CRAYON MET PAPER IN SWIFT, light strokes, forming the base of a tree. Amara had never been particularly good at drawing, though she found nature somewhat easier to recreate than the intricacies of human features. She used the flat side of the crayon to shade in the bark, accidentally coloring outside the margin ever so often. Repeating this process, she completed a rough sketch of the forest she'd been in less than an hour ago.

        "It was like I'd left Hawkins. It looked the same, but it wasn't."

        She dropped the brown crayon and picked up white and grey ones, blending the colors together as she attempted to draw the snow-like particles Nancy had mentioned. While Amara wasn't entirely sure what they were, her best guess was that they could be air particles, which meant that the place where Nancy had briefly been had a completely different atmosphere in order for them to be visible. She switched to brown and dark green to portray the ropelike vines Nancy had said covered every surface, creating them to snake around trees and over the leaves on the ground. Lastly, she used the white crayon again to add a thin layer of fog behind the trees.

        Like Hawkins, but not the same.

        Amara and Jonathan were staying the night in Nancy's room, partially because her mother believed her to be sleeping over at Robin's, but mostly because Nancy didn't want to be alone. They'd sneaked through the window so as not to alert Mrs. Wheeler, only leaving the room to take turns showering. Nancy was currently in the shower, and though she was still in a state of shock, she had insisted that Jonathan and Amara go before her.

        Everything was oddly peaceful at that moment, as if they hadn't made contact with an unknown dimension and the origin of Will and Barb's disappearances. As if Nancy wasn't trying to conceal from her parents that there were two people spending the night in her room. As if Jonathan (he blamed himself for thinking of this amid the circumstances they were in) hadn't held Nancy like that. As if Amara's impulsivity hadn't taken her this far off the beaten track.

        Perhaps in another universe, Amara would have become friends with Nancy and Jonathan on her own. She could be in Nancy's room for a girls' night of painting nails and reading glossy magazines. She could have bonded with Jonathan through his and her brother's shared interest in the world of documentation. She could have been good friends with them by now if she hadn't spent the last year shutting herself out from her community.

        But the reality was that she was only friends with them because she'd been roped into a wild goose chase after being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was only in Nancy's room because she needed to hide from a bloodthirsty monster and her uptight mom. She only knew Jonathan because he had taken a picture of the same creature she'd seen through her bike handle. And she had spent a year hiding from Hawkins because of her autism, which she wished she could shove into a box and dump in Lake Michigan.

        But then I wouldn't even be in Hawkins right now, she realized. We only moved because I'd been expelled four times...

        If Amara hadn't been diagnosed with autism, she would be attending high school in Cleveland, blissfully unaware of the chaos taking Hawkins by storm. Jonathan and Nancy would have been on their own as she lived a normal life, incapable of performing the role of team player. And while her diagnosis inhibited her ability to read social cues and absorb complex information, it enhanced her memory and perceptivity, which were beneficial for a case such as the one they were dealing with.

        Perhaps she was meant to move to Hawkins, for this reason.

        She wasn't aware of how tired she was until a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed her. Carefully folding the drawing and placing it into her jacket pocket, she shifted her body into a more comfortable position in the chair she was sitting on. She fell asleep within minutes, despite the lights still being on.

NANCY WAS ALREADY AWAKE by the time Amara's eyelids flickered open the next morning.

        Evidently she'd received very little sleep, which Amara expected would have occurred to her if she had been the one in an alternate dimension, mere feet away from being killed. Still in her blue pajamas, Nancy was sat upright on her bed, poring over several books about predatory animals and occasionally jotting down an important piece of information on a notepad. Shrugging off the extra blanket Nancy had draped over her body while she was asleep, Amara rose to her feet and moved to sit beside her, careful not to wake Jonathan.

        "Hey," Nancy whispered, not looking up from her book. She was currently reading through a section on nocturnal predators, attempting to find an animal that fit the description of the monster she'd faced the previous night.

        "I drew this last night," Amara fished into her jacket and brought out the drawing, unfolding it for Nancy to see. She glanced up from her book and took the picture in her hands, scrutinizing it carefully.

        "Does this look like, umm, where you were last night?" Amara asked tentatively.

        "I... yeah," Nancy nodded, handing it back to Amara. "But where was I?"

        "It looks almost like an abandoned warehouse to me," Amara suggested, and Nancy raised her eyebrows quizzically. "I mean, when a warehouse is abandoned, it decays and ivy grows everywhere," she explained.

