Shadows and Monsters- A Jonathan Byers/Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 33: It's Only Just Begun..

Jonathan looked down at the floor in answer to my question. He wasn't sure if they were dead or not and neither was I. If only there was a way for us to find out the truth and uncover any remaining secrets. Maybe we'd learn more about Eleven and maybe we could figure out what happened to Barb that way Nancy could have some closure. I looked around Jonathan's room, scatter brained and trying to find a solution. I noticed Jonathan's Walkman on his bedside table and the wheels in my head started to turn.

"Bob works at RadioShack right?" I met Jonathan's eyes again.

"Yeah, why?" He asked.

"Wanna skip school today?"

After Jonathan lent me a pair of sweatpants, a jacket and another T shirt; Jonathan headed out to drop Will off at school and acted like it was a normal day in front of Mrs. Byers. She noticed I was wearing Jonathan's clothes and raised her eyebrow at Jonathan. He told her I spilt something on myself and needed something last minute. Will laughed as we quickly made it out the door. When we left for school, Jonathan turned towards me.

"Are you sure about this? What's the plan?"

"Remember when Hopper figured out those people had bugged his place? I'm sure if their shady business is still going on, they are still keeping tabs on Will and on all of us. I'm gonna use Nancy as bait. I'll explain everything to her later, but I'm gonna call her and tell her to meet us at the park on the basis that we know something about Barb's death. That will cause the hairs on the back of their necks to stand right up. Then, they'll come and whatever happens we will get it all on tape hence the RadioShack pitstop."

We dropped Will off in front of Hawkins Middle and waved goodbye. Jonathan had The Clash playing on a tape in his car and turned it up. I could tell he was nervous, but I didn't want him to know that I felt it just as much. What we were doing was risky, but they wouldn't hurt a hair on our heads; at least that's what I kept telling myself.

"You know you don't have to do this right? I can just go and sit on the bench and-" I started before being quickly cut off.

"Stop saying that." Jonathan laughed. "Like I would let you do this by yourself."

Bob wasn't at RadioShack, where we quickly picked up a couple of tapes and a tape recorder. I kept the recorder inside of Jonathan's jacket, tight to my chest. Before we left the store, I found a payphone close by outside. I dialed Nancy's house number and waited while it rang. It was still early enough for us to get her on the phone just before she would be going to school. My heart raced hoping she would pick up.

"Hello?" A quick voice spoke.

"Nancy, it's Julia. Listen very carefully. I found something out about Barb's death, but I can't talk about it over the phone. Cut first period and meet Jonathan and I at the park in a half hour."

"Okay." Nancy said, before the phone line clicked.

I looked over at Jonathan and nodded my head. It was game on. We raced towards his car and hopped into our seats. Jonathan sped off towards the park. There was no turning back now.

When we got to the park, we noticed some families and children but nothing out of the ordinary. We sat on a bench and waited for something, not quite knowing what we were waiting for. Jonathan would look at me then back around the park, tapping his feet anxiously. Under a gazebo, a man reading a newspaper appeared to be muttering to himself.

"There." I whispered to Jonathan as he matched my view on the man. "That man reading the newspaper was just talking to himself." He looked up as if he heard my whisper. We looked away and back at the people around us. Children were playing loudly, running around a playground. It was the main thing we could hear. A group of children playing duck, duck, goose caught my attention. Two mothers standing over the group, all of a sudden made eye contact with me. I couldn't shake it.

"I think we should go." I told Jonathan, wanting to abort mission.

"Let's go." He agreed.

Jonathan and I got up simultaneously and bolted to the parking lot. My heart was racing at the paranoia grazing my mind. I held my jacket closer to me and turned to Jonathan. I was right on his tail when I noticed a man following us. I tried to ignore him hoping it was just my imagination, but he was really following us. We finally got into Jonathan's car, as I waited for him to start it. The engine would start making noise, but not the noise we wanted to hear. The engine did not roar that sweet sound it always did. Jonathan kept trying to turn the keys, but it was too late to even panic. Someone was knocking on the glass of my mind, which caused me to jump.

"Having trouble with your car miss? I can give you two a left if you like." The older man asked. I turned to Jonathan panicked when we were suddenly surrounded by the different faces we had just sat amongst in the park. The man knocked on my window again.

"Are you sure you don't need a ride?" He asked again.

We got out of the car and into this man's car. He said nothing and so did we. We saved our questions for the big guys. The people who would know the answers to our questions and even knew who we are. We pulled up to the lab. The lab where everything had happened over a year ago. I wanted to know where Eleven was and I hoped it was there. I would do anything to see her again.

Jonathan and I were brought into a room that resembled an interrogation room. I assumed that's what would happen with us. There was a security camera and one of those big mirrors that you knew was a trick mirror with people standing behind it, listening. This was not what I wanted and I was starting to get angry waiting to find out what these people were going to do with us. I walked up towards the camera impatiently and yelled out:

"Hey assholes! Let us out!" Seconds after, the door bursted open by a man in a lab coat. Jonathan stood up.

"Not very pleasant in here, is it? Sorry about that. Hospitality is not our strong suit. Scientists and all..." The man paused, looked at his watch and nodded.

"Are you up for a walk?" Jonathan looked at each other and began following the man.

"I'm assuming you're behind me..."Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind." George Sarton said that. You guys know who George Sarton is? Doesn't really matter. The point is, mistakes have been made yes." The man went on before I stopped him shortly after.

"Mistakes? You killed Barb and almost killed Will."

"Abundant mistakes, but, the men involved with those mistakes, the ones responsible for what happened to your brother and Miss Holland's death, they're gone. They're gone, and for better for worse, I'm the schmuck they brought in to make things better. But I can't make things better without your help." As he spoke we walked past labs and watched experiments taking place as we walked past glass windows.

"You mean without us shutting up?" I fired back.

"She's tough this one." I said looking at Jonathan. I could feel my face furrow.

"You guys been together long?" My heart stopped when he asked this question. Things haven't been smooth sailing, but I glanced over at Jonathan who was already looking at me.

"Ah I see. My apologies. Wanna see what really killed your friend? Teddy, I brought you an audience today. I hope you don't mind." The three of us had entered into a room. A man was getting dressed into a silver suit. To our right was clear glass separating us from what looked like a way to the upside down. The "snow" that I saw there was floating all around the air inside.

"I'd call it one hell of a mistake. Wouldn't you? See, the thing is, we can't seem to erase our mistake but we can stop it from spreading. Like, it's like pulling weeds. But imagine for a moment if a foreign state, let's say, the Soviets If they heard about our mistake do you think they would even consider that a mistake? What if they tried to replicate that?" The man in the silver suit walked into the enclosed space where the gateway to the upside down was. The man continued,

"The more attention we bring to ourselves, the more the more people like the Hollands know the truth, the more likely that scenario becomes. You see why I have to stop the truth from spreading, too. Just, same as those weeds there. By whatever means necessary." We continued watching as the man inside, setting the gateway up in flames. Our eyes glued to what was happening in front of us.

"So, we understand each other now, don't we?"