The sun was just beginning to peek its head over the horizon when Veronica snuck in through the window. "Where'd you go?" Max mumbled half asleep in Veronica's bed.
"I just needed some air," Veronica whispered having never lied to her sister like this before. Little lies that were done with the best of intentions, sure, but not like this. They laid down with Veronica at her back and an arm over her waist, so close she felt the moment Max slipped back into sleep as her breathing deepened steadily. "Something's wrong with me," Veronica told her trying to forget that poor woman's horrible screams.
She felt like she was gonna be sick, her stomach was too tight like it might burst any second. There was a terrible metallic taste in the back of her mouth, it hit her suddenly what it was.
She was gone when Max woke, the front door shutting is what'd woken her. And Max looked at the textbook Veronica had forgotten, swallowing the rising worry.
There weren't many people at the high school, not even all the teachers had shown up yet. Veronica just needed to be out of that house. It felt too small and warm, their hearts pounding like thunder. She was really after the library because the one in town wouldn't open for a couple more hours. But after shoving her things in her locker her mouth filled with saliva and she ran for the bathroom. The door to the stall slammed against the wall as she threw herself on the ground in front of the toilet.
He'd come early hoping to catch Nancy, all he'd seen was a flash of hair before she'd run into the bathroom. "Hey, you alright?" Steve called from the doorway hearing her heaving. It made his own stomach churn but he inched closer to the stall. "Need me to get the nurse?" She had red hair, his shoulders slumped with his disappointed sigh. Then he saw the blood. "Oh shit," he exclaimed softly not knowing how that much had come out of her. It filled the bowl and was splattered on the side smeared under her hands as she held onto the toilet to keep from collapsing.
She took a steadying breath and sighed relieved at finding the pain in her stomach was gone. Now she had another problem to deal with. She looked up at the wide-eyed boy and told him blandly, "either help me or get out."
He blinked finally kicking himself into gear. "Right," he said grabbing paper towels and helping her clean up while she washed her hands. "You do this often?" was his lame attempt at a joke. He didn't really know what to say.
Rinsing her mouth she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked nice, then again the last boy looked nice too. "Do you?" Her green eyes narrowed as she turned to him, catching the heavy way he swallowed. "Because you don't seem very bothered by this."
A shadow darkened behind her eyes as she stared up at him, and he reached a hand to rub the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Last year was really weird," is what he told her. Not that she would've believed him anyway, Nancy was the only one he could talk to about it and they weren't really talking anymore.
"Deal with a lot of girls puking blood?"
His brows rose and he scoffed a laugh. "Rude, but fair point. So what's your story then?"
She huffed a sigh taking the paper towel he offered and wiped her mouth. She couldn't tell him, she couldn't tell anyone. Not that she'd know what to say. "I don't care," she muttered pushing him aside as she left the bathroom. There were more people here now, it was closer to the first bell. Screw it, she thought, she missed first period yesterday what was another day if it got her closer to figuring out what was going on. She turned to Steve abruptly hearing him follow her. "You can only stay if you tell me what happened," she told him firmly.
He considered that, that she wouldn't really believe him anyway. "Fine, but you gotta talk too."
He'd never believe her. "Deal," she said and they shook on it.
They huddled in the corner of the empty library by the hulking computer they were supposed to get permission to use. She was looking through the few news reports the school library had for deaths, missing people, anything that sounded right. While Steve wove a detailed account of what happened last year, most of which she tuned out because it was mostly about Nancy who she didn't know. But she paused at his description of the creature he claimed he took out before admitting he had help.
"What did its mouth look like?"
He glanced at the side of her face not knowing why she looked familiar, he didn't remember seeing her before today. "Well you asked that for a reason." He met her sharp wide eyes wanting to ask her again what she was looking for but knowing she'd shut him down, again. He was honestly surprised she hadn't laughed him away, an uneasiness was settling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't really know how to explain it so he cupped his hands together and opened them to her – like a flower in bloom. "There were a lot of teeth," he remembered. "Did you see one?"
She was quiet several moments as she thought this through, if she could actually tell him, whether there might be a real answer. And if there was would she want to know it? Grabbing her notebook she drew a very crude representation of its mouth, four flaps like petals covered in teeth.