        "I mean, if all of Hawkins was a warehouse, then I guess," Nancy resolved, returning her attention to her book, seemingly more interested in learning more about the creature without a face than the dimension in which it resided. Amara didn't mind though.

        Sensing movement near her, Amara turned to see Jonathan stirring. Upon hearing the sound of Nancy flipping through the pages of a section on lone predators, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Amara smiled at him, an action he mirrored in his tired state.

        "Hey," he murmured, peering over Nancy's shoulder as she scribbled down more notes. "Couldn't sleep?" he queried, immediately regretting his question. How was Nancy supposed to sleep peacefully when she'd found the creature she had been searching endlessly for, only for it to bring her no closure or satisfaction? She had survived, but Barb was still trapped in that dark, empty place, constantly on the lookout for her own survival. And though Jonathan was almost one hundred percent sure his brother was still alive, Barb hadn't managed to contact their dimension the same way Will had, giving them no proof that she was as well.

        Nancy looked up from her book again, shaking her head sadly. "Every time I close my eyes, I just... keep seeing that thing. Wherever I was, that place, Amara and I think that it lives there. It was feeding there. Feeding on that deer. That means that if... " she paused and inhaled deeply, "if Will and Barbara... "

        She stopped speaking completely, unable to say what she knew could have happened to her best friend if she hadn't been as lucky as herself. Amara moved closer to Nancy, placing her hand on her shoulder similar to how she'd done with Jonathan yesterday when he needed comforting. The funeral seemed ages ago now.

        "Hey," Jonathan spoke up, moving closer to Nancy. "My mom said she talked to Will. If he's alive, there's a chance Barbara is, too."

        Nancy wasn't convinced. "That means that she's trapped... in that place."

        She looked down at Amara's attempt to recreate the foreign dimension Will, Barb, and possibly more had disappeared to in the past week. It was eerie enough without a ferocious predator hunting them down. And though she had nearly suffered the same fate, she hadn't. She was alive, and only more determined to redeem herself for letting Barb go like a lamb to the slaughter at the expense of her own desires. "We have to find it again," she stated firmly.

        If it was anyone else Jonathan would have been astounded, but he was becoming well-acquainted with Nancy's will to protect the people she loved, even if she risked putting herself in danger once more. "You wanna go back out there?" he inquired.

        "Maybe we don't have to," Nancy realized suddenly. "When I saw it, it was feeding on that deer. Meaning it's... it's a predator, right?"

        "Right," Jonathan and Amara nodded in response.

        "And it seems to hunt at night like a... a lion or a coyote," she continued with newfound energy, opening her book to a section on those particular animals. "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone like... like a bear. And remember at Steve's, when Barb cut herself?" Nancy added. "And then, last night, the deer... "

        "It was bleeding too," Amara realized, sensing a pattern.

        Nancy reached for a book underneath the one she had open, flipping to a page on sharks. "Sharks can detect blood in one part per million," she read from the page. "That's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter-mile away."

        "So you're saying it can detect blood?" Jonathan asked.

        "I mean, it would make sense," Amara reasoned. "It doesn't have eyes so it has to rely on sound and smell to move around, meaning those senses are enhanced. And it has enough power to warp time and space, so it must be able to smell blood from another dimension."

        "We could test that theory," Jonathan suggested, far more comfortable with the idea of luring the monster to them than stumbling around in the dark of the woods like they did last night. "But if it works... "

        "At least we'll know it's coming," Nancy assured him and herself, gazing into his eyes warmly. Amara felt like she was caught on the outside of a private moment between the two of them, believing that any movement or sound she made would shatter it to dust. It was ultimately broken by the sound of Nancy's doorknob rattling loudly, startling the three of them. Amara didn't miss the way Nancy and Jonathan's hands immediately joined; whether it was out of fear or something else, she didn't know.

        "Honey, are you up?" Mrs. Wheeler called from the other side of the door, her soft voice juxtaposing the way she'd shaken the doorknob so forcefully. Nancy quickly composed herself, hinting at Jonathan and Amara to stay silent. "Yeah, I'm... I'm getting dressed," she replied, not realizing she was still grasping Jonathan's hand tightly.

        "I made some blueberry pancakes."

        "I'll be down in a second."

        None of them dared to speak until Mrs. Wheeler's footsteps faded away from their hearing. Only then did Nancy and Jonathan realize they were holding hands and let go, looking away from each other in embarrassment.

        Eventually, Jonathan broke the silence. "Your mom doesn't knock?" he asked, and the three of them couldn't help the quiet laughter that broke out among them.

NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS could Amara have imagined stepping inside a hunting store. In a country where guns outnumbered people, her family rejected the notion that owning a firearm somehow made a person stronger or more "American". It was unorthodox, but so were they.

        The three of them had agreed that they needed more than just their current weapons if they intended to kill the creature. Amara had suggested killing it by setting it on fire, and while she didn't tell Jonathan or Nancy that her idea was based on the legend of Devil's Snare, they had gone forward with it. She picked out a lighter, gasoline, and an extra flashlight before joining her companions at the cashier station.

        The cashier's eyes widened as the three teenagers dumped weapon after weapon onto the counter. As he gave them the boxes of ammo the boy had requested, he couldn't help but ask, "What you kids doin' with all this?"

        What were they doing with all of this? The answer was that they were attempting to kill a faceless monster that had abducted Jonathan's brother, Nancy's best friend, and more into an alternate dimension. None of which they could tell the cashier without him thinking more weirdly of them than he already was.

        "Monster hunting," Nancy said simply. The cashier was confused, but because he was a working-class American who needed enough money to put food on the table and a roof over his head, he let them buy the weapons.

        "'Monster hunting'?" Jonathan repeated as they brought the supplies to his car, Amara taking the box of weapons from him as he opened the trunk. Nancy couldn't help but smile in disbelief at how much had changed over the course of the week.

        "You know, last week, I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like," she said as they loaded the weapons into the trunk. "It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And now – "

        "You're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers," Jonathan finished, closing the trunk. Amara couldn't help but relate, reminded of how a week ago the scariest thing in the world was the upcoming chemistry test. Now, completing her stupid English essay didn't seem so daunting.

        "Yeah," Nancy sighed.

        "What's the weirdest part?" Jonathan challenged. "Me or the bear trap?"

        "You," Nancy replied without hesitation. "It's definitely you."

        The trio laughed once again but was interrupted by a car honking at them. As it drove by, a boy Amara recognized as Reed from her history class called from the passenger seat, "Hey Nance! Can't wait to see your movie."

        "What the hell was that?" Jonathan questioned once the car was out of sight.

        "I don't know," Amara responded, but then she remembered Nancy mentioning yesterday that she had rejected Steve when he'd asked her out to the movies for the sake of tracking down the monster. They had to be connected somehow. Nancy had seemingly picked up on that as well and was already on her way to the movie theater a block away.

        "Nancy, wait!" Jonathan shouted, panting as he struggled to keep up with Nancy and Amara. She paid him no mind, jogging until she'd reached HawkCinema. When Amara caught up, she saw what Nancy was looking at and gasped.

        All the Right Moves, a movie she and Robin had considered watching before Will's disappearance had upended everything, was on the display board. But that wasn't the horrific part, for spray-painted below in bold red ink were the words: STARRING NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER.

        "Jesus," Jonathan remarked, unable to tear his eyes away.

        "Who did this?" Amara questioned. Nancy was unable to articulate anything as she remained rooted to the ground in shame, wondering that herself.

        Amara's question was answered as she picked up on the sound of a spray can from a nearby alley. The three of them peered around the corner, witnessing Tommy Hagan spraying something on the wall as Steve, Carol Perkins, and Nicole watched from behind him.

        "Stay here," Nancy told Jonathan and Amara before leaving to confront her boyfriend. They complied but kept a close eye on her as she approached the group.

        Hearing footsteps, Carol turned to see the very girl that had softened Steve's heart only to break it. "Aw, hey there, princess!" she cooed.

        "Uh-oh! She looks upset," Tommy remarked.

        Finally, Steve faced her, his brown eyes dark from heartbreak. She didn't hesitate to strike her palm across his left cheek, leading the three onlookers to shout mixed reactions of shock upon seeing that Nancy Wheeler was capable of such a thing.

        "What is wrong with you?" Nancy demanded.

        "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Steve turned the question on her. "I was worried about you. I can't believe that I was actually worried about you," he said, scoffing.

        Nancy was confused. "What are you talking about?"

        "I wouldn't lie if I were you," Carol interjected, smirking. "You don't want to be known as the lying slut, do you?"

        Amara hadn't realized that Jonathan had left her side until Tommy said, "Speak of the devil. Hi."

        And then it hit her: Steve had come by last night. He had peered through the same window the three of them had climbed out of this morning, only to witness Jonathan comforting Nancy. And Amara just so happened to have been showering when he'd been there.

        "You came by last night?" Nancy voiced what Amara had been thinking.

