— 𝐋𝐢𝐳𝐳𝐢𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 —

SCHOOL WAS not going to happen today. As soon as I woke up, a wave of overwhelming grief struck me. I still couldn't believe that Will was actually gone.

I spent the first part of my day laying in bed. Before my dad left for work he came in and said goodbye to me, something he rarely ever does. After lounging for a few hours, the phone rings.

"This is (Y/N)."

"Hey," the familiar and sad voice said over the phone, "It's Jonathan."

I eased up my tone.

"Hey."

"I was wondering if you would be able to do something for me."

"Of course, anything."

"Well," he began, "I'm not sure if this is appropriate but, my mom isn't in the right state of mind to do this and I don't want to do it by myself."

I listened.

"I have to plan Will's funeral."

Tears brimmed in my eyes and my throat got tight.

"I was wondering if you would be able to come with me."

I stayed silent for a moment, not sure if I would be able to reply without a strained voice.

"It's okay if you don't feel comfortable, I understand."

"No, no. I'll go with you." I managed to choke out.

"I'll pick you up in fifteen?"

"Sure."

Jonathan picked me up fifteen minutes later, on the dot. We drove in silence all the way to the funeral home. When we made it there, a lady at the front desk asked for Jonathan and Will's information, then a man took us around the room and showed us coffins.

"It's made of softwood with a crepe interior. Uh, now, I... I don't know what you're budget is, but over here we... we have copper and bronze."

We follow the man across the room and from the corner of my eye I see Nancy standing in a doorway. She raises her hand up slightly to wave and Jonathan excuses himself from the man. I give the man a small smile and walk with Jonathan towards Nancy.

"Hey." Jonathan greets her.

"Hey," Nancy replies, "Your mom, uh, she said you'd be here."

Jonathan stays silent and I look down at the ground.

"I just," she begins, "Can we talk for a second?"

Jonathan nods his head and we walk into the hallway of the funeral home. Nancy and Jonathan sit on a bench while I pull up a chair next to Jonathan. Nancy then reaches in her bag and hands Jonathan a taped together photo. She points at something in the corner of the picture.

"This was taken the night Barb went missing, and, I saw that in the corner of the photo." She says.

Jonathan looks at it closely and I look over his shoulder. The thing in the photo didn't look like any animal I had ever seen before. It almost looked human, but tall and slender, with no face.

"It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion," Jonathan says, "But I wasn't using a wide angle."

Nancy stays silent and Jonathan looks at me for confirmation.

"I don't know, Nancy. It's weird." I say.

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" Nancy asks.

"No, and she was there one second and then, uh..." Jonathan says, "Gone. I figured she bolted."

"The cops think that she ran away," I say, "I heard my dad talking about it."

Nancy slightly shakes her head.

"They don't know Barb." She says.

"And I went back to Steve's and I... I thought I saw something," Nancy continues, "Some weird man or... I don't know what it was."

All of us stay silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here today. I'm so sorry." Nancy says walking away.

"What did he look like?" Jonathan asks quickly.

Nancy turns around.

"What?"

"This man you saw in the woods, what'd he look like?"

"I don't know. It was almost like he didn't have—"

"Didn't have a face?" Jonathan and I both reply in unison.

"How do you two know that?" Nancy says.

"My mom." Jonathan says.

He quickly gets up and runs out the door to his car. Nancy and I follow behind him and I jump in the front seat.

"Where are we going?" Nancy asks.

"To the school." He says.

Jonathan drives over the speed limit to the high school and we rush inside.

"Well, this is the last place I wanted to be today." I say.

Jonathan takes us to the photography room and then into the developing room. He takes the picture that Nancy taped together and puts it under the machine and starts tinkering with the knobs and buttons. Nancy leans on the counter with her chin resting on her hand.

"And you're..." She asks.

"Brightening. Enlarging." Jonathan replies.

"Hmm." Nancy remarks.

I stand next to Jonathan and watch as he does his magic.

"Did your mom say anything else, like, where it might have gone to, or..." Nancy asks.

"No, just that it came out of the wall."

The machine dings and Jonathan flips off a lever. He grabs the photo and takes it over to another station to develop it.

"How long does this take?" Nancy asks.

"Not long." I say.

"Have you guys been... doing this a while?" She asks.

"What?" Jonathan says.

"Photography?" She asks, gesturing to the photo.

"Yeah," Jonathan says, "I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know—"

"Talk to them." Nancy finishes.

"I know, it's weird."

"No!" She says.

"No," Jonathan stammers, "It is. It's just, sometimes people don't really say what they're really thinking. But, you capture the right moment it says more."

"What was I saying?" Nancy asks.

"What?" Jonathan replies.

