Chapter Six - The Monster
"Nancy! Nancy! Come on, come on! Nancy!"
Jonathan stumbled through the dark woods, panting as he searched for Nancy. Panic bubbled inside him as the beam from his flashlight fell over tree after tree but no girl, no deer, and no monster.
"Where are you?" he shouted.
A scared voice echoed through the woods as it screamed. "Jonathan! Jonathan!"
Nancy ran through the dead forest searching for the slimy tree she had crawled into, but each tree looked the same as the one before.
"Jonathan! Jonathan, I'm right here!"
"Nancy! Nancy! Come on!" Jonathan called out in frustration. He could hear her so she must be near, but still there was no sign of her.
"Jonathan, where are you? Jonathan!" Nancy paused, trying to catch her breath, and stared around at the bases of the trees looking for that hollow, but it was no where to be seen. "Jonathan!"
She turned, her whole body trembling. "Jonathan, I'm right...I'm right here!"
Like a voice coming through a long tunnel Jonathan heard Nancy calling for him.
"I'm right here!" he yelled.
She shouted again. "Jonathan!"
It was almost as if they were running circles around each other. Jonathan stopped running and called, "I'm right here! Nancy! Just follow my voice!"
Over the pounding of her heart Nancy could hear him. Huffing she ran in the direction where she thought his voice was echoing from. "Jonathan!"
"Follow my voice, Nancy, I'm right here!" came his distant shout, although it seemed much closer.
She slowed down trying to discern where to go, but then she turned to her left and her eyes fell on the grotesque silhouette of the monster. With a growl it turned towards her and she screamed as she ran in the opposite direction.
"Nancy!" Jonathan ran after the sound of the small scream and suddenly he came across the tree with the slimy hollow.
In the dead forest, Nancy hid behind a cold, damp tree frightened in a way she had never been before. Would she die here? Would that thing eat her as it had the deer?
Jonathan approached the tree cautiously. It appeared to have some sort of hole in it. Remembering his mother had said that the monster came into the house through the wall Jonathan wondered if this hollow lead to some other place beyond the tree. Beyond their world. Had it come through here? Did it take Nancy there?
Nancy tried to quiet her breath as she listened to the nearby growling. Closing her mouth, lips sealed tight, she held her shuddering breath. Her whole body shook in terror. She could almost feel the creature moving on the other side of the tree. She knew if it found her there would be no escape. Thin as it was she could sense its power and strength. It was a predator and she was its prey.
Jonathan leaned low peering inside the hollow observing the strange gooey substance. The tree creaked and swayed.
"Nancy?" he called quietly. "Nancy."
Nancy's back was pressed into the tree that was her hiding spot as if she might meld into it and become the tree itself. Her ears seemed to pick up every sound around her from the whisper of the stale air, her heart, the strange lifeless pulse around her, but then came a far friendlier sound. The sound of Jonathan's voice so near.
"Nancy! Follow my voice!"
Looking to her right she saw the hollow at the base of a tree several feet from her. But the growling creature still hunted her and she searched around her for it. She could not see it anywhere. If she moved from this spot would it see? Would it get her before she even made it to the tree? How fast could it move anyways? Was there someway to distract it? Nancy was torn over what to do. Stay or go?
Jonathan leaned closer to the hollow. He felt extremely concerned as she hadn't called out for awhile. "Nancy?"
Whatever filled the hollow had a pulse and seemed to breathe. What was it? Suddenly something burst out of it and Jonathan leapt back, falling onto his backside. However, a moment later he realized it was a human hand.
"Jonathan!" yelled Nancy.
"Nancy!" he hollered back and he seized her hand and pulled. Struggling with the aid of Jonathan, Nancy strained her way back through the slimy webbing. With a great heave Jonathan pulled her free from the hollow and they collapsed onto the forest ground, Nancy laying across his body and sobbing.
Using his feet to push himself and her away from the tree, Jonathan sat up as Nancy's trembling form clung to him.
"I got you," he panted as he wrapped his arms around her and watched as the bark of the tree sealed over the hollow like a door closing to a room they should have never seen.
Later that night Steve drove his car down a suburban road, Tommy sitting beside him as Carol hung out in the backseat.
"I just don't understand why we're coming out here," whined Carol. "She obviously doesn't want to talk to you."
"That's...that's not it," Steve said, annoyed.
"Oh, really? Because no girl would ever blow off King Steve," she mocked as Tommy snickered.
"She was acting weird. I mean, something was wrong," he corrected before Carol could come up with something stupid to say.
"So what?" Carol scoffed. "Like, you're worried about her?"
"What?" Steve snapped. He meant for it to sound biting, like he couldn't believe she would think that of him, but it came out soft as if he couldn't believe she had figured it out.
"Aw, you are," she cooed loudly. She leaned in from the back and rubbed circles over his chest. "Aw, Steve has a heart!"
"Would you just-stop," Steve griped.
"Oh, Stevey's in love!" Tommy piped up teasingly.
"Would you just shut up?" Steve said beginning to feel pissed off.
"Who knew?" asked Carol.
"Shut up!" Steve yelled and Carol flinched at the sudden anger in his voice.
Tommy chuckled. "Jeez."
"Damn," Carol's eyes flickered between Steve and Tommy. "Sorry."
"So this is it, huh? Princess' castle," said Tommy as Steve pulled over on the side of the curb of a cul-de-sac.
"I'll just be a minute."
Steve hopped out of the car and shut the door. Then he jogged across the Wheeler's lawn to the house. Hopping up onto a utility box he stealthily pulled himself onto the lower setting roof. Staying low he peered into Nancy's window ready to tap it so she could let him in. But with a jolt he saw that she was not alone. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, facing away from the window, and Jonathan Byers sat beside her. Steve watched as Jonathan extended an arm around her shoulders in an embrace, and fury filled him at the sight of this lowly betrayal.
Articles about Hawkins Lab, Dr. Martin Brenner, and Terry Ives lay across Joyce's coffee table as she and Hopper sat in the kitchen and discussed everything he had discovered.
"Look, we gotta go through this again," Joyce said.
"I told you everything that I saw," Hopper grunted wearily.
"Oh, gosh. Tell me again," she insisted.
"Upstairs or downstairs?"
"Upstairs," she decided. It was clear that whatever was downstairs was far more difficult to understand so beginning with something that felt more human seemed like the right place to start. She brought her cigarette back to her lips as she watched Hopper from across her kitchen table.
"There was a laboratory. It was where they must do experiments or something, and then there was…" He inhaled trying to picture the details. "There was this kid's room."
"How do you know it was a kid's room?" asked Joyce, frowning.
"More like a prison," Hopper commented with steel in his voice.
"So why would you think it was a kid's room, then?" Joyce questioned him.
