Shadows and Monsters- A Jonathan Byers/Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 17: Broken Glass, Broken Mind

  Running into Jonathan's car, I felt a little light headed. I sat down and held my head and rubbed my eyes. I started to feel a sharp pain on my forehead and ran my finger over the area. Blood. Thick and dark red staining my finger.  I hadn't even realized that Jonathan was driving. I didn't know where we were going. I didn't know what was happening.

"Are you okay?" Jonathan looked at me. "Shit, you're bleeding. You're staying over my house tonight."

  I couldn't cry, physically I couldn't cry. My heart felt like someone had stabbed it repeatedly until my heart was turned into mush. I felt numb with no feeling left at all. I was beyond that point. 

  Arriving at Jonathan's house, we went inside. The house was left a mess from Chief Hopper's search for a bug, and Mrs. Byers was asleep I assumed. Jonathan didn't say much to me, but he kept looking at me concerningly. I was still in shock to the point of lacking any emotions or communication. 

"You can sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." Jonathan brought up, but I shook my head no and he looked confused.

"He might come here to-" 

"I'll protect you." Jonathan cut me off, but smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"Don't leave me alone." I spoke into his chest. He was so warm and made me feel safe.

"Never." 

    We walked into Jonathan's room and he handed me a folded t shirt and pair of sweatpants. We both turned around to face the opposite direction as we both changed and turned back around to face each other afterwards. Jonathan slightly smiled, he didn't say why but I think he enjoyed the thought of me wearing his clothes. I sat on his bed, not tired enough to sleep although it would probably be best if I did. Jonathan sat next to me and held my hand. His presence reassured me that everything would be okay. I started to fall asleep so Jonathan quickly gave me a paper towel and a bandaid for my forehead. 

"Just a little cut." He told me. I was relieved that it wasn't anything worse.

 I laid in bed and Jonathan laid next to me. My mind wondered off throughout the night about my parents and their faults. I love them both, but lately I've felt like the only sane one in our family. The next morning we had school so Jonathan woke me up earlier then I would usually get up.

"Julia.. Julia we have to get to school. Plus we should go to your house to get your stuff." He rubbed my shoulder and brushed the hair out of my face as I sat up. 

"Okay. My dad shouldn't be home now anyways." 

  Jonathan and I got up and got dressed. I asked him if I could wear his t shirt to school and he laughed, but agreed and let me have it. It was green and short sleeved. I thought it complimented my blonde hair and brown eyes. Jonathan grabbed his stuff for school and made us some breakfast. I just had some toast and Jonathan had eggs. We headed out the door to my house, right after. I was extremely nervous to be back in that house. I dreaded it. I prayed to God that my dad wasn't there for some reason and God must've heard me somehow because he wasn't.

  Jonathan came in with me as we stepped over a few broken pieces of glass. The house looked like it had been cleaned up a little bit, but it was still a mess. I ran up to my room and grabbed my books and backpack and ran back downstairs to Jonathan. 

 Pulling up to Hawkins High with Jonathan was making me anxious. I started to feel all eyes on me, so I pulled the bandaid off of my forehead. I looked to Jonathan who was smiling. 

"Ready?" He asked, and I nodded nervously. 

  We walked into the building amongst whispers and chatter but I kept telling myself that it was all in my head and that nobody really cared about me so they weren't talking about me. I looked to Jonathan the whole time who just kept looking forward and I did the same. The day went by quickly and I was hoping that Jonathan and I could swing by Mike Wheeler's house after school today. So when the last bell rang, I asked Jonathan when I met up with him and he seemed open to it and willing to meet Eleven. 

  The two of us got pulled into the driveway of Mike's house and knocked on the door, unexpectedly greeted by Nancy. 

"Oh, hi you guys." Nancy said peeking her head out from the door.

"Hi." We both said at the same time.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked, knowing we couldn't be here for her.

"We're here to see Mike." I told her.

"Mike?" She questioned. Nancy knew that Mike and I were friendly, but not to the point of hanging out.

"We're big Dungeons and Dragons fans." Jonathan said and I nodded, trying not to laugh. Nancy let us in and called Mike's name. He was in the basement, as I assumed he would be.

"Hey Julia. Hey Jonathan." Mike said. "C'mon." Mike opened the basement door and led us downstairs. We followed him and saw Eleven sitting on the ground eating what seemed to be waffles.

"Jonathan, this is Eleven. She isn't from here, but she knows Will and says he's alive. She says he's stuck in the upside down with the Demogorgon."

"What's the upside down and what's a Demogorgon?" Jonathan asked.

"The monster and the other dimension." I told him. "We have a picture of it." I turned to Mike. Jonathan reached for his backpack and unzipped it, pulling out the ripped up and tapped photograph. Mike pulled it in close to his face and I pointed towards the right corner behind Barbara.

"I think Barbara is there too." I told Mike. He looked shocked and he showed Eleven.

"Is this what has Will?" He asked her and she nodded, not wanting to look at it for very long.

"So if Will's alive, how can we find him and bring him back?" Jonathan asked. 

"I think Eleven can get to him somehow but we haven't figured it out yet. Our science teacher told us that in order to get to the upside down that it would need a lot of energy and our compasses have been leading us to a place, but Dustin, Lucas, and I got into an argument and we never ended up finding the place yet but we will. We just have to be careful because bad people are after Eleven and we can't have them find her." 

"I'm sorry you and your friends got into an argument. I hope you guys find the portal." I told Mike.

"Yeah let us know if you find anything." Jonathan said.

"Nice to see you again Eleven." I smiled at her.

"Pretty." She said, smiling back.

"Very pretty." Jonathan said. I turned to see him smiling at me. 

"Bye Mike." We both said and left.

  As we got inside Jonathan's car, something had crossed my mind that I hadn't thought about before.

"Jonathan, I just thought of something." He faced me, all ears. "The monster was feeding on that deer and on those animals which makes it a predator. It feeds off of blood. It craves blood."

"We could use blood to lure the monster." Jonathan pieced my thoughts together for me and nodded his head.

"If we kill the monster, then at least Will and Barbara would be safe until Mike and Eleven find the portal." I told him.

"Are you ready to do this?" Jonathan asked, looking as motivated as ever.

"I'm ready."

**Sorry for the lack of updates over the past two days! I was actually out having a social life. ALSO THANK YOU FOR 2.5K READS AND OVER 180 FAVES! You guys are the best!**