"Please tell me you know how to use this." I mumbled jokingly to Nancy as she awkwardly grabbed the old baseball bat from my hands. "I- I've been to a few baseball games." She said quietly, adjusting her grip on the handle of the bat. "Okay, then... Give it a swing." I nodded for her to take a practice swing before slowly backing away to give her some space.  Hesitantly raising the bat in the air,  Nancy swung down at the invisible target.

   Turning to me for approval, I grimaced slightly before moving to help her. "That was good, let's just fix your placement... You don't wanna put your hands on top of each other like that." I informed her softly before grabbing the bat and placing my right hand higher on the bat and my left lower. "And don't grip it so hard or else you'll hurt your knuckles."

   Chuckling lightly at my coaching, Nancy nodded in agreement before reaching a hand out for the bat. "Since when did you play softball?" She mumbled as she grabbed the bat and copied my hand placement. "Dad-- Lonnie taught me when I was like ten... Jonathan didn't wanna play so I was the unlucky target."

   Nodding, Nancy gave me a tight-lipped smile before swinging again. "Are you focusing your swing at one fixed point?" I questioned, noticing that her focus was on the force of the swing and not a target. "Am I supposed to?" Rolling my eyes jokingly at the girl, I held my hand to the side of me before nodding towards it. "Aim for my hand." I instructed.

   "I am not hitting you." She called out as if I was crazy. "Not an actual hit Nance, just tap it with the bat until you get used to it." I gestured with my opposite to tap in the center of my palm until she understood what I was getting at, slowly raising the bat again and swinging it back and forth slowly at my palm.

   "Good, that was good... Now, swing there without my hand." I said and pulled my hand back towards me as she did the same movement. "That was good! Alright now put some power behind it." I stated and backed away from her to give her some room.

   Pulling the bat all the way back, Nance quickly swung the bat back toward the target but with so much force that she practically spun around and almost hit the boy that came walking up behind us.

    "Whoa!" Steve exclaimed, jumping away from the bat as Nancy quickly pulled it into her chest. "Hope that isn't for me..." He joked, throwing an awkward smile toward Nancy. "W-What are you doing here?" Nancy asked, quickly shoving the bat into my chest. "What are you doing?" He asked with a grin moving to focus his eyes in my direction for an answer. "Softball practice? She's got a great arm." I joked as Nancy followed his gaze.

    "Yeah, umm... Byers, could Nance and I talk? Alone, for a second?" Steve asked with a small smile, though his eyes seemed to hide something. Was he nervous? "Yeah, I guess. I'll be inside, Nance." Turning away from the two I opened the door and quickly shut it behind me, breathing in deeply to ignore the slight pain that ran through me. Why am I bothered by them needing to talk without me? I mean they are in a relationship.

   Shaking away the feelings that I didn't even understand, I pressed my ear against the door to listen in on what the two were talking about. "Why don't we get out of here? Catch a movie, and pretend like everything's normal for a few hours. All The Right Moves is still playing." Steve started to badly sing 'Old Time Rock 'n Roll', a small smile grew on my face at how innocently dumb he could be, but he was quickly cut off by Nancy. "I shouldn't, I mean I can't. I've been really busy with this whole funeral thing. And you know it's been hard on Eleanor..."

   Taking in a sharp breath, Steve stayed silent for a moment. "Yeah... no, yeah you're right. I'm sorry, I know." He stumbled on his words before taking another long pause. "I should go..." He mumbled finally. "I'll call you later, I'm sorry." Nancy called and there was another pause as I quickly pulled my head away from the door. 

   Pacing around the room, I pulled on the sleeves of my jacket as I waited for him to leave. The door opened to reveal a flushed-looking Nancy, "Sorry, he just wanted to apologize." She lied. Why did she feel like she needed to lie?