"Because, I told you, the size of the bed, there was a drawing, there was a stuffed animal-"
"You d-didn't say there was a drawing," her eyes were big and round, eyebrows raised in alarm at this news.
"Yeah, there was a drawing of a…an adult and a child. It said "eleven" on it," Hopper explained, confused at her interest.
"Was it good?"
"It was a kid's drawing, Joyce," Hopper griped. "It was stick figures."
With an exhale Joyce hurried over to a counter cluttered with papers and photos and she pulled out a sheet of paper. Turning back to the table she slammed it onto the wooden surface before him. Hopper stared down at a detailed crayon drawing, no stick figures in sight.
"Wasn't Will," Joyce declared confidently.
Hopper stared at Joyce appalled but she merely shrugged. Then he looked toward the coffee table in her living room. Snuffing out his cigarette in an ashtray he rose from his chair.
"Earl…" he said slowly. "The night that Benny died, Earl said he saw some kid with a shaved head with Benny."
Hopper leaned over the small table peering at the scattered articles. He sat on the couch as Joyce joined him searching the news clippings as well.
"Now, I pressed him, he said it might be Will, but maybe…" he rummaged through the reports.
"Wait...Maybe, it wasn't?" asked Joyce.
Hopper pulled out the article he had been searching for. "Look...this woman, Terry Ives, she claims to have lost her daughter, Jane. She sued Brenner, she sued the government...Now, the claims came to nothing, but what if…"
Dawning realization hit him like a pile of bricks as the images of Brenner and his patients, the scrap of hospital gown found at the end of a drainpipe leading out of Hawkins Lab, the kid stealing food from Benny all passed through his mind.
"I mean, what if this whole time I've been...I've been looking for Will...I've been chasing after some other kid?"
Hopper looked to Joyce for confirmation of what he knew already to be true. Amazingly, in his search for one missing kid he had stumbled over another.
Jane.
Nancy showered off the dirt, slime and grime from her face, hair and body. But the images of the night's horrors were not so easily washed away. They flashed through her mind as if they were still happening. As if she were transported back to that forest. The dying deer was yanked away. She pressed her hands over her eyes trying to banish the memory, but the growling creature was branded in her mind as was the feeling of fleeing from it, sure it would catch her.
She ran her hands over her head as the echo of Jonathan calling her name still rang in her ears. She could see the creature feeding on the deer, the sight of the dead trees flashing past as she ran through them, lost in a lifeless world with floating flurries. Stepping on that decayed branch. The roar of a creature with head filled with endless rows of teeth.
She panted trying to pull herself together but she felt as if she were falling apart as it all hit her. That monster. That place. Barb and Will. How could they possibly be alive?
In Nancy's room Jonathan rolled a flowery sleeping bag out onto the floor next to the bed. Nancy came in the room now clean and in her pajamas. He looked up at her as she quietly closed the door and gazed at him.
"Better?" he asked.
She nodded slowly still looking a little upset. "Yeah."
She looked down at the blanket.
"Is this okay?" Jonathan stood feeling awkward as he had not asked her if she wanted him to go. "Uh, I found it in the closet. I can go home. I-I just figured…"
"Yeah, no, I...I...I don't wanna be alone," she admitted feeling awkward herself. "Do you?"
"No. uh...no," he confessed.
Strangely feeling nervous along with her now steady fear and anxiety Nancy crawled into bed as Jonathan slid into the sleeping bag. Jonathan grabbed Lonnie's gun and held it to his chest, determined not to let it out of his sight ever again. He stared up at Nancy's ceiling his head on one of her crocheted pillows.
Nancy lay under her covers feeling vulnerable, scared, and uncertain. She hesitated but then asked, throwing caution to the winds. "Can you just come up here?"
Nerves hitting him like a truck, Jonathan silently slid out from the sleeping bag.
"Yeah," he said. He slid the gun under one of her pillows and slowly got onto the bed beside her, laying atop the covers. After a moment he asked, "Do you want the lights off, or-?"
"On," Nancy responded firmly.
"Yeah," he answered. He wanted to say something to comfort her, to make her feel better. Safer. "You know, it...it can't get us in here."
"We don't know that," Nancy responded as she thought of that monster.
Jonathan turned to lay on his side facing her, and they lay there silently waiting for sleep to overtake them, but too afraid to close their eyes.
The next morning Mike sat alone in his family's basement, fiddling with his Rubix cube. He glanced over at the door leading outside and then at the hut he had made for Eleven, which sat there abandoned. He had waited for her to come back all night, but she had not returned. Tossing the cube onto the couch he stomped over to the tent. Angry and frustrated he threw one of the chairs aside, yanked the blanket to the floor, and kicked the pillows and cushions over and over again.
Tears stung his eyes as he thought of Eleven messing up their compasses, and Lucas calling her a monster. Dustin yelling over his fight with Lucas, and Eleven's scream as she flung Lucas through the air. Wiped out Mike stared down at the mess he had made of Eleven's tent.
"Uh, yes, it's Ives. Terry Ives. That's with a "Y". Yeah, I got a pen. Hang on," Hopper held the payphone he was speaking into with his shoulder as he pulled a pen from his jacket and began scribbling on his palm. "Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. Great, thanks. I really appreciate this, Frank. Say hi to the boys for me, too, would you?"
He hung up and exited the phone box. He tossed his cigarette to the ground and climbed back into the driver's seat of Joyce's car which he had parked on the side of a country road.
"Did you get it?" asked Joyce anxiously.
Hopper nodded. "I got it."
"Okay," she breathed in relief and Hopper threw the car into drive and sped off down the road.
Stirred from sleep, Jonathan opened his eyes. Momentarily confused at where he was he stared at Nancy's nightstand before remembering the night's events. Looking over he saw Nancy sitting up on the bed as she turned the pages of a book, apparently doing homework or something.
"Oh...hey," he said sleepily, sitting up.
"Hey," she responded as she jotted down notes.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked as he noted the shadows under her eyes.
She shook her head.
"Every time I close my eyes, I just...keep seeing that...thing. Wherever I was, that place...I think that it lives there. It was feeding there. Feeding on that deer. That means that if...if Will and Barbara…" her voice trailed off unable to continue the awful thought.
Jonathan scooted closer to her. "Hey. My mom said she talked to Will. If he's alive, there's a chance Barbara is, too."
Nancy was not comforted. "But that means that she's trapped...in that place. We have to find it again."
"You wanna go back out there?" he asked half-incredulous.
"Maybe we don't have to," she said quickly. "When I saw it, it was feeding on that deer. Meaning it's...it's a predator, right?"
"Right."
"And it seems to hunt at night, like a...a lion or a coyote," she pointed at the book she had been reading from and Jonathan realized it was book about animals, specifically predators. "But it doesn't hunt in packs like them. It's always alone, like...like a bear. And remember at Steve's, when Barb cut herself?"
