After a tearful goodbye from my Dad, who was off to do God knows what, I met up with Nancy and Jonathan earlier than planned, both of them now armed with a gun and a baseball bat, and we started our trek through the woods. I led the way, scanning the ground for openings and they, who had spent all day together at this point, sparked up a conversation.
"You never said what I was saying." Nancy said.
"What?"
"Earlier. You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture."
"Oh, boy." I said.
"What?" Nancy called up to me. I shook my head, glancing around.
"Nothing it's just..." I trailed off before looking back at them. "I think I know the answer to this question and I don't think you're going to like it." They both furrowed their eyebrows at me. "Go ahead and tell her camera man." I faced forward again.
"Oh, uh...I don't know. My guess...I saw this girl, you know...trying to be someone else. But for that moment...it was like you were alone, or you thought you were and you know...you could just be yourself." I bit my lip.
"That is such bullcrap." She said.
"There it is." I chorused.
"I am not trying to be someone else." They stopped walking so I did too, turning to look at them. "Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him-"
"What's to like?" I asked.
"You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." Jonathan stalked past me and I fell into step beside him.
"He's actually a good guy."
"O-ok." Jonathan said. We both shared a skeptical look.
"Yesterday, with the camera...He's not like that at all." I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Really?" I asked. "He's 'not like' what he did?"
"He was just being protective."
"Yes, like he was when I told him that throwing a party in the woods when a kid's gone missing is dangerous, and that someone was gonna get kidnapped, and he said 'I should feel right at home'." I pointed out. She paused.
"He said that?" I nodded.
"Your boyfriend might be good to you, and around you as much as he can, but when you're not looking, he's no better than Tommy and Carol. From the sound of it, he displayed that with the whole camera thing." Jonathan nodded in agreement.
"Oh, and I guess what you did was ok?" She asked him.
"No, I...I never said that."
"He had every right to be ticked off-"
"Ok, alright. Does that mean we have to like him?" I nodded in agreement.
"No."
"Listen, don't take it so personally, ok? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority." He started stalking away again.
"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were ok." Nancy told him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is'."
"Guys, come on." I started, looking around.
"Well I was just starting to think you were ok. I was thinking, 'Oh Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does...until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac, exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey. They get it." He walked past her, continuing further into the woods while Nancy and I just stood there for a second.
"Nancy-" I started.
"Forget it." She said, following him. I sighed, jogging to catch up with her. "So you don't like Steve either?"
"In my defense, I have never liked Steve." I said. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"But you were always making jokes and listening to me talk about him-"
"Because you liked him, Nancy. What was I gonna say? 'Hey, I'm glad you're excited, but your boyfriend's a douchebag'." She opened her mouth to speak, "And before you say he's not, keep in mind, I'm in class with the guy every day. I see him when you're not around. And you know, maybe I'm just being pessimistic, I tend to do that a lot but the signs are there. For example...what is the first thing he said when you told him Barb was missing?" She shook her head, walking past me. I nodded.
Because I knew what he'd say. I knew his only concern would be getting busted by his parents for drinking, and not the fact that Nancy's best friend was nowhere to be found. He is disgustingly predictable.
~~~
We all caught up to each other and walked the woods in silence until it got dark, Jonathan still ticked at Nancy, and Nancy ticked off at both of us.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Nancy stopped walking, looking around with a confused look on her face.
"What, are you tired?" Jonathan asked, irritated.
"Shut up." She said.
"What?"
"I heard something." It was a whimpering sound, echoing through the trees.
"Its a deer in distress." I said. They furrowed their eyebrows at me. "What? I've been hunting. Come on."
We followed the noise until we found the deer, laying on the ground with blood seeping from various wounds.
"Oh gosh." Nancy said, as she and Jonathan crouched down beside it. "Its been hit by a car. We can't just leave it." She looked down at the gun in her hand, slowly pointing it at the deer and looking like she was about to cry. I put a hand on her arm.
"I can do it." I said.
"I'll do it." Jonathan interrupted.
"I thought you said-"
"I'm not nine anymore." He told her, taking the gun. They both stood up, and she pointed the flashlight while he took aim, his finger hesitating over the trigger. Nancy turned her head, not wanting to watch as he cocked it. Jonathan hesitated still, breathing deeply when suddenly the entire deer was dragged backwards at lightning speed, disappearing into the brush.
"What was that?!" Nancy exclaimed.
"That was it." I said, dropping to my knees and beginning to dig through the brush. All I found was solid ground, though, so whatever hole was there was gone now. "Dang it! Come on!"
I spotted some bloody animal parts nearby and decided to follow that, and there was a trail of them leading through the forrest, so we took off, Nancy now armed with the baseball bat and Jonathan and I with the guns.
"Where'd it go?" Nancy asked.
"The other place the...Upside Down." I said.
"The what?"
"Just a nickname. Its the...I guess alternate dimension is the word?"
"Do you see anymore blood?" Jonathan asked. I shook my head.
"Take a look around, but be careful. If you find a hole, whatever you do do not go into it. That's my job, you got it?" We started looking around, spreading out. After a minute, I sighed in frustration, turning around and spotting Jonathan a few feet away, but Nancy was nowhere in sight.
"Nancy?" I called. "Nancy!"
"JONATHAN!" I heard her scream.
"NANCY!" We took off running in the direction we heard her scream, stopping only when we found her backpack and bat lying on the ground. "Nancy? Nancy where are you?!"
I dropped to my knees on the ground, spotting a hole in the base of the tree, dripping with goo.
"No! No Nancy, the one thing I told you not to do!" I exclaimed.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Its the hole! She went in!" Before I could do anything else, a hand burst out of the hole, causing Jonathan to fall backwards. I instantly recognized Nancy's glove and grabbed her arm, putting my feet on the tree and pulling her out. Jonathan put his arms under mine, pulling us both until she finally came three, covered in goo, landing on top of us. I got up as he hugged her and she cried into his shoulder.
"I got you." He said. I got up, going back to the hole only to see that it was starting to close up.
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" I screamed, beginning to claw through the gooey strings that began to form. The bark began creeping up around the hole until I had no choice but to move my hand and let the hole disappear. "DANG IT!" I slapped the tree, falling back onto the ground and putting my hands over my face. "No, that was it! That was our opportunity and now..." I blew out a breath, looking at Nancy. I put a hand on her back. "Come on...let's get you home."