Chapter Text
Nancy stiffened as soon as she walked through the doorway after school. “Mom? Did you have anyone new over today?”
“No sweetie, why?”
A muffled, “Oh, SHOOT” could be heard from Mike’s bedroom.
That smell from that morning was now permeating the house. A stranger had touched everything. Mike did something. “No reason, I just thought you had mentioned it, sorry!”
She headed straight for his room. As she got closer, the chaos and quiet argument happening behind the door became clearer.
“How did she even know??” Dustin whisper-yelled.
“What do we do? It’s not like she can turn invisible… Can she?”
“Guy’s Shut Up!” Mike exclaimed. “She’s gonna hear you!”
“We’re whispering and the door’s closed, how could she possibly hear us?”
Nancy rolled her eyes at their antics. She knocked quietly, careful to avoid her mother’s attention. “Mike? What’s going on? Can you let me in?”
If there was a stranger hanging around her little brother and his friends, she needed to know who.
Just loud enough to be understood by Mike, she said, “Look, I promise not to tell Mom anything if you convince me you all aren’t about to do something stupid. Why are you hiding a girl in your room?”
The door flew open, and he quickly tugged her into his room. He slammed the door shut, turning to her with an urgency she didn't understand. “You can’t tell Mom anything!”
Blinking in surprise, she took in the room. Dustin and Lucas were freaking out at Mike’s sudden decision, and a small girl with a shaved head stared silently at her. She looked scared and lost.
“What do you mean? Who is that? What is going on, Mike?”
Mike glances nervously towards his friends for direction, obviously trying to come up with some sort of explanation. “She’s a runaway! Uh… she’s a friend from school, and her parents were starving her. Mom will just call them and then El-”
“-eanor,” Dustin interjects quickly.
“Right, Eleanor, will be stuck in that place again if Mom knows. So you can’t tell her!”
“You don’t have any girl friends,” Nancy deadpanned. She knows he’s lying, she just can’t figure out why.
Lucas starts trying to pick up the slack, “She’s new! Um we just became friends, but we still really want to help her?” He sounded like he was asking her if that was right.
Mike squirmed under the weight of her gaze. Eleanor(?) remained silent throughout the whole thing. Nancy saw the moment he gave in. His shoulders slumped, and she saw a glimpse of just how tired he really was.
“Okay,” he sighed.
He took her by surprise when he grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the room. Pulling her all the way down the hall into her own room, he glanced around and made sure no one was within hearing distance.
“Look, she’s like us” He gestured between the two of them. “I think. I-” Nancy cut him off.
“What?!” she yelped, “She’s a werewolf too?”
“No! Well not exactly, I don’t think. She has these powers, and I think she’s being chased by some bad men because of it. She’s terrified of an adult finding out, and doesn't want Mom to know. She doesn’t know anything about us, but I couldn’t just leave her to fend for herself, Nancy! We can protect her.” He defended his stance with fervor and Nancy couldn’t help but relent.
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
He was right.
Neither of them would ever willingly let another person get hurt, let alone the first similarly atypical person they’d ever met. She hadn’t realized there were more than just werewolves, but it made some sort of sense. If one mythical creature existed, why couldn’t others? Her brain and chest hurt. There was too much happening at once. She now wanted to go to Steve’s party and forget everything more than ever.
“Fine. Just, be careful ok? Don’t do anything stupid, and come to me if you need help. I am going to go lay down and process this for a while. We will talk about everything tonight after I get back, alright? Where have you been hiding her?”
“The basement. Where are you going tonight?”
“None of your business! Go… check on your friends and Eleanor or whatever. They’re probably freaking out. I promise I won't tell Mom for now. ”
He nodded, and booked it back to his room.
Nancy collapsed on her bed with a groan.
It took forever to convince Barb that going to Steve’s party wasn’t going to be a horrible decision. Even after cajoling her into agreeing, her friend made her reservations known. Nancy wasn’t going to deal with the night without her favorite person however. She was going to be selfish, just this once, and get the best of both worlds. Everything else in her life was falling apart, why couldn’t she have just this one night? One night without the relentless tugging on top of the chilling ache Will left behind.
If she could let everything go and be free for a few hours, she’d be better prepared and able to handle whatever was going to happen with Eleanor. She just wanted a few hours to be a normal teenage girl for once. No shifting, no unexplainable feelings, and no danger or fear.
Barb did not want to go to the party, and Nancy knew it. She knew it, and yet she ignored it. She did not want to spend the night in misery, thinking about how Will could be dead or hurt. That would be what happened whether she went to the assembly or stayed home.
Barb cutting her thumb frightened her, but her friend pushed her away and wouldn’t let her help. She hated it. But she knew she deserved it for how she’d been hurting her lately.