She was watching him and Jonathan nodded, still half-embarrassed that he could confirm this due to spying on them. But Nancy no longer seemed to care as she continued, "And then, last night, the deer…"
"Hmm, it was bleeding, too," he nodded again finally seeing where she was headed. She pulled out another book.
"One sec," She opened to a bookmarked page and pointed at one of the images. "Sharks can detect blood in one part per 's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter mile away."
"So you're saying it can detect blood?" asked Jonathan.
"It's just a theory," Nancy admitted.
"We could test it," he suggested, and she nodded slowly. "But if it works…"
"At least we'll knows it coming," she whispered. They gazed silently at one another then the door to her bedroom rattled, and they both gasped. Jonathan grasped her hand.
"Honey, are you up?" Karen asked from the hall.
Nancy sighed, breathless, and thanked the gods she had locked the door. She called back, "Yeah, I'm...I'm getting dressed."
"I, uh, made some blueberry pancakes," Karen told her.
"I'll be down in a second," Nancy answered. She listened to the sounds of her mother walking away, then she stared down at Jonathan's hand holding hers. He quickly let go.
"Your mom doesn't knock?" he asked her with a smirk, and they chuckled at their own jumpiness.
Connie Frazier knocked confidently on the pale blue door of the modest home. A short moment later it opened and the owner stared at her with inquisitive eyes.
Putting on her brightest smile she greeted him pleasantly. "Hi. Scott Clarke?"
Scott smiled in returned and answered, "Uh, yes?"
"The same Scott Clarke who teaches science and AV at Hawkins Middle?" she double-checked.
"The very same."
"Oh, wonderful," said Connie, as if having met him just made her day.
Minutes later, Connie and Scott sat conversing in the sitting room. To Connie's great annoyance Scott had wasted precious minutes with offers of food and beverages and small talk. She never understood people's desire for pleasantries. She came here with a purpose and she would rather have gotten straight to it than waste time. However, she smiled winningly and politely declined the offers.
Presently she held out the pamphlet that Brenner had had made for this particular cover story. It read "The Indiana AV club" and she was saying, "...and we're making a newsletter, which we'll send out monthly. It'll showcase all the latest equipment, as well as how-to articles, which the kids write themselves."
Scott, who had taken the pamphlet enthusiastically grinned happily, "Oh, that's neat."
"What we're really trying to do here, Mr. Clarke-"
"Oh, please, call me Scott," he interrupted.
Irritation flashed hotly through her but she continued, her face never changing from the cordial mask she wore. "Scott. What we're trying to do here, Scott, is to connect kids from all over the state and give them the support and encouragement to pursue careers in technology. We feel these are the kinds of kids that are going to make Indiana proud."
Scott nodded, "I agree, yes. Completely."
"So, you know any kids you think might wanna participate?" Connie asked, pleased with how easily she could manipulate this dim-witted fool.
"Oh, I have a few in mind," Scott affirmed, pleased to think that he would have something to tell the boys that might cheer them up.
Dustin cruised quickly down the cul-de-sac to Mike's house eager to see if Eleven had come back during the night. But one look at Mike and he realized she had not.
"I just...I can't believe she didn't come back," said Mike, somewhat dumb-founded.
"She's gotta be close," Dustin assured him.
"She said it wasn't safe. She just messed up the compasses because she wanted to protect us. She didn't betray us," Mike ranted wildly. He had gone over yesterday's events for hours and realized (too late) that she was merely trying to keep them safe. It was he that had betrayed her and he despised himself for it.
"Mike, calm down," Dustin urged.
"I shouldn't have yelled at her. I never should've done that," Mike stated and another wave of shame washed over him.
"Mike, this isn't your fault."
"Yeah, it's Lucas"," Mike blamed. It made him feel a little better to point the finger at someone else although he could not quite erase that horrible feeling of shame at the way he had yelled at El.
"It wasn't his fault, either," Dustin countered.
'It wasn't his fault?"Mike's incessant pacing came to a halt and he faced Dustin with a frown.
"No."
"So you're saying he wasn't way out of line?"
"Totally, but so were you!" Dustin accused and despite how often Mike had told himself he was to blame he couldn't help feeling defensive.
"What?"
"And so was Eleven," Dustin added.
"Oh, give me a break!" Mike snorted.
Dustin however, apparently had enough and stepping forward he yelled, "No, Mike, you give me a break! All three of you were being a bunch of little assholes! I was the only reasonable one. But the bottom line is... you pushed first. And you know the rule. You draw first blood…"
Mike back stepped with a look of disgust. "No! No way! I'm not shaking his hand!"
"You're shaking his hand!" Dustin said threateningly.
"No, I'm not."
"This isn't a discussion. This is the rule of law. Obey or be banished from the party. Do you wanna be banished?"
"No," Mike admitted grudgingly.
"Good," he said, and hastily turned to retrieve his jacket.
"Where are we going?"
"Where do you think? We're going to get Lucas," he answered as he pulled his arms through his jacket sleeves. Then he tossed Mike his backpack. "And then we're gonna find Eleven."
Eleven jolted from sleep as the loud, opening of her room's heavy, metal door opened. The lights came on and her breathing quickened with anxiety as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. Sitting up she turned to face Papa as he came into her room, his arm behind his back. Peering down at her from beside the bed, Papa bent low and then showed her what he was holding in his hand. It was a small flower pot with purple flowers growing out of the dirt.
He held it out to her and she took it curiously as he sat on the edge of her bed saying, "Today is a very special day."
Eleven did not respond, but merely petted the flowers, feeling the soft texture of the plant against her fingertips.
"Do you know why?"
Now that he had asked a question she knew he would demand an answer so she glanced up at him and shook her head.
"Because today, we make history. Today, we make contact," Papa said softly, and reaching to her he tapped her nose gently with his index finger, Eleven's eyes crossing as she kept his hand in sight.
Eleven came to with a start. Sitting up from her bed of leaves she peered at the woods around her. Birds chirped their morning greetings as she walked through the trees, her wig of yellow hair gripped tightly in her hand. Coming to the edge of a marsh Eleven used the watery mirror to watch as she carefully but the wig back onto her head. The effect was not the same as it had been when Mike had helped her with it. It looked silly and messy and she yanked it off in frustration. She wanted to look pretty again, like the girl in the photo at Mike's house, but it just wasn't possible. Monsters were not pretty. As Eleven stared at herself in the water, hate for what she saw there bubbled to the surface until it erupted from her in a scream of fury and power. Energy raced across the water disrupting the serene surface, and the birds flocked away from their trees in search of a safer haven..
Karen cut apart a blueberry pancake, and stabbing one piece with her fork she held it out to Holly, saying, "Here you go."
Holly opened her mouth wide and Karen pushed the pancake inside.