"When you took my picture." She says.

"I shouldn't have taken that, I'm sorry."

Jonathan tries to explain himself and Nancy stares at the photograph.

"That's it." She says, pointing at the figure in the photo, "That's what I saw."

"My mom, I thought she was crazy," Jonathan says, "She said that that's not Will's body. That he's alive."

"And if he's alive—" Nancy says.

"Then Barb." I finish.

Jonathan dropped Nancy off at her place and then he drove to mine.

"This is crazy." I say as he stops the car.

"I know," Jonathan says, "But we have to try."

I nod my head slowly.

"Thank you for coming with me today." He says.

"I'd do anything for you, Jonathan." I say with a smile.

He smiles back and I exit the car, making my way into our lakeside trailer.

I plopped myself on my bed and sunk into it. As sleep was about to take me I woke myself up. I think my body was expecting Steve to come knocking on my window, since his late-night visits were beginning to seem like a regular occasion, but there was nothing. I'm sure I scared him off last night with my crying, never mind the fact that we were way too close and his girlfriend is my friend.

The next day was Will's funeral. Jonathan and his family sat in the front row. I stood behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently while the pastor gave his sermon. When the service ended, everyone threw a rose onto Will's casket. After I had thrown my rose, I made my way over to the boys and gave them hugs. The boys seemed in shock, like they couldn't believe that Will was gone, but all that was on my mind was that thing in the picture.

Jonathan caught my gaze from across the graveyard and he waved me over. Nancy joined us as well. We sat on the ground next to a small wired fence and Jonathan pulled out a map. The map was marked in red X's, all of which pertained to the possible sightings of the monster in the photo.

"I mean, it's all within a mile, or something." Jonathan explained.

"Whatever this thing is, it's not traveling far." I say.

"You guys want to go out there?" Nancy asks with a straight face.

"We might not find anything." Jonathan says.

"I found something." Nancy says, "And if we do see it, then what."

Jonathan sighs.

"We kill it." I say.

Nancy and Jonathan turn to me and then Jonathan stands up, running to his car. We both stand up and follow him. We watch as he opens the passenger door and gets in, taking out a small knife. He then uses the knife to unlock his glove box, pulling out a gun.

"Are you serious?" Nancy asks.

"What?" Jonathan says, sticking a box of bullets underneath his coat, "You wanna find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?" He continues, shutting his glove box and car door.

"This is a terrible idea." Nancy states.

"Yeah, well, it's the best we've got." I say and Nancy looks at me with her mouth open and eyebrows furrowed.

"You can tell someone but they're not gonna believe you, you know that." Jonathan says.

"Your mom would." Nancy says.

"She's been through enough." He says.

"She deserves to know, Jonathan." Nancy says.

"Yeah, and I'll tell her," he says, "When this thing is dead."

Jonathan jumps in his car and we all jump in with him, Nancy in the front and me in the back. Nancy suggests we go to her place to change clothes for our hunt, as well as to grab some weapons.

"Hey, I'm just gonna go practice shooting in the back, out by the woods." Jonathan says.

Nancy nods and then she smiles and motions for me to come inside her home. We walk up the stairs to her room and she heads for her closet. I sit on the side of her bed and pick up a frame on her nightstand. Inside the frame was a picture of Nancy and the rest of the party. She was dressed as an elf for one of their campaigns.

"Here, these should work."

I look up and Nancy is holding out clothes for me. Jeans and a sweatshirt. I set her photo back on the nightstand and take the clothes from her. I walk to the bathroom and quickly try to change, meeting Nancy back outside. She grabs a baseball bat from a rack and practices swinging it. I notice an axe by the rest of the tools and grab it, turning my wrist and trying to get used to how it feels in my hand. As soon as I am about to swing, I hear a scream from behind me.

"WOAH, WOAH!"

I turn around to see the person I almost chopped in half.

"Hey, woah, woah." He says.

Nancy walks over to us and exhales.

"Steve, what are you doing here?" She asks.

"Yeah, what are you doing? I almost split you in half!" I add.

Steve scoffs, shaking his head.

"What are you doing?" Steve asks.

"Nothing." Nancy replies.

"I hope this isn't a lynching party for me." Steve says, pointing at Nancy's bat and then looking for a second over at me.

"What? Oh, no, I was just... thinking about joining softball." Nancy says.

"Oh..." Steve says, "What about Lizzie Borden?"

I roll my eyes and balance myself on the axe, using it like a cane.

"I was practicing for your lynching party. Want to make sure I get at least one swing in." I say.

Steve widens his eyes and turns back to Nancy.

"Listen, I'm really sorry," Steve begins, "I mean, even before (Y/N) almost axe'd me."

