CARLA AND NANCY EVENTUALLY FOUND JONATHAN VIA GUNFIRE.

After a good while of searching through the woods, the two girls heard the pop of a bullet and knew they were going in the right direction. In their hands were the weapons they'd picked out earlier—Nancy with the bat, Carla with the golf-club (yes, she'd brought it. Sue her).

When they made it to the small clearing where Jonathan was standing, she noticed he'd only brought the gun, which by the way he was shooting—or missing, more so—might not be great. The Byers boy was standing a few feet away from a line of cans, shooting bullet after bullet, watching as they all flew above, below, or straight past the target.

And while they were practicing for the moment, it wouldn't be too great if Jonathan missed when it came to the real deal—to the monster.

"You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" Nancy made their appearance known, approaching the boy with an amused expression.

Jonathan sarcastically replied, "No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those."

"I see." Carla replied, tossing the golf-club on the floor as her sister did the same with her bat and the bag she had over her shoulder. The Wheeler placed her hands in her jean pockets, feeling the cool autumn air nip at her fingers. "Good job then, Jonathan."

Once the sisters had joined him again, the Byers asked, "You ever shot a gun before?"

Nancy lightly scoffed, "Have you met our parents?"

"Our Mom would have a heart attack." Carla emphasized with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten." Jonathan stated, beginning to reload his gun as he did, "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit."

Carla frowned, remembering the story that her best friend had told her years ago. She hated how Lonnie forced the boy into committing an act he knew Jonathan didn't want to do, especially something like killing an innocent creature. If Lonnie liked the hobby, so be it. Jonathan would have much rather taken a photo of it.

Nancy's brows furrow, "A rabbit?"

"Yeah. I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something." the Byers boy continued, before admitting, "I cried for a week."

"Jesus."

"What? I'm a fan of Thumper."

Nancy lightly chuckled at the boy's remark before clarifying, "I meant your dad."

"There's a reason he's not in the picture anymore." Carla scoffed. She didn't like Lonnie Byers all too much, and the retelling of these stories made her remember why. He was a total asshole, who hated the fact that his kids were so called 'freaks'.

"Yeah. I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but..." Jonathan started with a shrug. He cocked the gun, adding, "....I wasn't around for that part."

Carla knew she was lucky to have parents who were still together, to have a father who wasn't a total asshole and a mother who wasn't neglectful, but still.....her parents didn't really love each other. She couldn't tell you the last time they shared a kiss, or a hug for that matter. The last time she heard the words 'I love you' between them.

And while she had family love in her household, sometimes, Carla wished she had that kind of love to look up too. Wished she had two adults in her life that really loved one another, that showed her what it meant to love someone.

While Carla had trailed off in her head, Nancy had taken the gun and was readying herself to shoot. From beside, Jonathan tried to explain how to do so, "Just, uh, point and shoot."

"I don't think our parents ever loved each other." Nancy spoke up, speaking the exact words on her sister's mind.

Jonathan replied simply, "They must've married for some reason."

The Wheeler raised the gun, aiming it at one of the cans. "Our mom was young. Our dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac.....and started their nuclear family."

"Screw that." Jonathan muttered.

"Yeah. Screw that." the smaller girl repeated before pulling the trigger. Gunshot rang through the clearing, and the bullet hit the can, sending it to the ground with a clank. Nancy gave a surprised chuckle, having hit the target first go, Jonathan and Carla both joining in.

Since her and Jonathan had both had their turn shooting, Nancy offered the gun out to her sister. "Want a go, Carla?"

"What the hell?" Carla exclaimed, taking the gun from her sisters hand. With her cozy family, she'd never even thought of shooting a gun, but there was a first time for everything. Aiming at one of the standing cans, she paused a moment before adding, "And for the record, I agree with everything Nance said."

She then didn't hesitate before shooting the weapon, slightly flinching at the loud sound it made. A shocked chuckle passed her lips as she watched her bullet hit the can in the center, knocking it off the piece of wood it had been standing out.