"Ah...yum," she said as she watched the girl close her mouth and chew the food. She waited for the swallow but it didn't come. "Okay. Now, sweetie, swallow the pancake."
"Where is Nancy?" Ted drawled suddenly. "I thought she was coming down."
"She is. Uh, she was. I don't know," Karen sighed wearily.
Walking up the stairs, she called out, "Nancy, what's taking so long?"
She could hear music playing loudly from her daughter's room, but she did not answer.\
"Nancy?" She tried to open the door but found that it was locked. "Nancy, come on."
The music continued but still Nancy remained silent. Pulling a bobby pin from her hair, Karen used it to pick the lock. When she had successfully opened the door she entered the room.
"Nan-" she began, but she found that the room was deserted, the bed unmade with books scattered open across its surface, and a sleeping bag and pillow stretched out on the floor. Apparently someone had spent the night.
But who? Karen wondered in agitation.
Mike and Dustin rode their bikes up the driveway of a neat, blue house, the latter eager to get Lucas and set off on their journey, the former dreading having to admit his part in their fight. They rang the doorbell and waited until the Lucas answered the door. He stood morosely before them glaring first at Mike, then Dustin.
Once again turning his gaze to Mike he spat out, "What do you want?"
When Mike failed to answer Dustin slapped him and gave him a "Just do it," kind of look.
With a deep, reluctant sigh Mike said, "I drew first blood, so…" and he stuck out his hand at which Lucas stared incredulously before glancing back up at him.
In the Sinclair's living room Lucas paced as Mike and Dustin awaited his verdict. Coming up short Lucas turned and announced, "Okay, I'll shake."
Dustin grinned joyfully and Mike thrust out his hand but Lucas continued, "On one condition. We forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate."
Mike dropped his arm. "Then the deal's off!"
"Fine!" yelled Lucas.
"Fine!" Mike retorted.
"No, no, not fine! Guys, seriously?" Dustin sighed in annoyance. He grabbed at Mike, forcing him to face him. 'Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?"
Mike traded looks with Lucas but found him as clueless as he felt so Mike shrugged. Dustin stared appalled at his two friends.
"We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one. And it all went to shit. And we were all disabled!" Dustin spouted. "So we stick together, no matter what!"
"Yeah, I agree," nodded Lucas. "But this is the party, right here in this room."
"El, is one of us now," Mike said.
"Um, no, she's not. Not even close! Never will be! She's a liar, a traitor-" Lucas began counting off her offenses on his fingers, but Mike cut across him, desperate to make him understand Eleven the way he had come to know her.
"She was just trying to keep us safe! She didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident!"
"An accident?" Lucas repeated in disgust the still aching knot on his head giving a particularly nasty throb..
Again, Dustin acted as mediator. "All right, accident or not…admit it, it was a little awesome."
Lucas was irate. "Awesome?"
"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!" Dustin pointed out ecstatically.
"I could have been killed!" Lucas reiterated.
"Which is exactly why we need her," Mike said surprising both Lucas and Dustin. "She's a weapon! Do you seriously wanna fight the demogorgon with your wrist rocket? That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader. We're no use to Will if we're dead."
"If you two wanna waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead," Lucas said angrily. "'Cause I'm not spending my time on her anymore. No way! I'm going to the gate. I'm gonna find Will."
He shoved them aside as he stalked between them and disappeared to his room, his friends staring helplessly after him.
Eleven walked slowly across the pavement as she watched people coming in and out of a large building. Several cars were parked out front and some of the people pushed around baskets on wheels. The baskets pushed out of the building usually had items in them whereas the ones pushed into the building did not yet carry anything. Feeling nervous Eleven worked up the courage to enter the structure. Her rumbling stomach fortified her resolve and she stepped up o the doors which slip open on their own.
She heard music playing softly from somewhere as she entered and the people inside the store gave her shocked and quizzical stares as she paced past them. Eleven was not aware how she appeared to them, a strange girl with a shaved head and dirt plastered to her face and dress, and dry blood under her nose. Rather she felt they saw what she saw in that marshy water. A monster and it made her feel all the worse. But she swallowed her discomfort and shame and ignored them as her eyes roamed the shelves for food. She could not however block her ears from the indistinct chatter of the men and women and suddenly she could hear Papa.
"It's okay, Eleven. Don't be frightened. These are all friends," Papa held her hand as she clung closely to him. People filled the room, more than she had ever seen in one place before and they all watched her closely. "They're just here to watch. Don't focus on them. Stay in here."
Papa tapped her forehead. "Like before."
"Yes, Papa," Eleven answered bravely.
Once again the large water tank was opened, and as they put the electrode crown over her head Papa crouched to her level. "Now, remember. Whatever it is, it can't hurt you. Not from here. So there's nothing to be frightened of."
He ushered her to the platform over the water. Her limbs began to quiver in fear.
"It's reaching out to you…'cause it wants you. Hmm? It's calling you...so don't turn away from it this time. I want you to find it. Understand?" Papa instructed her slowly determined for her to understand. She could not run away.
Wanting to please Papa and make him proud Eleven said, "Yes."
However, as the platform descended and she watched him slide away as she was lowered into the water terror flooded her. It seemed to wash over her like the water did as first her feet entered the water, then her torso and lastly her head, on which the men had placed the bulky helmet. She stepped off the platform once in the tank and she peered at all the men as one shut the door over the tank closing her in. Once again she stood alone in the blank nothingness, no sound, nothing to see.
"Are you lost?"
Eleven turned to see a tall middle-aged man addressing her. He stepped a little closer and asked gingerly, "Is your mom here?"
Eleven looked him up and down but did not offer a response.
"Your dad?"
Making up her mind about the man Eleven entoned, "Mouth breather." and turned away dismissively. The manager frowned after her, flabbergasted. She walked a short ways down an aisle peering through the glass of the freezers before her eyes landed on several boxes of Eggo waffles. She immediately opened the door and began to fill her arms with as many boxes as she could carry.
"What should we do?" one of the employees asked her manager as they watched the strange girl.
"Uh...Call the police," the manager responded uncertainly. Suddenly, Eleven stalked past him with several boxes of waffles clutched to her chest. She made a beeline for the exit.
"Excuse me," the manager started after her. "Young lady! You know you have to pay for those!"
The manager meant to give chase but a woman came out from another aisle and she gave a startled cry as her cart jerked forward, dragging her with it. The cart blocked the man's path to Eleven and he quickly shoved it aside as he hollered after her.
"You - you have to pay for those! Stop right there! Thief! Thief!" His path cleared, he once again made to run at her but as she exited the store the sliding doors of the entrance slid close with such force that the glass shattered to hundreds of jagged pieces. Passersby shrieked in alarm and Eleven marched away with her boxes of waffles without so much as a backward glance.
