyce starts to complain, "Oh, this is just so overcooked. And look, the potatoes are....runny. They're so runny." She picks up the spoon and drops spoonfuls of potatoes back into the bowl, noticing the runny behavior they had.
"Mom, it's gonna be great." Jonathan reassures his mother, passing behind her.
Carla nods, "It looks perfect."
The three sit down to start eating, Will rushing into the dinner table with a bright smile on his face. "It's definitely an Atari."
"An a-what-i?" Joyce asks with a smile.
"The green present. It's an Atari. I felt Dustin's today, it's the same exact weight."
"I guess we'll just have to wait until after dinner to see, then." Carla replies, smiling.
Will gets up from the table, Joyce reaching an arm out towards him, "Hey, no more snooping—"
"No, I forgot to wash my hands, I'll be right back." the young boy reassures before running off towards the bathroom.
"Okay." Joyce replies, slightly surprised. Once he's out of earshot, she whispers, "He's washing his hands?"
The remaining three begin to eat food, but after a few minutes without Will, they start to grow slightly worried.
Carla offers to go check on him, and the girl makes her way to the bathroom where she can hear the sound of sink water running. The water runs for another minute or so, causing the Wheeler to wrap her knuckle against the door. "Will? You okay in there?"
No reply.
She knocks again, "Will?"
Nothing.
So, the Wheeler opens the door to see the boy staring aimlessly at his reflection. He looks scared.
"Hey, Will? Are you okay?" Carla walks in and places a hand on the boys shoulder. He slightly jumps at the contact, but nods at his friend, clearly brushing off whatever had happened when the door was closed.
"Yeah, I—I just got lost in thought." the Byers boy shuts off the sink, voice still weary. Carla doesn't trust his words, but can tell that he doesn't feel like talking, and decides to roll with what Will said.
The two return to the dinner table where a conversation on Will's game of Dungeons and Dragons begins, Will explaining what happened to his mother, who didn't understand most of the rules or game whatsoever.
Carla listened in with a smile. Everything was normal again. What happened to Will, the Upside Down—it was nothing but a nightmare, a nightmare which would never return nor be brought up again.
Little did she know, things would only get stranger from here on out.
mara's misc!
and that's a wrap on the missing rewrite!!!
finishing a book is always a weird experience, and that applies for here!
missing was my first real book, and what made me gain followers and mutuals. when i originally wrote the book, i was much younger and didn't have a true style of writing—it was merely okay. i had tons of grammar and comma errors, and looking back at it now, it wasn't that good. yet, somehow, this fic managed to grab attention.
i've wanted to re-write missing for a while, and i'm so glad i finally found the time to do it! this fic is probably my most popular, and i didn't like that people were introduced my writing with a book that didn't showcase my style. it didn't feel fair that you guys had to read through meh writing, that i wasn't proud of.
so, about three months ago, i started re-writing chapters of missing every monday and called it "missing mondays" and it has been so much fun to do.
while i hate my writing, it's been fun to look back at how far i've come, as well as re-read the beginning of starla and how far they've come since s1. i've enjoyed adding moments i didn't have before, more tension, and just better writing to create a more interesting fic than what i had before.
i want to thank GhostWriterGirl-1 for being their throughout both versions of this book! she's always there to support my writing, whether or not she's even watched the show/movie it's written for. she's given so much motivation for my fics with her comments, and i'll always be thankful for her. love you ghost <3
i also want to thank any other readers who have returned to re-read this fic!! i appreciate you guys <3
with that, i hope you guys enjoyed this book just as much as i did <3
also......1989 taylors version!!!!!!
thoughts and opinions?????
i really liked it! this was my second taylors version as a swiftie, (i wasn't a swiftie when red tv and fearless tv dropped) and it's always so fun. i have sleepovers with my friends and we bake a cake based on the album, and stay up all night to listen right when it drops. so, whether or not the album sucks, it's always a fun experience.
it was a pretty good taylors version! i think the og had a lot more spark and excitement to it, if that makes sense?? like, for example, in songs like shake it off, there was so much hype and energy (that song was the song) in the og, but then in taylors version, it just felt eh. like it didn't feel so hype? i don't know, i just felt that about most songs in the album.......but that doesn't mean they weren't good!!!! (the harmonies in blank space ate and reminded me of what she did in sydney for the 1989 world tour).
i still loved the album, and either way, taylor finally gets to relive this era happy, healthy and for herself rather than for the media.
the vault tracks were pretty good! i think they fit the album compared the speak now, (i didn't like most of the speak now vault tracks unpopular opinion). i think is it over now might be my favorite, but now that we don't talk and say don't go are great too! they're bops either way.
this was the cake batter, (don't mind the mess, we did the blind, mute, deaf, baking challenge)
and then my friend julia icing the cake unevenly (the 9 fell off but oh well, it's like 1:11 in the morning as the clock reads)