the body

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IT WAS ONLY EIGHT IN THE MORNING WHEN THE PHONE BY SCARLETT'S BED RUNG, DISTURBING HER SLUMBER. She stared at it with the intent it would hopefully explode in her face. When it didn't, she groaned and picked it up, holding it to her ear "Hello?" She spoke into the phone, her tone dull as she awaited the response from the caller.

On the other side of the line sat Steve, who nervously cleared his throat. "Um, hi." He began. "It's Steve."

"Steve Harrington, calling me?" Scarlett said sarcastically, a grin pulling at her lips.

"The one and only." Steve wanted to make sure she was okay. From the looks of the news this morning, he knew she wasn't. "Hey um, I saw the news this morning. How are you holding up?"

"Oh me? Just about how anyone losing a loved one would feel." Steve heard her shrug through the phone as he shook his head.

"Listen, I know he was like a little brother to you, and it hurts. But he loved you, he looked up to you. And he would want you to be happy." Steve finished his sentence cautiously, watching what he says.

"Are you telling me to move on? Just like that?" Scarlett snaps her fingers, in disbelief as she listened to Steve.

"No! No, I'm telling you Will would want you to do whatever you feel is right. Talk to the boys, Joyce." He explained himself quickly. On the other line she nodded slowly, knowing that Steve was right after all.

A knock at her door caused her to pivot towards it, waiting for it to creak open. When it did, Lucas peeked in and waved awkwardly. "Who're you talking to?"

"Uh, don't worry about it." She put the phone back up to her ear. "You still there? I'll talk to you later, alright. Bye." Hanging up, she turns to the boy standing in her doorway.

"Hey Lucas." She sent him a small smile, patting the mattress next to her. "How are you?"

He sat down and let out a loud sigh, facing her. "I just don't understand. He can't be dead, he was just hanging out with us." He fumbled with the walk-in talkie he held in his hands. He loved that walk-in talkie, it was like his pride and joy. Well, that and his wrist rocket.

Suddenly, a staticky voice came it through the device, it sounded like Mike's. "Lucas do you copy?" Lucas stared at it, completely disinterested and put it to the side. "Lucas, come one, I know you're there! This is urgent, I'm serious." Scarlett sent Lucas a look, trying to urge him to answer Mike. "I'm not gonna stop until you answer... Lucas. Lucas! Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas-"

Fed up, Lucas finally picked up the walk-in talkie, pulling out the antenna and clicking the button. "Go away, Mike. I'm not in the mood, alright? Over and out."

"No, not out. I'm not messing around, okay? This is about Will. Over."

Hearing Will's name stopped both the Sinclair's, causing them to turn to each other with wide eyes. "What about Will?" Lucas asked, confused. "You mean about his funeral? Over."

"No, not his funeral. Screw his funeral!"

"Mike, what are you talking about? You can't skip his funeral." Scarlett grabbed the device from Lucas, talking to Mike through it.

"No, that wasn't what I was talking about. You two, just get over here stat. And bring Dustin. Over and out." Mike's voice disappeared, Lucas and Scarlett shrugging as they then left the house as quickly as they could.

Scarlett would've never thought she would be spending her day with her cousin and his little friends when she should technically be in school. Not that she minded. She liked them, they were actually kind of fun.

Biking to Dustin's house was quick, as they wanted to get to Mike's quicker. They waved Dustin out and were on their way.

"So, why are we here again?" Dustin asked curiously, as the three propped their bikes up against the Wheeler's back wall.

"Mike has some super urgent news he wants to share with us. It was to do with Will, I guess." Lucas answered, approaching the back door.

"It has to do with Will? How?" Dustin looked between the two with furrowed brows. Scarlett and Lucas answered with a simple shrug. Just as Lucas reached out to knock on the door, it swung open and Mike rushed them inside.

Their eyes immediately all fell onto Eleven. Scarlett was relieved she was still here, sending her a smile and a wave to which El happily returned, glad someone still was her friend. Lucas, on the other hand, was not too happy.

"She's still here?" Lucas said in disbelief, yanking Mike's shoulder and turning him around. "Why is she still here?"

