"It can cut you like a knife- if the gift becomes the fire, on the wire between will and what will be"
-
I woke up in such a strange, curled position in such an unfamiliar place that I felt as if i were still stuck in a fever dream. The silky pink curtains of Nancy's room were still against her vent, sunlight pouring through like melted snow running to gutters. The room was equally as cold. I brought my jacket closer before realizing it was the arm of a stirring Jonathan Byers.
His eyes, wide with fright, took in the scene around us, then relaxed when I smiled awkwardly in his direction.
"Oh god, the lovebirds are awake." I heard from the bed. Nancy and Jade sat, hair suck up in bits of lightning, satisfied smirks on their faces. My eyes flickered to the blanket bed we'd made the night before- barely shifted.
"Whatever you say." I returned the evil grin, making redness creep into their cheeks.
"Anyways," Jade coughed, hand on a page in one of the books spread over the bed. "We have something to show you."
I leaned over the side, still next to Jonathan, and studied the page they'd spread out in front of me. A large shark was sketched in it's corner, mouth agape.
"We think we have a bit of an idea of what this thing is."
I read the sections Nancy had written beside: 'Ate deer= corkscrew', 'Lots of teeth', and 'Smell blood= trap?'. The words and notes clicked together like a puzzle in my mind.
"So it's a shark- thing, huh?"
"Precisely." the eraser of Nancy's pencil tapped the page softly.
I felt a rock slide down my throat from my swallow deep in the pit of my stomach. Jonathan glanced over before speaking.
"So- we're going to test it?"
No one responded, looking down at the page. The shark's teeth did look massive, even in an illustration.
I clenched a fist. "And if it works?"
"We'll know what's coming." Nancy spoke in a hushed tone.
My vision clouded, a dark lens placed over the edges of my sight, the shark's mouth gaping wider and wider-
The sharp jiggling doorknob startled me so badly that I fell back on my heels onto Jonathan, who hit the floor with a grunt. Jade's hand went to Nancy's, all of us barely breathing.
"Nancy?" Mrs. Wheeler called. "Are you awake?"
The girl shut her eyes softly. "Yes, I-I'm getting changed."
"Alright, well, I'm making pancakes!"
"I'll be down in a few minutes!"
As her footsteps faded from the door, Nancy squeezed Jade's hand tightly and Jonathan's arm tugged me into a small hug.
"Let's get out of here." I nodded to my friend, and she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a large sweatshirt from her mom. I, still dressed in yesterday's clothes, pulled her bag over my shoulder and cracked open Nancy's window.
"Let us know when you want us to meet- you have our number?" I called out to Nancy, halfway out the window. She nodded and waved us away. Jade, last to leave, held a big grin on her face as we headed back home. The morning was warmer today, with the lack of wind and the Sun gleaming down at us softly. There was a bounce in my step, whether or not the weather was bringing my mood up or the thought of finding Will and Barb, or that Jade was happier too, I did not know. I was glad the feeling stayed as we passed my house- it almost looked like the shell of what it used to be- dark and glaring at the rest of the world.
We settled down on Jade's couch, clutching a pair of mugs. I sipped the rose tea, closing my eyes as it glided smoothly down my throat. I could hear Jade sigh, and opened my eyes to find her staring longingly down at her cup.
"I miss Mom." Was all she said.
I nodded when she looked up to me for a response. "She's going to come back."
"Yeah, but work over there is tough- it'll be later rather than sooner. I want to tell her about Nancy, and everything crazy that's happening right now- y'know?"
I moved closer, arms wrapped around her shoulders. "I do. But she's coming home, whether or not it's today or next year."
I wish my parents were as kind as Jade's Mom.
Her back straightened, so I curled back up in my position. It didn't take long for my thoughts to turn to something else. "You think Freddie's okay?"
"Why wouldn't she be?" Jade's head turned back to me, lips pressed on the edge of her cup. "I don't think anything could get her with Dustin- the worst she could do is trip and fall. Granted, if she's by the quarry..."