"So you did see one," he said needing to tell Nancy. She'd know what to do.
But Veronica shook her head staring hard at his earnest brown eyes. "It um," she held a hand at her chest watching his brows draw together as he waited, "it came out of me."
His expression was frozen for several long seconds before he sat back like she hit him. "That," once he pictured that he had a hard time getting it out of his head. His nose curled. "That's disgusting." She frowned and he held a hand up already taking it back. "No offense."
"I was gonna say horrifying but sure, Steven, lets go with disgusting." She turned back to the very large very slow hunk of junk that didn't have any answers for her.
He glanced at her clothed chest like he might be able to see something, but his eyes darted away not wanting her to catch him looking. "What now?" he asked having so many questions he wanted to ask.
She sighed letting her shoulders fall in defeat. "I was really hoping you'd be able to tell me that." It was only the smallest direction but she guessed it was better than nothing. She wasn't crazy, just dead and maybe a monster.
He scratched the back of his head wishing someone else had found her, anyone could help her more than he could. "There's a lab," he offered.
"What, and be turned into some science experiment?" She sounded offended, he didn't really know why. But she shook her head rolling her eyes. "Sorry," she said not meaning to be mean. "My sister reads a lot of comics, people as science experiments never really go well."
A light went off as the answer finally came to him, she saw it and sat up hopefully. "You're Billy's sister, that's why I know you."
She stared at him taking a deep irritable breath. "You're an idiot," she said before grabbing her notebook and standing.
"Where are you going?"
"The main library, stop following me," she told him throwing the door open as she walked into the hall. They'd have an archive of old newspapers, maybe she'd find something there.
His hand on her arm stopped her, but she looked at where he was grabbing her and he quickly let go. "I'll go with you, we can go after school," he offered seeing her eyes narrow. "Well I do know more about this than you."
"Barely," she shot back. Her narrowed eyes didn't leave his. "You wanna see it." He shrugged with feigned disinterest, his hands in his pockets. "It's not a dick, I can't just whip it out," she told him sternly hearing his exasperated curse at her description. "And the last time it happened I ate an old lady."
"Jesus, what?" he breathed gaping down at her innocent seeming face. It hadn't seemed real before, just a strange coincidence. "That's what that was in the bathroom?"
Billy had found out the hard way she had very little patience when it came to waiting for people to catch up. She was smart, probably one of the smartest people he knew, and she held the impossible expectation everyone could keep up. "No, Steven, some girls have menses through their mouth."
He gagged while she rolled her eyes. She didn't need him, from the sound of it he didn't have much more to offer. She needed her other half but she couldn't bring this into Max's life. She wanted Billy because no one in her life had ever had her back more even if he had been letting her down lately, but she'd already almost killed him once. And it felt so good to be able to say this out loud, to just have…anyone. Even if it was this idiot with weird hair. "After school," she relented, her voice softer than her face would allow.
"Basketball practice."
She shot him a scathing look already regretting including him. "Are you kidding me?" she asked rhetorically. He shrugged not understanding her sudden annoyance. "I tell you I ate someone and you're going to basketball practice?" Again he shrugged and she rolled her eyes so hard they might have never rolled back. "You're an idiot," she told him again walking away.
"What?" he asked innocently as he followed her.
…
He'd given her a best guess for when he'd be done. Veronica spent that time in the main office on the phone with the librarian telling the curious woman what news reports she wanted pulled from the archives. That it was for a project. And she wondered, as she'd wondered every class that day, what her life was now.
She paced in the empty gymnasium looking up every time the door to the locker room opened and growled a sigh when it wasn't Steve. She could hear him in there, could hear Billy too. And she knew that "other bitches in the sea," was mostly about her, she was his bitch. Checking her watch, again, she unfurled her crossed arms and threw the door open marching in.
It was mostly empty by then because everyone else had gotten their ass in gear and got ready. Of course her ass would be one of the last ones. Steve's eyes bulged when he turned to find her glaring at him. He hadn't understood what he was seeing the first time, but the second time he lowered his hands turning his back more to her. "What the hell?"