For not having any experience, Carla would say she'd done good.

Nancy held up in her hand in a high five, Carla accepting, slapping her sisters hand. Who would have known the Wheeler sisters would be good with firearms? Jonathan sighed with a slight smile, proud of his friends though slightly defeated that they'd done better than him.

Carla patted her best friend's shoulder, "Looks like you could use a little practice."

The trio spent the rest of the afternoon shooting.

They alternated between shooting cans and the trunks of wood, as well as trying out different angles and positions to see who was the best at shooting, and where they did their best at. Nancy ended up being the best—surprisingly, though was it really surprising after her first try?—Carla coming second, with Jonathan trailing behind.

For an afternoon full of shooting a gun, it was oddly....fun? She hadn't expected so much laughter and sarcastic comments, as this was practice for a very serious situation. But, it was indeed fun hanging out with Jonathan and Nancy, who were starting to bond on their own—not just because they were both close to Carla.

The trio had done so much practice in fact, that they didn't have time to go monster hunting as they'd wanted. The sky had slightly dimmed, and Jonathan declared it would be best to save the searching for another day, wanting to get home and safe before it got too dark.

Anything could happen in the dark.

Carla, not wanting to risk night-hunting, agreed, and was currently walking out of the woods with her sister and best friend beside her, golf club tossed over her shoulder—she hadn't needed it after all.

But, her grip was tight over the handle, in case something did come out at them. While they were leaving to escape the chance of the faceless creature claiming them next at night, it was still possible it could come out at them right now, and Carla wanted to be prepared if it did.

For now though, everything seemed calm—no monsters in sight.

The only sound was the crunching of leaves and twigs under their feet, which had fallen from the trees over the past month, causing them to look bare and weak. The Wheeler liked pointing out the array of oranges and browns the leaves were colored—it was one of the only things keeping her occupied on her trudge back to Jonathan's car, the boy having offered to drive them home so they weren't walking by themselves.

"You never said what I was saying."

Jonathan and Carla both turned towards Nancy at her words, the Byers boy confusingly asking, "What?"

"Yesterday." the shorter Wheeler clarified, moving closer to Jonathan so they could talk. With an eye roll, Carla slowed her pace to give them some space, trailing behind the two—third wheeling sucked, even if Nancy and Jonathan weren't together. "You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture."

"Oh, uh...." Jonathan clearly hadn't expected that, "I don't know. My guess....I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment...it's like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could just be yourself."

Nancy is quiet for a moment before spitting, "That is such bullshit."

"What?"

Nancy came to a halt in front of the boy to try and get her point across, "I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you and Carla don't like him—"

"Why are you dragging me into this?" Carla voiced, sending her sister a look. If she and Jonathan were going to argue over Steve, so be it, but she did not want her name in the conversation.

"You know what? Forget it." the Byers boy walked past the girl, changing his words. "I just thought it was a good picture."

"He's actually a good guy." Nancy defended, chasing after the brunette boy.

"Okay."

Carla scoffed, "Yeah, if you do things when and how he wants them to be done."

"Yesterday, with the camera....He's not like that at all. He was just being protective." Nancy ignored her sister, continuing on with her point.

Bitterly, Jonathan muttered, "Yeah, that's one word for it."

"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?"

"No...I-I never said that."

"He had every right to be pissed!"

"Okay. Alright. Does that mean I have to like him?" the Byers boy turned around, glaring at Nancy. He spared a look at Carla, "I mean, Carla doesn't like him much either but you're not going off on her, are you?"

Carla groaned, "Again, with my name—"

"It's not my problem that Carla doesn't like Steve." Nancy argues, arms crossed over her chest, growing more pissed off as she went. "It's not my fault that she's the one who called it off between them and that now—"

"What the fuck, Nance?" the Wheeler girl exclaimed, looking at her twin with wide eyes. Carla saw no reason for her sister to be going off at her right now—she'd done nothing wrong.

