𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 - 𝐧. 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫

Chapter 4

"What? What are you talking about?" Nancy exclaimed, obviously confused.

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I'm talking about Nance. Barb? It's my fault she's dead. I saw the demogorgon before it took her. It's my fault." I looked Nancy right in the eyes. I never really mentioned how beautiful she was. Even when in stressful situations, and at times when I hate her, she never gets uglier, as much as I want her to.

"Kie.." She looked at me with a sorry expression on her face. "That was 2 years ago. I never really blamed you. I mean, maybe at first, but no, not anymore." That earned a confused look from me. She never blamed me? Then why won't she talk to me? Why does Nancy Wheeler hate me?

"The real reason I didn't want to talk to you is becaus-'' Steve burst into the bathroom. "Kie we need to talk.'' Nancy and I jumped when the door opened. "Oh hey Nance, you come too."

We all walked out of the bathroom together, totally confused. Steve walked ahead of Me and Nancy, rushing into the back room of Scoops. In the back was the entire party, El, Max, Mike, Dustin, Lucus, and Will, along with Johnathan and Robin. All three of us walked in and Mike looked up at us. He said the words I never wanted to hear again.

"It's back."

I sighed and started walking back and forth. Nancy sat down on the counter and put her face in her hands as Mike continued to explain.

"It's back. We were walking towards the mall to meet with El and Max, and Will felt it." El and Max looked at each other, obviously worried. Will looked down at his shoes and then looked up at everyone. "Yeah. It's back"

Robin interrupted. "I'm sorry to interrupt this little family meeting, but that the hell is 'it'?" Everyone looked at each other, silently deciding if she should know the truth, when Steve nodded. I took that as an ok.

"For the past 2 years we've been tormented by monsters. Hawkins isn't what it seems, Robin. Remember Barbra Holland?" Nancy winced at the mention of Barb's name. The room went silent. No one liked talking about the people we couldn't save.

Robin nodded. "She died in that chemical leak right?" Nancy turned around and walked out of the ice cream parlor. I wanted to follow her, but I think I'm the last person she'd want to talk to about her friend.

I looked down. "Yeah, she died. But not from a chemical leak. She was...she was taken to another dimension." I knew she wouldn't believe me.

Robin laughed the hardest i've ever seen her laugh. "You've got to be shitting me!" Everyone's facial expressions were stern, she quieted down and her expression quickly turned grim. "You're serious..?" We all nodded.

Steve explained the rest, and it took a while to sink in, but eventually, she believed us. I still didn't want to believe that something was wrong, again.

Everyone was arguing about the current news and I looked over at Max who was sitting quietly. A little too quiet for Max. She looked up and I noticed she had small tears in her eyes. "It's Billy." Everyone went silent.

Steve was the first to say something. "What about Billy?" I knew Steve didn't like Billy much. They got into a fight last fall when he showed up at the Byers house looking for Max. Steve got his ass beat, but he had the spirit.

Max looked around the room. "He's been acting weird. Me and El were looking around my house, and we saw bags of ice, blood on the cabinets,  and Heather hasn't been at the pool for 2 days." El nodded in agreement.

"We...went to Heather's house." El said, quietly. Max looked at her and shook her head. "We went to her house, and they were both there, but Billy was too nice. Somethings wrong."

Will nodded, and everyone turned to look at him. "He likes it cold. The ice, Billy wearing shirts. He's making it colder."

"So what he's like what happened to you last fall?" Steve asked. Last fall, Will got possessed by the Mind Flayer, so that's probably what's happening to Billy.

I looked around and noticed that Nancy wasn't back yet, so when everyone started arguing again, I snuck out to find her. I saw her sitting next to the bathroom entrance, her face was in her hands and her knees were to her chest.

I sat down next to her, even if she hated me, and I claimed I hated her back, I didn't want her to feel alone.

"Hey Nance. Are you ok?" Honestly, I wasn't sure if she'd respond or not, but it didn't matter, I just wanted her to know I was here.

She looked up from her hands and looked me right in the eyes. For a second, it was like the world stopped, and all I was aware of was her.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just busy blaming you for her death." I genuinely couldn't tell if she was joking, until she laughed. A pure laugh. I haven't heard her really laugh since Barb. She's been happy, sure, but was she ever really happy?

I looked down at my feet. I felt like she needed to know what we were talking about, even if it ruins the mood.

I sighed. "They think Billy is possessed. Like Will was last fall." She looked down. That really puts a damper on things. She looked up. "How is Max taking it?"

I looked over at her. "She's the one who brought it up." I said as Nancy looked at all the shoppers passing by.

Nancy laughed again. A pure laugh. "Of course she did. She's a badass. I need lessons from her."

I laughed too. "Yeah well so are you. You're one of the bravest people I know, Nance."

For a second I saw her face turn a shade of pink. "Yeah well, fighting monsters every year might help with the bravery part." She smiled, and I smiled back. Next thing I knew Steve was running towards us yelling our names.

"KIE! NANCY! WE HAVE A PLAN!" He waved his arms like a maniac.

I grabbed Nancy's hand and helped her up, and we started walking behind Steve to the ice cream parlor, and it made me realize,

                Maybe I don't hate Nancy Wheeler