༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁵. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!
𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐓 into the basement, nearly tripping over the final step as her toe caught on uneven carpet. Though she landed safely on her feet, her arm flung out to catch on the side of the wall. Frantically, her eyes searched the room. She'd half expected Dorotea to be sitting out in the open on the couch or something. Instead, she found the room seemingly empty. That struck a knife of worry into her chest. Some books were strewn on the ground alongside some discarded films, and the telephone receiver hung off its hook. It was beeping that it was disconnected as it dangled at the length of its chord. "Tea?" Nancy asked tentatively, stepping into the room. With fear creeping into her veins, she lifted the phone back onto the telephone's base—successfully silencing the noise.
There was a small amount of scuffling before Tea's pointed peered out from beneath the table, eyes searching. "Oh, Nancy," she said, and began to crawl out on her hands and knees. They were littered with tiny carpet burns—from having to scramble into hiding so quickly. "I thought you were your family." Her hair was a frizzy mess in front of her and her cheeks had grown hollow.
Sighing in relief, Nance shook her head and pulled her brown jacket off her body, "No, just me." She dropped the coat on the back of a chair, and smoothed down her short white dress as Tea got to her feet. Nancy Wheeler looked remarkably pretty in the dress, thought Tea to herself, glancing at the shorter girl with her mossy eyes.
"That's good," whispered Tea. But as Tea stood, Nancy recognised the worry in her eyes from nights before. Frightened, the girl kept sending glances around the room, as if waiting for anything to be hiding in the shadows of the corners. Perhaps she was. The way her teeth sunk into her lip was drawing blood. It bloomed bright and red on the shredded skin, which Nancy had only just noticed.
With careful precision, Nancy approached her. "Hey," she murmured, pushing some of her own perfectly curled hair behind her ear, "Is everything okay?" Cautiously, she reached a hand out to Tea, who was looking remarkably nervous. Tea's face had begun to pale as well, beginning to appear more ill than anything else.
As if startled by Nancy's comment, Tea's eyes darted back to Nance's face, dragging away from the corners of the room. "Oh," she said softly, in that low, shaky voice she had. "I'm..." What was she to say? That she was perfectly alright? That she hadn't been seeing terrible monsters everywhere that she turned? She bit deep into her tongue, until the faint taste of blood touched her tastebuds. She did that so often, now. She was sure that her tongue must be littered in tiny bite-scars. Instead, Tea decided to do what she did best, and tell the truth. Biting again on her lip—Nancy had the sudden urge to reach out and touch Tea's face to stop her from doing that—Tea spoke up once again, "I just... I keep having these... hallucinations?" It came out as a question, so Tea forced her eyes shut and forced herself to explain it better. "Like... these flashes in the room. Something that's not there. It's so... stupid." Her hand bunched up into her hair. Tugging at strands of her brown locks—in a way that looked borderline painful—she gave Nancy a slightly wounded expression. There were hint of frustration in her gaze: frustration at herself. "I feel insane and so stupid, all of this has all been so pointless, and now I'm feelings things that aren't there, and imagining things, and— and seeing stupid monsters everywhere."
Like she'd been suddenly struck across the cheek, Nancy's back straightened, and her face fell into a porcelain mask, suddenly alert. "What did you say?"
Tea scrunched her eyebrows together, and she dropped her hands down into her lap. She knew she sounded like an idiot—as if her words were the ramblings of an insane person. Nervously, she threaded a hand through her hair and tucked it behind her ears. "I've been hallucinating," she repeated, words firmer but still with a shake in them.
Nancy Wheeler looked stricken, as if someone had just slapped her across the face. Her cheeks had paled to a dim shade of white, and her lips were parted, slow-moving. "No... you said you saw a monster." Her eyes were alert, rounded in a combination of what seemed to be horror and fear.
This time, Tea looked more unsure when she spoke, twisting her fingers together, "Like I said... I was hallucinating. It's not like it's... real." She glanced up to Nancy as if for reassurance, but found nothing calming in the other girl's expression. "Right...?" The look that Nancy gave her then sent shivers running down Dorotea's spine.
But monsters didn't exist. No, no, Tea was just experiencing some weird kind of hallucination from stress and confusion. Resurfaced trauma, or something. Something. Anything but monsters. Monsters were not real. They'd never been real. She brought her fingers up to bite nervously at the knuckle.