"You're, like, sabotaging my relationship because you're jealous!" Nancy yelled, exasperated. "You're jealous that I'm dating Steve because you regret what happened between you two."

"Sabotaging?" Carla scoffed, "Oh my God, grow up, Nancy! I'm not jealous of shit because Steve broke my fucking heart—I don't want him back! He couldn't comprehend that I didn't know how to express my feelings and decided to break up with me! Not the other way around."

The Wheeler wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but she just couldn't stop yelling. "If Steve wants me back, that's his problem, not mine. So, sorry, if he stares at me in the hallways instead of you for five seconds. I can't do anything about it."

"Maybe tell him you don't love him, for starters." Nancy spat, voice quieter than before as if this was bothering her. "Maybe he'd finally get over you if he knew everything was gone."

"What makes you assume everything isn't already gone?"

Nancy took in a breath, "When Steve took the photos from Jonathan, he hid one in his pocket. He only showed it to you." her gaze met with Carla's, and she asked the question on her mind since that day, "What was in that photo, Carla? Tell me what's in it, tell me that there's nothing going on between you two, and I'll believe you."

Carla's mouth closed. There was supposed to be nothing between her and Steve, but.....there was something. The kiss they'd shared proved that there something was still there and as much as she wanted to tell Nancy Steve was her's, she couldn't.

"I can't." Carla admitted, eyes on her shoes.

"That's what I thought." Nancy harshly muttered, before looking back at Jonathan, who'd been oddly silent. "Jonathan?"

Jonathan met eyes with his best friend, who was practically pleading for him to not tell her what happened. And, while he thought Nancy deserved to know the truth, he wasn't going to betray his friend like that—the girl who'd kept many of his secrets over the years.

The Byers boy shook his head, "I can't tell you, Nancy."

"Why would you tell me? We're not even close." the Wheeler girl sighed, "You only seem to like one person in the world other than your mom and brother and that's Carla. You don't even give people a chance—"

Jonathan tried to defend himself, "Look, don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's—" God why was this conversation still revolving around Steve? "—in the vast majority."

"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay." Nancy admitted, the air growing more tense as the argument continued.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is.' "

Jonathan, who'd walked forward, turned around and paced back to the Wheeler girl. "Well, I was just starting to think you were okay." The girl he was speaking of scoffed, and he continued, "I was thinking, 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does....until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it.' " Jonathan didn't say another word as he brushed past Nancy.

Carla spared her sister a cold glare before doing the same, leaving Nancy all alone.

Carla was honestly sure they were lost.

They'd been walking for what felt like hours, and now it was dark—dark enough to where they needed flashlights to lead the way. So much for getting out of the woods before night-fall. It definitely didn't help that the trio walked in complete, tension filled, silence, meaning no one had commented about their direction, or if they'd already passed this group of trees.

But, the silence allowed for Carla to hear the crunch of the leaves better, and she was quick to notice when her sister stopped walking entirely.

Noticing her sudden halt, Jonathan turned around and irritably commented, "What, are you tired?"

Carla sounded annoyed as she added, "We've already wasted enough time as it is—"

Nancy silenced the two. "Shut up. Both of you."

"What?" Jonathan asked, Carla ushering her on with a look.

"I heard something." Nancy revealed, voice quiet, face contorted in concentration.

The two go quiet, wanting to hear whatever the Wheeler had. It took a few moments, but Carla heard it—it was almost like a soft whimper. Jonathan must have heard it too, because the three shared a look of curiosity before starting in the direction of the sound.

Luckily, the sound hadn't come from a monster—it had come from a deer instead. Lying to the side of the woods in a pile of leaves was a wounded deer, neck covered in blood from whatever had happened. The creature let out soft whimpers, chest wheezing up and down. Carla could tell it was near death by the looks of it's matted fur and limp body, as well as the already mentioned.

The three knelt down to the animal's level, sighs of relief and of sorrow leaving their lips. They were glad it wasn't the creature, but it was sad to see an animal lying in it's own misery, waiting for death to claim it.

