Chapter Two

Moonlight

Twigs, needles and other forest plants dug deep into the bottom of Ronnie's feet as she walked along the forest floor. She stumbled along as she walked, stopping every once and a while to pick a pine cone from her foot. Her feet were covered in cuts and dried blood from the walk. Ronnie stopped and took a seat on a fallen tree to catch her breath – every once and a while looking around frantically to find any sign of Eleven. The fear she had felt the moment woke up and noticed the younger girl missing hadn't left her chest. It was heavy and almost made it hard to breath. Where could she have gone? Did Papa get her? Where ever she was Ronnie was praying that she was safe.

Ronnie closed her eyes and bent forward slightly to rest her elbows on her knees and tightly closed her eyes. Her body began to feel heavy and tired as she sat down to rest. The forest surrounding Hawkins was now caste in darkness. Ronnie spent all of the day light looking for Eleven and sadly still hadn't found a sign of her. After a long pause of dark silence, her back straightened at the sound of a voice. Her first thought was that the voice possibly belonged to Papa, before she heard a laugh following soon after. Ronnie slowly stood from the fallen tree and slowly made her way towards the noise. A chill caused her to shake slightly as the torn and tattered hospital gown wasn't offering much warmth in the cold Hawkins air.

As she walked slowly towards the noise she was soon able to see a soft glow coming from the distance. Her eyes began to adjust to the source of light and was able to see that it was coming from a pool set in a large backyard. She stopped short of the fence line and looked around in confusion before her attention was drawn back towards the sound of laughter. Ronnie's head snapped towards the left and was able to see people sitting around together and talking. She wasn't able to hear anything except a girl laughing ever so often. Ronnie stood behind the fence, slightly hidden from view, as she watched a boy on a lounger light a cigarette. Ronnie couldn't help but feel that the boy was familiar, but in the moment, she wasn't able to figure out how. He looked towards the girl beside him, once again saying something that Ronnie wasn't able to make out, before laughing and shaking his head. Causing the longer brown hair to move out of place and fall in front of his eyes slightly.

The sound of a scream made Ronnie jump back slightly from the fence line as one of the boys threw a girl into the pool. She scrambled back slightly, away from the fence, and back towards the forest. Her focus needed to be back on Eleven and finding her. Not on whatever was happening in the strangers backyard. As Ronnie walked back deeper into the Hawkins forest she saw a figure standing off to the side. She stopped for a moment, thinking maybe it was Eleven, before she saw that it was another boy. He was standing in the middle of a bush with something in his hands – his eyes focused on the same scene Ronnie was watching only moments ago. She stopped and watched him for a moment, the darkness not really letting her get a good look at him, but only able to see that he was tall.

There was another moment of silence, it felt like everything around Ronnie was frozen for just a moment, before the sound of a twig snapping beneath her feet had the boys attention turned towards her. They stood there for what felt like only seconds, staring at one another, and through the moonlight Ronnie was able to make out the angles of his face. A soft gasp left her lips as she took a step back, her foot snapping on another twig, making the silence around them stop.

"Hey," He spoke, his voice deep and causing a sense of comfort around Ronnie. She didn't understand it, but it didn't stop the fear that was bubbling in her chest. "Hey...wait..."

Ronnie didn't even notice she was moving till her back hit against a tree causing her movement to stop. Her breath hitched slightly as her back scrapped against the roughness of the bark. The boy walked closer to her slowly as if he was approaching a animal. Ronnie whimpered slightly and felt frozen in place as she watched him walk closer to her.

"Hey...i-it's ok...I'm not gonna hurt you." He whispered softly.

Jonathan looked over the trembling girl in front of him and felt that if he took his eyes off her for even a millisecond that she would disappear. He was in the woods looking for any sign of his brother when he heard screaming – his mind quickly thinking that someone was in trouble. But instead came across Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler and some others having a a get together in his backyard. Everything seemed normal...till he spotted the girl. She was wearing a hospital gown that hung off her body and was ripped and torn in some places and dirtied from the forest floor. Her frame was small he was able to see that through the soft moon light, along with her hair long and dark. She stared back towards him with wide, scared eyes. Jonathan wasn't able to tell how old she was from how frail and small she looked in front of him, sinking slowly to the floor as he approached closer to her.

"A-are you ok?" He asked and then internally scolded himself. Of course she's not ok, no one looking like this is ok.