"No, Tea, you don't understand. There are monsters in Hawkins, have been for years. I've fought them." The panic on Nance's face was clear for Tea to observe, eyes wide and quivering in the slightest, brows upturned and stitched together, a look of horror in her gaze. Nancy's words made Dorotea's mouth fall open and her eyes blow wide and a look of pure fear crossed over her face. Monsters in Hawkins? She remembered how the hundred-eyed monster had looked at her blankly and shivered. God. Goosebumps rose over her arms and her face felt hot and cold all at once. She hated this, she hated this. She just wanted to be home. Trying to calm herself, Nancy exhaled sharply through her nose. "What did it look like?"
Tea played with her fingers, twisting and turning them as if she planned to pop them out like one might pluck the petals off a daisy. Her face was scrunched a little as she tried to remember the monsters' features. She remembered it far too easily. Its hundred eyes, grotesque frame, humanoid body. There was a little shake in her voice when she spoke: "It had this body, that was almost human—but wasn't." Her eyebrows drew in, mouth quivering. "I don't know if that makes any sense." But Nancy just nodded as if she knew exactly what Dorotea was talking about. "And... it had, one hundred eyes, all over its featureless face. But— but they weren't monster eyes, or animal eyes. They were human." She thought of it made her crack her fingers in anxiety.
Nancy stared at her in horror. Something new. "Fuck," she said, and Tea thought Nancy probably didn't swear a lot. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." She pushed a hand through her shoulder-length brown hair, tinted with hints of coffee and caramel in the lamplight. Not even four months of a break. Not even four months. Letting out a pained groan, Nancy Wheeler dropped her face in her hands and kept them there.
"You... you're telling me it's real?" Tea said, suddenly very more frightened that she had been before. "But if it could hurt me, it would have already, right?" To that, Nancy didn't reply, and instead stood to go to her phone on the wall. It did not help Tea in her discomfort. Tea wrapped her knees in her arms and pressed them hard against her chest and just stared at where the floor met the wall. She had started to shake again, and her teeth sunk sharp into her bottom lip, drawing small spots of blood. It couldn't be real. Monsters did not exist. Monsters were not real. They were just a story to scare children, to keep them out of the woods, to keep them from wandering off. They were the stories her parents had told her to keep her at home. Oh. Shit.
Tea dug her face into her knees and hid it there for a while. Nancy dialled a few numbers into the telephone and pressed it against her ear. The phone seemed to ring forever, and her foot tapped rapidly against the ground in her impatience. She had a hand pressed hard against her forehead, thumb and index finger digging into her skull. "Pick up, pick up," she muttered, jolting the telephone receiver as the rings sounded out.
Something clicked on the other end, but instead of hearing a response, a voice message began to play. "Yep, this is Chief Hopper. I'm not around at the moment—feel free to call back at this number. Or don't bother, it's probably not that important." A beep sounded, and Nancy scrunched her nose. She slammed the phone back down on the hook, running her hands through her hair. She began to dial another number, one that she had to read off a crumpled piece of paper she'd pulled out of her high-waisted jean's pocket. The phone was propped up against her ear, as Tea watched her with curiosity and fear.
"Hi, this is Joyce Byers. I'm sorry, I can't make it to the phone right now. If you give me another call later, I'll be sure to pick up. Thank you." The line beeped again, and Nance just dropped the phone down in surrender. It swung on the chord and the girl pressed her hands against her face. Where the hell were they? A large sigh escaped her lips and she groaned to herself.
And monsters were real. And so, Dorotea was panicking a bit. More than a bit, in fact. Her breaths were coming out a little to quick for comfort, hands buried deep in her hair, and she thought she might begin to cry. It wasn't real. It simply couldn't be real.
Carefully, Nancy Wheeler dropped to her knees in front of Tea, so they were at eye-level. Her brown gaze was soft and inviting. "It'll be okay," she reassured, placing a hand on Tea's wrist. If she felt the patch of scarred skin there, nothing on her face gave it away. "I know how overwhelming this can be." There was something about Nancy's tone that comforted Tea right down. Yet, in Nancy's own eyes, worry and panic was still sparking. She seemed to be thinking through multiple options in her head. "We're going out," she told Tea finally, running her hands through her own hair again. If she wasn't careful, she'd mess up the curls.