"Because she needs to be. She's staying here." Mike said confidently, turning away from Lucas and sitting down in front of El, everyone else following his actions. Mike hands El his walkie-talkie, and she immediately began to fumble with the channels.

"What's she doing?" Dustin asked, his eyes alternating between Mike and El.

"Just watch." Mike nodded, trusting Eleven to show them what he had heard last night. Suddenly, she switched to a channel where indistinct whimpering became apparent, the group exchanging confused looks. The whimpering filtered in and out, sometimes barely audible as Eleven kept trying to switch to a better signal.

"We keep losing the signal, but you heard it, right?" Mike looked between the group, hopeful that they would believe him.

"Yeah. I heard a baby." Lucas said.

"What?"

"Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor. It's probably the Blackburn's next door." Lucas explained, trying to find a realistic answer to the whimpering.

"Uh, did that sound like a baby to you?" Mike replied very matter of factly. "That was Will. Lucas, you don't understand he spoke last night. Words! He was singing that weird song he loves, even El heard him."

"Should I stay or should I go?" Scarlett asked. If anyone knew Will's favorite song besides Jonathan, it would be Scarlett. Scarlett basically knew everything about him, she spent every moment she could with him when he was little. She watched him grow up, and she knew his favorite song was the song he sung with Jonathan.

Completely disregarding Scarlett's question, Lucas shot back at Mike. "Oh, well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess-"

"Are you sure you're on the right channel?" Dustin interrupted Lucas with a question.

"I don't think it's about that, I think, somehow, she's channeling him." Mike looked down at El's hands, which were moving the channel dial back and forth.

"Like.. like Professor X." Dustin looked back and forth rapidly, coming to a realization that his favorite Marvel comics are real, and sat in front of him.

"Yeah." Mike said with a smile, nodding quickly.

"Are you actually believing this crap?" Lucas was staring at his two friends in disbelief, wondering why Dustin believed in El.

"I don't know, I mean- Do you remember when Will fell of his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that." Dustin was nervous as he explained his theory to Lucas.

"Did you guys not see what I saw? They pulled Will's body out of the water. He's dead!" Lucas yelled, looking at the people around him as if they were crazy.

"Listen, Lucas! Do you remember when when fell down the stairs in our house and rolled his ankle? He started crying, and it sounded just like that. He got up and just tried to walk it off. And when we were trying to figure out how to fix your bike, Will wouldn't give up, he worked day and night to figure out what happened to it. My point is, Will doesn't quit that easily, if he's somehow out there, alive, he would try and get in contact with us. So whatever we're hearing, we should take the chance that it may be him, and he needs us." Scarlett shook Lucas, scolding him with every word she said. She hated when Lucas was rude, or acted rash, because it hurt the people around him, the people he was supposed to be friends with.

"Then what was in that water?" Lucas asked her, looking between her and Mike.

"I don't know, but all I know is Will is alive. Will is alive! He's out there somewhere, all we need to do is find him." Mike and the party shared mutual knowing looks as El continued to mess with the radio, a loud static coming through causing Mike to carefully take the walkie-talkie back. "This isn't gonna work. We need to get El to a stronger radio."

Dustin's face lit up as he immediately thought of something. "Mr. Clarke's Heathkit ham shack." Mike nodded in agreement as Dustin grinned.

Lucas disagreed once again. "The Heathkit's at school. There is no way we're gonna get the weirdo in there without anyone noticing. I mean, look at her."

Turning their heads towards Eleven, they soon realized what Lucas was talking about. "It's a long shot, but I might have an idea." Scarlett stood up, not taking her eyes of the girl.

"What is it?" Mike asked her, standing up next to Scar.

"Follow me." Scarlett dashed up two flights of stairs to Nancy's room, pulling out a chest filled with costumes from previous events. Halloween, school plays, dances, they were all there. "There's more in the kitchen." Scarlett said to Lucas and Dustin, urging them downstairs to which they did, running to the kitchen to rummage through another chest.

