blue ( stranger things ) ✓

4; the body

4. THE BODY

❝I'LL PROTECT YOU FROM EVERYTHING I'VE SEEN,❞

edited

The crying had stopped long ago and Jonathan Beyers was now asleep, or at least pretending, on her shoulder. Winona had watched the clouds form shapes as they sat out on the cold creaky verandah unable to leave the upset boy. Her arm was wrapped around his shoulder and her cheek rested upon the top of his head. Winona had shed a few tears of Will but there was no point lying, she barely knew him. It was tragedy and she would pay her respects just like everyone else. Joyce was more distraught than anyone else blubbering about how he wasn't dead and she'd seen a monster. No one believed her especially since they'd been to morgue and seen the body. It'd been chalked up to anxiety and the grieving process, something that didn't necessarily calm Joyce.

Then there was Eleven, it wasn't Winona's place to talk about her. She'd promised her brother and her friends she'd say nothing yet she couldn't help but think the girl was somehow linked to Will. Of course she had too little evidence to base that off.

But Jonathan was stoic, he'd cried but remained silent not wanting to talk. In fact the only words he'd said to her was 'please stay'

So she had, of course she had. Why would you leave someone alone with the knowledge that the person they loved so deeply was gone? Dustin had wanted to be left alone, had gone into his room and locked the door. Before she'd gone over to see Jonathan she'd left him a small tray of his favourite biscuits. She knew the food wouldn't take away the pain but it would give him the small comfort of knowing that his sister was there for him. It was obvious what was on Jonathan's mind as he stared at floor awake. The cigarette in between Winona's fingers was long forgotten and dying out.

His encounter with his mother in town had been memorable, she'd agreed to drive them there as both were upset. Joyce was taking the news harder which was entirely understandable, she was his mother after all. A funeral most have been two big a thought to handle.

"I have some money I can give you," she murmured lifting up the ciggie to take a breath, "For the funeral. It's not that much but-" He didn't speak but moved forward standing up. Winona sighed knowing that he more than likely didn't want to talk about with anyone but his mother. She was invading.

"I'm sorry. I-I, I can go now if you want," She stood up next to him dropping the cigarette on the floor and stamping it out. "Maybe you just need some time-"

"I need your help," He wiped the wood chippings of his coat, "Please?"

"Hell yeah," He smiled at him punching his shoulder, "I'm here for you," She smiled at her taking in his sad eyes and sighed, this was far from over.

✛

"It's made of soft wood," The man in the funeral parlor said in a quiet voice. Jonathan stared at him not moving while Winona rested her hand upon the flower arrangements in the room. They were beautiful yet sad, which she supposed was powerful. "It had a crepe interior," the man continued, "Now I don't know what your budget is but over here we have copper and bronze," he waved a hand in the direction they were heading. Jonathan's warm hand slipped into hers not wanting her to disappear. As they walked towards the room Winona looked up noticing Nancy Wheeler standing in the door way. Jonathan noticed she'd stopped walking and looked up.

"Could you give us a minute?" he asked whilst Winona stared at the girl. Slowly they walked over to her letting go of one another's hands.

"Hey Nancy," Winona raised a hand as Jonathan nodded his head at her. Nancy smiled softly at her, "Jonathan's mum said you two be here. I just- can we talk for a second?" she beckoned them both outside pulling something out of her bag. It was a torn up photo which she handed to both of them.

"It looks like some sort of perception distortion," Jonathan said looking at the blur in the photo. "But I wasn't use a wide angle. I don't know, it's weird"

He handed it back to Nancy as Winona continued to stare at it, "It's definitely something. Are you sure you didn't see someone else out there?" both girls looked at him expectantly but he shook his head.

"No, she was there on second and gone the next," He said. As soon as he said it Winona realised what Nancy was angling at.

"You think this has something with Barb's disappearance?" she asked, "Cause someone in Bio said she had the flu,"

Nancy shook her head, "The cops think she ran away but they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's and I thought I saw something. Some weird man or... I don't know what it was," she trailed off, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have come here today. I'm so sorry,"

"What did he look like?" Winona said her mind springing towards the monster Joyce had spoken to Jonathan about.

"What?" Nancy turned around look at Winona.

"The man you saw in the woods," Winona elaborated, "What did he look like?" she chewed her lip taking a step towards Nancy.

"I-I don't know; it was almost like he-"

"Didn't have a face," Jonathan finished his voice growing shaky as he locked eyes with Winona. They were all silent as Nancy saw the unspoken thought echoing between the two of them.

"How did you know that?" Her voice waved as she stared in disbelief between the two of them.

✛

The room was bathed in red as the three of them stood in it. Jonathan flicked a switch on a machine as Winona wrote down what had happened with Nancy in her notebook. Jonathan was brightening and enlarging the picture that Nancy had shown the duo. This was something Winona had seen him do a few times for her articles.

"Did she see anything else?" Nancy asked as Jonathan leant to look into the microscope. "Like were it might have gone to?"

"It was nothing like yours," Winona said flipping to the page of the notebook that had Joyce's description, "She said it came out the wall and tried to grab her. She even did a little sketch for me," she showed it to Nancy. The red light made the page hard to see but she figured Nancy got the idea. Jonathan got the piece of paper and slide it into the water silent.

"How long will it take?" Nancy asked as he swirled it around.

"Not long,' he shrugged keeping his eyes trained on the paper. The only sound in the room was the water swirling. All of them stared at the developing photo with baited breath until it fully formed.

"Holy-" Winona leant forward looking at the figure.

"That's what I saw," Nancy pointed at it.

"I thought Mum was crazy," his voice shook as Winona took a step backwards, "When she said that's not Will's, that he's alive,"

"And if he's alive," Nancy stared down at the piece of paper a smile forming on her face.

"Then so is Barb," Winona fished.

PYSCH