"Out?" repeated Tea unsurely. Nancy stood back up and reached a hand out for Tea.
"Yeah," said Nancy as Dorotea took her hand. "Out."
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𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 of year, the police station was rather empty. There weren't a lot of crime-doers as Hawkins was readying itself for the summer break, and the whole town seemed to be in some kind of peaceful agreement. Except for the recent protests about the Starcourt Mall that was currently being built in the centre of town. Yet, today, even the Hawkins Police Department seemed void of any protesting.
The large double doors of the station swung open as none other than Nancy Wheeler strode through. Her hair was in a set of dishevelled curls around her face, grown out but still pretty. Unfortunately for her, as Nancy's gaze searched the reception area, she caught no sight of Jim Hopper.
She walked right up to the counter and pressed her hands down hard on the countertop. "Where's Hopper?" Nancy asked, looking at the officer at post determinedly.
Powell looked up at her with raised eyebrows. The officers had all become accustomed to Nancy and Joyce and the like, over the past year. "He's out, investing some missing Indiana kid. Won't be back for a few days." The officer took a drag of his cigarette. "Can I help you?"
Nancy made a pinched face and shook her head, turning away with a tight smile—"Actually— no, it's okay." She lowered her eyebrows at them, "I don't really need it." The girl pushed through the doorway, swiping her hair out of her face.
Tea was sat on a bench outside, protecting her aching feet. As Nancy swept towards her in an ethereal wave of white, pretty fabric that caressed her thighs, she hesitantly stood and walked towards the girl. There was still a limp in her step whenever she moved. Her feet stung blindingly. "Find anything?" she asked as Nancy reached her. The two strode away, Tea wearing some of Nancy's clothes that fit her: high-waisted cuffed jeans and a colourful striped t-shirt. Nance lifted her bookbag higher over her shoulder and clenched her jaw.
"No. We're on our own." Those words made Tea's eyebrows raise on her face. So, today she'd learnt that monsters actually existed, for some reason Tea could see them, and that Nancy Wheeler was a bit of a badass. She felt ill to her stomach.
Tea chewed on the inside of her cheek. "That's not good, is it?" she asked, feeling as if she already knew the answer.
"Not necessarily." Nancy had a look of conflicted determination on her face—like she wasn't sure whether to be firm, or worried. "Come on," Nancy said, reaching out her hand so Tea could take it, "I know who to call."
"Ghostbusters?" offered Tea with a slight smile. Nancy looked over her and laughed, because that was the first time she'd heard the other girl make a joke. Despite this, Tea kept her other arm wrapped securely around her own waist, forming a little protective barrier. Her brows were furrowed inwards so there was a pretty, innocent divot between them, that only seemed to be deepening by the minute. Nancy Wheeler didn't let go of her hand until they were safe in her car, and even then, she left it on the console in case Tea needed to take it again.
"So," said Nancy as she drove, "you're seeing monsters."
"Yes," replied Tea, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The divot between her eyebrows remained. It gave Dorotea a permanent expression of worry.
Nancy didn't draw her eyes away from the road. The Indiana tree branches seemed to reach for them, swaying in the dry wind. "Ones with lots of eyes."
"Yes," Tea said again. The wind through her open window blew her brunette hair around her eyes. The smell of dusk and oncoming rain was in the air.
"Where have you been seeing it, exactly?" It was like Nancy was trying to piece together every shard of an infinite, confusing puzzle. Her pretty lips were pursed in thought and her brows set low as she gazed out at the street.
"Everywhere," replied Tea. "On the streets, in the mirrors, in the corners of rooms. It's always looking at me. But only ever in Hawkins." When Nancy gave her a questioning glance, Tea bit down on her lip. "I've never seen those monsters anywhere else."
"Is that why you ran that night?" Nancy asked. "When I found you in the rain in the woods? Is that why you ran from your home?" The question was reasonable enough, but it made Tea's head spin 'round and 'round. She felt dizzy, though she was sitting perfectly still.
