WORD COUNT : 2.9k

On the night of November 6, Owen was never quite able to get comfortable or fall asleep for more than a couple minutes at a time. Finally growing tired of flopping around wildly, she threw the covers off of her body and trudged into the kitchen. Refrigerator light washed over the room, causing her face to screw up in discomfort as she looked around for a slice of leftover pizza from dinner that night. As she blindly searched through the various Ziplock bags and Tupperware containers in the fridge, a sharp pain randomly spiked from behind her eyes. The shock of pain sent her reeling back, effectively slamming the back of her head on the edge of the refrigerator. Her hands clamped over both her eyes and the base of her skull, expletives spewing in the form of a whisper-yell as to not wake her family.

"God, what the fuck..." she murmured, eyebrows furrowing as a metallic taste formed in her mouth. With her eyes still clamped shut in pain, Owen guided herself into the bathroom by touch alone. She turned the lights on overhead and met her own eyes in the mirror. The flickering lights above revealed blood dripping from her nose, pooling on her lower lip. Some of it had managed to seep into her mouth, causing that metallic taste and a reddening of her teeth upon further inspection. Owen spit the taste out into the sink, grimacing at the whole situation.

Suddenly on blood clean-up duty of all things, Owen unraveled a wad of toilet tissue and shoved it up the nostril in question. Then, she made sure to brush her teeth to try and get that god awful taste out of her mouth. She leaned forward to spit out the now pink-tinted toothpaste, but the lights above her head completely flickered out before she could even look at herself in the mirror again to make sure everything was back in order. Owen loudly groaned then, deciding then that getting out of bed at all seemed to be the worst idea she's had in a while.

✯

Owen never fully got to sleep that night, which was apparent on her face when she stumbled into the kitchen the following morning. Dark circles hung beneath her eyes as she haphazardly dumped cereal and milk into a bowl, shoving a spoon into the mixture before trailing into the living room. Law was fixated on the television when she sat down on the couch beside him, eyes shut in exhaustion as she shoveled her breakfast into her mouth. Her brows knitted together curiously at the sound of a reporter's voice coming through the speakers instead of the cartoons Law typically had on before school. Owen peeked at the television as her curiosity got the best of her, positive that something interesting had to be going on for Law to have turned on the news.

"Some kid from the middle school went missing last night," Law explained, his tone solemn. He didn't once tear his eyes away from the screen. Owen glanced over at him, noticing his knee bouncing anxiously. Law was completely void of his typical animated expression. He had never looked like this before – so tense. It was unsettling, to say the least. Even when bad shit would happen to him at school, there was always an optimistic glow that emanated from her younger brother. However, the look of pure anxiety written across his features in that moment made him almost unrecognizable.

Gordon ambled into the room shortly after Owen, eyes already glued to the TV. "Man...Dad can really pick a place to live, huh?" He plopped down on Law's other side, immediately sliding into a slouch. "First all the shit that went down in Detroit and now this," he grumbled. The couch could barely fit the three of them anymore, but they all managed to make it work anyway. Neither Law, nor Owen, had anything to say in response to their older brother. Unfortunately, he was right. Sometimes it felt like scary shit like this just followed them. It was almost always completely out of their hands as well, which just made it all even more terrifying.

Owen snuck one more look at Law, seeing the concern that was deepening on his face. Scooping the final bite of cereal into her mouth, she jumped to her feet decisively and marched into the kitchen. She hurriedly dumped her empty bowl into the sink before marching back to the living room. Owen swiftly turned off the television, coming to stand before Gordon and Law with her hands placed directly on her hips.

"We'll never get to school on time if you guys spend all day in front of the TV," Owen reminded them, glancing between the two of them expectantly. "Plus, if Gordon's car gives out on us on the way there, we'll have time to get out and push it the rest of the way if we leave now," she added, trying to lighten the mood. Her joking tone seemed to at least pull Gordon out of that grim, news-induced haze. Law just gave a ghost of a smile as Gordon threw his head back in an over-the-top groan.

"How many times have I had to tell you that that car is going to outlive all of us? I don't call her Ol' Faithful for no reason," Gordon argued, hauling himself off the couch. The nickname for his car caused Owen to openly roll her eyes, scoffing slightly.

"Oh, that's why you call your car that? I just assumed it was your delusions getting the best of you," she replied sarcastically, heading towards her room to grab her backpack.

As Owen and Gordon bickered about the state of his new-to-him car, Law stared blankly at the black television screen. He was only a couple years older than the boy who went missing the night before. According to the reporters, the police had no leads regarding his whereabouts. It was almost like he had just disappeared into thin air, judging by the news' description of the night the boy went missing. Like most people in town probably, Law was assuming the worst – both for Will Byers, and any other young boys in town, including himself.

