Chapter Text
Saturday, February 16th, 1985
“Aaaand it’s an EIGHT! The fireball misses, harmlessly hitting the stone wall behind! Dustin, quick, what’s your move?!”
“SHIT! Will, what should I do? Lucas?!”
That was what the entirety of the Wheeler household had been hearing all day, so loud even from the basement it drowned out whatever you were trying to do or trying to think. This was a large issue for Nancy, who had been trying to get her studying done for exams. Every time she tried to concentrate on her notes, one of the boys would roll something good and screams that were most definitely not adequate for Dungeons and Dragons would reverberate all the way upstairs. She checked her watch, realizing it was already 2 pm (woah). She put her notes away neatly, realizing she realistically was not going to get anything productive done before meeting Jonathan at the park by 3. She decided to make herself a sandwich or maybe something more nourishing for lunch, and then get ready to leave nice and early, as she is still getting used to driving a car, especially not the huge one she just got from her dad. She made her way downstairs, carefully shutting the door to the basement as she passed it.
After a surprisingly wimpy turkey and cheese sandwich, Nancy made her way to the garage to the car. As she put on her jacket, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, on the table. The weekly newspaper. She looked away, rolling her eyes. Why would the newspaper her father buries himself in at breakfast every Sunday morning be of any importance to her? As she, of course, ended up glancing back at the paper, she noticed the headline of the page it was folded to:
“CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENT CAUGHT IN MURDER SCANDAL?”
…what?
Nancy read…and re-read, that headline so many times that the words were ingrained into her skull. Murder scandal? Her eyes scanned down to the picture underneath the bold letters. It appeared to be a flash photo of a stage, featuring four….things? They were cartoonish, animated robots. She could not really tell detail, since it was a black and white newspaper print, but the article underneath gave her some context. This “Children’s Entertainment Establishment” was called “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaria”, which she had never heard of, and the murder scandal consisted of five missing children, supposedly murdered in the building. She, again, re-read this article several times, and, after making the final decision, looked back and forth before tearing the page away from the rest of the newspaper and dashing out to the garage.
Jonathan had been waiting on the park bench for about twenty minutes. He thought getting there a half hour early would finally prevent Nancy from waiting for him, but instead it seemed to cause the opposite. This is not normal, Nancy being late. Just as he was about to get up somehow and find a phonebooth, Nancy rounded the corner into the park.
“Nancy! Where were you? I was-”
“Come on.” Nancy took his hand, dragging him across the park to the gazebo.
“What’s going on? Nancy, please don’t say..”
Nancy opened up the folded newspaper page on the table, pointing to the headline.
“Children’s entertainment establishment caught in- wha.. why, exactly, are you showing me this?”
“Don’t you see? Mur-der-scan-dal” She tapped the paper with each syllable, “Murder scandal. Almost like..”
“Government?” Jonathan interrupted.
“No, but you know how I said we’d need a big break to get hired by the Post?”
Jonathan seemed to pause for a moment, trying to connect the dots.
“No, no no no, Nancy, we are not driving all the way to Utah just to investigate a case that has seemingly already been investigated! And we’re not even in the field! With no experience no one would want to give us anything..” Jonathan rambled.
Nancy placed her hand over his. “Jonathan, this case does not seem like a closed one. And just think about it, was the case of Barbara really fully investigated?” She seemed to have a hard time saying the last part.
“No..but..” Jonathan sighed, relenting. “Can we at least finish our date first?”
Nancy laughed. “Well, honestly I think a better date would be driving to Utah to investigate a pizzeria, but that’s just me.”
“I think skipping school again is not gonna end well, but if it lands us at the Post…”
“Is that a yes?”
“No, it's a straight no, never, ever. I’ll just let you go alone.” Jonathan said, smiling, as he led both of them over to Nancy’s car.
“Did you walk here?” Nancy asked.
“..Does it concern you?”
They both laughed as they got in the car.
“Should we, like, bring a change of clothes or something?” Jonathan asked.
“I mean I have a bag, but we can make a stop at your house to grab some stuff.”
“Of course you planned ahead.”
Nancy pressed on the gas, and they started down the road.
“Any bets on how far into Utah Hurricane is?”