"It's been hit by a car." Nancy states, lightly placing a hand on the deer's limp leg. The girl then turned towards the other two with a frown, "We can't just leave it."

Carla knew what she meant. Nancy wanted to put the animal out of it's misery—to shoot it and give it a quick death—instead of letting it sit in it's own miserable pain, as it was right now.

Nancy looks at the gun in her hand before hesitantly raising it towards the deer. She wanted to help it, but didn't know if she could shoot it. Knowing this, Jonathan outstretched his hand, offering to do it instead. "I'll do it."

Knowing that Jonathan would probably struggle too, Carla speaks up. "Jonathan, I can—"

"I'm not nine anymore." Jonathan says, standing up with the other two teens. He cocks the gun, and Nancy turns away, Carla closing her eyes so she doesn't have to watch the animal die. It's silent for a few seconds, and the Wheeler slowly opens her eyes to see Jonathan holding the gun out, more than likely contemplating ending the deer's life, even if it would be helpful to the creature.

But, just as Jonathan's finger begins to squeeze the trigger, the deer is abruptly dragged away into the darkness surrounding them.

The sudden scare causes all three teens to jump backwards, gasps leaving their lips. Carla's eyes are wide as she scans around their perimeter, trying to spot whatever the fuck had just dragged that deer but she could barely see in the darkness, and was honestly too afraid to shine a light in the direction it had been dragged.

"What was that." Nancy breathed.

"I don't even fucking know, but it is kind of freaking me out." Carla whispered, suddenly feeling very unsafe within the woods. She assumed her friends felt the same, but her thoughts are proved wrong when Nancy starts shining a light in the direction the deer had gone, beginning to walk the trial of blood it left.

"Whoa, Nance where are you going?" the Wheeler watches as her sister continues to walk, eyes narrowed in confusion. What the fuck was she doing? If they should be walking anywhere, it should be in the other direction, away from whatever had taken that deer. "Maybe it's only me, but I think it's a terrible idea to follow that trail of blood. We don't know what just took it."

Jonathan too started walking, gun out in case something decided to attack. Still left where the deer originally laid, Carla threw her hands in the air and started to follow the other two teens, muttering under her breath, "I can't believe this."

It's eerily quiet for a few minutes as they each shine flashlights around, continuing to spot crimson colored leaves and sticks—they even pass a bone that belonged to the deer, all bloodied up.

But, they soon find themselves within an unknown part of the woods, where no blood was to be found.

"Where'd it go?" Nancy voices the question on everyone's mind, knowing it would be met with no answer.

Carla lets out a breath, "No clue."

"Do you see any more blood?" Jonathan asks.

Both Wheeler's look around, answering in unison. "No."

The trio then started patrolling around the woods, flashlights shining in every direction. Personally, Carla just wanted to get out of the woods before they ended up like the deer, but she wasn't going to leave her sister or Jonathan out here. While the tension was still thick, she still cared.

So, she stayed in the middle, shining her light every-which-way, watching as Jonathan headed in a different direction. Carla wasn't really sure whether she should be glad they hadn't found anything, or happy. In one sense, they hadn't found anything but in the other, they hadn't found anything. The monster could be lurking, and they wouldn't even know—

"Carla?"

Her sister's voice took her from her thoughts, and she turned so her flashlight was shining directly on Nancy's face.

Nancy's eyes squeeze shut at the light, "Could you not shine that in my face and come look?"

"Sorry." Carla huffed, turning the item towards the ground and joined her sister in front of a tree. It was a normal tree though—no. This tree had a good sized whole in the center dripping with....slime? With furrowed brows, the Wheeler shined her light into the hole, "What the fuck..."

"Call for Jonathan." Nancy muttered, examining her discovery.

"Hey, Jonathan?!" Carla called out, turning back around so she could try and spot her best friend. Silence. "Jonathan? You're gonna want to see this—" her words came to a halt as there was a small thud near her feet, and the girl turned to see her sister's bag on the floor, Nancy's body nearing the hole.