Nothing at the stupid party was helping, so when Steve made some suggestions, she followed him upstairs. She told Barb to go home because being there only seemed to be hurting everyone. Barb wanted to leave, and Nancy couldn’t drag her down with her.
Kissing Steve was nice at first. He was much more experienced than her, but she was steadily getting better. He was gently pushing her towards the bed when her world fell out from under her. A shock of pure terror before-
Pain
Pain like she had never known before. Someone must have punched a hand through her chest and ripped out her heart. Who.. what.. Why would Steve do that?
Distantly she realized she was laying down on something soft. There were loud sounds being shouted in her ear. Something was shaking her.
Barb.
Where’d Barb go?
She tried to ask, but all that came out was a garbled groan.
Barb was gone. Barb was missing. Barb is too far away. Why was Barb gone? She didn’t understand. She didn’t even know what that meant, that Barb was gone, other than somehow it made her chest feel empty and so so cold.
Did she still have fingers? She couldn’t feel them.
A voice filtered through, “can’t call 911…. tell my parents… get in so much trouble…”
She suddenly realized that she was gasping for air.
“Nancy, breathe! Please answer me, please tell me your alright.”
Her breathing slowed. Steve was right in her face. Why was Steve in her face? Did he know where Barb was?
“See Steve, she's fine. The perfect princess was probably just having a panic attack about getting to third base.”
Third base, were they playing baseball? Her brain tried to process what was happening, but everything felt hazy and sluggish. Her body felt cold and distant. Her fingers were still missing. Did she still have hands?
Did Barb?
She hoped so. She really liked Barb’s hands.
Steve's eyes weren’t as pretty as Barbs. Why were they moving back and forth in front of her?
“I’m going to drive her home. She still looks kinda gray. But she seems to be more with it, she’s keeping eye contact.”
“Yeah man, she’s probably just tired. It looked like a lot.”
…
“Nancy, how are you doing? You feeling better yet?”
She nodded instinctively.
She was in a car. When did she get in a car?
Steve sounded relieved, “Thank goodness. We’re at your place, are you good enough to get inside by yourself?”
She took stock, and found she could at least feel her limbs again. She nodded.
“Alright. Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
She nodded.
It took a couple tries to get the door handle open. Her hands were shaking, she distantly noted. Everything wobbled a bit as she took her first few steps, but she made it to the front door somehow.
“Pushing the line, young lady. It’s almost 10:30.” That was her mothers voice.
She stared blankly at the other woman. Curfew. She nodded. She headed for the stairs.
“Nancy.”
She turned.
Her mother sighed. “You look beat. Fine, but this can’t happen again. When we agree on 10, I expect you back by 10 on the dot alright?”
She nodded.
She made it to her bed somehow and stared at the roof in soul-deep exhaustion. Something within her was searching, but everything was cold and numb. She couldn’t find any warm strings to pull on.
S̸̫̬͎̎͛h̶̺̐͒̿͐͂̌̚ẻ̴̜̦̜̼̰͙͕̇̓̊̈ ̶̗̜̺̬̯̇͂̊̽̐̓̿c̸̞̺̟̎͗͛̕͝͝͠o̷̙̝̱͓̭͇͐͌̈́̐͑͆u̴̹͍̅̄̅̈́̇̓͝l̸̞̟͔̰̓͒̃́̆d̴̙̗̖̉̿̍͝n̸͓͚̹͎͖͛͗̂̏͊͆͝'̸̛̖̼̱̪̈́͌͛͘͜t̸͚̯̝̼̱̙̿͜ ̴̝͊ͅf̵̱̱͎̃̑́̑̈̆̕e̸̩͔͊͐͋̿̿̑͜ȩ̸̞̦̖̳̏͂̃͆͒̓͑l̷̥̹̜̦͌̿͒́̚͠ ̶̪̲̠͍̓̓̈́̂̈̚̚ä̷͔͇̠̼͙́̔̊n̸̡̛͖̑͊͆͘ȳ̸̯̠̓̿̕ ̷̫͈̟̰̯͋̈́̆o̶̡̻͊̄͑̉f̶̢̛̦͖̺͈̽̊̃̃͘̚ ̶̨̮͓̱̰͗̐̌͊̾̕h̷̢̹̺̖̱̝͒͜e̸̢̯͇͙̤͍̎͌̓̑r̶̨͍͙̬̽͠ ̶̭̰̜̳̲͔͐͠p̵̛͇͖̿a̷̤̩̲̪̤͓̿c̶̤̥̻͉̫͗̂̀̒k̴͎͇͛̚
She didn’t know what she was trying to find, but whatever it was, it was hidden from her. Overrun by the loss of her person. Her everything.
Her door opened quietly, and padded footsteps came into her room. A small body crawled into the bed and wrapped their arms around her. Mike said nothing, but his presence calmed some portion of her mind. Despite the help, he fell asleep long before she did.