Chapter Seventeen
Girls Bathroom
Veronica sighed heavily as she reached up and pulled down the mirror in the front seat of Jonathan's car. Music played softly through the car as Jonathan drove down the back roads of Hawkins towards school. She groaned when she noticed that the dark bags under her eyes were barely covered, reaching into her backpack and pulling out her concealer. She carefully dotted across the skin beneath her eyes as the car rocked and jumped with each bump Jonathan drove over.
"You sure you're ok? I'm sure mom wouldn't have minded if you stayed home," Jonathan spoke as his brown eyes moved from the road to her for a moment.
He could see how tired and worn down Veronica seemed this morning. Her skin seemed a little paler than usual and the bags under her eyes seemed to darken more and more. Will looked over to Veronica and could see the saddened look on her face reflecting back from the mirror in front of her. It was weird that ever since he'd come back from the Upside Down he'd felt a little connection with the older girl in front of him. Will wasn't sure if it was cause she helped him, protected him while they both were down there, or just cause he'd always wanted an older sister.
"Is it the nightmares again?" Will's soft voice spoke from the backseat, causing Veronica to look back at him over the back of her seat. Her face was cast in confusion as her dark eyes stared back down at him. "I-I can hear you sometimes in the middle of the night...I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean..."
Will panicked as he stared back up at her, worried that he was offending her with the look casting over her features. Her thick brows pulled tightly together and her lips pressed into a tight line. There was a sadness in her dark eyes that Will didn't like seeing, especially when he felt that he'd put it there.
"You're having nightmares?" Jonathan asked, "It's more than the panic attack you had a few weeks ago?"
Jonathan's voice rose slightly, mostly from worry for Veronica. But the rise in his tone made her flinch back slightly as she turned back around to face the front of the car. Veronica seemed to turn in on herself as she looked to face out the window. Watched as the Hawkins forest and countryside passed by them quickly the closer they got to school. The car was filled with tension that neither of them knew how to break. Will felt guilty for mentioning anything. Jonathan's stomach twisted in knots over the worry for his friend. And Veronica didn't even know where to start. She didn't want people fussing over her.
"I'll be fine," Veronica whispered, her voice a little hoarse as she swallowed down the lump that formed in the back of her throat. The familiar burn of tears in her eyes. "Just not sleeping well..."
~.~
Veronica quickly walked down the hill from the parking lot toward the high school. Jonathan and Will had barely made it out of the parked car by the time she was halfway down the hill. Jonathan sighed heavily and turned around to face his little brother, seeing that he was watching after Veronica.
"She's going to be ok," Jonathan spoke, causing Will's eyes to dart up to him. "She's just...going through something."
"I understand I mean..." Will shrugged his shoulders and sighed heavily "Mom keeps running me up to that lab cause of everything. They talked about the anniversary bringing stuff up. I-I didn't really understand it."
"You know you can come to me right? If there's anything you don't wanna talk about with mom or even Hopper?" Jonathan asked as he walked beside his brother.
Will nodded his head and gave his brother a small smile before the two parted their ways heading to their respected school. The loud roar of a car caused most of Hawkins to pause and watch as a Camero pulled into the parking lot. The front doors opened and he watched as a younger redhead skated toward the middle school. While an older, blonde guy lit a cigarette and slowly made his way toward the high school. His brows pulled together as he watched him disappear into the crowd, thinking it was weird a new student was starting at the end of October. He stood there at the top of the hill for a moment before noticing Nancy walking toward him. He gave her a gentle smile as she walked in step with him moving with the rest of the school.
Nancy looked at him slightly confused, "You ok? Look a little irritated and worried there."
"Y-Yeah, I'm good." Jonathan sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "It's not me. It's Veronica, she's been...distant or something. I don't really know. She won't speak to me."
Nancy frowned, "Steve mentioned something about seeing her in the library a couple of weeks ago? You don't think it's the cause of...you know..."
"Nancy, I know you still think there's something wrong with her since the whole monster Demogorgon thing, but Veronica isn't one of them," Jonathan whispered harshly.
"You can't blame me for being suspicious still, Jonathan. I mean she appeared right where we set the damn thing on fire." Nancy shrugged her shoulders.