"Nancy, are you seriously going to go in there?" Carla asked, a look of disbelief on her features. "Jonathan is probably lost, we should just go and look for him—besides, we don't even know what's in there or what that is to begin with."

"More the reason to check it out." Nancy breathed, before sticking her head inside the opening. The other Wheeler's jaw was dropped as she watched her sister crawl inside, surprised Nancy was really doing this.

"Nancy!" Carla exclaimed, the girl crawling further and further into the hole. Nancy doesn't answer and she lets out some kind of frustrated sound. She now had to pick—either she left her sister and tried to keep Jonathan from getting lost, or she saved her sister's ass from whatever was in this hole.

Once her sister's figure was gone, Carla knelt down on the leaf covered ground. She set down her golf club and looked into the slimy hole. Oh God what was she doing? Taking in a breath, the Wheeler didn't let herself any more hesitation before she stuck her head into the hole.

Shining her flashlight forward, Carla cringed in disgust as she looked at the slimy tunnel ahead of her. As she crawled through it, slimy and sticky substances dripped down upon her skin, stained her white sweater—she doubted it would come out easily—and matted in her hair. It was cold, and sent chills through her skin.

Yeah, Carla was really regretting her choices.

Crawling out, the Wheeler's eyes widened. It looked like she'd crawled back into the woods, except this woods was much different. Flakes of what looked like ash or dust floated within the air; the trees were covered in slime and looked decayed; the air cold and almost feeling of death—a different type of cold than the normal fall chill Hawkins had.

Carla could feel herself breathing in the particles, the rotting, decaying air filling up her lungs. She couldn't help but put a hand over her mouth because the feeling of it inside of her was horrible.

But it wasn't as horrible as the feeling that bubbled inside of her when she realized she knew this place.

The bluish-black lighting; the vines covering the trees and the soggy ground below; the dust particles—it was all familiar. This was where her nightmare had taken place, which only meant one thing.

The monster was here too.

With her heart in her throat, Carla watched her sister walk forward. She followed, flashlight flickering the farther they got. But, as soon as she started walking, Nancy halted in place at the sudden snarling the echoed within this place.

Carla felt her breath hitch as she looked forward to see the gray, pale skin of the creature from her nightmares—the monster that had been trying to get Will. It's large body and elongated limbs towered over the deer the trio had found moments beforehand, sloppy and wet squelches coming from it's petal of a mouth as it devoured the poor creature.

Carla didn't know what was worse—the fact that this creature from her nightmares was real, or the fact that her nightmares were more than just fiction.

"Nancy." the Wheeler whispered to her sister, the girl quickly twisting around with wide eyes. Though once she saw her twin sister, a relieved expression crossed her features before twisting into a nervous one.

"Oh, Carla. Thank God." Any tension between the two was currently gone as they listened to the creature's gnawing.

Carla was serious as she whispered, "Nance, we have to get out of here right now. This is the place my nightmare happened, and that was the creature that took Will."

Nancy nodded in agreement, and Carla latched on to her arm, the sisters backing away slowly and quietly. The girls' eyes stayed locked on the creature, and as they back away, Carla is almost sure that they could escape without capturing the monsters attention.

And that hope of escaping alive stayed.....until Nancy stepped on a vine.

There's a quiet crunch and the Wheeler's face cringes back, but there's no way that sound could have been loud enough to alarm the monster—not when the sisters whispering had gone by un-noticed.

But, it seems the sound had triggered something, because the moment Nancy's foot connects with the vine, it's body is out of its crouching position and it's facing the two girls. Its mouth opened like a deadly flower, revealing rows of sharp teeth and a shriek left it's mouth.

Carla wasn't sure who screamed first, but both her and Nancy let out a terror filled sound. Her flashlight fell from her grasp in shock.

All the Wheeler wanted to do was to just close her eyes and wait to wake up, but this wasn't a nightmare, was it? If she closed her eyes, the monster would get her—she wouldn't be waking up.