"Are you ready to go?" Gordon's voice finally broke Law's gaze away from the television, causing the boy to jump skittishly. "Hey...hey. It's just me. Thought you knew I was here," the older boy murmured, hand placed softly on Law's shoulder. "I brought you your backpack," he smiled, setting the bag at the younger boy's feet. Gordon gave a final pat to Law's shoulder before heading out the front door, leaving it swung open for his two younger siblings to follow behind.

✯

"When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..." Barb trailed off, reading from one of Nancy's million flashcards.

"Unoccupied space," Nancy answered quickly, as if it was second nature to her.

Owen walked alongside the other two girls, brain zoning out completely as Barb helped Nancy study for an upcoming exam. Science discussions almost always pressed the big, red off button in her brain – anything to avoid complete and utter boredom. Besides, Owen had been thinking about that missing kid all morning. As the Webb family had seen with their mom's case, shit like this happened all the time in a big city like Detroit. However, something awful like this was probably rare in a small town like Hawkins. More importantly, however, Owen had been thinking about Will Byers' poor family. Owen knew that she, Gordon, and their dad would be in shambles if anything ever happened to Law. She couldn't imagine how his family was living through something like this.

"A molecule that can –" Barb started again before being interrupted. Steve Harrington had swiped the index cards right out of her hand, coming to a halt in front of them. "Hey!" Barb huffed indignantly, reaching out to grab the cards again. However, one of Steve's grubby henchmen, Tommy intercepted, his fingers toying with Barb's glasses just to throw her off.

"Tommy, what are you? Five?" Owen scolded him, swatting his hand away from Barb's face. She directed a glare at him as he chortled stupidly at his own childish behavior. Deciding that that idiot wasn't worth her attention, she focused her glare at Steve instead. He still had that absolutely annoying smirk on his face as he looked flipped through the flashcards.

"I don't know, I think you've studied enough, Nance," he concluded, willingly supplying his completely useless opinion on the matter.

"Steve–" Nancy sighed, sounding exasperated by his teasing. Owen's gaze bounced between Steve and Nancy, hoping that this conversation would end as quickly as it started and they could all move on with their day. But of course, it seemed like Steve had other plans.

"I'm telling you, you know, you got this," he promised, finally looking up at the girls. His grin faltered for only a moment as he met Owen's eyes. He quickly redirected his attention back to Nancy, an excitement in his gaze. "Don't worry. Now, onto more important matters." His hands gathered the index cards into a neat stack once more before continuing. "My dad has left town and my mom's gone with him 'cause, you know... she doesn't trust him," he shared, looking exclusively between Barb and Nancy as he explained the situation.

"Good call," Tommy added, followed up by that stupid chuckle of his. Owen's lip curled in disgust, shaking her head at him.

"So... are you in?" Steve propositioned them, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"In for what?" Nancy inquired, asking the same question that was on Owen's mind. The asshole with the huge hair had given almost no details other than the fact that his parents were in desperate need of couples therapy.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol finally spoke up, helping to clarify what the boys had basically hinted at.

"A party? But...it's Tuesday," Nancy pointed out. Her mentality made total sense to Owen, especially since Nancy had been preparing for that Chemistry exam basically all week. It hardly seemed like the time to drop everything and party. But Tommy and Carol obviously didn't find the girl's concern to be as rational, as could be seen in their giggles.

"I mean, she's not wrong. It'll be a pretty lame turnout if you want to throw a party worth coming to on a school night," Owen brought up, shooting a look at Steve's friends.

"Well, it's gonna be pretty lowkey. It'll just be us," Steve cleared up, giving Owen a tight-lipped smile. He was dead set on making sure Nancy came to his house for this party, even if it meant playing nice with her new, stick-up-the-ass friend.

"Wow. Sounds like a blast, Steve," Owen feigned excitement, sarcasm dripping from her every word. She mirrored the boy's fake smile with one of her own. Her tone and general disposition had Steve's eyes shooting daggers her way, despite keeping the same bogus smile on his lips. He finally tore his eyes away from her when that irritating look didn't budge from her face, looking down at Nancy with a softer gaze.

"What do you say? Are you in or are you out?" However, Steve's proposition was thwarted yet again. This time, it was Carol who diverted the conversation elsewhere.

"Oh, God. Look," she sighed, turning the group's attention further down the hallway.

"Oh, God. That's depressing," Steve muttered, his tone matching Carol's perfectly.

