Chapter 9: A Bad Place
The group stands at the opening of the trees, completely and utterly confused. None of them recognized where they were. It wasn't Hawkins, that was for certain. The atmosphere surrounding them feels heavy and almost sinister, especially to El. She knew all of this is wrong, they weren't in Hawkins anymore; the storm had sent them to another place, another place that is radiating an evil energy.
Why did Kali try and contact me? she thinks to herself. Is this where she is? Do the bad men have her?
"What the hell?" Steve repeats, completely at his wit's end. No matter how many times he ends up babysitting this group, they always end up in the weirdest places and he's usually at the receiving end of some kind of beating or injuries.
"Where are we?" Will asks, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"A bad place," Eleven says.
All the boys look at her in horror. Steve drops his bat and gets down to her level, taking her, almost too roughly in his hands.
"What bad place?" he says, trying to keep his anger in check. He knew he shouldn't be so hard on her, she does have telekinesis, but she's the one who seems to attract the danger.
"I…I don't know," she says, unable to find the words. She was as lost as they were.
"What do mean you don't know?!" Steve says, squeezing her arms a lot tighter than he intended to. He can feel the panic rising in his body.
"Let go of her!" Mike says, stepping in, obviously seeing how uncomfortable El was in his grasp.
"Why?! She's the one who got us into this mess!" Steve says, letting the girl go and going to the nearest tree to punch it in anger. "She had to go running off into the woods after her sister, who by the way isn't even here, made us get stuck in the fucking rainstorm, and now we're lost as hell! And now, she says our asses are in danger and she doesn't even know where or why we're here!"
"Steve, take it down a notch," Dustin says, gazing at Eleven's face, seeing the tears rising in her eyes. She hated the screaming and yelling, it reminded her of when Lucas and Mike fought, and she ended up hurting Lucas, or when she and Hopper screamed at each other because she broke the rules. She wipes a bit of blood from her nose, caused by the stress of the situation, not from using her powers. Mike puts his arm around her, trying to give her comfort and glaring angrily at Steve as he has an apparent temper tantrum
"Why?! WHY?! Why the hell should I?! She got us lost and now I'm stuck babysitting you little shits again. We're facing unknown danger and she can't even tell us why!"
"Such language will not be tolerated here," a gentle sounding voice says, scaring all of them almost half to death.
They all turn to see a woman walking towards them from across the wet grass, with a lit round lantern. She has long silver/white hair pulled back into a bun stands in front of the group. She's wrapped in a shawl, wears very old rubber boots, and has an apron wrapped around her waist as if she'd just come from her kitchen. Her eyes matched her hair, except they were much more lifeless, examining each face with curiosity. Around the eyes were layers of wrinkles, some were shallow, and others were deep, indicating that she had lived a long and possibly harsh life. The cruel test of time had not been kind to her; her expression was withered and tired. Yet, her lips are curled into a frown, obviously displeased with Steve's language.
"The English language really is becoming nothing to you children, isn't it?" she asks.
Steve steps in front of the kids, prepared to protect them, but he's glad he's at least found a human being who seems to know what's going on.
"Sorry, who are you and why are you here?" he inquires with a firm attitude.
"I'm Mrs. Baker, Andrea Baker, and you all happen to be standing on my property."
"Which is where?" Steve snaps back.
"A bad place," Eleven says quietly.
Mrs. Baker's eyes lock onto the girl's tiny face. Her gray eyes seem to harden for a second and her bushy eyebrows creep together to form an unpleasant glare. Jane swallows hard and shrinks slightly behind Mike. She knew that something is wrong with this woman. Her light glows on her face, casting sharp shadows, making her look more wicked than kind.
"It's not a bad place, but we are in the countryside," the old woman says, looking away from Eleven.
"The countryside, there's no countryside outside of Hawkins," Lucas says, fumbling with his backpack, trying to get his map out.
"Well, you must've walked further than you intended to," she says, swinging the lantern to examine each of their faces. "You poor dears must have gotten caught in the storm. Why don't you come into the house where you can all dry off?"
