Hey everyone!
Okay, I'm going to try and update this story more quickly from now on, cuz I've been slow as hell. Sorry about that. So, this chapter ends on a vaguely happy note? Don't worry, there's action and cliffhangers in later chapters, I promise! We're getting there, okay?
Hoping u enjoy Chapter 10 :)
First it was just static. Stuttering in and out of volume.
And darkness, endlessly stretching on. That was it.
Darkness and static.
But then she heard him.
"EL!" his terrified voice called out. His voice!
And then she saw him.
Surrounded by the damp, dark and decaying vines that were the upside down, his wide brown eyes met hers, fear changing to relief. "El?" he gasped softly, and his arms shakily reached out to her.
"Mike!" She bolted towards him without hesitation, heart thumping with joy.
Her fingers briefly touched his coat, before something cracked and shifted; she yanked her hands away like she'd received an electric shock.
It wasn't Mike in front of her anymore, but a clean and spotless suit, which didn't seem to fit in the rotting environment.
El swallowed as the familiar scent hit her. She slowly looked up at the face which the suit belonged to, her skin frozen with fear. His cold eyes stared back into hers.
"Papa?"
El sat up hastily, breathing hard. Looking around, she soon realised she was still in the now-familiar cabin, rays of daylight streaming through the cracks in the curtains.
Her shoulders relaxed slightly; it had just been a dream. A very… vivid dream, but still just a dream. Not real, just her brain mixing all her worst fears together.
Nancy sat up next to her – the girl's abrupt motion had woken her as well – hair still tied in a messy pony-tail.
"You okay, El?" she asked, worriedly. Before her eyes focused and widened. "Oh god, El, your nose!"
El automatically reached up to gently touch it. Her fingers came back red.
"Oh," she muttered, using a handful of Dustin's T-shirt she had on, to wipe the rest of the blood away. "That happens sometimes."
Nancy still looked concerned but El didn't say anymore, so the older girl let it go, shifting out of the bed and standing up.
El's focus drifted from Nancy putting her shoes on, to the muffled crackling noise coming from beside her in the bed, which had apparently been ringing throughout the entire night. She picked the supercom up, and the crackling grew louder.
El slowly turned the dial to mute the sound, leaving smudges of blood upon it, and snapped the antenna down.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion; she'd heard the static in her dream… she'd seen the void in her dream. But that only happened in the bath. She'd been bleeding too though. Was it possible what she'd seen had been real? It would confirm their theories true of Mike being in the upside down. But no… Papa was d-
"El, you coming?" Nancy asked, gently.
El turned to look at her, dropping the supercom back on the bed. "Where?"
Nancy smiled sadly. "Just to the living room. We could find some breakfast?" Even as she said it, Nancy realised she wasn't very hungry despite having hardly anything last night, and El didn't look it either.
Still, the young girl nodded, and slid out of bed, picking up her own shoes on the way.
They entered the room to find Hopper snoring on the couch, muttering incoherently. He was pretty good at couch-sleeping nowadays and if that counted as a talent, he certainly had it.
"Hey," Nancy shook his shoulder, until he came around and groggily sat up.
"Everything okay?" he asked with little enthusiasm. As couch-adapted as he was, it wasn't normally kids waking him up in the morning.
"Yeah, I was just wondering if you have anything for breakfast," Nancy figured they should eat something anyway.
Hopper stared at her exasperatedly. "Kid, I know as much as you do. Go look!"
Nancy reluctantly did so, peering deep into each cupboard, while El waited anxiously next to Hopper. As she expected, there was next to nothing in there; they'd finished most of it off the night before.
Groaning, she stood back up. "I could always go to the shops and bring some stuff back?" Nancy suggested, coming back into the room. "Since El might be, uh, staying here a while." She wanted to prove herself useful, and not just a burden.
Hopper raised his eyebrows at her, elbows resting on his knees. "Got any money?"
"No," she folded her arms nervously.
He sighed. It didn't take much consideration; he already trusted Nancy. "Alright," he stood up, reaching inside his pocket. "Alright, take this," he tossed his wallet at her. "You can drive, right?"
"Yeah." His car keys followed his wallet. Nancy pocketed them both, before hesitantly asking, "Should I… bring the others back while I'm out?"
Hopper scoffed. Was she not letting this go? "And do what exactly? We're stuck in the middle of the woods, in a tiny cabin, with no plan whatsoever!"
Nancy inhaled through her nose. "I just think we should all be together at a time like this," she returned, quietly.
Hopper didn't exactly have a reply to that. Unlike Nancy, he was a practical person, and having this cramped cabin heaving with people – the majority being kids – wasn't his concept of a good idea.
Luckily, he didn't need a reply, El's voice piping up instead. "Dustin and Lucas," she insisted firmly, with a hint of excitement. She already missed them. Not as much as- But she still wanted them to be here. Their company could always make her feel better. Up to a certain extent.
Nancy looked back at the Chief triumphantly.
Hopper's eyes bore into her but, as usual, had no effect. He groaned, "It's a school day…" he retorted meekly, but already knew his side of the argument had failed. "Oh jeez, okay, fine. Fine. Just… be careful. You'll be able to find your way back, right?"
Nancy nodded encouragingly to both statements, before turning back to El. "I'll be back soon, okay?"