He walks over to lean on the Wheeler's car.

"I panicked... and," Steve sighs, "I mean, I was a total dick."

"Yeah, you were." Nancy says, "Did you get in trouble with your parents?"

"Yeah, totally, but who cares? Screw 'em." Steve says, "Any news about Barbara?"

Nancy shakes her head.

"No." She says.

It's silent for a few moments and then Steve gets up, walking towards Nancy.

"Hey, listen, why don't we, uh, why don't we catch a movie tonight, you know? Just kind of pretend everything's normal for a few hours." He says.

I cough.

"All the Right Moves is playing! You know, with your lover boy from Risky Business?" He says.

"Yeah, I know." Nancy says.

"You know, Carol thinks I kind of look like him. What do you think?"

"Not a chance, lover boy." I scoff.

He grabs Nancy's bat and starts singing into it. Nancy cuts him off.

"I just... I don't think I can. I've been busy with this whole funeral thing and with my brother. It's been really hard on him." She says.

"Yeah, sure, yeah, yeah." Steve says, nodding his head, "Never mind your axe lessons with (Y/N)."

I roll my eyes and Nancy chuckles.

"I should go." Steve says.

"Sorry..." Nancy says, "I'll call you later. Is that okay?"

She gives him a quick peck and then backs away.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Steve says.

I start singing the song he was singing from Risky Business as he walks away in shame. I hated seeing him like this. Utterly in love with Nancy Wheeler and not me. Nancy goes back to swinging her bat and I try to push the image of Steve out of my head.

"We should go get Jonathan." I say.

Nancy nods and we walk to the woods. There, we see Jonathan shooting his gun, failing miserably at hitting the cans he used as a target.

"You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" I ask as we walk towards him.

He smiles.

"No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those."

"Ah." Nancy says, dropping her bag and bat on the floor.

"You ever shot a gun before?" He asks.

Nancy scoffs.

"Have you met my parents?" She says.

"I haven't shot one since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday and made me kill a rabbit. I guess he thought it would make me more of a man or something." Jonathan says, "I cried for a week."

"Jesus." I say.

"What?" He turns to me, "I'm a fan of Thumper."

"I meant your dad." I say.

"I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but I wasn't around for that part." He says, handing the gun over to Nancy.

"Just point and shoot." He says.

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other." Nancy says.

"They must've married for some reason." I say.

"My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So, they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family."

"Screw that." Jonathan says.

"Yeah. Screw that." Nancy says, then pulling the trigger of the gun and shooting the can, first try.

We all chuckle and decide that we should get going before the sun goes down. We walk into the woods and try to search for the monster.

"You never said what I was saying." Nancy says.

"What?" Jonathan replies.

"Yesterday," Nancy says, "You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture."

"Oh, uh, I don't know." He responds.

"Yeah, I wanna know what I was saying too." I add.

"See, Jonathan, two against one!" Nancy exclaims.

He sighs.

"My guess, (Y/N), you did not want to be there, but also, there was something else on your face. It's like... when a kid picks out something in the store and his mom says he can't have it. Like you wanted something so bad, but, knew you couldn't have it, maybe because it doesn't have a price or it's already been bought."

My eyes widen and I feel naked, like he's seen straight into my soul and understood it deeper than I've ever been able to.

"And you, Nance, I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else, but, for that moment, it was like you were alone, or thought you were and, you know, you could just be yourself."

Nancy thinks for a second, then replies.

"That is such bullshit." She says, walking faster.

"What?" Jonathan asks.

Nancy stops and turns around, facing us.

"I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him—"

Jonathan cuts her off.

"You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture."

"He's actually a good guy." Nancy defends.

"Okay." Jonathan says, stammering.

"Sure, Nance, whatever helps you sleep at night." I add.

"Yesterday, with the camera... He's not like that at all. He was just being protective."

"Yeah, that's one word for it." Jonathan says.

"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?" She asks.

"Guys," I say, speeding up next to them, "Can we please not do this right now?"

"I never said that, Nancy." Jonathan continues.

"He had every right to be pissed—"

"Okay! Alright, does that mean I have to like him?" Jonathan asks.

"No." Nancy says.

"Listen, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority."

"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay." Nancy says.

"Yeah?" He asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking, Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is."

"Guys." I say.

"Well, I was just starting to think you were okay." Jonathan says.

"Oh." Nancy says, egging him on.

"Guys, please." I say.

"I was thinking, 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."

"GUYS!" I yell.

Jonathan scoffs and walks forward. Nancy stays frozen.

"C'mon," I pull her arm, "Don't listen to him, he's got a lot on his mind right now."

She scoffs and starts walking again with me.