"Can we use your phone, or do you not have one?" Steve asks. Like Eleven, he is extremely skeptical about this creepy old woman who lives in the middle of nowhere. It has become his job once again to take care of Mike Wheeler and his friends. Why does it seem that every time shit goes sideways, he becomes the babysitter? In fact, all the kids are afraid of this woman, knowing that this would be the beginning of a horror movie if they ever knew one. Despite her gentle demeanour, something is off, really off about everything.
"Yes, of course, we have a phone, we're not that prehistoric," the woman snaps at the rude teenager. She glares at Steve with firm eyes.
Suddenly, Will starts to sneeze and shiver in his wet clothes.
"Oh, you poor dear," Mrs. Baker says sympathetically. She rushes over and puts her shawl on his shoulders. "You must all be cold from the rain, why don't you come into the house so you can dry off and I'll make you all a nice warm beverage."
"Can we borrow the phone to call our friends?" Dustin asks, his stomach growling with the thought of something warm to drink and possibly eat.
"Of course," she says. "Just follow me."
Her hunched over figure turns, taking the source of light with the movement, leaving the group in the gray gloom. The branches on the trees behind them creak like an eerie wooden door and dripping of leftover rain falls down on top of them.
"She should work in haunted houses, she'd make a killing," Dustin jokes.
Lucas stomps on his friend's foot in frustration.
"Ow, sorry geez, it was just a joke."
"I don't like this at all," Will says, he's still shivering and reluctantly pulls the woollen shawl closer around his shoulders.
"None of us do," Mike says.
"Why would she want to help us?" Steve says skeptically, staring at the woman's figure continues to retreat towards the house.
Will sneezes again and sniffles.
"If we stay out here any longer, we'll all get hypothermia," Lucas says. "I say we go in, use the phone, warm up, and then try to go back." While all of this did creep him out, the thought of someplace warm is appealing to him also.
"Beats hiking back through the woods in the dark," Dustin says. The group simultaneously turns towards the dark woods, a portal seemingly into infinite blackness. None of them wanted to go back again, plus what if it started raining again.
Eleven grabs Mike's arm and holds him tightly.
"No," she says firmly. "This is a bad place. It's dangerous."
"Dangerous in what way?" Steve asks, glaring at Eleven, knowing that she's the reason they're in this mess.
"Wrong," is all she can say.
"Well, wrong is not going to help us get back home," Steve says. "I agree with Lucas, we call for Hopper, then they come and pick us up and we can all go home."
"No!" El says.
"Then you can start hiking back," the teenager shrugs. "But I'd rather play it safe for the time being. If anything happens…" he reaches down and picks up his bat. "We'll be ready."
Four of the boys begin walking towards the house where Mrs. Baker is standing, her lantern flickering in the darkness. Mike wants to start walking, but Eleven holds him in place.
"Mike, no!" she says.
"El, I know… I hate this more than you do, but… we have to call someone. We're very lost and we need help. Besides, if we do run into trouble, you have your powers."
He gazes into her frightened brown eyes and grabs her hand, interlocking their fingers. He touches her face, wiping a stray wet curl from her cheek. He leans in and kisses her lips gently. A warmth is felt between the two of them, one of comfort and safety, despite their entire situation. He can see how frightened she is, and he knows they'll have to stay together in order to be safe.
"It will be fine…" he says quietly.
"Promise?" she whispers.
"Friends don't lie," he says with a small smile.
"Boyfriends either," Jane says.
The two share a small smile before Dustin calls out to them.
"You guys coming in or not?!"
The rest of the party, plus Steve, are already on the porch as Mrs. Baker opens the heavy oak doors to let them in. One by one they disappear inside, likely to a warm place.
Mike gives his girlfriend a small smile and then slowly begins guiding her across the wet grass to the gravel driveway. She drags her feet a bit, trying to buy herself some time. Eleven swallows a large lump in her throat. Her stomach is turning violently to the point where she might throw up. This is wrong. This is a very bad place and they're walking right into the heart of it.
A/N: Please review.