Shadows and Monsters- A Jonathan Byers/Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 15: The Secret

The next couple of days, I didn't see much of Jonathan. We only hung out a couple of times for a short period each, but nothing felt the same as before. My mind wondered to the thought of if I had done something wrong. Then I would replay everything in my head, but I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't figure him out.

I came home from school and plopped onto my bed. I began journaling about my day and how I could figure out the whole Jonathan thing, when I heard the phone ring. I skipped downstairs quickly and picked up, saying the line I always said.

"Bennett residence, this is Julia speaking." I played with the phone chord in between my fingers.

"Julia, it's Mike. Mike Wheeler." I was surprised to say the least.

"Hey Mike, what's going on?" I asked, trying to sound like a cool kid his age and utterly failing.

"Can you come over? I have something to show you. Don't worry, Nancy isn't home." I laughed at his assumption that I wouldn't want to run into Nancy.

"Sure. I'll be over in twenty minutes." I hung up the phone and ran over to my sneakers, tying them as fast as I could and headed out the door.

I walked to the bus stop and down three streets to be on Mike's. The last time I walked to his house like this was with Nancy. It seemed like a lifetime ago and that those were completely different girls. Now I was here for something much more important then to gossip about boys and clothes. This mattered.

I knocked on Mike's door once before it was opened right away. Mike grabbed my arm and pulled me towards his basement. I would normally be frightened if this were anyone else then Mike Wheeler.

"You can't tell ANYONE. Okay?"

"Okay." I agreed with Mike as he led me down his basement. When we got down the stairs, I saw Lucas and Dustin were there. I smiled at them, and Mike let go of my arm.

"Julia, this is Eleven."

A small little girl came from behind me. She had big eyes and a subtle smile on her face. Her head was shaven and she was wearing Mike's clothes. I had never seen her in Hawkins before and I wanted to know why Mike kept her such a big secret.

"Hello Eleven, I'm Julia." I lowered myself to her level, I didn't want to intimidate her by my height.

"Pretty." She said to me, bashfully.

"Thank you. You are very pretty too." She smiled bigger then before and seemed more comfortable around me.

"Julia. Eleven is here because she knows Will." Mike stepped forward.

"Like, she knew that he went missing and they have never met." Dustin piped in.

"She says Will is in another dimension and that the Demogorgon are there with Will." Mike continued.

"She can also do stuff with her mind, like a Jedi." Dustin said and everyone nodded their head in agreement.

I stood up and could feel the look of shock that my face must've been portraying in that moment. She was special. I could tell. I wiped my eyes with my hands, trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Eleven knew all this, but I believed the boys with all my heart.

"I've been there." I decided to tell them. "Jonathan and I went out looking for Will when I found this tree that led me to this place that was like Hawkins, but it wasn't Hawkins and I saw the monster."

"It's called a Demogorgon." Lucas corrected me.

"You were there? Did you see Will?" Mike asked eagerly. I shook my head.

"Eleven, do you know how to get to Will?" I crouched to her level again, but she stayed silent.

"We tried that already." Lucas sneered.

"She says bad people are looking for her." Mike confessed. I looked into Eleven's eyes and how scared she looked at the thought of the "bad people."

"Mike is going to keep you safe." I told Eleven, very sure of Mike's clever ways.

"Can I talk to you alone, Mike?" I motioned for him to step away from his friends.

"You need to tell someone about this." I tried to convince him. I already had Jonathan in mind.

"Bad people are after her Julia, I can't tell the police." Mike stressed Eleven's safety.

"Can I at least tell Jonathan? We won't tell Will's mom, but please let me tell Jonathan." I begged Mike, hoping he would budge on his position.

I sighed. "Jonathan has a real picture of the Demogorgon that he took when I was with him in the woods. I'm sure if you let me tell him about Eleven, he would be willing to show you guys." I thought a trade off could convince Mike, so I offered the only valuable piece of the puzzle that we had.

Mike looked back at his friends and told me to hang on. He pulled Lucas and Dustin aside and whispered to them about my offer. They kept looking at me as I watched them. I could hear Lucas raising his voice in resistance, but I think Mike corralled the two of them into trusting Jonathan and I. Mike walked back and told me that we had a deal. We shook hands and emphasized to all of the boys that they could trust us and that we could help them.

I left the Wheeler house and pulled a cigarette out of my pocket. I lit it as I walked down the three streets I passed earlier to go back to my house. We were really onto something here and I hoped that Jonathan would be on board. He needed to meet Eleven and hear what they had to say. I planned on either going to his house now or maybe telling him at school, but I wasn't sure.

I got back to my house and thought about everything some more. I was pacing back and fourth in my living room, trying to decide on what to do. On impulse, I went outside and started walking to Jonathan's house. It would take me up to an hour, but I didn't care. It needed to be done. I walked against the cold wind on my face and breeze through my hair that made every hair on my body stick up. I didn't want to run, but my adrenaline wanted me to.

I got to the Byers house and saw both cars in the driveway. I had to make sure I told Jonathan what I knew in private. I did want to tell Mrs. Byers, but we needed to figure everything else out first before anything was said about Will maybe actually still being alive. I knocked on the door and could hear Mrs Byers inside. She opened the door.

"Julia, how are you?" Mrs Byers let me inside her home, as I noticed that she was in the middle of taking all of the Christmas lights down from around the house. It broke my heart seeing this, because it meant that she has given up hope.

"I'm okay, thank you. How are you doing?" I always felt the need to ask her this. I cared about Mrs. Byers so much, as if she was a mother figure in my life.

"I'm alright... Um, Jonathan is in his room." She faked a smile at me, I could hear the pain in her voice.

I walked down the hall to Jonathan's bedroom door that was opened and knocked. Jonathan was on his bed, laying down with headphones on. He took them off as soon as he saw me and sat up.

"Hey Julia." He faintly smiled as I entered his room.

"I have something important to tell you." I started, when loud knocking at the front door startled the both of us and stopped my train of thought. Jonathan and I walked into the living room together to see what was happening.

"Go away Lonnie." Mrs. Byers called out at the door, but when the knocking continued Mrs. Byers got up to see who it was.

It was Chief Hopper holding up a piece of paper that said "Do Not Say Anything".

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