El responded by giving the girl a fond hug round the waist. Their common ground of both wanting Mike back aside, El still liked her a lot. Nancy automatically hugged the younger girl back, and Hopper saw a small trace of a smile on her lips. He was glad those two had already formed a bond.
"See you soon," Nancy addressed to them both, before yanking open the old front door, grunting slightly with the effort, and stepping out into the cold morning, closing it behind her with a series of creeks.
As El's wide eyes turned to him, it suddenly dawned on Hopper that by Nancy leaving, he was going to be left alone with El. And they hadn't exactly ended things on good terms.
And from the shady expression planted her face, Hopper assumed this was going to be one long hour.
Nancy trekked through the undergrowth for a good six minutes, and finally tracked down Hopper's car, starting up the gears once she was inside.
She considered herself a pretty competent and responsible driver, so she had no issue driving into town to get the boys – and possibly the Byers too. That's if they would come. She was almost certain Lucas and Dustin would at least; they'd be worried about El.
Now zooming through the streets of Hawkins, Nancy wondered where she should visit first. The food store, Big Buy, was in a busy place and it might draw attraction to the fact that she was a teenage girl driving in a police car.
And Dustin? There was a high chance Dustin wasn't even at his house, if it was in any condition like she'd seen it in last. And then there was Lucas, who practically lived next door to the Wheelers. If her mom happened to be home and saw her, it could cause a whole lot of drama. She couldn't afford to be side-tracked.
Nancy took a deep breath, noting on the fact that her life had been one big risk lately anyway. She spun the steering wheel around in the direction of Maple Street.
She glanced towards her own house hardily. From what she could see, all the curtains were closed. No one inside would be able to see her.
With this in mind, Nancy confidently swerved the car into the Sinclair driveway. She wasn't sure of the time, but figured it was about eight in the morning; the boys wouldn't be in school yet. That's if they were even going to school.
Nancy still felt oddly exposed during the short walk up the drive-way and front steps, towards the house.
She reached the front door and timidly knocked, nervously bouncing on her feet, as the door remained shut and silent.
A few seconds later, she heard the door unlocking, and then Mrs Sinclair's smiling face appeared. It immediately turned to surprised shock after seeing who was on her doorstep. Nancy figured she was the last person the woman expected.
Nancy remembered one or two occasions when her mom had sent her next door to bring Mike back home from Lucas' house. That had been a long time ago, and Mike certainly wasn't here now.
"Nancy! How can I help you?" Mrs Sinclair asked, uncertainly, making no move to invite her in.
"I…" It suddenly occurred to Nancy she probably should have planned out a convincing story to tell before arriving. I was wondering if I could take your son to visit his telekinetic friend, El, who's being hunted and currently hiding out in the woods. "I… was wondering if Lucas is in?"
Lucas was, in fact, in his room, slouching on his bed and tiredly flicking through a comic that he'd already read a thousand times. He felt pretty fed up that he was sat at home doing nothing, while one – possibly two – of his friends were in trouble. And when he'd reluctantly had to leave Will at the hospital, his friend hadn't looked too good either; the news about Mike had hit him hard. No one seemed to be in good shape. How had things gone downhill so quickly?
At least there was still Dustin, who was on his bedroom floor, toying with a rubix cube he'd found lying around.
Dustin had originally gone back home with his mom, only to find doors kicked down, windows smashed, furniture dilapidated, and bullet holes in the walls.
While his mom had been freaking out about burglars and finance, he'd instantly been afraid that Hopper had been too late, and the Bad Men had successfully taken El back to Hawkins Lab. And as for the Chief… Dustin reckoned he'd either been taken too, or had bailed on her. And the fact that his instincts automatically suspected the latter, worried him a little.
Then to make matters worse, his mom had then insisted they go stay with his crazy aunt Denise, who lived on the outskirts of town, while the police investigated their crime-scene house.
To save himself from losing his sanity due to Denise's constant complaining, Dustin had managed to convince his mom to let his stay at Lucas' for the time being. She only swayed when he pointed out Lucas' was a lot closer to his school. It also meant he wasn't alone with his thoughts, Lucas knew what he was going through as well.
The two boys had given up talking a while back; here was nothing left to say. Yes, they were worried about El and Mike. No, there was nothing they could do. No, nothing fun could distract them from their worries. Yes, they just had to wait. What (and who) they were waiting for exactly was unclear.
The silence was tensioning but comfortable, and it worked for them.
That was until Nancy burst in through the door, yelling out Lucas' name. They both turned to look at her in surprise. She sighed with relief upon seeing Dustin was there too.
"Nancy?" Lucas exclaimed, his X-Men; Dark Phoenix falling off the bed, already forgotten.
Nancy decided to cut straight to the point. "You guys wanna see El?" she asked, leaning off the door frame.
"She's okay?" Dustin gaped, unable to stop himself from grinning. Lucas stood up next to him, wearing a similar expression.
Nancy nodded, laughing at their excitement. "Yes, she's with Hopper. She's safe. And she wants to see you both!"
"Say no more," Dustin promptly retorted, already in the process of rapidly putting his bag on.
The boys instantly felt less guilty for leaving El, knowing she was officially safe now. And now that she was, they had no reason to leave her solitary again.
They both knew they were staying with her until they found Mike. No matter what it took.
That's what friends are for, right?