"Hurry up, they close in two hours."
He looked at her over his shoulder feeling soap get into his eye. "You're impatient and mean," he mumbled to himself.
"I'm not mean," she snapped earning several surprised stares around lockers at the remaining boys realizing she was there. Billy's eyes were cold as ice glancing between the two.
Steve scrubbed his hair and turned the water off taking the towel she held out for him. "You know I've been thinking," he said walking to his locker as he dried off, catching her eye roll, "since you," he turned to her lowering his voice, "ate," her eyes hardened irritably, "an old lady yesterday, do I need to be worried?"
Leaning against the locker next to his she watched him with her arms crossed, pissy. "If you don't put your dick away and come on," she warned losing what little patience she had.
"See, Mayfield, that was mean," he said pulling on his shirt, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Her face didn't change and he sighed grabbing his pants. "There's a new development in my situation."
Her face just barely, imperceptibly, softened as she looked at him. He didn't notice, but Billy did. "We can get your girlfriend flowers on the way," she told him almost gently. A faint glimmer of the girl she'd been two days ago.
He paused at her almost kind offering, it was probably the nicest she'd been to him. He turned to her and said, "I wasn't expecting that."
She nodded pushing off the locker, feeling Billy's hateful eyes burning the back of her head. She could hear his short angry breaths. But she was looking at Steve, because that's who she'd chosen to need - because she didn't care yet if she lost control and killed him. "I told you I wasn't mean. Now hurry the hell up before I leave your ass," she said brushing past him and shoving Tommy out of her way as she made for door. She pushed harder than she meant to and he flung a foot back hitting the locker and almost fell.
"Jesus Christ," Steve muttered grabbing his shoes and bag and running after her before she hurt someone else.
The door closed after him and Billy stood half dressed with his hands curled into tight fists, seething.
...
Veronica stood at the hulking boxy machine scanning through various newspapers looking for anything to add up. She'd found everything there was to find from what Steve told her about last year; Will Byers going missing, his funeral, him being found alive, a murdered restaurant owner, a very small mention of a girl at a store and the windows blowing out. Steve told her Will went to the middle school, she'd ask Max about him later. He didn't know much about the girl. Again, it wasn't much of a direction but at least it was somewhere. And she was too smart to not already know how this was gonna end.
She tasked Steve with book research, he just finished Greek mythological creatures and was looking unhappily at what he called satanic. Or rather he was looking at her chest again, the collar of her shirt was hanging a little too far off her frame and he could see mangled skin.
"Stop staring at my tits."
He jerked surprised and turned back to the book. "You know for the first time that's actually not what I was looking at." She turned to him with a brow raised and he rolled his eyes so she didn't have to. "That sounded better in my head."
She hummed returning to the papers, going back further looking for anything about this lab Steve mentioned.
But he was bored, and the closest he got was a demon and she wasn't that. "So what's up with you and Billy?" he asked having seen the way Billy was watching her in the locker room. Like he owned her. "You guys are weird." He met her annoyed stare and shrugged. "He asked with a lot of tact," Steve added. "And you were very impressed."
She might've scoffed but the corners of her mouth were just barely curled with distant amusement. "We used to date," she answered, her eyes on the paper.
"You dated your step brother?" he asked before reaching his own conclusion. Close quarters, she was very pretty, and Billy was proving he got around.
This time Veronica shrugged, she'd never really talked about this with anyone. "It's how our parents met."
He gave a quiet, oh, now understanding. "So you didn't break up because you stopped loving each other?" She shook her head and he flipped the page trying to look busy. "What brought you guys here?" Indiana was a far way from California, they had to be running from something.
Her eyes stilled on the monitor and turned glassy. "Officially it's because my sister tried to run away and find our dad, and my mom and Neil decided they wanted a fresh start."
"Unofficially?" he asked in a way he meant to be gentle.
Something shifted in her chest, it felt like her heart this time. "A lot of people found out I'd been knocked up by my step brother." The move really had been a fresh start but most of it was for her. She'd only just started to feel like herself again here, like she could find a way to feel whole enough and okay enough again. And now she was this.
He looked at the side of her pained face and couldn't for the life of him figure out what to say. "That sucks," is all he could come up with.
