Even Stranger Things 6
Author's note: my thanks to the folk who have commented on this story (and mostly to Phieill). I appreciate you so much...Z
*********When Nightmares Escape **********
Sheriff Jim Hopper was about to pull his hair out (and that wouldn't be a good thing considering that he didn't have that much to spare).
Anyway, since the Chief Law Authority of Rowan County had been alerted about an incident, a certain happening which had occurred a few hours prior, he had been trying to put things into prospective.
Did he believe them, the two teens who had ventured into Millie's with a fantastic tale? Did trust their story? Well, for one thing he knew that they'd been drinking. He had smelled it on their breath. And, a few months ago he would have concluded their story to be false (a creature coming out of the woods to attack people, come on! Even with the help of a full moon shinning down, folk can still be mistaken). Still, Hopper knew better than to think like that, at least now he did. Who would believe him if he ever tried to explain what he had seen?
Two teenagers in his town had been assaulted. And that was something that he couldn't, no wouldn't, allow. He would not let this fly. His soul, his complete self...wouldn't accept it.
Hopp had asked Deputy Callahan to accompany him out to the place where the incident had occurred. Maybe there they could find some evidence, something that remained?
(Hopper had totally been stunned by Callahan's reveal that everything on Morris's truck had been erased, wiped clean. This investigation was now entering a realm that was starting to implode his brain, and he didn't need that)
Yes, after the Hawkins Lab incident (an event which had been swept under the rug), a person needed to do some soul searching.
Hopp had hoped that everything would return to normal...(it was an event which now, should begin to fade away, fade into history...forgotten to the past, right?)
He knew that governments kept secrets (these were the 80ties, let's get real). Still, how much did they (our government) know, and, how much had their sub-contractor, running Hawkins Laboratory, inform them? Secrets upon secrets...since the end of WW2 it had become apparent that there was only so much that the Big Cheese (our government) would reveal to its population.
Anyway, this thing, this event (after the Hawkins' Lab affair), was above his pay-grade, or so he'd been told. And he accepted that. Still, when teenagers in his town were being scared out of their skins, well that did concern him, and yes, he would get to the bottom of it.
****** 50 Shades of the Upside-Down ******
-Mad Scientists-
The "Upside Down"...what was it really? It was confusing, perplexing, and so weird in fact that even the people who knew, didn't really know.
(flip an egg over, or an omelet, or a pancake. You would think that you would know what to expect, but still, maybe this was the one thing, the one incident where things hadn't gone as planned)
Hawkins Labs wasn't about flipping pancakes, but they were about flipping reality. Polarization, magnetism, dark-matter, neutral matter, reverse matter...all of these things were subject to experimentation, to testing. If people really knew what scientist did...(what they were willing to take chances on), then the public would freak out.
A doorway had been opened, or in this case a hole had been dug. Either way, another world, another dimension, another place in time had been accessed. Still, in Hopper's mind that doorway had been closed, that portal plugged...right? Still, maybe this was a left-over, something that had come through and hadn't been found yet? Either that or maybe truly the portal had not been shut? Maybe there were gaps in the concealment of the foregone Hawkins Lab? Maybe there were nightmares still slithering through?
Damn-it, Hopper didn't even want to think about that. He looked at his watch.
"5am," he thought. He'd been up a total of 24 hours already".
"There's nothing out here Chief," he heard Callahan's voice in the darkness.
"Phil was tired, Hopp knew it. Heck, he was tired too. Maybe it was time to call it a night. There was nothing to be seen, nothing to be collected," Hopper was thinking that maybe it was time to concede, it WAS time to go home?"
Still, at that moment his flashlight lit upon something...a mark in the ground, something he hadn't seen before. It was a print, a footprint.
Hopp squatted down, and in the scope of his flashlight he could see a foot-track. It was plainly outlined in the soil. And too, even in the dim light he could see that it was like nothing he'd ever witnessed before. It had three toes, and also deep claw marks.
Sticking his palm into the print he could see that the impression far out-measured his hand. Just then, standing a distance off, he heard Callahan question.
"Chief, did you find something?"
Hopped wasn't sure how to answer, especially to Cally. He knew that Callahan was one of the biggest gossips in town.
Hopper had a decision to make, and he had to be fast. Should he tell, or should he not? He knew about Bigfoot stories. He also knew that if the story got out, then there would be people coming out here, out into the woods, trying to hunt it down. Someone, some person was bound to get shot. He decided to keep this reveal to himself. He stood...
"It's nothing..." he said...in his most assuring voice. Still, he wanted to tell someone. Who might he be able to consult with that would know about these things," he pondered? The answer hit him like a ton of bricks, Eleven.
Jim Hopper's "adopted" daughter was staying at Will Byer's house. Well actually, it was Joyce Byer's house. (some nights those kids would get together and play games. They played "Dungeons & Bragons", or something like that. And he would allow El to go, just to let her out of the house...(as if he could really stop her).
Anyway, she was staying for a sleep-over at Will's. And, if there was one person, anyone who could help him with this, it was the young girl he had taken under his wing. Maybe he would swing by Joyce's for a visit?
"Hey Phil, go ahead and go home. Get some rest. Come back to the station at about 3 (pm)," Hopper told his deputy. "I think that I'm going to head over to the Byer's house. Maybe stop in and see if Joyce, Will, or Jonathan heard anything...?"
Hopp paused for a moment...
"I might even get a fresh cup of coffee for my visit," he added. Just to conceal his true intent, "what do you think?"
"Sure thing Chief," Phil affirmed.
His deputy was not about to argue the point. Phil Callahan WAS tired, and he was wondering why things like this always happened on the weekend, on weekends when his friend, partner, and co-worker, Calvin Powell, was out of town? Still, when given a chance to go home and sleep, what employee would pass that up?
"OK Chief, I guess I'll see you this afternoon."
Jim Hopper smiled. He knew that it was time to get answers, and, he knew that Eleven was the person he needed to talk to.
Hopper looked down at the footprint, and then, with his right foot, he covered the area and than began applying pressure. He moved his shoe back and forth. He erased the print completely.
If there were secret entities who'd come into his town. Some government agency maybe...and they were hiding evidence. Then why shouldn't he return the favor?
Two could play at this game. And Jim Hopper wasn't about to let strangers take over his town. He owned the townsfolk of Hawkins that much.
END PART 6