SWORD

five

|CHAPTER FIVE|
THE MORNING AFTER

"Armani, what did you do"

Steve let out a sigh, stopping in front of the Newby's house before realizing there wasn't anyone at home.

"Shit." He looked around, wondering where Armani's dad could be. Steve looked down, seeing keys in Armani's open bag. Taking the silver, he stepped out of the car. The sky was dark, the only signs of life at this hour seemed to be seven crows, standing on top of the power line.

He walked towards the house and attempted the keys, "Yeah okay, Steve. Great Idea. Help your drunk..friend. Into her house huh? This is technically breaking in. Her dad's not even home. She could get kidnapped. She could die! She could–" the crows rang simultaneously, their wings flapped and Steve flinched. "Shit!" he yelled, finally opening the door and turning on the light to the house, it wasn't nearly as torn as the Byer's, but definitely not the Wheelers, or his, house.

He went back to the car, picking up the sleeping girl and carrying her inside.

Steve looked inside the living room, which had RadioShack boxes sprawled all over the couch, he turned into the hallway and looked through the doors before finally finding Armani's bedroom.

He set her down and covered her with a blanket, only a street light through the window illuminated the room, casting shadows on the sleeping girls face. It was the first time in a while the boy actually looked at her with full attention, no distractions. He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts, realizing everything about her that he never noticed before.

Steve's attention moved from the girl before his mind consumed him and, with peaked interest, he glazed around her room. It was an azure color, trinkets and decorations gave way to her hobbies. He knew from the year before that Armani was into photography, so it wasn't a surprise for him to find pictures she had taken of people she cared about.

He approached the wall where pictures hung from a string, eyes bouncing from one to the next. An abundance of pictures with Sage and Bob in them. He found a couple that he was in, but he looked younger. They were taken before he was subjected to the truth that was the upside down, before he and Armani seemed to part ways. There were plenty more, but he saw three sprawled on the floor that seemed to draw his attention towards them.

The first one, a picture of Armani by herself, she held a sunflower in her hands and a big smile on her face. Under the film was written in messy handwriting 'before.'

The second picture was one of Barbara, Armani, Sage, Jason and himself, on the day of his party last year. It had a stain like she had spilled a drink on it, the marker was hardly legible, it read 'last one.'

The third photograph was one just Armani again, but it wasn't taken by the same camera, it wasn't film either. It had been developed. It was at an angle he recognized, and taken in his backyard, by Jonathan Byers no doubt.