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[ Chapter Ten ]

❝Oh please. He's too much of a misogynist to take his daughter hunting❞

[Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat]

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"Are we really doing this tonight?" Beth asked as she and her brother set up cans to practice shooting.

Neither of them were really proficient with a gun but since Jonathan was determined to do this, Beth had agreed to try target practice.

Jonathan gave her a look, "Mom would never let us do this if she found out."

"And that's exactly why I think we should tell her." Beth answered her brother, "We're teenagers. We're not exactly ready to fight a monster."

"Well, then we get ready." Jonathan said and walked several feet away, pointing the gun in the can's direction.

Beth rolled her eyes as she finished setting up the cans and then moved back to where her brother was, before crossing her arms over her chest, "Okay let's see you shoot then."

Jonathan shot at the cans but missed every can.

"You're supposed to shoot the cans, right?" Nancy's voice came from the side as she walked up to the two siblings.

"No, no you see the spaces in between the cans. I'm aiming at those." Jonathan responded.

"Yeah sure." Beth rolled her eyes at her brother as Nancy set down her stuff behind them.

"You ever shot a gun before?" Jonathan asked Nancy.

"Have you met my parents?" Nancy teased.

"Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten." Jonathan responded, as he reloaded the gun, "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."

"A rabbit?" Nancy asked, shocked.

"Yeah." Jonathan nodded, "I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week."

"Jesus." Nancy cursed.

"What? I'm a fan of Thumper." Jonathan tried to laugh.

"No, I meant your dad." Nancy corrected.

Beth bit her lip as she remembered the event. Beth hadn't gone because she was of course a girl and apparently girls weren't supposed to do things like hunting, though she hadn't been interested anyway. Who wanted to shoot poor defenseless creatures, anyways. But, Jonathan had been taken and he was a mess afterwards. Not that Beth blamed him. It was kind of messed up of their father, but he'd done worse things to their family that now it almost seemed tame.

Nancy looked over at Beth, "What about you?"

"What about me?" Beth responded.

"Did he take you too?" Nancy asked.

Beth scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Oh please. He's too much of a misogynist to take his daughter hunting." At Jonathan's look she added, "Besides, I also would have cried for a week."

Beth held her hand out to Jonathan, "Can I try?"

Jonathan set the gun in his sister's hands and Beth aimed it at one of the can's before shooting and successfully hitting the can. Beth cheered and then smirked at Jonathan before handing the gun back to him, "Point one to Beth."

Jonathan rolled his eyes at his sister, but smiled, "I mean you do have the athletic genes in the family."

"Oh yeah, from who?" Beth rolled her eyes.

"Yeah." Jonathan cleared his throat, "I guess our dad and mom loved each other at some point, but we were not around for that part."

Nancy looked down at the ground before holding out her hand for the gun which Jonathan handed to her.

"Yeah um. Just point and shoot." Jonathan said.

"I don't think my parents ever really loved each other." Nancy shook her head, not looking at either twin and instead looking straight ahead.

"They must've married for some reason." Jonathan said shaking his head.

"My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money came from a good family." Nancy started as she pointed the gun straight at the cans, "So, they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-du-sac and started their nuclear family."

Both twins shook their heads and said at the same time, "Screw that."

"Yeah." Nancy nodded, and shot the can, knocking it right off the post, "Screw that!"

"Nance!" Beth cheered and leaned over to high-five her friend before looking at her brother, "I stand corrected. Maybe we can kill this thing."

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The three walked through the forest, on their way to Steve's house because that's where the monster man had been seen last.

Beth wasn't going to lie, she was terrified but she felt a little less terrified knowing that she and Nancy might be decent shots.

"You never said what I was saying." Nancy broke the silence.

"What?" Jonathan asked.

"You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture." Nancy answered.

Beth rolled her eyes and moved a little bit away from the group, not knowing what to contribute to the clearly private conversation. This wasn't the first time that she'd wished she'd brought her walkman. Sure, she wanted to keep her ears alert but she really didn't need to hear a conversation about her brother taking weird photos of her best friend.

Beth tuned out of the conversation for a few minutes and wandered a little ways away from them.

Suddenly Nancy ran up beside her, knocking her out of her daydreams, "Beth!"

"Not enjoying a conversation with my brother?" Beth teased as she turned to look at her best friend.

Nancy rolled her eyes, "Look we're doing this together."

"Obviously." Beth responded and lowered her voice, "For the record, I still think this is a stupid idea."

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious." Nancy laughed and then asked, "Do you think Barb was taken too?"

Beth sighed, "I really don't know what to think, Nance. I've never even considered that something like this could happen in Hawkins, or outside the pages of comic books." Beth looked sideways at her best friend, "I don't want to find my brother, dead."

"We won't." Nancy promised, even though she knew that that probably wasn't a promise that she could keep.

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Word Count: 1010

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well!  Merry Christmas!

(The gif at the top was made by me. Please do not steal it.)

What did you guys think? 

I love you all and will see you soon for chapter 11!

POSTED ON:

12. 25. 20