ᵖᵃʳᵗ ³ - ᴡʀᴏɴɢ ʙᴏᴅʏ
❛ ɪᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇʀ. ɪᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ɪssᴀ. ❜
She did go to the Wheeler residence that night. And she was immediately brought into Nancy's mother's, Karen Wheeler's arms as the news played in the background, with Ted, Nancy's father, watching it with a sad expression which was weird since he never showed emotions.
"Sup, Karen." Imogen greeted early the morning after, jumping to sit on the counter and grabbing one of the waffles already cooked, shoving it in her mouth.
Karen shook her head at the girl's antics, but she loved the girl like her own daughter so she couldn't help but fondly smile, even though it turned to a frown when she saw the faraway look in the girl's eyes.
"I have to drop Nancy off at school, do you need a ride?" Karen asked, glancing at the girl as she set the breakfast down for her family.
Imogen looked up from the ground, biting her lip at the concerned look Karen was giving her. "Um...No I-uh was thinking of going with Ms. Jones to...see...Issa." the girl mumbled, twisting the ring on her finger, it was something Issa gave her, she wore it ever since.
Imogen awkwardly got off the counter when Karen went silent; the teen looked towards the stairs when she heard footsteps coming down, seeing Mike, Nancy's little brother, best friend of Will Byers.
"How are you doing, Mikey?" Imogen asked, taking a seat next to the boy, squinting at him since he looked like he was faking his sad expression even though his friend died.
"Huh? I'm okay, you?" Mike looked up at the girl, slight fear in his eyes that she would figure out something since he could never keep anything from Imogen.
Imogen scanned his face for a moment, her heart feeling heavy, smiling sadly.
──
"I'm okay," Imogen said, looking up at Hopper.
They were currently in the morgue lobby. No one was there other than them, Ms. Jones, and the lady behind the desk.
Joyce and Jonathan Byers were already taken in the back to see Will, Ms. Jones was sitting in a chair far away from the two, staring blankly into space with teary hazel eyes, just seeing her made Imogen's heart hurt.
Hopper looked Imogen over in concern when he saw the dark bags under her eyes and the big hoodie (it was her dad's and was practically a dress on her, even if she was tall.) draping her figure, her legs were shaking. He knew they weren't cold though, he could tell the girl was having trouble standing as well.
"Ms. Jones?"
Hopper and Imogen's heads snap to the voice, the woman behind the desk calling the woman's name.
"Immy's coming with me." Liz Jones's voice rang through, her voice was broken and soft but it sounded like a shout in the quiet room.
"She's not family--" The woman began.
"She's coming with me!" Liz snapped, silent tears streaming down her face, pleading.
The lady didn't have the heart to try again, so she just nodded, gesturing for them to follow her.
Imogen nervously glances over her shoulder at Hopper who just reassuringly nodded towards her.
The girl sighed, her hand intertwined with Liz's, the mother gripping tightly to the girl in fear that the body would really be her baby.
It was like a horror movie, the long dark hallway; the only light was coming from the few autopsy rooms.
Shivers went down the girl's spine as they came to a stop, the lady giving them a big smile full of sympathy, before walking back, leaving them alone in the dark hallway, the autopsy room light only lighting their figures.
Imogen swallowed hard, turning to stare in the big window, staring at the covered body on the table, the man hovering over it wordlessly.
The coroner made eye contact with Ms. Jones, the woman nodded hesitantly. He silently took the sheet off the body, only showing the face and half the chest.
Imogen felt like she was gonna pass out looking at the body of Issa, lying on that cold metal table, sickly pale and not her normal tan skin, the freckles on her face fading, her once soft dark hair was now dull and ashy.
Liz bit back a cry, tears silently streaming down her face as she squeezed Imogen's hands. "My baby..."
Imogen didn't register Ms. Jones running out the hallway as denial crept up on the girl, trying to fight back tears as she stared numbly at the girl on the table, her skin so pale almost as the white sheet lied upon her.
There was only one way to know if it was Issa.
The real Issa. Her Issa.
"Can you show me the inside of her right arm, please?"