   "Oh, okay. Is everything alright?" I asked her as we both made our way back into the garage. "Totally, he just felt bad about what happened the other day." She explained quickly with a reassuring grin. Nodding slowly, I grabbed an empty can off the floor, slowly moving past her. "Right... You know, he still hasn't apologized to Jonathan." I stated and stood on the edge of the driveway of the Wheelers' house, gripping the bat tightly in my right hand.

    "He's going to. Steve's just..." Nancy trailed off awkwardly to think of an excuse for her boyfriend. "Difficult." I finished for her before throwing the can in the air. Quickly raising the bat in the air,  I swung at the can before finally colliding with the tin and hitting it across the road. 

~~~

   Walking through the woods and into a clearing, a gun firing off could be heard ahead of Nancy and me before we spotted Jonathan in the middle of the clearing, aiming our father's revolver at some lined-up cans. With every shot though he seemed to miss all of the targets. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to hit the can, Jonathan!" I yelled to him before giggling at the way he shrugged off the comment.

   Throwing a smile over his shoulder, he began to reload the gun. "Actually, you see those spaces between the cans? I'm aiming for those." He shot back as he turned to face the two of us. Nancy chuckled at the comment as made her way toward Jonathan. "Well, in that case. Stop showing off for Nance." I joked back, causing a rosy tint to quickly grow over his cheeks that he hid by looking down at the grass before continuing to load the revolver.

   The two teens stood side-by-side, Nancy closely observing the gun in Jonathan's hands. "Have you ever shot a gun before?" Jonathan asked her as he closed the barrel, also taking quick notice of her interest in the weapon. Chuckling under her breath, Nancy quickly shook off the question. "Have you met my parents?" She questioned with a raised brow. 

   Jonathan nodded, suddenly remembering who he was talking to. "Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten. My Dad took me hunting on my birthday... Made me kill a rabbit... Should have taken the baseball lesson." He mumbled softly, tensing up at the memory.

   "A rabbit?" Nancy asked, saddened by the idea of shooting an innocent creature. "Guess he thought it would make me more of a man or something." He shrugged off the memory with a frown on his face. "I cried for a week..." He added quietly.

   "Jesus..." Nancy whispered under her breath. "What? I'm a fan of Thumper." He joked in defense of masculinity, "I mean your father." She continued with a frown. "Yeah, I guess he and our mother loved each other at some point, but we weren't around for that part." He cocked the gun in his hand, though Nancy reached out for it.

   "Oh, okay? Just point and shoot." He said and slowly handed her the weapon. I raised my brow at the girl as she raised the gun towards her eye level, aiming towards one of the cans. "I don't think my parents ever loved each other..." She stated finally. "They must have married for some reason, Nance?" I whispered to her, though she quickly shook her head.

   "My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, and money, and came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the Cul-De-Sac... and started their nuclear family." She explained, bitterness interlaced in her tone as her eye narrowed on the target. "Screw that..." Jonathan mumbled, Nancy slowly nodding in agreement. "Yeah, screw that." She mumbled under her breath and pulled the trigger.

   The sound of the bullet slicing through the target caused the three of us to gasp in surprise. "Holy shit, Nance!" I exclaimed and clapped my hands. "Screw the bat, you're taking the gun!" I exclaimed and patted her on the back as she smiled between Jonathan and me.

~~~

   The three of us had made our way back into the woods off Mirkwood.  On the map that placed us in the middle of the triangle that made up the space between Steve's house, Our House, and where Will's bike had been found.

   "You never told me what I was saying..." Nancy pointed out, out of nowhere as we continued to move deeper into the woods. "What?" Jonathan asked, obviously confused by the sudden question. Darting my eyes between the two, I slowly fell behind them to them some space. "You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture." Nancy elaborted.

   Jonathan turned back to look at me for help but I quickly looked down at the leaves that decorated the forest floor, defiantly not trying to get involved with that one. "I don't know... I- I guess I saw this girl, you know... Trying to be someone else." He spoke quietly, stumbling on his words.