        "Ding! Ding! Ding!" Carol cheered sarcastically. "Does she get a prize?"

        "Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that," Nancy told Steve, but he wasn't convinced in the slightest.

        "What, you just let him into your room to... study?" Steve asked.

        "Or for another pervy photo session?" Tommy added, laughing.

        "We were just – " Nancy stopped herself in her tracks. She couldn't tell him, she didn't know how to tell him. In the end, he would walk away thinking she was either a slut or out of her mind.

        "You were just what?" Steve demanded. "Finish that sentence." When she didn't respond he took a step closer to her, towering over her small frame. "Finish the sentence," he repeated, more threateningly this time.

        Amara didn't know what she was thinking. All she knew was that Steve didn't know the whole story and she just needed him to know that Nancy hadn't betrayed him. And so she found herself walking into the alleyway, idly wondering whether taking down the monster was easier than facing a social situation such as this one.

        "Nancy's right," she said, causing Steve to turn around mid-step from where he was walking away from Nancy. "If you think she cheated on you, she didn't. I was there."

        Steve faced her fully, and Amara mentally cursed in frustration at her own foolishness. In the span of a week, she'd done everything to reverse her goal of blending in so as to hide her autism. King Steve now knew that she existed, and it was only a matter of time before he discovered something off about her and told the entire school. Great.

        "She didn't?" Carol piped up again. "What, did you have a threesome or something? Cause that still counts as cheating, honey."

        Amara was taken aback. "No, of course we didn't! Nothing like that happened!"

        Steve took another step forward, this time towards Amara. "So what happened then?" he challenged. "What?"

        Amara looked at her feet in shame. "You, umm, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," she murmured.

        "So you admit it," Tommy smirked maliciously. "The princess cheated with the perv, and you either covered it up or joined in."

        "That's not what I – "

        "Come on, Amara, let's just leave," Jonathan interrupted, grasping her arm gently. Amara sighed but relented, following him and Nancy as they began to walk back to his car, back to their mission. However, Steve stopped them before they could get more than a few steps away.

        "You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed. I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father."

        Eurydice was a firm believer that words had a far greater impact than any physical form of bullying, and she was right, just as she was about almost everything. Jonathan was physically unharmed as Steve repeatedly pushed him but he was seething, for Steve had hit him where it hurt the most: his family.

        "Jonathan, leave it," Amara pleaded, but it was hopeless as Steve continued taunting him.

        "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups." Jonathan had stopped walking at this point, and Amara tried and failed tugging on his arm to get him to move. To make matters worse, Steve wasn't showing any signs of stopping anytime soon.

        "You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family. I mean, your mom, I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother – "

        "Steve, shut up!" Nancy yelled, but he was consumed by rage. In his mind, a small voice was begging him to listen to Amara, who had offered herself as proof that Nancy was loyal to him in all his douchebag glory, but all he could see was his girlfriend huddled close to Jonathan in the same room where they'd "studied" a few days ago.

        "I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family, is a disgrace to the entire – "

        Jonathan snapped. In one swift movement, he'd turned around and punched Steve directly in the face, knocking him into a nearby railing. It didn't take Steve long to retaliate, tackling Jonathan to the side of his car and then onto the ground.

        It was a full-blown fight. Nancy and Amara begged them to stop, while Steve's friends cheered him on. Tommy tried to join in but Steve shooed him away, making it clear that the fight was between him and Jonathan. Fueled by rage, Jonathan had the upper hand and soon knocked Steve to the ground. He didn't let up though, punching his face repeatedly until it was bruised and bloody.

        They'd attracted the attention of the police, a car speeding into the alley to break up the altercation. Carol and Nicole took their chance and ran off as Officer Callahan attempted to seize Jonathan, only to be socked in the nose. Officer Powell managed to grab ahold of him and pinned him to the car, locking his hands behind his back and cuffing them. Amid this Steve and Tommy had managed to run away, Callahan unable to catch up before running out of energy.

        Amara tentatively placed a hand on Nancy's shoulder, only for Nancy to hug her tightly and sob into her shoulder. In a matter of minutes, their plan to kill the creature had been thwarted by the annoying presence of teenage hormones. It was clear that Jonathan and Steve's fight wasn't really about Steve's remarks surrounding Jonathan's family; they were fighting over Nancy. And during that time, the monster could have found Will or Barb and killed them.

        I was right, Amara thought as Jonathan was loaded into the back of the police car, monsters are easier.

published to quotev: 7/12/21
published to wattpad: 6/18/24