Fear, the feeling of pure terror that left little tiny bumps on your skin, as it began to feel hot yet your blood was cold.
That's what the little 13-year-old felt as she took in her unconscious friend as Issa lied on the concrete, blood oozing from the open wound on the inside of her arm, from wrist to the elbow.
"What happened?" Hopper asked the young girl, who was in tears as she watched her friend in the back of the ambulance.
"Bike accident." Little Imogen lied.
She knew she couldn't tell Chief Hopper that a bully from school did this to her friend while commenting on how she's a 'dyke' when all Issa did was innocently hold Imogen's hand while they walked past the group of bullies, just because little Issa was scared.
Hopper did find out, along with everyone else, but only Hopper knew it was caused by two girls holding hands.
There was no scar on the body.
Imogen ran out of the hallway, slamming the door open, looking around frantically, trying to look for Ms. Jones but she only saw Hopper waiting for her since the others left.
"It's not her. It's not Issa."
"Kid...Liz already said it was." Hopper sighed sadly, looking down at the girl who had a look of determination on her face after hearing his words.
Imogen scoffed, shaking her head at the older man. "It's not. Whatever that thing is, or whoever is not Issa. The scar is gone. How does a scar like that just disappear?!"
They don't.
The scar that was embedded in Issa's skin was deep, long, it was always red and angry even though it healed.
And she wasn't tripping balls, everyone knew of Issa's scar, that's why Imogen always had to tell the girl that she's beautiful with it because Issa was extremely insecure about it.
That and the fact that event was the first time Imogen felt real terror.
──
Imogen didn't go to school, she didn't go home either. She went back to the Wheeler's home, unlocking the door with the spare key Karen gave her a while back.
When she walked in it was silent, I guess Karen and Holly, Nancy's little sister, went somewhere and maybe Ted went to work?
The girl heard shouting coming from downstairs, making her curious about what Mike was doing in the basement, but she just shrugged, going to the fridge and eating some blueberries.
"What are you doing?" Imogen's voice rang through the house when she saw Lucas and Dustin carrying a pink dress and a blonde wig downstairs.
Lucas and Dustin share a panicked glance before Dustin nervously stated, "Experimenting?"
Imogen squinted at the boys, popping another berry in her mouth. "With your gender?"
"Um...maybe?" Dustin said, his voice growing higher in pitch from feeling fear as Imogen scanned him.
Imogen shrugged, jumping off the counter and putting the berries back in the fridge before making her way upstairs. "Eh--who am I to judge, do you kid. Tell Mike I'll be in Nancy's room if you boys need something."
Imogen stopped making the boys look up at her where she is halfway up the stairs, Imogen smirks, "The wig would suit you, Dustin."
Dustin blushed before grabbing Lucas and running downstairs to the basement as Imogen chuckled, shaking her head.
Imogen lied on Nancy's bed, staring at the ceiling thinking.
When the fuck did life go wrong?
She still couldn't get the idea of the body out of her head, it looked so much like Issa, but there was no scar. It wasn't her, who was it, what is it?
What was that thing she and Nancy saw in her backyard, just thinking about it made her not want to go back home.
"We slept together, is that what you want to hear?!"
Imogen snapped out of her thoughts when she heard shouting downstairs, quickly sitting up she heard Nancy and Karen.
"It doesn't matter!"
"It does matter!" Karen yelled.
"No! It is all bullshit! It has nothing to do with Barb and she's missing. And something terrible happened to her, I know it."
Imogen looked up from her dad's hoodie drowning her figure, watching Nancy slam the bedroom door, smiling sadly at the sight of the girl's tears.
Imogen lifted her arms up, making grabby hands, Nancy sighed, wiping her tears away before falling into the girl's embrace. "What happened, Nance?"
Nancy sniffled, pulling away from the hug. "Powell and Callahan came to the school to talk to me about Barb."
Imogen bit her lip, playing with the sleeve of the hoodie as her brown eyes studied Nancy, watching as the girl grabbed her backpack and pulled out ripped up pieces of paper, the photo's that Nancy had picked up.