"No," breathed Tea. Confusion still shrouded her thoughts, worry and fear still twisted at her gut. "I ran because I was afraid. I felt... wide open, and vulnerable all of a sudden. Like everything inside me had been opened up and it was exposed to the whole world. There was this feeling. Like..." She paused, tongue fumbling for the right word. Her frustrated eyes searched the roads as they drove. "Like... you know when you feel static electricity running along your skin? Like you've just rubbed a balloon on your clothes, or lightning strikes close to you?" Nancy nodded, understanding a little. "Well it was like that, but inside my veins. It felt wrong." Her fingers were trembling again. Tea closed them into fists to stop. "I don't know how to explain it. Something just overcame me, and— I don't know... I just ran. It was like I had no control over my body." She looked at Nancy desperately, as if hoping this was just a common thing with people who hallucinated monsters in general. But nothing akin to recognition passed through Nancy's eyes.
"Well, it's got to all be connected," murmured Nancy. "The feeling you had, the monster, the hallucinations." She seemed to bite down on her tongue for a moment. "We'll get to the bottom of this. My life has been a kind of sci-fi mystery thriller for the last two years, so... it's not surprising at this point." Nancy sounded so utterly tired in the way that she spoke those words, that Tea instantly felt bad.
She scrambled to find the right thing to say, "No, you... you don't have to help me," was what came out of her mouth. "I mean... I'm sure I can figure this out on my own. Even... even with the monsters." Even though it terrified her. "We've only known each other for a few days. You don't owe me anything."
Nancy's fingers tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel. "I know. But I'm going to help you." She did look at Dorotea then, eyes determined and gentle. It was only for a second before she glanced back out at the streets stretching out before them. "It's okay, I'm kind of used to this stuff anyway. You, you're new though." A smile appeared on her features. "A good change, I think."
That made Tea smile too—albeit a little hidden and soft, but a smile all the same. Her eyes were gentle like molten honey and caramel when she glanced back up at Nancy. Nancy's features glimmered in the late sun: from her pretty, pointed nose to the sharp jut of her chin. She really was pretty. "Thank you," said Tea genuinely, sounding stronger than she had the whole time she'd been in Hawkins. "I don't know how I can repay you." She rubbed her bandaged fingers together thoughtfully, and adjusted where her feet were curved with her knees up on the seat. They were still burning with pain.
"Let's just get to the bottom of this," said Nancy. "That's enough of a payment to me. Banish those monsters to wherever damned place they came from." There was something in the tight quirk of her lips, the hard line of her eyebrows.
"Do you know where they came from?" Tea asked. She'd always been incredibly observant—whether it was during puzzles as a child, spotting flora in the woods, or picking up on even the slightest of facial expressions—and to her, it seemed that Nancy perhaps did indeed know.
The girl sighed and seemed to think over her next words for a moment. "I think so. It's really hard to explain. My little brother, he uses Dungeons and Dragons metaphors to get the point across. Do you know that game?" Tea hummed a little and nodded in agreement, she'd heard about it once or twice. "I'm not very good at explaining it, though. It's really hard to wrap your head around." Her fingers strummed against the wheel as they turned a corner back towards Nancy's house. "I think I can explain it better when I get home and I have the others."
"The others?" repeated Tea slowly.
"Mhmm," Nancy agreed, "the others."
When they were safely tucked in her bedroom, having snuck back in the house for the second time that day, Nancy had taken to pacing back and forth in her bedroom while Tea perched safely on the bed. "Who are you calling again, exactly?" asked Tea, characteristically nervously. She had her knees drawn up to her chest, teeth biting down on her finger. Wincing, she carefully pulled her feet closer. They were still terribly injured from the day before, bloody and shredded to pieces. Her cheek rested on her knees. She still didn't understand any of what was going on.
"Just some friends," replied Nancy as she swept around the room trying to come up with some kind of plan. Nancy seemed like the kind of girl who always wanted a plan. She was muttering things to herself, like she was deciding what to say over the phone. "I'm just going to step out for a moment. So I don't bother you." Nancy grabbed her telephone off of her bedside table and exited the room with it until the chord was stretched taught—something that Tea's own mother often did whenever she was trying to have a private conversation. From inside her room, Tea could only catch tiny glimpses of what Nancy was saying. "Yeah, I know it's random— just— come on, St— yes right now—" Dorotea just sighed and closed her eyes for a moment—relishing in the peace that brought, where she knew she wouldn't see any monsters—laying back on the bed. Nancy's bed was unfairly soft and comfortable. It made her want to fall asleep right that moment. Just as Tea was thinking she actually might fall asleep, Nancy's footsteps re-entered the room and she placed the telephone set back down on her table. "They'll be about ten minutes," she told Tea, as the girl sat back up, "small town and all that." Her smile was soft and comforting. She lifted one of her dainty hands out to Tea, inspecting the way that Tea cradled her fingers to her chest and her feet beside her. "You need me to check over those wounds?" She pointed to where Tea's feet were clenched in pain. It was a miracle she'd been able to walk today at all, even if she had been limping. Tea was sure her soles were still a ragged mess.