   Nancy's gaze on Jonathan slowly turned into a glare. "For that moment, it was like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could be yourself." He continued but his words only caused Nancy to smile out of annoyance, glare still evident in her eyes.

   "That is such bullshit." She called out before looking away from him. "Nance, come on. He didn't mean it in a bad way." I groaned out, quickly stepping up for my brother, and quickly began to catch up with the two. "No- No, I am not trying to be someone else." Nancy stopped walking and turned toward Jonathan. "Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him--" "You know what, forget it, okay? I just thought it was a nice picture." Jonathan cut her off and started walking ahead of us.

   "He's actually a good guy, you know." She continued to call after me, though all Jonathan offered her was a nod of his head, obviously trying to ignore her. "Just the other day, with the camera. That isn't him. He was just being protective." She stated in Steve's defense. "Yeah, that's one word for it." Jonathan rolled his eyes and continued walking, not stopping to face Nancy.

   Scoffing at his attitude, Nancy rolled her eyes before furthering the dispute. "Like what you did was any better? He had every right to be pissed-" "Does that mean I have to like him?" Jonathan cut her off, finally coming to a stop to face her. "No..." Nancy mumbled as she stared up at him. "Listen, don't take it personally. I don't like most people, he's in the vast majority." Jonathan ended the conversation and began to walk away again.

   "You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay." Nancy called after him, obviously not ready to put the disagreement behind them. "Nancy... Come on, don't." I grabbed her hand, though it did little to stop her from continuing her rant. "I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is.'" Nancy pulled her hand out of mine and continued to glare at Jonathan.

   "Guys, come on. That's enough." I tried to stop Jonathan before he said something he'd regret but he continued the argument nonetheless. "And 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 the Cul-De-Sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now? Hey, they get it.'" Jonathan ended his rant, quickly leaving Nancy silent on the path as he moved ahead of us.

   Awkwardly looking between the two, I slowly started to walk ahead of Nancy who still had obvious anger boiling within her, and followed after my tense brother. Jogging to catch up with Jonathan, I placed a hand on his shoulder and offered him a kind smile. "Jonathan, hey... She didn't really mean. That just breathe, okay?"

   He shrugged my hand off of him and glared down at me, "Stop acting like she's our friend. She's hardly even your friend, anymore. Plus, if she even remotely knew about you and Steve, she'd hate you too." Jonathan walked away, leading the way once again. 