She nodded not having any other words herself. "Was I impressed with your eloquence in that statement?"
His eyes flicked to hers to find her waiting. "You were moved," he told her and her face split apart as she laughed, quiet and half heartedly, but it was a good start.
She sighed tucking her hair behind her ear. They weren't gonna find the answers here, she didn't think they would she was just looking for any proof that she wasn't going crazy. And she was crazy because this was as impossible as it was insane, but Steve for his part was keeping her grounded. She'd been taking care of herself, by herself, for so long she forgot how much of a relief it was to just have someone – someone that wasn't Billy. "Tell me again about the girlfriend," she told him seeing his surprise in the twitch of his brow. "Start from the beginning. We're gonna go over what you'll say, because you're an idiot and you'll screw it up."
He laughed shortly shaking his head. "Second time you called me an idiot, Mayfield. I'm almost offended."
"Third," she stated bluntly. "Good job proving my point."
A smile slid across her mouth and he shot her a dry look. "Just," he reached a hand to her face covering it and pushing her away, "put your face over there." Her light tinkling laughter had a smile tugging at his mouth. He hadn't been sure of her at first, she made it hard to relate to, and he definitely hadn't been sure when he realized she was Billy's sister – step sister, ex girlfriend, something more complicated. But she was proving to be kind of okay, even though he was pretty sure she did eat someone yesterday.
She called half an hour before dinner to tell her mom she was with a friend and would be late, but if she and Neil wanted she could bring home pizza for Max and Billy and they could go out. Veronica and Steve argued about what he should say while he ate, Veronica
personally didn't think he'd done anything and from what he told her she didn't care much for Nancy.
Billy was fuming when she finally showed up, twenty minutes later than she said, looking almost okay. Like herself. They used to bicker the way she and Steve had earlier, she was so easy to irritate and god she liked it rough when she was irritated.
Setting the box on the counter Veronica grabbed plates ignoring him as long as he'd let her. "How was school?" Veronica asked Max as she came out of their room.
"Fine, I learned something in um," she glanced at Billy, who hadn't taken his eyes of Ronnie, "social studies that I wanted to tell you."
Veronica held her eye and they shared a knowing look. "Maybe we can go for a drive after dinner, I can tell you what I learned today." Max was quick to nod having so many questions she needed to ask. Starting with whether Veronica was a zombie like Will.
"You know the longer you make me wait the worse it's gonna be."
She stiffened at his threat feeling it writhing inside her chest. "Fine," she hissed dropping his plate on the counter and brushing past him as she went to his room.
He slammed the door behind him and stood a breath away looking down at her dark eyes. "One day and you already got a new boyfriend. That's a record, Ronnie. I'm impressed."
"No, you're a dick," she shot back seeing his face slacken with hurt surprise before he sneered. "Don't you ever wonder what I saw in you? That's why you're so mad, right. Because Steven's got the looks, the charm, the confidence to not need me to hold his hand and make him feel good." She heard his knuckles crack as he balled his hands into fists, there wasn't a way to come back from what she was saying. That was the point. "He doesn't need me to be his mother."
The shock of that had his arm drawing back, his eyes were wide too late to stop himself from hitting her. Her hand shot up grabbing his wrist stopping the blow before it could fall, and she looked at him with inky black eyes; like she'd been pulled straight from the pits of hell. He tried pulling away but she held fast, her fingers hooked like claws around his arm. She could break it if she wanted to.
She stepped forward forcing him back until his knees hit the bed. He sat looking up at her as she stood in the space between his feet, a hint of fear in his wide eyes. "Tell me to stop," her voice was weak and soft, but she wasn't either of those things anymore. He could tell her to stop, he could beg her to, and she didn't have to listen. She could make him, he could scream and there wasn't anything that could stop her.
no one's gonna hear you scream
Nothing would ever hurt her again.
"Stop," his mouth formed the word but he couldn't get enough air to give it sound. She looked deranged, feral, starving. There was a moment he honestly thought she wouldn't, he could almost see it in those pupilless eyes – she didn't want to.
