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Sneaking off was second nature to Nancy.
At the age of fourteen she’d tucked herself into bed and woken up in the woods. It was only on the third occurrence (once a month, every full moon) that she finally worked out what was happening. And she hated it.
Her family weren’t like her, no one was like her. She had to assume she’d been bitten at some point but in all honesty, she might’ve just been cursed with it. Doomed to stalk the woods of Hawkins as a lonely pack animal.
This night was no different. Except it was. Vecna was on a killing spree, she was surrounded by her friends, and she had nowhere to go.
It wasn’t the first time an Upside Down related incident had occurred on a full moon. Last year she’d just about managed to escape the hospital where Mrs Driscoll lay ill in time to get to a safe place before transforming. While seeing the old woman writhe around in the bed, howling in pain, she’d almost thought she had found someone like her. But instead it was him, possessing Mrs Driscoll, poisoning her. She spent the night in the woods, and returned to the hospital to check in the next morning.
But tonight, March 26th 1986, she had a different escape planned. She mumbled something to Dustin about Victor Creel, a weak excuse that was slowly escaping her memory, and ran far enough away that the group of kids couldn’t find her, or she couldn’t find them. She’d never hurt a human before now, but she could remember the feeling of hunger, so maybe she had just never come across one. Either way, she couldn’t take risks.
She sat below a large tree, a shakiness encompassing her body as she watched the moon peek out from behind the clouds. It was time.
She shook out her limbs, relaxing herself. Over the years, she’d learnt tensing up only made it hurt more. The pain was almost excruciating, but very short lived, either because her brain had the decency to wipe it from her memory, or because the feeling of freedom overpowered it.
The wolf disagreed with Human Nancy. She wasn’t trapped. She was free.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In 1981 Robin had entered the eighth grade 5”2 and left it 5”8. But despite the goddess of puberty ringing down her hammer and leaving Robin uncomfortable and hormonal, she hadn’t granted Robin the one thing she wanted the most.
Every month her mom would turn from human to a majestic wolf, and Robin had to do everything in her power to keep her on the grounds outside her house. It was a painful and frustrating task, but for all the years she’d done it, she knew one day she’d be rewarded.
“I had my first transformation when I was thirteen, Birdie. You’ll get yours soon, I promise.” Melissa Buckley had said, five years ago. And yet last month Robin had spent her full moon on the couch watching movies all night while her mother got to have all the fun. At this point, she’d lost all hope. Maybe being fully human wasn’t so bad. No worrying about hunters, no keeping secrets. The jealousy would fade. She could commit to this life, maybe even embrace it.
It was the exact reason why she had no qualms about getting onto a rowing boat to investigate a portal to another world in the middle of a full moon. Steve and Eddie handled the rowing, while Robin watched the compass carefully. She felt a little out of her depth, but considering the resident ‘smart girl’ had ditched them earlier that evening to check out another shot in the dark, Robin was now the most in-her-depth person of the three teens.
She could feel the watchful eyes of the younger kids as they gazed at her through binoculars. The compass spun round, a full 360 and then some.
“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to Wonky with a capital Waahh!” she informed the kids through the walkie talkie.
Steve began taking his shoes off, and although Robin had an idea of the idiotic stunt he was about to pull, she still had to ask (to confirm the idiocy) “Steve… please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing?”
“Someone has to check this thing out.” Steve whipped off his shirt. This boat was entirely too masculine. “Unless either of you can top being Hawkins High swimming co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then it’s gotta be me. No complaints, all right?”
Eddie leaned back, pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket. “I’m not complaining. I do not wanna go down there.”
Steve stood up, rocking the boat. Robin held back from humming the tune to ‘Rock the Boat’ for the sake of not making the two boys any more anxious and annoyed than they were. Steve dived in, splashing Robin (lake water tasted bad), and the waiting game began.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Human Nancy SUCKED. There was no food anywhere, usually she would wake up near something, she’d find scraps in the trash or even steal fresh food from a building. But now she was in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to eat, and it was ALL HER FAULT.
She stopped in her tracks. She could smell something. She followed the scent, which lead her to water. Nancy didn’t like water. She’d been caught in a rainstorm many moons ago, it wasn’t fun. But there was something on the water, bobbing up and down.
People. Nancy didn’t like people, either. They were loud and dangerous and carried guns. But these ones seemed familiar. They didn’t seem like the kind of people to hurt her. Something drew her to the one in the bright shirt, who was shining a flashlight into her hands and watching it with intent. She felt safe, she felt important.
Another person burst out of the water, causing the two humans and Nancy to jump. They were talking now. The one in the water splashed about. Perhaps humans had fun this way. Nancy hated humans, but enjoyed watching them.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Steve?!” Robin clutched the side of the boat as her friend disappeared into the murky depths of the lake. Of course, of course she had rowed herself out into the only lake in America with an actual Loch Ness monster (although it would technically be called the Lovers Lake monster).
“Robin, what the fuck happened?!” Eddie cried out behind her, but she couldn’t focus. Her vision was tunnelling, her heart was beating through her chest and all she wanted to do was look up. The moon pulsated above her, it looked brighter than it had ever done before.
It was exactly as her mother had described it.