"Can you get me the tape? It's on my desk." Nancy mumbled as she separated the pieces.
Imogen nodded, getting up and grabbing the scotch tape and handing it to the girl, before sitting in front of Nancy, watching her put together the photo.
"What is it?" Imogen asked, her eyes scanning Nancy's face.
"Jonathan...he had a picture of you and Barb that night, sitting by the pool," Nancy explained, pulling the tape off the dispenser.
"Okay? So he was a nosey bitch, what's the point?" Imogen tried to turn her head to look at the picture the right way.
"That's the point." Nancy pointed to the corner of the picture, behind Barb and Imogen, it was dark but you could make out a tall shadow of a man?
"We have to tell Jonathan, maybe he can do something to the photo. Make it brighter? So that we could see what it is?" Nancy suggested.
"He's probably at the funeral home." Imogen swallowed as Nancy grabbed the girl's hand and started dragging her down the stairs.
──
"I don't want to do this." Imogen stopped, looking up at the funeral home with teary eyes, glancing at Ms. Jones' car that was in the parking lot.
Nancy turned to look at her friend, sighing, she put her hands on Imogen's shoulders making the girl stare her in the eyes. "You told me it wasn't Issa."
"It doesn't matter!" Imogen scoffed, "If I go in there, I have to see Liz's heartbroken face, because she doesn't know that her baby, is still out there, somewhere. What happens when she asks me to pick out a freaking casket? Huh? I'm just supposed to lie to her face? Act like her baby is really dead when I know she's out there somewhere. Probably in pain, or worse.--"
Nancy brought the girl into a hug, her own eyes becoming teary, knowing this was all really getting to Imogen even if she barely showed it. "Hey, you don't have to go in. I'm sorry."
Nancy bit her lip as she felt the wetness of Imogen's tears on her neck, "I just want her back, already."
"We'll find her. And Barb, and Will. Everything will be fine, okay?" Nancy smiled sadly, before walking into the funeral home to talk to Jonathan.
──
"Can I sit on here?" Imogen asked, pointing to the counter.
They were currently at the school, in the red room where Jonathan spent most of his time, developing pictures.
Jonathan glanced over his shoulder, shaking his head in amusement. "There's a chair in the corner."
Imogen pouted, before trotting to the corner since she wanted to sit on the counter, she liked swinging her legs, she couldn't do that on a chair.
"So what are you doing?" Imogen questioned, looking up at Jonathan and Nancy, sitting sideways on the seat with her leg on the backrest.
"You talk a lot, Immy, stop." Nancy gave the girl a warning look.
Jonathan chuckled, focusing on the machine, "Brightening and enlarging." he answered anyway.
"I hope in the future we have shit to do this for us cuz it's taking forever." Imogen grumbled, ignoring Nancy's order, causing the said girl to sigh.
Imogen got up from the chair, looking around the darkroom faintly hearing Jonathan and Nancy talking since apparently Joyce Byers saw the same monster Imogen and Nancy did in the girl's backyard.
"Why does it have to be red?" this time she mumbled to herself, looking down at her hands, red from the fluorescence; imagining the feeling of blood on her hands from Issa's scar she tried to stop from bleeding.
"Why'd you guys go quiet?" Imogen said loudly, making Nancy and Jonathan make room for her to see the picture.
Imogen walked over, standing in between them. The girl's breath hitched, seeing Jonathan had captured the monster they saw, this time its mouth closed. "It was there," she whispered.
"What?" Nancy asked.
"That night. I heard... like a really weird growl sound? It was in that same area of the woods. It was there." Imogen shuttered at Nancy's next words.
"Your mom was right Jonathan, she saw this, that means everything she said was real, that wasn't Will's or Issa's body. This thing took them, took Barb too. But they could still be alive."
Imogen didn't know it at the time, but Hopper also came to that conclusion as he broke into the morgue and cut open the bodies of Issa Jones and Will Byers but all he saw was cotton.
All Imogen could think though was, what if the monster did something to Issa, Barb, and Will, what if wherever they are, they were hurt or worse.
──