So in this a 'What if?' story it of course will be AU and I decided to make it modern day but it will still be very much like the show. I'm also not sure yet if this will ever get particularly graphic or that sexual but for now I will rate it T for now. I hope to find out what you guys think.

Another day. Joyce didn't want to get out of bed. She's done that before. These days she finds herself waking up at the crack of dawn, maybe just to keep herself sane. The windows were always covered in curtains, some painted over. She was practically agoraphobic now. She ventured outside only to tend to her garden but that had to have been months ago. Time was different in that tiny one story house of hers. She brewed herself some coffee. She had no where to go, no one to see anymore. She paced the kitchen, waiting impatiently for the coffee. She passed by the picture of her youngest son. That hair that was well overdue to be cut. He was just an average kid, had friends, went out into the woods to make a fort. She hadn't seen him in 2 years. No one had.

"Ms. Byers?" A young man called from outside; he'd been knocking several times but Joyce had been so deep in thought she didn't notice.

She knew who it was, the young man that delivered her groceries nearly 5 days a week. She had only ever seen him a hand full of times.

"Just leave it on the step, James!" She shouted.

"...um...I was uh wondering...it's past the first of the month and was hoping maybe..."

"My cheque hasn't come in yet...is it out there?" She waited by the door. The sound of a rusted mail box cover opening and just as quickly shut.

"No."

"I'm sorry...just give me a little more time ok?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Ok. Have a good day!"

She waited for him to leave, peeking out the window like she expected a gun shot. She opened the door, looked around. Her home was so far from the edge of town that no one ventured out that way, well not any more any way. She still couldn't scrub all the paint someone slapped on the front of the house; you could still make out 'BITCH'. She grabbed the brown paper bags and headed back inside.

Nancy stayed in her room, reading almost religiously. Her parents, well her mother any way, wanted her to drop the anti-social act and start hanging out with kids her own age. Nancy was never really an outcast but she never felt part of any clique. Her best friend vanished 2 years ago without a trace. No one knew what happened, she would have been considered more of a nerd at school, she was probably the nicest person Nancy had ever met. This tall, redheaded girl that was excluded from most peer activities but never fussed about it.

Nancy remembered the last night she saw her. She convinced her to go to a party with her. She clearly wasn't into it but accompanied Nancy anyway which Nancy took as her having her back because she didn't really know these kids that well. She ended up drinking and abandoning her to go upstairs and make out with a hunk named Steve. Nothing really went too far before they passed out. But she was gone. No letter to her parents, a text or phone call to her. The cops found her car but figured she hopped a bus and skipped town.

Nancy's mother barged into her room, "Nancy!"

She looked up from her book, startled, "Mom? Could you please knock?"

"You have to stop this," she took the book right out of her hands; she looked over the cover disgusted, images of a starry night and half naked creatures. "What is this?"

"It's the third volume of Kesher's Tale...it...," Nancy bit her bottom lip, "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Are you still into this sci-fi garbage?"

Nancy nodded, "It's really well written."

"Nancy, you can't shut the world out. You never even used to like this stuff. I tried ignoring the movies you watch. Everything you do is just...I miss you."

"I'm not that different...Dr. Hamilton said I just needed to find an escape."

"Yes but now it's time to face the real world," she opened the blinds; Nancy shielded her eyes from the sun, "Get outside. You look like a vampire!"

"Nobody wants to hang out any more! Not since...," she couldn't even say her name, that's how much it still hurt.

"Barb is gone, Nancy. It's time to move on."

"They never even tried to find her! It's that lab up in the woods, some how they're behind it!"

Karen cringed at her daughter's story, she'd heard them time and time again like Barb was murdered or they have her prisoner, she's being experimented on.

"Enough, Nancy! You want to live like a hermit? Go move in with Joyce Byers because you sound exactly like her!"

"Well maybe she's right!" Nancy argued.

Karen rolled her eyes, "Fine. Make a tin foil hat and pack your bags!"

Nancy groaned and lied back onto her bed. Karen was at the door but had more to say, "If you don't leave the house tomorrow I'm cancelling the internet."

"You couldn't," she said sitting up.

"No but I will change the password. Monitor you."

Nancy dreaded the thought of going out any where in town, school was bad enough. She knew how people talked, she was the crazy girl, the weirdo. After her mom left she couldn't help but think about Joyce Byers. Her brother Will was friends with her son, they played Dungeons and Dragons in their basement; a game she never in a million years thought she would ever play or be invested in. She had maybe only seen her once when she came over to pick him up but that was some time ago. No one had seen her, after her estranged husband took her older son Johnathan with him she shut herself off from everyone.

The next day she decided to go to the local market. She thought she wouldn't be bothered there; no one her age would be around. She would spend maybe forty minutes there and go to the park then back to the comfort of the lair she made for herself. Some older people did give her the odd look here and there as she made it to the frozen aisle. Seeing her reflection she could see why; her frizzy, unmanageable hair in a ponytail, pale skin and rings around her sunken in eyes.

"You could use a spa day," a young male employee said as he came by, stalking the cooler next to her.

She frowned, prepared a hand to smack him, "Shut up, James."

"I thought you only came out at night. What did you come for the Eggos?"

"Does it look like I eat that crap"

He had a small laugh; Nancy was his cousin but he still liked to mess with her like she was a younger sister.

"Are you going to the big cool kid party? Heard it's at Billy Hargrove's."

"I don't even know who that is," she said passively.

"You only have a year left don't you?"

"Who cares? Do you really think I want to hang out with a bunch of kids that want nothing to do with me?"

"Yeah well that's my life. You could make an effort. Maybe not hangout at a grocery store when you have no intention to buy."

"I do plan on buying," she said confidentially.

James shook his head. "Well I gotta go make a delivery. So you won't have to disturb my work."

"How far do you have to go?"

"12 Elm street."

Nancy's ears perked up, "Wait who lives there?"

"Joyce Byers and she still owes money."

"Really?" Nancy followed him as he walked to another aisle.

"I already went out that way yesterday. Pain in the ass."

"Well I could go," Nancy said this without really thinking it through.

James stopped and looked at her, "You serious?"

"What? I want to help."

"I guess it makes sense."

"What makes sense?" He laughed to himself. She hated that shit eating grin he had, "Because we're both weird?"

"You said it not me."

"She's not really crazy...right?"

He shrugged, "Just leave the bags on her porch and ring the bell."

"What you don't take them in for her?"

"She doesn't let anyone inside."

Nancy frowned, it sounded so sad to her that she had no one there with her. "Ok. What about your money?"

"I'll get it next time. She might be creeped out if you're there. She doesn't like change in her routine."

"Oh."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Nancy thought hard and nodded, "Yeah. No problem."

"K. So you never planned on buying anything then. Supports my theory."

Nancy grabbed a box of Strawberry Pop tarts and stuck her tongue out at him.

She loaded the front basket of her old bicycle. She felt nervous, she couldn't figure why, it wasn't like Joyce had a violent history or anything. She wasn't sure what her true reason for going was. Maybe it was her own morbid curiosity.

End of chapter one. Hope you like it so far.