Her // Nancy Wheeler

The Vanishing Of Will Byers #1

Out of place.

Those were the only words that could describe the way Evelyn Byers felt in that moment. This wasn't exactly how she saw herself spending a Sunday afternoon, actually, this wasn't how she saw herself spending any day...ever.

On afternoons like this you'd usually find her sleeping or reading a book however, today was different. Today, her mother woke the girl up with a cold washcloth to the face and a list. A list unlike any other Joyce had given before, absent of her usual chores, this list had one name and a phone number, Nancy Wheeler.

At first, she was confused but it finally clicked later that morning. Nancy's name was on the it for one reason and one reason only, another one of Joyce's attempts to help Evelyn make friends. This wasn't the first time she'd tried to force her daughter into making friends and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

Nancy Wheeler wasn't a new face to Evelyn, their younger brothers had been best friends for years, but the two girls had never actually spoken before. Joyce had no business forcing Evelyn to make friends, however, one boring afternoon wasn't going to kill her- at the very least it would get Joyce off her back for a while.

Soft doe eyes skimmed an old copy of The Shining though the person behind them wasn't paying much attention to the book. Instead, she was trying to avoid the pair of distrusting eyes watching her from across the room.

Evelyn half expected the small girl to say something, anything to fill the awkward silence but it'd been an hour since she arrived and still no words had been spoken. 'It's because you're gay' Evelyn snickered in her mind. That was definitely a mood killer when came to starting conversations.

There was an unspoken rule followed by most students at Hawkins High School; ignore Evelyn Byers. This rule came to pass after Evelyn stupidly asked Carol Perkins to be her date to the homecoming dance. Ever since then the town's teenagers avoided her at all costs. It was almost as if they were afraid to catch the gay...or the poor, she wasn't sure which was worse in their eyes.

But Evelyn's sexuality wasn't all that set the two girls apart, there were many differences between them and it was small insignificance's like that which made their lack of friendship understandable. She would've been surprised that her brother was friends with Mike Wheeler if it hadn't been for their other friends, Lucas and Dustin. Lucas was one of the only black children in town and Dustin was a weird little boy with some kind of condition she couldn't remember the name of. All four boys had something about them that deemed them 'weird', and therefore, unlikable.

Evelyn would never admit it but she'd always been a little jealous of their rag-tag group of friends, maybe if she had friends like that she'd be happier.

She was never a social butterfly, even as a child, none of the Byers children were. Her younger brother was the only sibling with a somewhat normal social life and her older brother Jonathan had a few acquaintances, but Evelyn? Her only friends were the characters in the pages of her favorite books.

She wasn't surprised to see that Nancy's room was a five-star hotel compared to hers. The walls were covered in pink and white striped wallpaper, basic but pretty. Behind Nancy was a beautiful window with off-white curtains, the room perfectly accentuated her dainty and beautiful appearance. Evelyn's room was a mess of uneven wooden panels and a broken window with shutters that creaked when she shut them. However, though she wasn't as well off as Nancy, she didn't want her home life any other way.

Her deep brown eyes lifted from the large book on her lap and looked at the pretty girl across the room. With babydoll eyes and a small figure Nancy was beautiful, she couldn't deny it. The pixie was the kind of beautiful that girls were jealous of and men adored, even she'd caught herself countless times watching Nancy in awe.

"Nancy?" Evelyn said, finally growing tired of the awkward silence, "This has been fun, but I'm gonna go." Nancy fiddled with the end of her soft blue shirt and nodded her head, "I'll walk you out." She smiled.

'Ah, she speaks!' thought Evelyn.

"No, that's okay, I know the way out. Thanks...for hanging out with me." The urgent need to leave came over Evelyn like a blanket as she stood from the floor and moved to the doorway. Taking one last glance at Nancy and giving a small wave she left the room closing the door behind her and forgetting her book in the process.

Cold, fresh air hit her face as she opened the front door of the Wheeler house. Pausing at the end of the steps she let out a deep breath, grateful to finally be out of the house. The thin legs on her tall frame walked quickly to the purple bike parked on the front lawn. She placed her black converse-covered feet on the bike peddles and pushed herself away from the house, unaware of Nancy watching her fade into the distance from her bedroom window.

It was turning dark when she finally reached home and that was when she saw it.

It was far enough away to go unnoticed but the feeling of being watched had caused her to look around. Her eyes focused on a large figure moving in and out of peripheral vision. She couldn't look away, no, she didn't want to look away. Pure, unprovoked fear kept her frozen in place and curiosity begged her to see who it was. But, as they say, curiosity killed the cat.

So, deciding against being murdered before turning 17, she dropped her bike on the lawn and dashed inside. Evelyn wasn't sure who, or what, it was but if the cold, icy tingles surging through her body were saying anything, it was that she didn't want to find out.