The next morning, Dad and I sat in the coroner's office waiting room waiting for Joyce and Jonathan to finish looking at Will's 'Body'. Dad was just sitting there and I was nervously drumming on my legs.
"So that's it?" I asked quietly. "I finally tell you what happened to me and you're just not gonna say anything? You're jst gonna go to sleep and then continue on, business as usual?"
"I'm processing." He said. I sighed.
"What's there to process? A monster without a face kidnapped me and took me to what I think is an alternate dimension." He shot me a look.
"This isn't a joke, kid."
"Does it look like I'm joking?" I asked. "Joyce says he's still alive and I believe her, and what I should be doing is out there looking for a way to get back in there and get him, but instead I'm sitting here in the coroner's office, waiting for them to finish looking at a body that's probably not even real." He shook his head.
"Even if I do choose to believe you," I rolled my eyes, "You're not going anywhere near that place again."
"Yeah, ok." He glared at me. "May I repeat, I spent a year hiding and running away from a monster from a parallel dimension and you think you're gonna stop me?" He sighed, shaking his head and turning towards the receptionist.
"What's taking so long?"
"Well, everything's been a bit chaotic around here without Gary." The woman replied.
"Without Gary?" He repeated. "Where's Gary?"
"Well I thought you knew. Those men from State, they...they sent Gary home last night." Dad looked at me and I raised my eyebrows, shooting him a knowing look.
"So who did the autopsy?" He asked, his eyes lingering on mine before he looked at her again.
"Someone from State." He looked at me again and I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms and legs.
A few minutes later, Jonathan came rushing out of the room with tears streaming down his face. I stood up, walking over to him.
"Jonathan?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me with wide eyes, stumbling forward, but I caught him, steadying him before wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him, despite the fact that I had spoken to him exactly once. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around my waist and hug me back, however.
I led him over to my seat beside my Dad, lowering him into it and sitting in the chair across from them.
"How's your mom doing?" Dad asked him.
"I don't know."
"How long's this stuff been going on? With the lights and uh...Will and the thing in the wall."
"Since the first phone call, I guess."
"Phone call?" I asked, looking between them.
"Yeah, um the phone rang, and Mom insisted Will was breathing on the other line, and then it kind of...exploded, got burnt out, like...a light bulb." Jonathan explained. "You know, she's had anxiety problems...in the past. But this...I don't know. I'm worried it could be, ugh I don't know. She'll be ok. We'll be ok. My mom...she's tough."
"Yeah, she is." Dad agreed. She's also right, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Not yet, not now. Dad reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. She is."
"Ma'am!" We all jumped up as Joyce came running out, the coroner trailing behind her. "Ma'am, I need you to sign-"
"I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!" She exclaimed.
"Joyce, wait a second-" Dad started.
"Mom!"
"No!" She stormed out the door.
"Mom!"
"Ma'am, I-Ma'am!" Jonathan ran out, following after her. I turned to look at Dad.
"You think you can do some investigating without drawing unwanted attention?" I asked. He sighed, looking slightly skeptical. "You know that's not his body, Dad. You can't deny it, I told you what she said was true, and now they have some sketchy, unnamed state employee doing the autopsy?" He sighed. "Just ask around, please. And do it carefully, or else you might bring them down on top of you-"
"Do you have nay idea how crazy this all sounds?" He asked. My eyes widened and I took a step back. "No, Riley I didn't mean-"
"Crazy?" I asked.
"I didn't say that you're crazy, I'm just saying it sounds crazy. It does." I shook my head.
"Just do it...please, Dad, for me, just...look into it." He sighed, nodding.
"Ok." I nodded, walking towards the door."What are you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna stick with the Byers'. I think they could use a support system right now." He nodded.
"Riley?" I stopped, turning back to look at him. "I don't think you're crazy, I just...be patient with me, ok?"
"Ok."
~~~
I headed to the funeral home first, where I found Jonathan looking at caskets with a nauseous look on his face.
"Its made out of soft wood with a crepe interior. Uh, now I...I don't know what your budget is, but over here we-"
"Um, excuse me?" Both Jonathan and the funeral director looked up at me. "I'm sorry um...can we have a minute?"
"Yes, of course. Take your time." He said gently. I nodded, waiting for him to leave the room before walking over to stand beside Jonathan. He continued to stare blankly at the casket.
"You looked like you were going to puke." I said quietly, putting a hand on his arm.
"I felt like I was going to puke." He clarified. I nodded.
"The preparations...those are always the worst."
"Your sister?" He asked. I nodded.
"You always think you're only ever gonna have to do this for your parents...never your younger sibling. Its really hard." He nodded, looking down at the ground. I heard footsteps and looked up, furrowing my eyebrows when I saw Nancy standing in the doorway.
"Nancy?" I asked.
"Riley? Where have you been?!" She replied. "So much has happened in the past couple of days." She tore her eyes away from me, looking at Jonathan. "Can we talk for a second? The three of us?" She pointed out towards the hallway and we followed her out, sitting down on the benches that resided there.
"What's going on?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. She sighed.
"First thing's first...Barb is missing." My eyes widened and I stood up.
"What?!" I asked. "What happened?!"
"She came to Steve's party," She said quietly. "She didn't want to be there, and I was with Steve, so I told her to go home and...I haven't seen her since." I shook my head.
"I told him...I told that moron that it was too dangerous but did he listen!? Of course not!" I exclaimed.
"Anyway," She continued, "I went back the next day, and found that her car was still parked down the street, even though the cops say it wasn't this morning, and...I saw something. I saw...this." She reached into her bag, pulling out a torn up photograph. I walked over, leaning over Jonathan's shoulder so that I could look at it. I saw Barb sitting on a diving board, looking into the water and behind her, barely visible...was the Demogorgan. I put a hand over my mouth. Nancy pointed to it.
"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I wasn't using the wide angle. I don't know...its weird."
"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" Nancy asked.
"No. And then she was there one second and-"
"Gone the next...yeah." I finished, moving away from them and biting my lip.
"How did you know that?" Jonathan asked. I shook my head.
"Nancy, when you say you saw it, do you just mean the picture, or..."
"I thought I saw something." She said. "Some weird man or...I don't know what it was."
"Long arms?" I asked, causing her to look up at me. "No face?"
Jonathan shook his head.
"What are you insinuating, Riley-"
"I'm not insinuating anything." I told him.
"How did you know that?" Nancy asked.
"Because his Mom saw it," I said, "And its not just her, I...I've seen it too."
"What?" Jonathan asked. "Why didn't you say anything-"
"I told your Mom, my Dad too." I said. "Look, this whole thing is just...its really complicated, and I've already told way too many people about this, but if I tell you guys, you can't say anything about it, is that clear?"
"Yeah, of course." Nancy said. I raised my eyebrows at Jonathan, who nodded in agreement. I sighed.
"Ok...here goes nothing."