But she blinked and tears filled her green eyes as she let him go and stepped back reaching a hand to her quivering chest. She'd been about to kill him. She stared down at him hearing every beat of his heart, hearing Max at the door as she listened. And her face filled with a terrible, mournful, knowing. She couldn't stay.
She charged out of his room snatching her keys off the counter and racing for her truck. "You can't come with me," she told Max as she followed her out of the house.
"Why not?" Max pleaded not wanting her to go. Her dad told her the same thing before he left, she couldn't lose Ronnie too. She came around the driver's side where Veronica stood with her back to her. "Is it because you're a zombie?" That's what Will was, but Will wasn't like her.
Veronica turned to her looking sadder than Max had ever seen her, and she'd been so sad when Neil brought her home from the doctor's a month ago. "I don't know," Veronica admitted not knowing what Max was talking about only that it had to be related. But there was this awful gnawing inside her, like it'd kill her if she didn't fill it. And Max's heart was so loud, why was it so loud. "I'll be back," she promised pulling open the door desperate to get away from her.
"That's what dad said too."
Veronica stilled at her broken angry voice feeling her face burn with shame. "I will be back," she said not looking at her sister before she climbed behind the wheel.
"I hate you!" Max screamed, tears in her eyes, not meaning it for a second.
Backing out of the driveway Veronica's face crumbled. "I hate me too," she whispered to herself, but she couldn't stop. She couldn't stop until she far enough away she couldn't hurt her.
She finally stopped at a liquor store she knew Billy had gone to and wouldn't ID her. Maybe she'd drink it out of her, give it alcohol poisoning; do anything so she could just go home. She wanted her mom.
With her brown bagged bottle in hand she walked across the dark parking lot to her truck.
"You don't look old enough to drink."
She drew to a slow stop as her body stiffened, and she turned slowly to the already half drunk man leaning against his car. He was maybe ten years older than her, his face scarred from years of acne, his eyes dark.
But hers were darker. "I'm not," she told him, feeling his gaze crawling over her. "What would you do to me?" she asked turning to him, watching his stare fall to her round chest.
He licked his lips and huffed a short laugh. She was a pretty little thing, he didn't know what he did to deserve her falling into his lap. "What do you want me to do?" he asked instead. He was drunk enough he'd do anything she asked.
Her mouth carved a toothy smile, it wasn't pretty. "Get in the truck." Her voice was a low growl, her eyes darker than the sky above them.
"Okay," he agreed without thought as he walked to where she stood. She was short, had narrow shoulders and wide eyes. "We don't have to do anything, we can just talk," he told her, having thought she looked sad before. She didn't look sad now, she looked hungry.
"Get in the truck," she told him again. It wasn't a request and he wasn't sober enough to realize he didn't have a choice. That hellish stare followed him as he walked around to the other side of her truck and climbed in. And she slid behind the wheel with a faint grin looking almost sweet, she wouldn't look like that for long.
...
She pulled up to the music store wearing an almost serene expression as she climbed out of her empty truck. Unlocking the door she stepped inside and gripped the lock as though to turn it, but she let go leaving it open. She wasn't a damsel or a princess needing a knight to save her. She was the goddamn dragon. No one was ever gonna hurt her again.
Making her way to the back she flipped the light on in the bathroom and moved in front of the mirror. There was no innocence in her eyes, they weren't wide or sweet, or soft. Her nimble fingers unbuttoned her blouse as she breathed deeply. Perfect pretty Veronica, such a good girl - she didn't have to be that anymore. She didn't need Billy she was stronger than him now, didn't need to be careful with Neil he was scared of her now.
She traced the lines carved into her chest starting at either collarbone down to where they met just over her heart and trailed down to her belly button. Her lips parted and she breathed tasting the air, watching her skin pull itself apart. Deep purple flesh writhed inside her, and her flower bloomed spreading out from her chest covering her breasts making her shiver as it's smooth skin grazed them. The teeth filling its mouth were made from her ribs and behind them she could see her heart. She watched it quiver as though to beat before it unwrapped itself and opened, gaping. Nothing would ever hurt her again. A thought that'd been lingering in the farthest corner of mind came forward, making itself known, taking on her name. She didn't want to stop.