So Carla didn't hesitate before she started sprinting in the opposite direction, back towards the hole.

Heart pounding in her throat, chest heaving up and down as she tried to give herself the momentum to keep running, Carla eyes darted around trying to spot where they'd came from, which was difficult given she dropped her flashlight, causing the already dimly lit place to be even darker. Not to mention every goddamn tree looked the exact same.

And that every goddamn tree happened to be hole-less—none of them seemed to be the one, which only added to the stress because what if they never found the hole they'd came through? What happened then?

Nancy too was realizing that none of the trees held their way back home, and started to running aimlessly, screaming for Jonathan—who had hopefully returned to where they started and was near the tree. It was a long shot, but it was their only hope of getting back to the tree. "Jonathan! Jonathan!"

"Jonathan!" Carla couldn't help but yell for her best friend too because she was scared. So fucking scared. The sister's screams for help mixed together, both spewing out the boys name in frantic cries. "Jonathan! Jonathan! We're right here, please!"

"Nancy! Carla!"

The voice is faint, and Carla almost thinks she's imagining the boy, but as it grows louder she's absolutely sure that Jonathan can hear them—that he's yelling for them in return.

"Jonathan, where are you?!" Nancy screams, running in the opposite direction—she'd practically been spinning circles trying to look for the tree. "Jonathan!"

"Jonathan! We're—we're right here! We're here!" Carla takes in a heavy breath, all the running and the panic having caused her breathing to become erratic and uneven. "Jonathan, please! Where are you!"

"I'm right here!"

"Jonathan!"

"I'm right here! Nancy! Carla!" Jonathan's voice echoes from the real world, both girls turning, trying to figure out where he was coming from. "Just follow my voice!"

Taking his words to heart, Nancy calls out his name yet again, "Jonathan!"

"Follow my voice, Nancy, Carla, I'm right here!" the Byers' voice sounded so distant, yet so close at the same time. The two sisters follow after his voice, as if this was some fucked up game of Marco Polo.

"Carla! Nancy!"

Instead of calling back like they had been, the two girls are knocked silent at the sudden growling of the monster, which had appeared mere feet in front of them. Carla let's out a surprised scream and then she's on her feet again, running in the opposite direction with Nancy beside her.

Jonathan must have heard their sudden shocked gasps, and yells for them once more. "Carla?! Nancy?!"

The two girls find refuge behind a tree, backs pressed up against the decaying bark. Carla had one hand slapped over her mouth to muffle the sound of her breathing, the other clasped with Nancy's in fear. Despite her heart thumping so loud she could hear it in her ears, the Wheeler could hear the creature whimpering, could hear the place they were squelching as it patrolled around. As it looked for them.

"Carla! Nancy! Just follow my voice!"

Both girls turn to the side and see the hole they had come through. No wonder they hadn't been able to spot it at first—it had slid down the tree, and was much closer to the ground than it had been. Decayed wood and slime had slightly covered it.

Carla made eye contact with her sister, speaking without words. As the monster let out a shriek from a few feet away, she practically shoved Nancy towards the tree, given this was their chance.

"Nancy, go!" the Wheeler helped her sister get through the tight portal. After many strained sounds, as well as some from Jonathan too, Nancy's body was out of the hole, allowing Carla her turn to escape.

The Wheeler crawled through, whimpers falling past her lips as the slime and membrane of the hole caused her to struggle, sticking on to her now dirty white sweater and to her hair, staining whatever it touched. She could hear the monster shrieking behind her, which caused Carla to push herself even harder because she really didn't want to become the monster's second serving.

"Jonathan! Nancy!" Carla yelled, feeling the cool air against her skin as her hand popped through the membrane. She felt four other hands grab on to her, and after a few minutes of struggling to break past the slime, the Wheeler fell on to the leaf covered ground with a sob.

"Carla!" she heard her sister call out her name, and then she was engulfed in a hug from the girl. Carla didn't fight though and tightly clung to her sister because she thought they were going to die. That she was going to die.