Hopper and Joyce pulled up a long, gravel driveway before stepping out onto the unkempt property of Terry Ives. Hopper knocked on the front door and waited with an anxious Joyce. A woman pulled aside the curtain on the door and peered out at them through the window. They waved in greeting and she opened the door.
"Can I help you?" she asked with a mistrustful gaze.
"Hi," Hopper said. "We're looking for Terry Ives. Does she live here?"
"Who's asking?" the woman questioned skeptically.
"The Hawkins chief of police," he answered and he displayed his badge.
"And you want to talk to my sister?"
"Well, if your sister's Terry Ives, then, yeah, we do."
The woman shrugged cynically. "Okay, well, you can come in but if you want Terry to tell you anything, you're about five years too late."
She led them into a room where a TV set ran quietly. A beautiful, vacant looking woman sat in a rocking chair wearing a nightgown and robe. Though she faced the television set she seemed to stare past it.
"Terry, you have some visitors," said their hostess.
Joyce stepped forward and greeted Terry. "Hello. My name's Joyce Byers. Uh, this is Hopper. We drove over from Hawkins. Um, you see, uh, my son...he's been missing for almost a week now, and, um, we were wondering if we could talk to you about your daughter, Jane? If there's anything that you could tell us about when she was taken…"
Terry sat rocking idly and did not answer.
"What was your relationship with Dr. Brenner?" asked Hopper. "You guys keep in touch?"
Again, she remained silent. In fact, she gave no outward sign that she even knew they were there, let alone talking to her. Joyce edged closer and held out one of the missing posters she had made and pointed out Will's photo.
"This is, uh...this is him. This is Will. Uh, you may have seen him on...on the news. Uh…"
"What's wrong with her?" Hopper asked Terry's sister in a low voice.
"I told you, you're wasting your time," was her answer.
Lucas was determined to be prepared for anything that awaited him on his mission. He carefully packed his backpack with every essential item he could think of including his binoculars, a hammer, his wrist rocket, and flashlight. He pulled the utility belt his dad had bought him for his birthday around his waist then tied a camouflage bandana around his head. When he deemed himself ready he donned his backpack and walked his bike to the end of his driveway.
That was when he looked up and noticed a utility man in a blue jumpsuit across the street, climbing out from a white Hawkins power and light van. Lucas paused nervously wondering if the man would ridicule him, but he simply held his hand up in a greeting and Lucas waved back. The man closed the driver's door and went about his business. Lucas hopped onto his bike and sped off down the road.
A few miles away Dustin and Mike rode their bikes down another street keeping pace with one another.
"This is weird without Lucas," Dustin fretted as he contemplated how their party of four had now whittled down to two.
"He should've shaken my hand," Mike said.
"He's just jealous," said Dustin wisely.
"What are you talking about?"
Dustin sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind."
When Mike's clueless expression persisted Dustin asked, "He's your best friend, right?"
"Yeah…" confirmed Mike, but he hesitated realizing how that sounded and added, "I mean, I don't know."
"It's fine," huffed Dustin. "I get it. I didn't get here until the fourth grade. He had the advantage of living next door. But none of that matters. What matters is that he is your best friend. And then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you ever want to do is pay attention to her."
"That's not true," Mike denied.
"Yes, it is," Dustin said again. "And you know it. And he knows it. But no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of zero. Now everything's weird."
But his diverted attention was not what Mike was denying, and he felt somehow that it was critical he set the record straight.
"He's not my best friend," Mike said.
Dustin chuckled and said sarcastically, "Yeah, right."
Mike twitched his head as he tried to explain himself. "I mean, he is, but so are you. And so is Will."
"Can't have more than one best friend."
"Says who?"
"Says logic."
"Well, I call bull on your logic, because you're my best friend, too," Mike proclaimed firmly.
Dustin smiled and he suddenly felt much happier. "Okay."
Glancing off to the left the boys noticed several people milling about in front of the grocery store. They skidded to a stop.
"Whoa," muttered Mike as he watched Officers Powell and Callahan interview two of the employees. Looking around the realized the sliding doors were shattered and glass lay broken over the pavement.
"You don't think…" suggested Dustin.
'Uh...definitely," agreed Mike, and they remounted their bikes and rode on past the store.
Applause erupted on the TV as Hopper and Joyce sat around the kitchen table conversing with Terry's sister, Becky.
"She was a part of some study in college," she was explaining.
"MK Ultra?" asked Hopper.
"Yeah, that's the one," Becky nodded. "Was, uh, started in the '50s. By the time Terry got involved, it was supposed to be ramping down, but the drugs just got crazier. Messed her up good."
"This was the CIA that ran this?" Hopper continued.
Becky smirked in amusement. "You and Terry would've gotten along. "The Man' with a big capital "M". They'd pay...you know, a couple hundred bucks to people like my sister, give 'em drugs, psychedelics. LSD, mostly. And then they'd strip her naked and put her in these isolation tanks."
"Isolation tanks?" repeated Joyce.
"Yeah. These big bathtubs, basically, filled with salt water, so you can float around in there. You lose any sense of, uh...sense and feel nothing, see nothing. They wanted to expand the boundaries of the mind. Real hippie crap."
Joyce frowned at the thought of anyone agreeing to do anything like that and Becky seemed to read her mind.
"I...I mean, it's not like they were forcing her to do any of this stuff. The thing is, though, is that she didn't know she was pregnant at the time."
"Jane," Joyce stated. She sighed, amazed and appalled at the incredible story. "Do you have any pictures of her?"
Becky's face contorted into bewilderment as she looked from Joyce to Hopper. "I don't think you guys understand. Terry miscarried in the third trimester."
Joyce gave Hopper a shocked gaze and he continued to stare at Becky in puzzlement. If Terry never gave birth why would she think her daughter had been kidnapped? And who was the kid in Benny's diner? Becky led the visitors into a small room down the hall. It was a bright, little room set up as a nursery. It should have been a cheerful chamber, but something about the vacant room seemed haunting.
"She keeps all of this up. Been doing it for twelve years. Terry, uh, pretends like Jane is real," Becky explained as Hopper prodded the hanging mobile over the crib. It began to rotate and a lullaby played as the baby clowns twirled jauntily. "Like she's gonna come home someday. Says she's special. Born with abilities."
Becky waved her hand to imply mysticism. Joyce came up short.
"Abilities?" she repeated.
"You read any Stephen King?" asked Becky with a raise of her eyebrows.
Hopper and Joyce traded looks of dawning realization and amazement as they thought of the child's room that existed in the lower levels of a secret laboratory. Becky chuckled.
"You guys look scared, actually," she laughed mockingly. "I mean, it's all make-believe."
Joyce cleared her throat. "What - what kind of abilities?"