I shook my head. "She's a smart kid, Jade, smarter than any of those boys her age."
"I know," my friend stared at the wall with muddled thoughts written over her expression. "It's just- I feel like I'm not doing anything to help her. I've dropped her off twice in the last few days."
I placed my empty cup quietly down on the glass table beside me. "We'll be okay. She'll be okay." I hope.
Jade snorted, and a splash of brown liquid fell onto her pants. The walls echoed with our laughter, my hand over my mouth as I leaned back from the massacre. Jade's nimble hands brushed the tea onto the hardwood floor and hurried towards the kitchen to grab a towel.
As I sat, every logical part of my mind told me not to look at the puddle to cooling tea on the floor- but I did so anyways.
There was something wriggling in it. It squealed helplessly and squirmed like a drowning beetle. I bent towards it, reaching out a finger in curiosity to tap the floor beside the puddle. Whatever rested inside grew still, and I pulled my hand away before anything else could happen. I watched, horrified, as it gave a final cry and began to widen the the dark circle on the ground. I saw something slimy sling itself out of the puddle- an arm.
"Well, that took longer than it needed to," Jade mused, slamming a towel over top of the tea, soaking up my terror with it. She tossed the towel into the trash and sat back down on the couch. "That was- hey, you good?"
I tugged my eyes from the empty spot. "Yeah, all good, just another creepy slime thing."
"I'm sorry, Fay, but what on Earth are you talking about?"
I blinked. "What I saw that night in your guest room- you got mad at me and we cried a lot?"
Her head fell. "Oh, right. Anyways, you heard about the new movie coming out?"
"Which?"
Now it was her turn to blink in surprise. "Ghostbusters?"
I snapped back, a smile forming on my face. "Right!"
A few minutes of silence filled the room as she flopped onto my stomach and closed her eyes. I leaned back, resting my head on the arm of the couch. I was exhausted, even after the heavy sleep I'd gotten next to Jonathan. In a way, this was showed me that I still found it easier to sleep with Jade nearby than the boy I li-
The boy from my English class.
In what seemed like seconds, I was jolted awake by the phone next to my ear ringing violently. I picked it up, holding it away from the snoring Jade. "Hello?"
A patch of static sent my heart hammering, but I caught Nancy's voice. "Hello? Jade? Fay? Anyone there?"
I shifted my weight beneath Jade's head slightly. "Yeah, this is Fay- can you hear me now?"
"Yeah, kind of. I was planning on heading out to town really soon, but my knee is hurting pretty badly and I can't drive yet."
I ignored the twist in my gut and nodded, gently pressing a hand on Jade's limp shoulder. "That's alright, we'll pick you up."
"No, I'm about to head over, just meet me outside- Jonathan will be there with his car too." And with that, she hung up. I shoved Jade's shoulder, and she toppled over onto the hardwood with a jolting noise.
"Hello?" she grumbled, hands in her hair as she stood. I smirked, clapping a hand over her shoulder.
"We're going to town with Nancy and Jonathan."
Her eyes that had just before reminded me of a sleepy cat widened and she darted to the mirror and ran her fingers through her locks as a brush. I laughed, tossing on a decent coat as she ran upstairs. I could hear her thumping around her dresser drawers and watched her fumble for the zippers of her boots all the way down the stairs to the front door. She burst outside into the still air, and I closed the door behind me. With a flick of my wrist I tossed her the wallet that she'd brushed past on her way out. She scowled, Jonathan not far behind. He pulled up next to me, a kind smile on his face, just as I could see Nancy hurrying down the street. I ducked in beside him, in the passenger's seat. Nancy grinned at us from the back, right next to Jade.
"Ready?" Jonathan stomped his foot on the gas pedal and we screeched as he jolted us out of the driveway, engine roaring as we sped into town.
I didn't know what was coming next as he parked our car in a space by the hunting store, or as we exited the vehicle to stares and waves on both sides.
All I knew was that it wasn't going to be good.