"Veronica isn't one of those things," Jonathan spoke with a finality in his voice.
~.~
Veronica groaned as she closed her eyes tightly trying to give some relief to the headache and migraine that seemed to pulse through her brain. Everything seemed to just sound louder and brighter, even hearing the tick of the clock that hung over the top of Ms. O'Donnell's classroom door. The sound of a pen clicking caught her attention drawing her eyes to the front of the classroom. Sitting at the front was Tiffany Hunter, her thumb pressing on the top of her pen making it click over and over again. It made the pulse of her headache grow more and more intense, Veronica thought her brain was going to burst.
Veronica concentrated on the pen with her eyes glaring toward the object. Tiffany let out a scream and jumped slightly in her seat as the pen in her hands exploded in her grasp. Her brand new crisp white shirt was stained with blue ink. Veronica rolled her eyes at the girl's scream and reached up to run the end of her nose, blood gathering at the edge of her finger. Everyone's focus being on the screaming girl gave her ample opportunity to slip away from class. The silence of the hallway gave her some sweet relief. Veronica slammed her back against the cold metal lockers, her breathing coming out harsher with each one she pushed past her lips.
She groaned softly and stood there for a moment before turning to stumble her way down the hall. Veronica found her way to the girl's bathroom that wasn't too far from her second-period classroom. Thankfully it was empty as she nearly fell into the porcelain sink and looked up at the mirror. Her eyes stared back at her in a vacant and empty way that made her feel like she wasn't looking at herself. But as she blinked, her eyes opened, and she was no longer in the bathroom.
Veronica screamed and stumbled back as she looked around and saw that once again she was in the Upside Down. The soft white particles swimming around her with the black, slimy tentacles and vines covering nearly every wall and floor of the bathroom. Veronica's heart felt like it was going to rip out of her chest with the rapid beating it was doing, feeling like it was going to break through her ribs. Veronica continued to stumble back till the back of her heel caught across a vine and causing her to fall. Her back slammed against the dirty bathroom floor with her lungs feeling like the air kicked out of them, making it hard to catch her breath. Hot tears moved down her cheeks as she closed her eyes tightly.
"Please...please...please...please..." Veronica whispered, her voice cracking from the sobs fighting to break.
Her skin felt like it was set on fire causing her to let out a cry, moving through her entire frame. Veronica's nails dug into the ground beneath her, her back arching upward as she screamed. She could hear screeching in her eyes that only seemed to grow louder and louder as the seconds passed. But as soon as the feeling came, it stopped, an eerie silence falling out around her. Veronica rolled onto her side and brought her knees to her chest, holding to them tightly as she cried.
"Veronica...Veronica...Ronnie! Ronnie!" a voice screamed out, causing her to gasp and look up. The last person she expected to be hovering over her was Nancy Wheeler. Her blue eyes were wide with fear and worry as she stared down at her.
Veronica opened her mouth a few times to speak but nothing came out. Her eyes wildly looked around the bathroom and saw that everything was normal. She was back from the Upside Down, it caused her eyes to water even more, and let out a heart-wrenching sob.
"Hey, hey...what's wrong? Did something happen?" Nancy asked, she might've been slightly afraid of the girl in front of her. But a part of her couldn't help but feel scared and worried, seeing the sheer panic in her dark brown eyes. "Do I need to get Jonathan?"
"N-No," Veronica pushed out between labored breaths, closing her eyes tightly.
Veronica reached out and gripped tightly to Nancy's hand that she felt resting on her arm. But it wasn't in a way to push it away or anything, instead, it was like she needed it. Like it was grounding her for a moment as she tried to get both her heart and breathing to calm down.
"M-My dad...please...call me dad." Veronica whimpered, looking up to Nancy.
Nancy nodded her head quickly and hurriedly before standing up from the bathroom floor, leaving Veronica behind. Veronica sat there for a moment longer after Nancy had left, before moving to pull herself up from the floor. She stood with shaky legs and walked over to the sink again, holding tightly to the edge as she turned on the cold water. But what Veronica didn't know was that she'd run into Jonathan in the hall, seeing her running to where the payphone sat near the school office.
"Veronica! Veronica!" Jonathan's voice came from outside in the hall, before he came bursting in through the bathroom door. He didn't care that it was the girl's room, not when his friend needed him. Just when she'd finally calmed down, Veronica broke the moment she saw Jonathan. "Hey...come 'ere."