"Telepathy, telekinesis...You know shit you can do with your mind. That's why the big, bad Man stole Jane away. Her baby's a weapon, off fighting the commies. You know, the doctor's all say," Becky took a swig from her cigarette before continuing. "It's a coping mechanism. You know, to deal with the guilt."
"Do you think there is any chance she could be telling the truth?" asked Joyce. Becky looked appalled and Joyce quickly backpedaled. "A-about having had the kid?"
"There is no birth certificate, nothing from the hospital. Doctors and nurses all confirmed that she miscarried."
"Yeah, but that could've been covered up. Right?" Hopper asked feeling irritated by Becky's lack of concern. Had she been this way when Terry had led a relentless search for her daughter? Had Terry waged war against Brenner, bore the label of impairment, and pled her case with no one on her side?
Becky grinned. "Like I said, you and Terry would've gotten along."
The lullaby played its last note as the mobile came to a standstill.
Lucas ran his bike up a leafy hill in the woods. However, he soon found his path blocked by a barbed fence. He glanced down to check his compass. It was going haywire but the needle seemed to indicate that he was heading in the right direction. His eyes traveled down the length of the fence first to the left then to the right. He could not discern any way to get inside and realized he would have to walk around until he found the entrance.
"Aw, man," he complained. He adjusted his bike to the left and set off.
In the towns local hunting shop Jonathan roamed the aisles searching for supplies. He picked up a gas canister as in the next aisle Nancy filled a shopping basket with random bits of supplies such as a hammer, chains, and large nails. She came to the end of the aisle and Jonathan joined her as they both set eyes on the contraption before them. Nancy looked to Jonathan with raised eyebrows and he gave a little nod, so she added the bear trap to their growing inventory of weapons.
Once they had gathered what they could they placed each item on the clerk's counter as the owner watched baffled.
"And I'll have four boxes of uh thirty-eights," Jonathan added. The man reached back and retrieved the ammunition from behind the counter.
"What you kids doin' with all this?" he asked them.
"Um…" Jonathan looked to Nancy uncomfortably and at a complete loss.
Nancy thought quickly for a moment before shrugging and answered innocently, "Monster hunting."
"Huh," the man shrugged appeased and rung them up.
"Monster hunting?" Jonathan repeated to Nancy once they had reached his car in the parking lot.
Nancy grinned as Jonathan opened the trunk and they began loading the items into the back.
"You know, last week...I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And...and now-"
"You're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers," he finished for her.
"Yeah," she answered, and he shut the trunk with a slam.
"What's the weirdest part? Me or the bear trap?" he asked her.
She met his eyes and smirked. "You. It's definitely you."
He grinned but before he could respond a car drove past and someone honked their horn. Turning they saw a fellow classmate in the passenger seat wave to them before saying, "Hey Nance! Can't wait to see your movie."
"What the hell was that?" Jonathan frowned.
Nancy stared after them in bewilderment. Then, with a sinking dread she spun around and stared down the street.
"What?" implored Jonathan.
She ignored him however, and walked past him still scanning the street.
"What? Hey! Where're you going?' Jonathan called out as Nancy ran off her speed picking up. "Nancy, wait! Nancy!"
She ran into the street and came to a stop outside of the movie theater staring in horror. The theater manager and his assistant exclaimed angrily over the spectacle.
"I can't believe it!"
"These kids!"
A lump lodged in Nancy's throat and her eyes stung with tears as Nancy read the sign over the theater's ticket box that displayed movies currently playing. This particular movie was All the Right Moves, except someone had added in bright, red spray paint the words "Starring Nancy 'The Slut' Wheeler".
"Jesus," muttered Jonathan furiously.
Nancy peered around and realized people were staring at her. One passing woman actually exclaimed gleefully, "Wow."
In the distance Nancy could hear Tommy's laughter. Rage boiling inside her she set off again and Jonathan headed after her.
"Wait!" he called.
"Tommy you write like a three-year-old," teased Carol as Nancy whirled around the corner.
"Shut up!" Tommy retorted.
"I didn't know you could spell," Nicole mocked. Nancy stared down the alleyway where Tommy was spraying something onto the side of a building with a spray can of the same bright, red paint as of the vandalized movie theater sign.
Nancy stomped her way over eyes on Steve. Carol's attention diverted she cooed, "Aw, hey there, princess!"
"Uh oh! She looks upset!" said Tommy.
Steve watched her approach him with a stony gaze and when Nancy came to a halt before him she slapped him hard across his face.
"Oh!" gasped Carol.
"Damn!" exclaimed Tommy.
"What is wrong with you?" Nancy shot at Steve.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I was worried about you. I can't believe that I was actually worried about you," Steve scoffed.
"What are you talking about?" asked a thoroughly puzzled Nancy.
"I wouldn't lie if I were you. You don't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?" Carol recommended.
Just then Jonathan came running up behind Nancy. He sized up the situation before him as Tommy hopped down from his perch on the crate.
"Speak of the devil. Hi."
Nancy spun around and her eyes settled on Jonathan. Suddenly realizing she faced Steve and said in irritation, "You came by last night."
"Ding ding ding! Does she get a prize?" Carol ridiculed. Nancy wished she could slap her too.
"Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that."
"What, you just let him into your room to ...study?" Steve looked down at her in disgust.
"Or for another pervy photo session?" Tommy laughed.
"We were just-" Nancy began but she pulled up short realizing there was no way to explain last night's events.
"You were just what? Finish that sentence," Steve drew near to her as he stared down menacingly into her face. "Finish the sentence."
Nancy tried to steady her breathing as anger and frustration threatened to break loose. She could feel tears smarting her eyes and she fought desperately to hold them back. Steve shook his head with revulsion.
"Go to hell, Nancy."
"Come on, Nancy, let's just leave," Jonathan pleaded as he rushed forward to take her arm.
Steve turned his attention to Jonathan."You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed." He gave Jonathan a push. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father."
Again Steve shoved Jonathan, willing him to fight back. Jonathan walked away trying to shove his emotions down beneath the surface. The place where no one could see him or touch him, but Steve was relentless.
"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups."
Another shove.
"You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family," Steve continued. Jonathan had stopped walking and Nancy turned to him imploring.
"Jonathan, leave it!"
"I mean, your mom...I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother. I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you-"
"Steve, shut up!" Nancy shouted, but Steve gave Jonathan yet another shove.
"But the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire-"
Jonathan fell over the edge. He spun on the spot and punched Steve neatly across his face. Steve caught himself on the side of the building and his left hand cradled his back at Jonathan he tackled him around the waist and the two fell back against the hood of Steve's car.
"Steve!" shouted Nancy.
Steve threw Jonathan to the ground and they grappled wildly over the pavement.
"Stop! Steve! Knock it off, you guys!" Nancy screamed.
"Get off of him, seriously!" Carol yelled.
"Kick his ass man!" Tommy urged.
