wild one - steve harrington

killer's day

'We have to kill it.' 

A quiet voice of Joyce Byers, whom Roxy was yet to meet, rang across the room as if she had yelled it. Everyone turned to her, Roxy sideways glancing at the woman. 'I want to kill it.' Joyce spoke again, more anger and determination in her voice.

'I like her.' Roxy said, more to herself, but everyone could hear. Jonathan gave a slight smile.

'Me too. Me too, Joyce, okay?' Hopper started walking toward Joyce, conflict written on his face. 'But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here.' 

'No. But he does.' Mike said, talking about Will. Roxy narrowed her eyes. How many more people are in this house? She internally asked herself. 'If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness.' Mike continued, walking, as the rest of the group followed, to the adjoining room. Roxy saw a little boy lying unconscious on the couch that she hadn't even noticed before. 

'I thought we couldn't trust him anymore.' Max asked. 'That he's a spy for the mind flayer now.' 

'Voluntarily?' Roxy asked, genuinely questioning it although it sounded like a joke.

'No, no. It's a virus.' Steve explained, coming up next to her. She nodded her head in understanding.

'Yeah, but, he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is.' Mike said. his mind clearly working on something.

**********************************************

Metal was clanging and objects were being thrown outside to prepare for some sort of interrogation room for a compromised Will. Roxy, reluctantly, watched Steve and Nancy enter the now cleared out shed in order to staple tarp and sheeting to the walls, making it even more unrecognisable. 

'Hey. What you did, um, helping the kids. That was... really cool.' Nancy said appreciatively to Steve, breaking the more than awkward silence between them.

'Yeah.' He replied, continuing to staple and duct tape plastic to the wood. 'Those little shits are real trouble, you know?'

'Believe me. I know.' Nancy said, welcoming the silence that washed over them once again.

Meanwhile, Roxy sat at the table, legs stretched out and her head hanging back in relaxation. She looked on and helped here and there whilst Max and Mike talked about what she expected to be another child. 

'I get why El was your mage now.' Max said, kindly. These kids might be having a decent influence, Roxy thought.

'What?' Mike asked quietly.

'Lucas. He told me all about her.'

'Well he shouldn't have.' Mike replied in a hostile manner. At this, Roxy lifted her head up to look at Mike, superiority burning in her eyes. 'And just because you know the truth doesn't mean you're in our party.' You do know that, right? He finished.

 'Lay off, kid.' Roxy interrupted, meeting his eyes which caused him to back down a little, looking ashamed. 

'Yeah, I know.' Max replied quietly with a bit of sadness behind her voice. 'I mean, why would you want a stupid zoomer in your party anyway? I'm just saying, El? She sounds like she was really awesome.'

'Yeah, she was. Until that thing took her. Just like it took Bob.' And with that, he left the room, Roxy staring daggers at him. She leaned forward in the chair, resting her elbows on the table as she sighed.

'Ignore it. That's just how people are.' Roxy said, her pessimistic side beginning to show itself more and more.

*******************************

Soon they were all attending to the renovations of the shed, what seemed like 20 people all moving and working, including Roxy, on covering any trace of familiarity. Roxy shuffled between working by herself, next to Max, or helping Steve. Her near-death experiences and the rush of letting out anger and adrenaline were beginning to wear off, and she felt increasingly lonely, even surrounded by people. No one was talking to her, probably because she was in a mood (and they were smart to not disturb her), and even though she was working and helping other people, her brother wasn't there like he always was so she felt she didn't have anyone to relate to. Once they were near done, she looked around her at everyone looking at each other and seeing people from the same school, the same town, the people they'd grown up with. Roxy walked outside into the night before anyone was finished, and the way she saw it, they didn't even notice. 

The rejection she received from her father infiltrated all areas of her life apart from her bond with her twin brother. When she felt no one accepted her, she knew she had Billy to lean on and joke about whatever hell they were both going through. They could sit in silence and to both of them that would mean the world. If she had the ability to be sad at her current isolation, she would, but she could only grow angrier. She looked up into the black, never-ending sky, clenching her jaw together. Roxy was eternally frustrated about how normal everyone's life was compared to hers, despite the Upside-Down.  Everyone was jealous of her carelessness and how nothing seemed to hurt her, she could do anything she wanted and no one could say anything bad about it. She and Billy would rule wherever they went. But maybe she yearned for a normal life. Finding someone she could really like, not just play with and push away. Caring about classwork and school grades rather than thinking about what home would be like that afternoon. Laughing like an idiot instead of plain anger, all the time. 'God, why is it always this?' She asked herself, exasperatedly.

'Always what? Are you okay? You know, apart from the obvious.'