   His words stopped me in my tracks, grimacing slightly at the fact that he was right. The sound of leaves crunching behind me pulled me out of my thoughts and  I quickly turned to find Nancy slowly catching up. "What'd he say?" She questioned, taking quick notice of my stunned form. "Nothing... He's just upset." I mumbled and nodded for us to continue on the path, ignoring the growing guilt in my gut.

~~~

   The sun had begun to set over the horizon, Jonathan and Nancy had yet to say a word to each other and the tension was still noticeable, though they seemed like they could bear to walk almost side by side. Though, that was until Nancy came to a halt, quickly falling behind us as she listened for noise in the distance. "What? Are you tired?" Jonathan said with slight sarcasm as Nancy looked around us.

   "I heard something..." She mumbled before slowly walking ahead of us, aiming her flashlight towards something to the side of the path, the light landing on an injured deer. "It's been hit by a car..." Nancy whispered, walking over to the animal and gently placing a hand on its side. "We can't just leave it..." She looked between the two of us and then slowly back down at the gun in her hands.

   "I'll do it." Jonathan whispered as Nancy noticeably grew tears in her eyes at the thought of killing the creature. Carefully grabbing the gun from her hands, Nance and I backed away from Jonathan as he raised the gun to the deer's head.

But before he could pull the trigger, a growl came from the darkness and suddenly the deer was pulled into the shadows by a creature that we couldn't see. Jumping away from the scene, the three of us looked between one another, before quietly deciding to follow the blood path left behind by the monster.

   As we followed the path it slowly began to grow weaker and weaker before we were left with nothing to follow anymore. Deciding that it was best to split up, I stuck with Nancy and walked further into the right side of the woods while Jonathan slowly searched in the opposite direction. 

   Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Nancy tugged on my jacket to grab my attention. "You see that too, right?" She asked me and slowly pointed towards what looked like a hollowed-out tree trunk. The edges looked like they had been covered in some sort of goo.

Slowly dropping to her knees, Nancy placed her bag in front of the tree before moving to take a closer look. "What are you doing?" I stopped her from moving anything closer as she slowly poked her hand into the opening. "What if that thing went through here?" She asked and slowly pushed her entire hand into the opening.

   Grimacing at the sound, I shook off the idea before releasing an annoyed groan as I noticed the determined look in her eyes. "If you go in... I go in." I stated as she looked around us, "And Nancy I really don't wanna go in there..." I mumbled as she slowly pushed her way into the opening.

   Groaning at just how stupid of an idea this was, I placed my flashlight at the base of the tree and slowly took off my bag as well. Pushing my hand into the tree, I groaned at the mushy texture, before slowly pushing my top half into the base. Ignoring the disgusting film that the opening left on me, I slowly climbed out of the tree and stood from my place on the floor.

   Looking around, I realized Nance and I still stood in the clearing of woods, only it seemed colder now. The air was heavy, with obvious debris floating around us, as well as decaying vines that wrapped around the trees and grew through the ground. "Nance..." I whispered to her and slowly reached out to her as she stood frozen in place, taking in the new environment. "What is this place?" She whispered to me as we slowly began to walk through the rotten land.

   "I think it's home." I responded to her as we continued on our path toward the unknown. As we made our way further into the woods, a slurping sound could be heard and soon Nancy had come to a stop in her tracks and tried to pull me away from the noise.

   Turning towards her, I finally caught sight of what she had spotted. Just a few feet from us laid the now dead deer from earlier... And above it was the monster; feeding off of it. 

   Slowly starting to back away from the thing, Nancy's foot landed on a fallen branch, the crunch sliced through the air like a knife and slowly the monster raised its head at the sound. Nancy let out a scream as it slowly turned its attention toward us. Placing my hand over Nancy's mouth, we quickly made our way back toward the tree stump. Ripping my hand away from her mouth, Nancy pushed me away from her and ran towards the opening, "Help! Jonathan, help!" Nancy screamed as she ran away.

   Standing, frozen in place, the monster slowly caught sight of me but didn't seem to move. Backing away slowly, I could hear the sound of Jonathan calling out to Nancy and me. "Follow my voice! I'm right here!" Jonathan yelled from the other side, but that didn't seem to matter.

As the monster stood in its place, I quickly broke free from my paralyzed state and ran towards the tree just as Nancy had seconds earlier. "Jonathan!" I screamed, finally finding my voice as I  listened to the crunches of leaves behind me. Spotting that ahead of me Nancy had begun to climb through the stump.

   Running as fast as I could, I dove for the opening, just as the hand of the monster reached out for my leg. Let out a scream of both a mixture of pain and fear, the thing let go of me as I felt Jonathan pull me the rest of the way through the opening.

   Landing on the forest floor in my brother's arms, I let out a cry of pain as he slowly tried to stand me up. "It got me..." I tried to speak, as I looked down at the gash that thing had been put on my calf. Tearing my eyes off the wound, I quickly spotted Nancy standing a few feet away from us as she tried to catch her breath, "You left me..." I stated once I was finally able to stand on my own.

   "What? No? No... That thing was chasing us." She tried to reason with me but I shook my head, "You pushed me towards it, and ran to save yourself." I seethed, pushing a finger into her chest that caused her to stumble back. "Hey... Hey, let's just try to calm down." Jonathan tried to reason as I kept my glare pointed at Nancy.