"Get off! Stop!"
Jonathan and Steve continued their violent fight amid the shouts of the others. Jonathan managed to throw Steve off him and darted to his feet before taking another swing at him hitting Steve's face again.
"Get in there, he's going to hurt himself!" Carol solicited Tommy who stepped between the two and attempted to hold Jonathan back.
"Easy! Easy!"
But Steve pushed Tommy away. "ey. hey! Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!"
Tommy stepped aside and Jonathan shuffled up and made another swing at Steve, but this time Steve ducked and popping back up managed to land a punch across Jonathan's jaw. Jonathan recoiled for a moment but with furious yell he hit Steve again so hard that Steve stumbled back in shock. Jonathan hit him yet again so that Steve, unable to fight back, collapsed to the ground.
"Jonathan, stop! Stop, you're going to hurt him!" Nancy pleaded. "Jonathan, stop!"
Sirens sounded in the distance but Jonathan took no notice of the sound or of the Nancy's , he leaned down and dragged Steve up by his shirt landing another punch to mangled face.
"Cops!" Tommy shouted as he took note of the sirens.
"Guys! Jonathan,get off of him! Stop it!" shouted Nancy.
"Cops! Come on!" yelled Tommy again as Officers Powell and Callahan rounded the corner.
"Just go Carol!" shouted Tommy and Carol and Nicole took off down the alley as Tommy attempted to pry Jonathan off of Steve. "Hey, he's had enough, man! I said he's had enough!"
"Kid! All right!" yelled Officer Powell.
It took both Callahan and Tommy to pull Jonathan off of Steve and Jonathan lashed back without thought hitting the officer.
"Oh my nose!" cried Callahan.
Powell held Jonathan back shouting, "Calm down!"
At that moment Steve and Tommy took their chances and bolted away.
"Hey! Hey!" bawled Callahan. "Come here little guys, come here!"
Powell leaned Jonathan over his cruiser and cuffed him as Jonathan struggled.
"Get off!"
"I got this one!" Powell shouted to Callahan's back as he gave chase to the teenagers.
"Get back here! I said get back here, you little punks!"
Nancy ran her hands over her face in anguish as she watched helplessly as Jonathan was arrested.
Becky walked Joyce and Hopper to the front door. As they passed the sitting room where Terry Ives sat numbly Hopper gave her one last look before making his way to the porch. Joyce however, paused to watch her.
"Well, thank you for your time. We appreciate it," Hopper said to Becky.
'Hmm, yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," she nodded.
Joyce watched anxiously as Terry rocked back and forth. She seemed to be whispering something to herself, but Joyce heard nothing. She felt as if she was staring into window of the future. Her future. In which twelve years of fruitless searching lead to a empty void where her child once was.
"Good luck," said Becky.
"Thank you," Hopper replied gratefully.
Slamming the car door shut Joyce sat in the passenger's seat and sighed deeply her head in her hand.
"Hey…" Hopper watched her.
"What?" whispered Joyce wearily.
"We're gonna find him."
"Yeah, like Terry found her daughter?"
"We're close."
"Twelve years. Twelve years she's been looking for her-" Joyce pointed out.
"And then she shows up at Benny's five nights ago, which means we've got a chance. You know what I would give? For a chance?" Hopper whispered. "You know what I would give?"
"Hey, Chief, you there? Hey, Chief?" Callahan piped over the radio.
"Yeah, go ahead," Hopper stated.
"Yeah, a fight broke out here and-"
"Cal, I don't have time for this," Hopper sighed.
"It's Jonathan Byers." Hopper and Joyce shared alarmed looks. "You haven't seen Joyce, have you?"
At the police station Flo pulled out a tray of ice cubes from the freezer in the staff lounge.
"Do you think we'll be out of here soon?" Nancy asked her as she watched her pile ice onto a cloth spread across the counter.
"You, yes. Him, no. He assaulted a police officer," she informed her.
"Well, how long are you gonna keep him?" persisted Nancy.
"You and your boyfriend have big plans, do you?"
Nancy stuttered, "He - he's not my boyfriend."
"I think you better tell him that.".
"What?"
Flo gave her a stern glance. "Only love makes you that crazy, sweetheart. And that damn stupid."
She held out the cloth she had tied together into an ice pack and with a small sigh Nancy took it and went back to sit beside Jonathan who was presently cuffed to a desk.
"Found some ice," she said.
"Thanks," he muttered in a low voice. He shifted a little closer and awkwardly tilted his head as she held the ice to his face. She watched him closely as he stared mindlessly at the desk. Feeling her gaze he met her eyes but she averted her gaze.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Everything's fine," she responded as she met his eyes again. A small smile spread across her lips and her eyes flitted away.
Beneath a canopy of colorful leaves Eleven sat with her legs folded under her, chewing the cold waffles she had stolen. As she ate she heard voices in the distance and she glanced around her for the source as her heart sped up.
"El!"
"Eleven!"
Several yards away, Mike and Dustin walked their bikes across the leafy ground as they called out. "Eleven!"
"El!" yelled Dustin.
Mike repeated, "El! Eleven!"
"Eleven!"
Mike came to a stop as he heard the sound of breaking twigs underfoot. "Hey, stop. do you hear that?"
"What?" Dustin looked around quizzically.
"El!" Mike shouted again scanning the area. "El?"
The source of the noise revealed itself but it was not Eleven. It was Troy and James stalking nearer. Troy pulled out a pocket knife.
"Hey, there, Frogface."
"Toothless," cackled James.
Dustin dropped his bike. "Shit! Run Mike!"
He made a break for it as Mike dropped his bike too yelling, "What?"
"Run! Come on!" Dustin implored Mike who ran after him.
With a quick glance at one another the bullies gave chase, Troy yelling, "You're dead, Wheeler!"
"Move, Mike! Mike, come on, run!" Dustin urged his friend.
Elsewhere in the woods Lucas made his way along the barbed fence. He finally reached a corner of the perimeter so that the fence traveled off to the right. He consulted his compass again and saw that he was beginning to head in the wrong direction. He backtracked several paces then came to the conclusion that the gate's location must be within the fenced in area of Hawkins Lab. Well, it was the Department of Energy. Didn't Mr. Clarke say something about needing energy to open up a hole in the space-time continuum? And it made sense that the military would be involved in something as dangerous as this.
Excitement mounting at his discovery Lucas climbed into a nearby tree pulling out his binoculars to get a better look. He watched as several men walked into the building all wearing suits. He did not recognize any of them so he continued searching along the building. He scanned the roof and found nothing so he went back to searching the grounds. Then he saw something at once both amazing and terrifying. A military truck driving up a path past several white Hawkins Power and Light vans.
Hawkins Power and Light were not a military company. Unless that was what they wanted people to think. Suddenly, Lucas remembered the technician out in front of his house that morning. They were being watched.