When Jonathan got closer to her he was able to make out more and more. Like how her face was slightly sunken in, her cheekbones were highly prominent. Her skin seemed to match the soft gray glow of the moon making her appear like a ghost. Or that's at least the first thought that Jonathan had. The girl just stared back up towards him with the same dark, wide, scared eyes. Another scream came from the direction of Steve's backyard catching Jonathan's attention for a moment. He looked that way for only a second and when he looked back – the girl was gone.

~x~

Whenever Ronnie teleported her entire body felt like it was on fire and frozen at the same time. She could feel every nerve ending within her body at the same time. Her back smacked against the forest floor when it was over. Her dark eyes stared up towards the dark sky, the stars staring back down towards her, her body unmoving. She wasn't able to hear anything but the ringing in her ear and she could feel the trickle of blood slowly dripping down from her nose. Ronnie stayed there for a moment before slowly she began to sit up from lying down and reaching up to wipe her nose. Her ears still rang and she could feel the headache forming, at what felt like, the back of her head. In the distance she was able to hear the sound of the girl laughing.

Ronnie groaned softly and closed her eyes for a few minutes before opening them again and standing up from the ground. She dusted off the debris from her body, her tattered hospital gown dirtier now, before she began to walk around the woods. It took a while for the blood to stop dripping down from her nose, every once and a while she was able to taste it on her upper lip. Her throat felt dry and scratchy – her stomach growling loudly for the need of food. Her hand moved down towards her stomach and began to rub it as a way to comfort the pain that seemed to rip through her mid-section. Ronnie sighed softly and once again felt herself sink down to the floor, resting back against the tree behind her, and closing her eyes. Her body felt heavy and weak at the exact same time. Another chilly breeze moved around her small body causing her shiver and bring her knees towards her chest. Just rest ...for a moment, she thought to herself as she placed her forehead onto her knees.

But it wasn't just for a moment. Almost instantly Ronnie fell asleep with her forehead resting on top of her knees. Jonathan slowly walked away from Steve Harrington's backyard soon after everyone headed inside from fooling around in the pool. But his mind was far from what he stumbled upon at Steve's house. He was instead thinking of the girl he stumbled upon and how she simply disappeared. He thought of how scared and fragile she looked before him. As he ventured back towards where he parked his car along the road, he stopped short the moment he saw her again.

Jonathan looked towards her for a moment, confused at first, thinking that he was hallucinating. She was huddled tightly into a ball, shivering, and clearly asleep. Slowly Jonathan began to walk towards her, making sure to not make much noise as he walked, before bending down in front of her. He quickly shimmied off his jacket and moved to place it around her shoulder. She didn't make a single sound as he wrapped the jacket around her only muttering softly in her sleep. Jonathan paused for a moment before moving his arm under her knees and another against her back, bringing her into his arms, and holding her tightly. Her head fell onto his shoulder and made a soft whimper before gently falling deeper into her sleep.

Jonathan made his way through Hawkins forest and came upon his car, thankful he'd left it unlocked, before moving to the girl into backseat of his car. In the yellow glow of the car light he was able to see more of the girl than he did before. Her legs and arms were littered with bruises, most in the shapes of hands, and various cuts. Her feet were black from walking along the forest barefoot and he was able to see a few cuts and dried blood. Her face appeared younger now that it was relaxed in her sleep. But the sunken look was even more prominent than it was in the moon light. Her black hair fanned out behind her falling slightly down the backseat and towards the floor.

"Where did you come from?" Jonathan whispered to himself softly.

He gently closed the back door before walking around and getting into the driver side. He started the car and quickly began to make his way back towards his house. Jonathan couldn't help but look into the backseat, using the rear view mirror, to check on the girl. She spoke softly in her sleep and moved but never woke the entire time he drove. When Jonathan pulled up to his house he was able to see that all the lights were off. Signaling either his mother was home or she was out. Ever since Will went missing he became more and more worried about her. Just the other day she spoke about talking to Will through the lights.

Jonathan quickly turned off the car and quickly got out before moving towards the back seat and opening the door. He once again reached into the back seat, gently grabbing the girl, before moving into the house. As Jonathan walked into his home he was quickly able to tell that no one else was home. Jonathan placed her down into his bed, right on top of the blankets, before stepping back and looking towards her. He pulled off the jacket from her body before replacing it with a blanket he always kept on his chair in the corner of his room. Jonathan didn't know what to do. He stared down at the girl and nothing came to mind of what he should do next. Does he call the police? Wait for his mother to come home? But all that went away as slowly her eyes began to open and she was staring back up towards him.