"Oh, uh... sure, if you want." They burned with each movement—stung even as she gently stretched her feet back out. That would definitely take a long time to heal, if she didn't have permanent nerve damage to her feet. Nancy hummed softly in agreement and reached out delicately to unwrap the bandages. "Thank you." She held out her hands too, which were almost equally as bandaged and bloody. Tea gritted her teeth together when she saw what the skin had become. It hadn't healed itself together much at all, still deep gauges and strings of skin stretched across both the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet.
Nancy seemed to realise the gravity of the injuries and stood up to get some water and cloths and disinfectant, "I'll be right back." The door to the bedroom was firmly shut, just to make sure Nancy's mother or brother wouldn't wander in. After she'd returned, the two of them helped to fluff up some pillows and duvets so they could look over her more serious wounds comfortably. "So, Tea, I don't really know much about you," said Nancy softly as she inspected over Tea's ruined fingers. Tea supposed it was true—the girls had known each other for a few days but hadn't even really had a normal conversation about themselves yet.
Tea chewed on the inside of her cheek. She helped Nancy to clean some dirt out of some grazes on her left hand. "Well, my name is Dorotea Gray. I'm a final-year student at Wildwood High, but I don't really know what I want to do when I graduate." Her words cut off in a hiss as Nancy dabbed some disinfecting creams on her wounds. "I, uh... I like learning about nature, I guess. I know that sounds lame, but I just really do. Maybe I want to study stuff to do with that?" She pressed her lips together and rested her cheek on one of her raised knees. "I don't know—I'm not really all that interesting." She ended her tiny speech with a nonchalant shrug, flexing where the disinfectant burned her injuries. The wounds were going to scar pretty badly. How was she going to explain this all to her mother and father?
"I don't believe that," hummed Nancy, more focused on the task at hand. Tea's feet and knees were in an even worse state: they'd chosen to put some damp cloths over those for now.
"What?" Tea responded with her eyebrows drawn in.
Nancy carefully laid the bandages over the wounds on Dorotea's fingers and palms again, wrapping them round and round sweetly. "That you're not interesting, I mean. You intrigue me. I'm sure you're a plenty fascinating person." Her eyes didn't move up to Tea's, which were peering down at Nancy gently.
"I don't know. I don't remember anything before the age of ten. At all." She glanced up to run her gaze across the small cracks running across Nancy's ceiling. Tiny ruptures in the porcelain illusion of perfection. "And after that, I just... I don't know. It's not like I'm popular or anything, there's nothing I really do. I just don't have much of a story, you know? Wildwood's nice, but none of them really give me a chance, so I don't have any funny stories about friends, or adventures, or anything." Dorotea hugged her arms around herself, keeping her hands outstretched for Nancy to help with. "But what about you?" pushed Tea. "I mean, you've fought monsters before. I'm sure you have some stories to tell me."
Nancy gave her a sweet smile as she began to bandage Tea's wounds up again with fresh rolls. "I'm kind of a cliché," she admitted. "I was the top student, dating the most popular guy, was pretty popular myself." There was a crinkle between her brows. "I was pretty much a priss." Then she shrugged. "I mean, that was until the monsters turned up." She paused, as if very suddenly remembering a terribly sad moment. An emotion of grief or regret crossed over her features—down-turning her lips and making her eyes look teary. Nancy bit her lip, like she was trying to draw herself out of the moment, and glanced down at Tea's hands to steady herself. She took a breath, and then smiled a little again. "And I've only fought monsters, like, twice." Her touch was gentle and soft as she careful wrapped the bandaged around and around each of Tea's fingers, which were cut-up and stilly bloody. "The first time was two years ago, and there was only one of them, but it was giant and terrifying. I fought it with the people who I just called—that's why they're coming over, they're the people I trust most." She tucked some fallen strands of her hair back behind her ear. "The second time, there were more, and they were smaller, but I never actually fought them, I just saw them dead. I still get nightmares, though." Tea couldn't imagine sweet Nancy having nightmares. Something about it made Tea want to take them away. Just as Nancy opened her mouth, looking like she might say more, the doorbell rang. It was a delightful chiming that rung throughout the house—but Tea jumped in fright and almost knocked the bucket of water over the carpet. Nancy just looked up at Tea and gave her a small smile. "That's them."