After the two left, she grabbed the music box filled with Nancy's makeup and handed it to Mike. "All yours." She grinned, watching as Mike took the music box and cautiously opened it, taking a brush to blush and slowly moving towards her face.

"Not on her lips!" Scarlett redirected his hand to her cheeks, nodding to him as he continues brushing blush over her cheeks.

Scarlett tapped his shoulder and held up a small container of lipstick. He grinned and took it, carefully applying lipstick on Eleven.

The boys came upstairs with their outfit findings, displaying them to Scarlett. She let out a small laugh, impressed with what they had done with a limited amount of materials. "Alright, let's give her some privacy so she can change." Scarlett ushered them out, closing the door behind her, careful not to slam it.

Just moments later the door opened, causing the group to turn around. Scarlett smiled warmly at the sight of her. "Wow." Dustin said. "She looks-"

"Pretty." Mike was tunnel visioned on her, his jaw on the floor as he stared at her in awe. He felt the butterflies in his stomach bounce around violently. He realized he was staring and attempted to save himself. "Good. You look pretty good." Mike said cooly.

Eleven's small smile shrunk even small, but she shook it off and walked to the nearest mirror. "Pretty... Good."

"Well, we just need a ride now." Lucas said, looking at Scarlett. Suddenly all eyes were on her, waiting for an answer.

She knew that agreeing would mean she'd end up having to go to school too, but it didn't really matter. As long as no one bothered her in school, she was okay with it. "I'll drive you. But we're shoving your bikes in the back."

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After dropping the boys and El off, she couldn't help but worry. What if they caught El? They weren't that observant though. She sat in her English class, her leg bouncing up and down as she tapped her pencil on her desk.

Scarlett was unaware Steve sat in the next row, two seats behind her, staring at her. He truly was worried about her, knowing the Byers filled her entire mind. Jonathan screwing everything up, Will found dead, and Joyce losing her mind. A voice pulled both of them out of their trance, drawing their eyes to the door.

"Scarlett Sinclair, will you come with me please?" A lady by the door motioned for her to follow. Scarlett opened her mouth to ask why, deciding against it and fumbling to put her books in her bag. Quiet laughs were heard around the room as all eyes focused on her walking out of the classroom. Steve watched her with sympathy in his eyes. Of course this happens now.

Scarlett timidly followed the woman down the hallway, staring between her feet and the hallway ahead of her, keeping her mouth shut. She wanted to run away, unsure of what was to come.

She was led into the cafeteria and sat next to Nancy, the two shared a look of confusion as they turned their heads back to the police in front of them.

"Now that she's here, Nancy. This argument you and Barbara had, what exactly was it about?" Powell glanced at Scarlett then back at Nancy.

"It wasn't really.. an argument." Nancy started. "Barb just wanted to leave, I didn't. So I.. I told her to just go home."

"Then what?"

"The I went upstairs to put on some dry clothes." Nancy answered Powell's question without hesitation.

"And where we're you during this argument?" Powell turned to Scarlett, causing her to shift in her seat uncomfortably.

Scarlett caught a glimpse of her aunts glare which was burning a hole into the side of her skull. "I was asleep, on the couch in the living room. And I'm a very heavy sleeper, so if Barb passed by I wouldn't have known. I'm sorry."

"Can anyone else there confirm you were asleep at this time?" Powell looked at her while folding his hands.

"I can. Steve can, Ben can. Talk to whoever." Nancy said confidently, sitting up in her seat.

"And you Nancy, The next day, you went back and... saw a bear, you're thinking?" Powell turned his attention to Nancy, attempting to get something out of her.

"I don't know what it was, but.. I think.. I think maybe it took Barb. You need to check behind Steve's house-" Nancy started saying. Scarlett's head turned to Nancy out of curiosity, she didn't know what she meant or what she saw, but she wanted to know.

Callahan interrupted her, "We did. There's nothing there. There's no sign of a bear."

"And no car." Powell added.

"What?" Nancy was convinced what she had seen had taken Barb, and nothing would shake her opinion.

"We figure that Barbara came back last night, and then she took off and went somewhere else." Callahan explained the officers thoughts.