Nancy, Owen, and Barb all turned around to see a boy pinning up a sign to one of the school's many cork boards. Upon closer inspection, Owen noticed that it wasn't just any sign that the boy was hanging up. He was hanging up a poster for that missing boy, Will Byers. The pictures of the young boy on the poster were the same ones that had been plastered all over the news that morning.

"Should we say something," Nancy asked, with genuine concern in her voice. Her question caused Owen to look over at Barb, not exactly sure who this boy was. Barb met her eyes with a knowing look, lips pursing sadly.

"Jonathan Byers. Will's older brother. He's pretty quiet, so I don't think you would know him," Barb told her softly, shrugging slightly. If he was as antisocial as she was, that would explain perfectly why he and Owen wouldn't know one another. Her heart still ached for him nonetheless. She had been thinking of Will Byers' family all morning, but it just made the situation even worse when there was a face to put that grief to.

"How much you wanna bet he killed him," Tommy speculated, smirking to himself. Owen's head whipped around, eyes flashing at the freckled boy.

"Jesus Christ, Tommy. You know you don't have to say every single brainless fucking thing that comes to mind, right? I think you would save us all a lot of headaches if you just kept your mouth shut every once in a while," Owen seethed. However, Tommy continued to chuckle to himself despite her biting words. It wasn't until Steve quietly told him to shut up that he actually stopped joking around. By the time Owen turned back around, Nancy had already walked up to Jonathan Byers, hopefully offering some kind and comforting words. However, Owen saw Nancy's temporary absence as the perfect time to escape. The pink-haired girl gave Barb a wary smile before turning swiftly on her heel.

"Have fun at your party," Owen grumbled, roughly pushing between Steve and Tommy to get the hell away from that cancerous friend group. As she stormed down the hallway, Steve couldn't help but watch her over his shoulder as she disappeared from sight. The school bell ringing overhead was what ultimately snapped him out of his gaze, causing him to quickly whip his head back around to the people in front of him.

✯

Owen could hear the phone in the living room ringing even through her bedroom door. Almost certain that the call wasn't for her, she couldn't be bothered to move from her bed as she "worked" on her homework. As usual, she had barely gotten any actual work done at all. Instead, she had just stared blankly at a math problem for the past thirty minutes, hoping that a stroke of genius would come to her if she kept on like this. The telephone ringing finally came to a halt, leading Owen to believe that whoever it was on the other line had given up. However, a very desired distraction from the task at hand came in the form of Gordon yelling her name from the living room.

"Owen! You've got a phone call!"

Interest fully piqued at this point, she finally rolled off of her bed and meandered into the living room. She plucked the phone out of Gordon's hands, smirking confidently as if she was receiving a call from the president.

"I can take this from here," she grinned, acting snooty just to mess with him.

"You sure you know how to use this thing? I'm not sure you've ever actually gotten a call before..." He countered, feigning concern. Owen smacked his shoulder hard, giving him a look and praying that whoever was on the line didn't hear him. The older boy merely snickered as he wandered back to his room.

"Hello?" Owen finally greeted, raising the phone to her ear.

"Owen! Hi. It's Barb."

"Oh, hey! What's up? Is everything okay?" Owen glanced at the clock on the wall, not anticipating a call from the other girl at this hour.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just need to ask a pretty huge favor of you..." Barb trailed off, her anxiety being audible even over the phone.

"I'm sure it's no big deal. What d'you need?" Owen tried to sound as nonchalant as possible to ease her friend's nerves. However, Owen still chewed nervously at the inside of her cheek in anticipation.

"Please come with me to that party at Steve's tonight. Nancy begged me to give her a ride, but I don't think I can handle Tommy and Carol for that long without you," she explained, sighing defeatedly over the line.

"I don't know, Barb. I mean, it is a school night and I was just doing some homework."

"I swear we won't be out late. I'm driving, so I'll make sure you get back home before midnight." Before Owen could even reply, Barb continued, saying, "Please. I'll even throw in a burger from Benny's on me if you come with us tonight."

Owen was silent only for a couple seconds, weighing all of her options for the evening. Going to some boring house party at Steve Harrington's house was not even in the top ten things she thought she would be doing that night. But ultimately, she did want to be there for Barb. It hardly seemed fair to make her friend face those imbeciles alone.

"Throw in a basket of fries and you've got yourself a deal, Holland."

"You've got it. I'll pick you up in a half an hour," Barb agreed, gleefully. Owen groaned dramatically over the phone, despite a smile tugging on the corners of her lips in person.

"See you then," Owen acknowledged before hanging up the phone and hurrying to get ready before Barb pulled up in the driveway.