Any tension between the trio was gone as Jonathan too wrapped his arms around the girls, protectively and in comfort. He didn't care that they were covered in muck and slime, or that it was smearing against his clothes, or that he didn't know what had happened in that hole. All the Byers wanted to do was show the sisters that he was there, that they were okay.

Carla knew they were lucky that they were, and she clung on to the two other teens thankful to be alive.

Carla opened the door to her sister's room, ringing her hair of water.

Nancy laid in her bed, covers drawn close to her chest, while Jonathan laid on the floor of the end of the bed in an old sleeping bag that was used to sleepovers when the girl was younger, a crocheted pillow supporting his head.

Carla dropped her towel on the floor—she'd pick it up tomorrow—and entered the bedroom more. Sure, she had her own bedroom next door but.....something was unsettling about sleeping alone tonight. Even though she didn't leave near the creature or the hole, she couldn't help but fear that something would attack her if she was alone.

A childish fear, but Carla didn't really care. She just didn't want to be alone right now. Not tonight. "Hey, Nance, do you mind if I—"

"Go ahead." Nancy quipped, voice quiet. She still sounded shaken up, and as if she too didn't want to be by herself. After a beat of silence, she added, "Please."

"I don't want to be alone either." Carla muttered, walking over to the opposite side of her sister's bed. When she was younger, she'd do this all the time—her and Nancy would spend the night in one another's room and have their own personal sleepover.

The girl lies down, drawing the sheets near her figure as well. She closes her eyes and tries her best to relax but it's rather difficult when every time she closes her eyes, she saw it—the monster eating the deer, Nancy's panic filled face, her and Nance screaming for Jonathan.

Nancy too must have been feeling scared, because after a few moments of silence she states, "Can you just come up here?" One person must not have made her feel too safe, especially someone who'd been targeted by the monster too.

"Uh, yeah." Jonathan muttered, crawling out of his sleeping bag, gun in hand. Carla moved over so her friend would have room, finding refuge in the middle of the bed. Jonathan moved in to where she'd previously been, not bothering to go under the covers in respect. It was awkwardly silent for a few moments before the Byers asked, "Do you want the lights off or—"

Both Wheeler twins spoke in unison, "On."

"Yeah."

"That place....it was where my nightmare happened. Same monster, too." Carla started, staring aimlessly towards Nancy's wall. It was still odd to think that her nightmares were possibly more than that—they'd held a place and monster that she'd never seen in her life, both of which ending up real. "Do you think everything with Will is real too? That he can see me, and that he's really calling for help? That I'm letting him...." She didn't finish.

Had she let him die when she couldn't save him from the creature?

"No, Will's alive." Jonathan muttered. "He has to be."

Nancy added, "But, maybe he is trying to call for help. To show he's alive. Especially if that thing is real...."

At the mention of the monster, Jonathan stated, "You know it....it can't get us in here."

"We don't know that." Nancy whispered in response.

Her words managed to be the final ones shared between the trio. 

mara's misc!

THIS IS MY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON WATTPAD (yes, i joined on 9/11. someone help me).

it's so weird to think i've been writing on this app for two years now.....when i started out i got not recognition and my writing was shit and now this fic has almost 20k views at i'm at about 700 followers. 

 thank you to everyone who's ever read, followed, messaged me or simply browsed through my account.  i really do enjoy being on this app (even with how dry it's been, and with all the drama).  this has been such an outlet and a home for me, and i've made quite a few friends.

the name of this chapter is also the name of a song in the musical into the woods. def recommend watching the disney musical adaptation or a slime tutorial of the show bc it's pretty fun.  the song literally just fit the chapter and now i break into song whenever i think of the name.

also, this a/n was written as i was watching harry potter and the deathly hallows pt1 for no reason and like these movies>>>> in no way do i support j.k rowling nor am i a fanatic of the series like i used to be but i gotta admit the hp series are some of my comfort films.  like i can watch them whenever. 

anyway, hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 12!!!