"oh i, i just died in your arms tonight..."
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
COLBY TIED HIS tie around his neck, the way his dad had taught him to all those years ago. It wasn't perfect; it'd been a while, but he was grateful for the fact that he knew how to do it at all.
There was a small knock at the door, and Cassie peered in through the crack in the door. "You ready to go?"
She, too, was going to the funeral. Jayson had decided not to— he was far too hungover to utter a single correct word. Him being at the funeral would have been a dangerous choice.
Nonetheless, Colby shuddered at the thought of Will's funeral. He still couldn't wholeheartedly prove that the girl, or any of the boys, had been telling the truth. Maybe he'd dreamed it all.
But as Colby stood up, he knew he hadn't been dreaming it all. That girl had busted the light, and she'd been able to communicate with Will. Eleven. Eleven had done all that stuff.
Colby picked up the small box he'd kept in his room for the past few days. Inside was a camera. One to replace Jonathan's— the one he'd broken. He felt terrible about it. It took up most of his money, but he'd gone down to the store and purchased one.
Cassie and Colby got into the car and drove down to the cemetery. The entire way down, Cassie was mumbling about how terrible she felt for the entire Byers family. Colby swallowed thickly.
They arrived at the cemetery and Colby immediately walked over to Jonathan and Mrs. Byers. There was also a man there, and Colby assumed it was Jonathan's dad.
Jonathan looked surprised, and almost aggravated, when he saw Colby approaching, but his eyes lingered curiously on the box in Colby's hands. Mrs. Byers looked warily between the two boys, and Colby offered her a kind smile.
"I'm really sorry for your loss, Miss Byers." Colby clenched his jaw worriedly. "Will was a really nice boy."
"Oh, thank you..." she tilted her head at him.
"Colby Martin." he finished for her. "Colby Martin, I-"
"He goes to school with me." added Jonathan quickly, clearing his throat and shoving his hands into his pockets. He wasn't wearing a tie. Colby wondered why. "Hello, Colby."
"Uh, hi." Colby swallowed thickly again, his heart pounding. "Before the service starts, could I... could I talk to you?"
Jonathan glanced over at his mom, who nodded slightly. The two boys wandered a little ways away from the group, and Jonathan immediately wheeled around on Colby. Colby took an instinctive step back, still holding the box out in front of himself:
"I just... I have a few things to say." Colby cleared his throat, standing up straighter. "First off, I'm a dick. I shouldn't have broken your camera, but I... I just-"
"What I did was wrong..." mumbled Jonathan knowingly, staring at the ground.
"I... yeah, that's what I thought." Colby released a shaky breath. "But, I saved your SD card," he pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it out to Jonathan, who hesitated. Colby looked down at his hand urgently, and Jonathan took it slowly. "And here's this."
He held out the box, and Jonathan took it, opening it slowly. When he took the lid off, his eyes widened slightly. He took the camera out of the box before glancing back upwards at Colby.
"Y-You're serious?" Jonathan gaped, looking frantically between the camera and Colby, who was standing nervously in front of Jonathan. He nodded. "I can't accept this."
"You can," Colby nodded to Jonathan, "because I broke your camera in the first place."
Jonathan looked back up, clearing his throat. "Thanks, Colby."
"Yeah. Also," Colby took a step closer to Jonathan, making the latter flinch slightly, "I was with those friends of your brother's... something happened."
"Did you see it, too?" Jonathan looked over at the group by the grave with wide eyes. Nancy was looking back at them. Colby frowned.
"See what?"
"The thing me and Nancy found."
"You and Nancy...? What?"
"Jonathan!" Joyce had cupped her hands around her mouth, still standing by her husband and the priest. "Jonathan, the ceremony is about to start, sweetheart." her voice cracked a little, and Colby immediately felt terrible.
Jonathan turned back towards Colby, an apologetic grimace on his face. He looked slightly more pale than usual, which wasn't to say that Jonathan wasn't a pale kid; he was. He had darker bags under his eyes, and Colby knew it was because he'd lost so much sleep thinking about Will.
"Sorry." Jonathan mumbled out, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Uh... can we talk after? Me and Nancy were planning on it anyway."
Colby nodded after a beat of hesitation. "Y-Yeah. Okay."
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
"It's times like these that our faith is challenged," Colby stood beside Cassie as Pastor Charles droned on incoherently. Nancy was standing a few feet away from Colby, and they locked eyes a couple of times. Steve wasn't invited to the funeral. It didn't surprise Colby in the slightest.
Eventually, the ceremony was over, and Colby dropped a few roses on the casket. He passed Mr. Byers, mumbling a nonsensically "sorry for your loss." He felt Mr. Byers' hand slap him on the back, and he jolted forward out of line.
"I'm gonna head to the car," Cassie spoke into Colby's ear when she noticed that he was staring at Nancy. "Just... whenever you're done."
He turned around, his eyes somewhat wide. But then, he nodded. Cassie turned on her heel, heading to the car. Colby shoved his hand into his pockets and exhaled.
Nancy approached Colby, her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Colby gave her a halfhearted grin. She returned the smile.
"Hi," she spoke, kicking the grass softly. "How are you?"
"I'm alright." he replied, his tone carrying the same awkward energy. "I just... I had a question about the-the thing you were trying to tell me about."
"The monster?" she said under her breath, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "Okay. I can tell you. I told Jonathan, anyway."
She delved into the story— she was sure she'd seen a tall, faceless man in the woods near where Barb had disappeared. Jonathan's pictures from the other night at Steve's house proved their theory.
A few minutes after Nancy had finished her explanation, Jonathan stumbled over, free from the endless apologies which he looked tired of. Together, the trio sat down behind a fence, just out of eye's reach of everyone else.