Jonathan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and held her shaking frame tightly against his. His hand moved to smooth down the curls that tickled along his face and tried to soothe her. Veronica's grip was tight on the back of his shirt, her face buried into his chest as she cried.
"I-I want Hopper. I want my dad," Veronica cried unmoving her face from Jonathan's chest.
"Ok, Ok...I'll take you to the station ok?" Jonathan spoke, pulling her back so he could look at her face. His thumbs rubbed against her cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Come on."
~.~
Jonathan wrapped an arm around Veronica's shoulders and led her through the front double doors of the Hawkin's Police Station. She stumbled slightly beside him with her legs still feeling shaky and weak with each step that she took. Jonathan stopped in front of the front desk of the station and stared down at the older woman sitting behind it.
"Hi, is Chief Hopper here?" Jonathan asked, his words a little rushed together. Doris's eyes rose up and looked between the two teens in front of her, her wrinkled lips turning down in a frown.
"He's in his office," Doris answered.
Jonathan didn't even wait a second before moving through the small swinging doors that led into the bullpen of the station. Veronica groaned slightly his hold tightening around her waist and pulling her closer and closer to Hopper's office. He didn't knock, not bothering to, and nearly bursting into the office. Hopper opened his mouth to shout to whoever came violently into his office, but stopped short when he saw who was in front of him. Jim shot up from his chair and moved around his desk to get to Veronica.
She was pale with her forehead covered in a sheen of sweat and causing some of her curls to stick to her forehead. Hopper took her gently from Jonathan's arms and helped carry her over to the brown leather sofa that was pressed against the wall beside the door.
"Close the door," Hopper instructed Jonathan, before turning to his daughter. The moment she heard the click of the door, his eyes focused on Veronica. "What happened?"
"Nancy found her in the girl's bathroom? Crying and screaming like she was in pain." Jonathan rushed out with his hands nervously rubbing along the tops of his thighs. "She was asking for you when I went in there."
"Ronnie, baby..." Hopper spoke softly as he caressed the side of her face, her eyes trying to focus on him. "What's wrong?"
"It hurts...everything hurts." She frowned and whimpered slightly. "Like fire."
"Fire?" Hopper asked, the girl nodding her head as she moved her body to lay across the couch. Hopper looked down at her with his lips turning down in a frown.
"Nancy said it was like before. W-When she came through after we set the Demogorgon on fire." Jonathan spoke, causing Hopper to snap his eyes up at him. "And Veronica's been acting...weird."
"Weird? Weird how?" Hopper asked standing from the ground.
"Panic attacks, not eating, paranoid...Will mentioned today that he can hear her having nightmares in the middle of the night." Jonathan spoke.
Hopper placed his hands on his hips and sighed heavily as he tried to rack through his brain on what to do. His eyes looked back at Veronica when she let out a soft whimper.
"We can't take her to a hospital," Hopper grumbled, his hand reaching up and scratching along his beard. "I don't exactly trust those guys are the labs that your brother is going to."
"So we leave her to suffer!?" Jonathan spoke.
"This is what you're going to do," Hopper clapped a hand down on his shoulder, bending down slightly to look him in the eyes. "You're going to take her home, keep a close eye on her and call me if anything changes. Understand? I'm...I'm going to try and figure out what's going on. Figure out what we can do."
~.~
Jonathan closed the front door with his foot as he carried Veronica through the house and toward her bedroom. Once he had her laid down across her bed, he worked to remove her shoes and shed off her jacket. The entire drive back home all he did was move his gaze back and forth between the road and her. She hadn't moved or woken up or anything the entire drive back from the police station. Jonathan pressed a hand to her forehead and frowned when he felt that her forehead was still warm. He walked to his bedroom and grabbed his desk chair before dragging it into her bed and right beside her bed. Jonathan leaned forward with his elbows on his knees as he watched her, making sure to not look away in case something happened.
"Please be ok," Jonathan whispered. All he kept thinking about was what Nancy said earlier, the thoughts of her being one of those monsters coming back to the forefront of his mind. He didn't want to believe it, but what else could be the explanation in his eyes.