"Has she ever talked to either of you about running off?" Powell asked, looking between the two. "Leaving town, maybe?"

"No, no definitely not. That's not Barb." Scarlett glanced at Nancy, waiting for her answer after saying her own.

"No, Barb wouldn't do that, ever." Nancy shared a look with Scarlett as she answered, Powell not seeming very convinced.

"She wasn't maybe upset about the fact that you were spending time with this boy?" Powell said. "Uh, Steve Harrington?"

"What? No!"

"Maybe she was jealous because she saw you go up to Steve's room?" Callahan interjected, shock overcoming Nancy's expression. Karen and Scarlett's aunt shared a look of alert as they listened to her continuing to deny.

"Steve and me, we're just friends. We.. We just talked." Nancy felt all eyes boring into her as she lied to the officers.

"Now was this before or after you changed out of your clothes?" Callahan pressed.

Nancy sat in silence for a moment, not wanting to lie again in front of the officers and even her mother. "Um."

"Not relevant, Callahan." Powell stopped him, turning back to Scarlett. "And Ms. Sinclair. Were you under the influence of any alcohol that night?"

Scarlett's eyes widened and her heart dropped, she felt it beating in her stomach as she cleared her throat. She felt her aunt's eyes piercing through the side of her head. "Um, no. I was just really tired, long day."

She thought it was convincing enough, and it was. Powell moved passed it and dismissed the two, sending them home with their guardians.

She convinced the officers, but her aunt knew her too well. As they arrived home, Scarlett rushed towards her room in an attempt to escape her aunts wrath. Just as she reached out for the doorknob, her aunt yelled after her, slamming the front door.

"Are you serious, Scarlett? Lying to the police. To me?" The older woman called out to her niece. Scarlett slowly turned around to face her.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, I didn't-"

Scarlett was interrupted by Sue's disappointed voice. "That's just it, Scarlett! You don't think. You didn't think about the consequences you would face. You're underage, Scar! I know it's been hard, but it's no excuse to do what you did."

Scarlett was taken aback by her aunts words. Maybe she thought too much about the useless things, maybe she was selfish. "Aunt Sue, I'm sorry."

"Scar, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here. I'm here for you." Sue took Scarlett's hands in her own, nodding with a warm smile on her face.

Confused by her aunts sudden change in demeanor, she opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it, forcing a smile up at the woman. "Um, thank you."

A sudden urgent knock at the door startled the two. When it continued, Sue mumbled under her breath, storming to the door and swinging it open to reveal Nancy Wheeler.

"Hi Mrs. Sinclair." Nancy began timidly. "I need to talk to Scarlett. Please."

Scarlett peeked into the door, waving Nancy in. Nancy responded with a soft smile, following the girl to her room.

They sat in silence on her bed for a moment, Scarlett waiting for Nancy to say anything at all. Nancy slowly pulled out a picture held together with tape. A picture Jonathan had taken. "Do you remember when I was talking about what I had seen in Steve's yard?"

Scarlett nodded, her eyes trailing the picture in her friends hands. "Well, I think this thing.. whatever animal or something was, took Barb. And I have proof." Nancy continued.

"What did this.. thing, look like?" Scarlett said slowly, wondering if maybe it wasn't an animal.

"It was.. tall and skinny and gray, and... didn't have a face." Nancy explained, appearing to be deep in thought. Scarlett felt her heart drop to her feet, the description matched that of what she had seen that night while searching for Will. The color drained from her face as she realized that she wasn't hallucinating and that thing was actually real, and standing in front of her.

"I saw it too. When I was looking for Will. It stood in front of me." Scarlett stared at Nancy, fear in her eyes. "Somethings seriously wrong."

"We need to talk to Jonathan. Maybe he saw something." Nancy suggested, standing up. Scarlett nodded in agreement, knowing that it was their best option.

The two girls shoved all the pictures in Nancy's bag, waving goodbye to Sue and scampering to Scarlett's car. According to Joyce, Jonathan would be downtown, picking out a casket at the funeral home.