Jonathan pulled out a map, circling general locations. They all seemed to be close enough together, which was interesting to Colby. Why was this monster staying in the same place?
"This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" Jonathan raised a brow at Nancy, who nodded.
"So..." she pointed down at an area circled on the map.
"That's Steve's house." he informed her. He pointed at another circle. "That's where they found Will's bike. That's my house."
"It's all really close." breathed out Colby, looking up at Jonathan. "It can't be a coincidence."
"Yeah. Exactly." agreed Jonathan, crossing his ankles. "I mean, it's all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is... it's, it's not traveling far."
"You wanna go out there." Nancy noted, observing the wild look in his eyes.
"We might not find anything." shrugged Jonathan, but the look remained nonetheless.
"I found something." said Nancy insistently. "And if we do see it, then what?"
Jonathan turned away, thinking for a moment. He sighed out. "Then we kill it." He stood up abruptly, walking off to his car and jumping into the passenger seat. Nancy and Colby watched curiously from outside, Nancy wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm.
Jonathan fumbled around in his glove compartment, huffing under his breath. There were still a few people lingering around the grave. Colby wondered if Cassie had left yet.
"What are you doing?" demanded Nancy, frowning as she looked down at Jonathan.
"Just give me a second." he groaned back, and Colby could hear something clicking inside the car.
Jonathan pulled something out of the glove compartment, and Colby's jaw dropped when he saw when it was— a small pistol. Nancy scoffed.
"Are you serious?" she huffed out irritably.
"What?" Jonathan pulled some ammunition out of the glove compartment as well, shoving it all into the pocket of his jacket. "You wanna find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?"
"Do you know how to work that thing?" Colby asked, raising a brow as he pointed down at the small pistol that Jonathan was quickly concealing.
"Uh..." Jonathan murmured under his breath. Luckily, before he could answer, Nancy continued her rant.
"This is a terrible idea." she spoke, looking between the two boys with narrowed eyes.
"I mean..." Colby shrugged, looking back at her. "I think it's the best idea we've got."
"Yeah." panted Jonathan quietly, noting the people walking around them. "What? You can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You know that."
"Your mom would." Nancy raised her brows, almost accusingly.
"She's been through enough." Jonathan faltered, his hands falling down to his sides.
"She deserves to know!" exclaimed Nancy, and Colby's heart skipped a beat— she also deserved to know that Will was alive.
"Yeah, and I'll tell her!" Jonathan exclaimed impatiently, before lowering his voice immediately. "Once this thing is dead."
Nancy didn't have a response to that. Instead, she sighed out. When she looked at Colby, he offered a somewhat sympathetic shrug.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
When Colby arrived home later that afternoon, he sprinted up the steps. He almost never went upstairs, mainly because he was terrified of running into Laurie. He figured there was a chance he could make it in and out of her room without her knowing.
Firstly, he peered through the ajar door, examining the room. It was dark, meaning she was either not in it or she was asleep. Either way, it was pretty good news. Laurie was a pretty heavy sleeper.
Colby took a deep breath, entering the bedroom with a swift energy. Falling to his hands and knees, he landed near the edge of the bed. He reached his hand under, coming into contact with a mass amount of random objects that he shifted out of the way. He felt the handle, and then the frame; the tennis racket he'd been searching for. He yanked on it, pulling it out from under the bed. He grinned to himself pridefully when he saw that it was still in good shape. He swung it once.
"The hell are you doing in my room?" growled a voice, and Colby jumped back when he saw it was Laurie. She was standing in the doorway, darkness consuming her face. Colby swallowed thickly.
"I was thinking about playing tennis." he stammered out, coming up with the first lie that came to mind. He winced. It probably wasn't that believable.
"You lie to me again, and I swear I'll throw you out into the streets." Laurie snapped, grabbing Colby's face and tightening her grip. "I never liked you all that much anyway. You treat me horribly."
"Let go." croaked out Colby, still gripping the tennis racket tightly. A few thoughts raced through his mind, but he ignored them; he couldn't do them. "Let go, I said!"
"I don't care what you said!" yet Laurie let go anyway. She reached back, smacking Colby across the face and making him stumble backwards in pain, his free hand immediately reaching up to the side of his face, as if it would reduce the pain. It didn't. "Who's in charge here?" Laurie stormed right back up to him, wrapping a bony hand around his throat. "Who's in charge?" her grip became even tighter when he refused to answer. Another set of questions to dodge from some concerned peers.
"It's not you!" he shouted back, and while he knew it was wrong, he couldn't stop himself. Laurie grabbed his throat tighter. Colby didn't know how or why she was so strong, but he hated it with his whole being. Four years. Four years of the same goddamn game, and Colby needed it to be over.
"This is why your father hated you, you goddamn bitch!" Laurie shrieked in his face, making Colby recoil in fear. His heart hammered in his chest at her words. "You're a stuck-up, useless little bitch! And that's all you'll ever be!"
Colby wrenched himself out of her grip, staggering back as he sucked in a desperate breath. He picked up the tennis racket once more, backing out of her bedroom and racing downstairs to the bathroom, where he locked the door and backed into the wall, his breathing ragged. He was supposed to meet Jonathan and Nancy, but at that moment, he wasn't sure if he could pull himself away from the wall he was pressed up against.
Colby's eyes met his own in the mirror, and he raised his hand up to his neck. He traced the red imprints of Laurie's hand. The markings didn't look foreign to him— he'd seen them so much that it was almost sickening. His cheekbone was already bruising. No big surprise there.
Colby hated looking at his reflection in the mirror more than anything.
jack
idk who made the gif i used but i found it on pinterest and i loved it lmaooo
kind of a bad chapter this week but i have the flu so i'm sick rn i'm really sorry!! next weeks chapter should be much more interesting