“Fuck…” she exhaled, having no idea how to get herself out of this mess. And Steve… what about Steve? “Fuck, Eddie, I’m so sorry.”
“Robin, what are you-?” Eddie watched as Robin hunched over. Robin felt every bone in her body transform and Jesus Christ her mother left out how painful it felt (apparently childbirth was worse, Robin was glad she’d never need to find out).
A rush of dopamine filled her. The pain left in an instant, and Robin stood up to find a human staring at her in terror. He stuttered something, Robin heard the word Wolf. She knew that word. She was that word. Finally, she was Wolf. This human was here to confirm it.
The water below bubbled slightly, and Robin felt a pang in her chest. Something was wrong, the human buried inside her was screaming. She needed to jump in but she didn’t know why. But with no way to the land, and the human in the boat looking useless, she had no other choice. She had to follow her instincts.
She jumped in and prayed she could swim.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nancy couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d found a friend, a real friend. She’d transformed right in front of her. And she was getting away. Nancy dipped her toes in the water and shook them off quickly. It was cold and damp and she didn’t like it. But what if this was her only chance? What if she never saw the Friend again?
She waded deeper into the lake until she was fully swimming. The Friend didn’t seem to be surfacing. What if Friend was in trouble? What if she couldn’t swim?
What if Nancy couldn’t swim? She hadn’t thought about that, and yet she was doing it. She dived underneath, ignoring the sting in her eyes as she watched a human follow the Friend into a glowing abyss below the water. She heard yelling, and barking, and followed it.
She emerged out of the water, shaking herself off, and followed the sound of voices. The ground was strange, nothing like Nancy had stepped on before. Gravelly like the edges of the lake but with strange snakes resting on the ground. Nancy stepped over them. She didn’t want to be bitten.
She saw Friend, she was pulling at a creature. The creature was pulling at a human. The human was on the ground, he was in pain. Lots of creatures were biting him. Nancy felt bad for him. She’d never felt bad for a human before. All of this was very new.
Nancy was knocked to the ground as something flew onto her back, clawing at her fur. She yelped in pain, no human seemed to notice. But Friend did. Friend dropped the creature around the human’s neck and rushed to Nancy’s side, pulling at the tail of the creature until its talons ripped away from her back. Nancy was hungry and angry now. She had done nothing to this creature, and yet it had hurt her. Now it was dinner.
She bit at it. It tasted bad. But it was dead now. The human bit at his creature, too, a familiar grimace showing up on his face as he also realised they tasted bad. Soon all the creatures were dead on the ground, and Nancy realised what situation she had thrown herself into. The two humans were now staring directly at her.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Robin knew Steve. That much was true. The memories were fuzzy, almost non existent, but she felt safe and he felt like a friend. And if human her wanted to jump into a lake to save him, then he must be a friend. The other human was less familiar, but he seemed okay.
The wolf, on the other hand, she knew very well. It was Nancy. Nancy was her friend, her human friend. But now, a wolf friend, too.
Nancy seemed different to the wolves Robin had met before. ‘The wolves’ in question being her mother and her mother’s friend, who had joined her one full moon when Robin was young. They were friendly, and playful, and barked and jumped whenever a human got close enough to the house to be smelt. Nancy, on the other hand, was angry and scared and didn’t seem to recognise Robin or Steve.
“Eddie, do you have any idea what these dogs are doing here?” Steve asked.
“That one, no clue.” ‘Eddie’ replied, pointing at the other wolf. “That one… that one’s Robin, dude.”
“Fuck off.” Steve laughed breathlessly. Robin growled. Eddie was right. She was Robin, why wouldn’t she be?
“Seriously, man, I saw her change right in front of my eyes. And it’s a full moon.” Eddie said.
Steve squinted at Robin, shaking his head in disbelief. If this was supposed to be a friend, why was he so adamant she wasn’t?
“Robin?” he crouched down, reaching for her. She pressed her nose against his hand. “Holy shit…”
Steve stood up, now inspecting the other wolf. Robin couldn’t help there. He approached the other in the same way, but her fur spiked up, her voice low and rumbly. “Is this, like… a stray?”
“Wolves don’t live in Hawkins, so it’s gotta be someone.” Eddie said. “Fuck, it could be Wheeler. She did leave in a hurry.”
“Seriously? I’ve known Nancy for three years. I’d know if she was secretly a… this.”
The wolf barked at the name ‘Nancy’. An aggressive bark, but a bark nonetheless.
Eddie chuckled, patting Steve on the back. “Would not wanna be in your shoes right now, Harrington.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nancy made sure to keep her guard up as the humans talked, keeping a watchful eye on them while also focusing in on the Friend in her peripheral vision. She seemed to stumble on her feet a little, like she hadn’t fully grasped how to use four legs yet. Perhaps this was her first transformation, perhaps that’s why Nancy had been alone all these years.
The Friend walked up to her, sniffing at her with a reluctant curiosity. She whined, pleading Nancy to let her guard down, assuring her it was safe. These people were humans, but they could be friends, too. Nancy relaxed her body, drawing her attention away from the now bickering humans and to the wolf beside her. The Friend wagged her tail playfully, and barked a greeting. A name.
Robin. Her name was Robin. And Nancy couldn’t be sure, but she got the strangest feeling that they’d met before.