Driving downtown, Scarlett's hands were tight on the wheel, her knuckles turning white. She still couldn't understand how this could be real. The creature looked like something straight out of a horror movie, and Hawkins was just a small town. Nothing bad ever happened in Hawkins.

They parked next to Jonathan's car, quickly walking inside. They heard a voice softly explaining the attributes of different caskets, and assumed he may be talking to Jonathan. Nancy peeked around the corner, catching Jonathan's eye. "Can you just give me a second?" Jonathan stammered, the man beside him nodded, letting him go.

He approached Nancy, not yet seeing Scarlett. "Hey."

"Hey." Nancy replied softly, smiling up at him as Scarlett peeked around Nancy. Jonathan stared at Scarlett with her mouth open, but no words came out.

"Hey." He finally said waving at the girl who returned his wave with a sudden tight hug.

"I'm sorry, Jonathan." Scarlett was primarily apologizing for Will, not necessarily for what he did that night of the party.

"No, no. Don't apologize, please. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I did that night. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone." Jonathan held Scarlett's shoulders, soon bringing her back in for another hug. "And I never wanted to hurt you." He whispered.

"Your mom, um, she said you'd be here." Nancy broke apart the heartfelt hug with words. "I just... can we talk for a second?" The girl whispered, not wanting to disturb the environment.

Jonathan nodded and led the two girls out to the hallway, where a lone bench sat. All comfortably sitting together, Nancy slowly pulled the picture out of her bag, handing it to Jonathan.

"I don't want this back." He shook his head, letting out a dry laugh.

"No, Jonathan. Look at the corner." Scarlett interjected, pointing at the creature in the corner the camera had caught.

"I mean, it looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion." Jonathan observed the photo. "But I wasn't using the wide angle. I don't know. It's weird."

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there." Nancy wanted to confirm with him, knowing it wasn't just a distortion.

"No. And she was there one second and then um... gone." Jonathan looked between the two girls with sadness in his eyes. "I figure she bolted."

"The cops think that she ran away. But they don't know Barb. And I went back to Steve's.. and I thought I.. saw something. Some, weird man or.. I don't know what it was. Scarlett saw it too though, so I know.. I know I'm not seeing things." Nancy looked at him, noticing he stared blankly at the wall in front of her, not quite knowing what to say. "I'm sorry.. I- we shouldn't have come here today. I'm.. I'm so sorry."

"What'd he look like?" Jonathan stopped her, hoping for a certain description.

"What?" The two girls said in unison, staring at Jonathan with confusion.

"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?"

"He um.. I don't know. He was tall and thin.. and it was almost like he- he didn't have-"

"He didn't have a face?" Jonathan finished for Scarlett, the two girls faces lighting up in shock.

"How did you know that?" Nancy asked him.

"Because my mom saw it too." Jonathan simply answered, Scarlett and Nancy shooting out of their seats, sharing a knowing look.

The three hadn't said a word, just a mutual agreement they would figure something out with the photo. So, they had driven back to the school in hopes they would be able to develop the photo in a clearer manner.

Scarlett and Nancy stood beside Jonathan under the red light, curiously watching him work. "What exactly are you doing?" Scarlett asked him. For as long as she'd been friends with Jonathan, she'd never really knew how he did what he did with photography.

"Brightening. Enlarging." Jonathan answered, continuing to work on the photo.

"Um, did your mom say anything else? Like, um, where it might have gone to, or.." Nancy wondered.

"No, just that it came out of the wall." The machine dinged, Jonathan sighed, taking the photo out and placing it in the solution. Jonathan and Nancy began mumbling to each other, their chitter becoming incoherent as Scarlett was focused on watching the photo develop.

As the photo became visible, Scarlett's eyes widened. She let out a gasp and reached out for Jonathan's arm, shaking it. "That's it. The thing I saw." Scarlett gained the attention of the two teens beside her, both of them staring at her then down at the photo with shocked expressions.

Jonathan's breath hitched as he came to a sudden realization. "My mom... I thought she was crazy. 'cause she said, that's not Will's body. That he's alive."

"And if he's alive.." Nancy began, looking up at Jonathan hopefully.

"Then Barbara.."

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