Dustin and Mike rounded the side of a rocky interface on the road overlooking Sattler's quarry.
"Cramp!" Dustin groaned, and his pace slowed as he clutched his side.
"Just keep going! Keep going!" Mike encouraged him.
Troy came around and sped up in his effort to reach Dustin. The boys continued until suddenly Mike and Dustin spotted James ahead of them. He must have cut through the woods to the road ahead.
"Shit!" Dustin faltered. He and Mike skidded a stop, trapped between the two bullies on one side and the rocky interface and the quarry on another.
With no where else to go Mike snatched a large rock from the ground and Dustin lifted up a stick. They held their weapons up threateningly.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Mike yelled and he threw the rock at James, but it missed by several feet.
"Nice throw, numbnuts," mocked James.
With a wild battle cry Dustin swung haphazardly at Troy who dodged the blow easily before catching Dustin around the shoulders. He held the knife to Dustin's face. Dustin stretched his neck away from the shiny blade in fright.
"Get off! Get off me!"
"Let him go! Let him go!" Mike shouted.
"Stay back, or I cut him!" Troy threatened.
"What do you want?" Mike asked desperately.
"I want to know how you did it!' Troy shouted back.
"How I did what?"
"I know you did something to me. Some nerdy science shit to make me do that."
"You mean piss your pants," Mike shot at him.
"Our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind," Dustin taunted truthfully.
"Shut up!" Troy brought the blade dangerously close to Dustin's mouth and Dustin again leaned his head in an attempt to get away from it. "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist. Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."
"Let him go! Let him go!" Mike bellowed.
"I'll let him go, sure. But first...it's your turn," said Troy.
"My turn for what?"
"Wet yourself."
The absurdity of Troy's demand caught Mike off guard. "What?"
Troy gestured at the cliff overlooking Sattler's quarry. "Jump…or Toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist."
"Stop! No!" Dustin gasped trying to break free from Troy.
"I'll cut him right now!"
Dustin whimpered in fright and Mike unable to stand seeing Dustin so frightened and vulnerable said, "All right, just hold on! Hold on!"
He stepped closer to the cliff's edge.
Dustin yelled in alarm. "Mike, don't do it. I don't need my baby teeth, Mike! Mike, seriously, don't!"
Ignoring him, Mike stepped up to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the still water. His heart pounded with adrenaline and his breath seemed to catch somewhere along his airway. He watched as a few pebbles fell to the water's surface as his toes met the edge. One more step and he too would plunge to the bottom. It was so high. Could he survive?
"Mike, don't do it! Seriously, don't do it! Seriously, don't!" Dustin begged.
James looked to Troy with a sick feeling creeping up in his stomach. "Troy, I don't think this is a good idea, man."
"Mike, don't!" Dustin bellowed.
"Dentist's office opens in five...four! Three! Two!"
"Mike!"
"One!"
Mike stepped forward and with a scream Mike disappeared over the cliff. Dustin gasped in horror, and Troy shocked dropped his arm. The three boys rushed forward to peer over the side.
"Holy shit," said Dustin.
Gasping in fear Mike hovered about midway down the cliff face staring down at the water. Crying out in terror Mike felt his body float back up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" he shouted. The others watched as Mike flew over their heads, legs flailing, hair dangling until abruptly he dropped to solid ground with a grunt. Looking briefly at the bewildered boys Mike's eyes fell on an approaching figure.
With a gaze of fury Eleven marched forward in her pink dress, and blue jacket. Troy and James would have that she were a boy if hadn't been for the dress. Troy rushed forward to attack her but a sudden burst of energy forced James to fall backward. Troy stared down at him in alarm then back at Eleven who twitched her head. A force hit Troy's arm so powerfully that with a earsplitting crack Troy's arm was broken. He cried out in pain, dropping his knife.
"She broke my arm! My arm!"
Coming to a halt Eleven glared at the bully threateningly, blood pouring down her nose.
"Go," she commanded.
James hopped to his feet and took off, Troy running after him.
"Let's get outta here! Let's go!
"Go!"
Grinning after them Dustin yelled, "Yeah that's right! You better run! She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back here and she'll kill you! You hear me? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches! She'll kill you, you hear me?"
Dustin's voice faded into an echo as Eleven dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
In the blank nothingness Eleven searched around her seeking what she did not want to find. She saw something in the distance, and she forced herself to breathe. She could hear it moving in the water that covered the surface she stood on, if you could call it a surface. Slowly, fearfully, she walked toward it. Whatever it was growled as she neared, she could not tell what it was doing, but she could tell it was far from human or any other animal Papa had told her about.
As her trembling form came up right behind it, she could see that it was crouching low, and if it were to stand, it would be far taller than she was. It's growls were loud and terrifying, she reached out to touch it's shoulder but she hesitated, afraid. Papa's words came back to her. That it could not hurt her and she tried to remember that she wasn't really here. She was in the bath. She touched it, and it turned and roared at her. She saw nothing but teeth and blood from whatever it had been eating. She screamed in agonizing fear.
In the lab Eleven screamed in the water tank and the lights of the lab turned to red and the machines went haywire. The building around them seemed to shake as the concrete walls began to crumble. Scientists ran for their lives, as Eleven screamed, and screamed, and screamed…
"El, are you okay? El?" Mike grabbed Eleven's arm anxiously.
Sobbing, Eleven look up at into Mike's worried face. "Mike...I'm sorry."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"
"The gate...I opened it. I'm the monster," as she said it something seemed to fall away inside her. But rather than running from her or yelling horrible things Mike smiled.
"No. No, El, you're not the monster. You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me."
He pulled her up, and wrapped his arms around the crying girl. He held her as she rested her head on his shoulder, tears falling silently down her face. Dustin stared down at his friend and the strangest girl he had ever met, and affection flooded his heart. Kneeling beside them, he too wrapped his arms around the pair, and the three children sat huddled on the edge of the cliff, there arms wrapped around each other.
Several minutes later Eleven, Mike, and Dustin walked across the field from Mike's house, unaware of the repairman in his power and light van watching them.
The man pulled out a radio and transmitted, "I have eyes on 'em now. They're heading home."
In a bunker room at Hawkins Lab men retrieved shooter rifles, and sidearms many of who wore dark blue jumpsuits. They marched from the building and followed Dr. Brenner, to a line of waiting white vans. Engines started one by one and in a tree outside of the lab's fenced perimeter Lucas watched the vans take off down the road through his binoculars. If he had any doubts before, he didn't now. Repairmen did not need guns.
Mike, Dustin, and Eleven walked down to the lower level of the Wheeler homestead at the end of the cul-de-sac. The boys dropped their bikes and they all headed inside. Eleven paused before entering and scanned the area before heading inside and closing the door.