Chapter 20

Finally deciding to break the silence, Jonathan spoke, addressing the unknown assailant calmly.

"What are you doing here?", he demanded quietly. "This is private property. What are you doing here?"

When he didn't receive any sort of answer, Jonathan frowned lightly and turned to face the rest of the teenagers. He noticed that Mike's hands were balled tightly into fists at his sides, his fingernails biting into his palms, drawing small streaks of red onto his skin. His jaw was clenched tightly together, as if he was fighting off anger and sadness. But the one thing that caught Jonathan's eye was the expression of sheer hatred that filled Mike's usually smiling blue eyes as he glared at the intruder, glaring daggers into his soul.

But, Jonathan did not falter under the intense glare that the boy in front of him shot at him, instead choosing to return Mike's intense stare, refusing to back down even as he could feel his pulse race.

"Answer the questions", Mike ordered harshly, clenching his jaw together tightly as he waited expectantly for the reply.

"Merry Christmas, boys! Did you bring presents this year?"

A chill ran through the teens as they heard the voice that they were all so familiar with, but none of them reacted verbally. They merely stared blankly at the figure sitting amongst them as they attempted to digest what he'd told them. They didn'T understand what he was implying. Why would they want to come out here and waste away the holidays like this? And what kind of sick joke was he trying to play right now?

After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, Mr. Henderson let out a heavy sigh.

"Look Jonathan..we appreciate your concern, but-"

"But nothing!", Jonathan interrupted angrily. "You don't want to come out here because you're terrified of a few monsters. Well guess what Mike, I don't blame you for feeling afraid of 'em. You have every reason to be scared. But why do you have to make them sound as frightening as they possibly can be?".

Mr. Henderson looked over towards Mike, noticing the shocked expression on his young son's face. "Mike...is everything alright?"

Jonathan's tone softened when he addressed his son as well, as if he understood how scared he was.

For his part, Mike remained silent, staring down at the ground.

Silence continued to fill the air as the members of the Hawkins High School Baseball team just stared at their homeroom teacher in complete shock. They weren't sure what to think or do. Should they be angry or afraid or confused or even disgusted by the way that Mr. Henderson was talking about'monsters'? It wasn' hard to imagine exactly what he was referring to. In fact, considering how many times they had already encountered'monsters', it seemed entirely possible that he might be referring to the same monster that Jonathan had seen lurking in the woods.

"Jonathan", Nancy's voice broke the tense silence that had fallen over them all. Her voice was gentle as she asked, "Are you sure we can't convince Mr. Henderson to change our minds?"

"Nancy, please", Mr. Henderson begged with pleading eyes. "They're still my sons. Don't try and make me give up all this time we've spent raising them for nothing.", Jonathan couldn't tell whether his friend was pleading for him or the team, but he didn't care enough to find out either way. "We have to go out there. We'll be fine." At that, Mr. Henderson took a step towards the two younger boys who still hadn't responded.

Before he could fully approach them, though, an unfamiliar voice called out behind him, "Sorry, guys. Sorry I'm late, but uh, I got stuck in traffic".

Turning around quickly, Mr. Henderson gasped as he saw Mrs. Wheeler walking quickly towards them. She wore her usual winter coat, but this time it seemed like she had changed out of her usual work clothes for her regular attire. She wore a light pink dress underneath her coat, a pair of pink flats peaking out beneath the coat hem. However, what drew everyone's attention the most was not the dress nor the shoes nor the fact that she was wearing the same exact pair every single time, but rather what happened next, as they found themselves once again completely and utterly surprised.

She took a second glance at everyone, pausing for a moment when she found herself gazing at Jonathan. Her eyes lingered on him before flickering away from his gaze almost as soon as she was able to focus on the rest of the group, not wanting to look at any of them for any longer than absolutely necessary. Her expression changed instantly when her gaze landed upon Mr. Brenner.

"Mr. Brenner?"

There was a short moment of silence as they all awaited an explanation for his sudden appearance in this situation. However, after a second or two of looking around awkwardly at everyone, the man finally opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry for intruding," he said. "I just couldn't help myself when I sensed that someone was approaching me. After all, it's only natural that I would check things out if someone was following us."

Everyone stared in bewilderment as they waited for someone to say something back. But no one said anything. They were all still reeling from what Mr. Brenner had told them just a moment ago.

Mr. Brenner continued speaking, "I know that it's very likely that the person who attacked you has been targeting all of you in order to draw attention to me. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get going. Thank you for allowing me to join you for today." With that, he got up slowly and started walking back towards the main building.

Just as the man was about to leave, Nancy whispered softly to Jonathan. "Is he really going to go with us?", she asked quietly.

Jonathan stared down at his sister. He nodded his head as he answered, "Yes, he is. I'm sure he knows where he belongs."

Jonathan turned back to face the others, his eyes falling on Mike and Jonathan gave him a small smile as he mouthed the words, "It's okay".

Once everyone had gathered once again, Mr. Henderson spoke out. "Alright kids, let's go!"

Without another word, Jonathan grabbed Nancy's hand tightly and pulled her forward, ignoring the surprised gasp from her father. The four children rushed forward, following Mr. Henderson and the others as they walked across the street. All four of them felt extremely anxious. Their hearts were pounding loudly against their chests, and all three of them couldn't stop glancing backwards.