There were footsteps downstairs before Nancy even had the chance to stand up. "Nancy!" called Nancy's mother, "Steve's here! And— oh, is that Jonathan pulling in too? Nancy, what's going on!" Still holding Tea's delicate hands in her own, Nancy Wheeler rolled her eyes and got up off the bed. The bed disbalanced with the loss of her weight.
She gently let go of where she was cradling Tea's injured hands and moved backwards. "I better go get them. I'll just be a minute." When she left the room, her footsteps were light, and she made sure to close the door fully behind her. It left Tea once again sitting on her bed, biting her tongue and with her hands spread out on her knees, waiting.
When footsteps returned back up the household staircase, there were three pairs instead of one. "I mean, you call us out here being all cryptic, and then Jonathan arrives like 30 seconds after me—who, by the way, I didn't even know was coming!" came a male voice from what seemed to be the hallway.
Another male voice picked up, "Wait, you didn't know I was coming? What the hell did you think this was about then?"
"I don't know!" came the first voice again, a bit exasperated. "I thought Nancy wanted to talk about relationship issues or something, man!" Relationship issues? The other boy seemed to be a bit miffed by this, because he made a noise of disagreement.
"Will you two just shut up?" Nancy hissed softly as their voices got louder and closer to where Tea was sat in Nancy's rooms. Becoming self-conscious, Dorotea dropped the cloths back into the bucket despite however much the action hurt her fingers, and tucked her hands into her lap, trying to look nonchalant and like she hadn't just been freaking out hours ago. Just the thought of new people made Tea nervous. Nancy was fine: being around Nancy made Tea feel warm and okay and safe, now, but new people could hurt her. She studiously watched the door, like she was waiting to be attacked or taken by surprise. "Don't get all weird on me, okay?" said Nancy again, outside the bedroom door now.
"We're— we're not being weird, alright?" answered whoever Steve was. "And we won't be, whatever it is— unless it's one of those demo-dog slugs, in which case, I've gotta tell you, I'm not down for that babysitting shit again, alright?" Dorotea had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but luckily didn't need to ponder on it for too much longer, because the doorknob twisted.
"You're already being weird," Nancy replied with what sounded like a mixture of annoyance and fondness in her voice. Then the door pushed open and Nancy appeared in the doorway, looking just as pretty as she had when she left, even if there was a little bit of Tea's blood on the bottom of her dress. Behind her, peering into the room curiously, were two boys who looked about the same age as she was. Nancy moved over to Tea's side as if she was protecting her and turned back to look at her friends. "Tea," Nancy introduced, "this is Steve and Jonathan," she said, gesturing to a tall boy with an unruly mass of brown hair, and another boy who looked a bit uncomfortable just being here. They stared at the strange girl in the bedroom—who neither of them had ever seen before, despite Steve knowing Nancy their whole school-life, and Jonathan presently dating her—and just blinked. Tea returned the gesture, fingers twisting together nervously. She looked towards Nancy with a slight expression of panic on her face: brows tilted upwards, lips parted and concern in her eyes. She didn't like not knowing people. Nancy just stayed slightly in front of her and lifted a hand in Dorotea's direction. "This is my friend, Tea," she said, "She's been staying with me for two days and she's discovered some monsters." In a nervous habit, Nance curled a strand of hair around her finger, waiting for a response.
There was a visual change in the atmosphere as Nancy's last words hung in the air and settled in. Jonathan's eyebrows rose high on his head and he blinked a few times, obviously trying to process the information. He raised his hands slightly, not quite getting what the Hell was going on. Steve's mouth just dropped open, the boy's arms already crossed over his chest, and he shook his head incredulously. "Wait, what?!"
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i'm so glad to be back with this story! i love love love this plot so much oml
word count: 5,325
15.02.2020.