"We've been here for hours. It's starting to feel like we'll never get out." Steve paced. He wondered if it would have been faster to climb over top of the train car than to take on a job at the library.
"SHHH!" a giant mouth with legs shushed at him.
"You're gonna get kicked out." Robin whispered. She was standing several steps up on a large bookcase ladder.
This car was a giant library filled with many sections. It had Life Stories, Lies, Highlights, Bloopers, Trivia, and Encyclopedias. They had been enlisted to alphabetize the returned books of the latter.
"That's what I want." Steve crossed his arms. He stood beside a large cart full of books and his open bag on a nearby table.
"That's what you want in our world, maybe. Here, they might feed you to a sentient bookcase." Robin pulled herself over on the ladder. It wheeled toward a small opening in the shelf.
Steve was digging through his bag looking for more of Alfie's maps.
"Found it!" He pulled out a sketch that said, 'The Library Car' on it.
"So the map says there's a secret passage!" Steve excitedly pointed to the paper, then continued reading. "—that can only be revealed when putting all the books on the shelf." He threw his arms up in frustration.
"Told you." Robin said.
Steve handed one of the books from the cart. "I can't wait to get home." He groaned. It had been several days since their disappearance and he couldn't believe he'd ever think this about Hawkins, but he missed how boring it was… you know, for 11 months out of any given year.
Robin grabbed the book from him but the ladder wheels rolled unexpectedly. The book slipped out of her hand as she caught herself from falling.
Dropping to the floor, the book landed open and upside down. The cover contained a person's name and big letter "G" embossed in gold. A sound started to come from it.
Steve flipped it over.
It wasn't filled with words, as they had expected but each page contained moving images. It was footage of a kid learning how to ride a bike.
Steve flipped through the pages.
Each turn had something new. It was the same kid, but this time he was a lot older and moving into a dorm room.
Robin looked down to see it. She glanced around to see that the denizens had headphones on. They each held the connected wires directly onto the page they were 'reading'.
Robin slid down the ladder. "Your turn." She wheeled the ladder closer to him.
"Seriously. Where was this when we needed to see our memories?" Steve said, starting to climb the ladder.
"Would we have known where to look?" Robin gestured out to the gigantic library. She figured there must have been millions of passengers from all around the world judging by the amount of books.
She rummaged through the cart.
The cart was filled with books titled with multiple human names and various letters. Each passenger had an encyclopedia specific to them in each letter.
Robin let out a gasp which made Steve almost slip from the ladder.
"Hey dingus! This one's yours." Robin excitedly waved the book at him.
It had a gold embossed, "Harrington, Steven J. - I".
"Hey, those are my memories!" Steve jumped down.
Robin thumbed through the pages. "Let's see… We've got 'Ice Cream.'" She pointed to the page's title of the same name.
Steve shielded his eyes. "I don't want to get sucked in."
"Happy Birthday, Jessica." A high pitched voice came from the book.
Steve's eyes shot open and he looked right at it. He reached out to grab it but Robin walked away, eyes fixated on the book.
"Oohh. Is this a date?" Robin snorted.
The page's title faded away and the page flashed with colour. The colours morphed and transformed until a clear image could be made out. It was of a prepubescent Steve sitting with another girl his age at a diner.
A small amount of forehead sweat could be seen accompanied with shaky hands as he sheepishly pushed a wrapped present across the table.
The girl gave a small smile, then looked toward the server quickly approaching them with their order.
The server's confident expression dropped as her foot made contact with a small grease puddle on the floor.
Two banana splits, with tray, came crashing down right onto Steve.
From the top of his head right to his lap, Steve was covered in ice cream. Bright red cheeks could be made out in the cracks of his newly caked and melting white face.
All eyes in the diner were turned to him.
Jessica let out a big laugh before promptly covering her mouth.
Steve got up and stormed out in a hurry.
"No way!" Robin said, barely able to conceal the smile that had spread across her face. "That must have really made a dent in your cool points."
Steve turned beet red. "Are the denizens reading these?" He whipped his head around to look at them.
"Now it's Scoops!" Robin pointed.
The images transformed again. This time shifting to Robin in her Scoops Ahoy uniform.
Robin let out a deep and dispirited sigh upon seeing Steve Harrington walk through the door. She pushed his uniform onto him.
Steve hesitantly held up the hat and short-shorts in front of his body. His fingers barely held onto them, as if the uniform was hazardous to the touch.
"I'm not wearing this." He said.
Robin walked past him and rolled her eyes.
"Aw! Our first shift together. We totally hated each other." She laughed.
Robin continued to explore, eventually landing on the page "Interrogation."
A few screams escaped the book.
Steve put his hand over the spine and shut it for her. "Okay, that's enough."
"Right." Robin shuddered, remembering the incident.
Steve started digging through the books looking for one of hers. A gold letter "H" caught his eye. He nabbed it.
"Finally I can see what you really think of me." He joked.
Steve flipped through the pages looking for his name, but stumbled across the familiar "Haber, Amanda" instead.
He quickly shut the book and they both fell silent, not knowing what to say or how to change the subject. Steve even wondered if he should change it. They needed to get off the train, after all.
"I'm happy Amanda isn't here. She'd probably steal all these and then we'd never get out." Steve pointed to the shelf full of books. "Hey, maybe they have an extra copy of Island of the Phantasm here."
"Don't worry about it." Robin wiped her nose with her thumb. "It was just a stupid book, anyway." She deadpanned and pushed the last book onto Steve.
He looked at her for a moment before climbing back up the ladder. Steve shoved the book into the last open slot on the shelf.
The book shelf started to shake. A part of it moved out and over revealing the familiar red door behind it.
"Not here." The baseball bat in Steve's backpack had woken up. He made his distaste known.
"I keep forgetting you're alive." Steve flinched. It was always a surprise when he heard its disembodied voice.
The bat scoffed at him and went back to sleep.
Finally, it was time to leave this car and move on to the next.
Robin and Steve stood in front of a mattress store.
This car felt smaller and more like a store belonging to their own dimension. It was lit up with lamps and didn't appear to have any denizens. Displayed at the front, was a sign that said: "Lucid Dreaming Only - Closes at 7 AM."
"I don't see any maps about this car." Steve was sorting through the stack of papers.
When he caught a glimpse of how comfortable the mattresses looked, he set them aside. "Finally something that's not rocks." He said.
Robin ran and jumped on one of them. She sprawled out as far as she could.
A nice mattress was one of the things she had missed dearly over the past number of days. That and good tasting food. It was something she could only dream about at this moment.
Steve dropped his stuff on the floor, much to the baseball bat's distaste. He laid down on one of the other beds. "A nap wouldn't hurt." He mumbled as his eyes blinked slowly shut.
All light from the store had faded into darkness.
Robin opened her eyes after hearing a loud booming sound. How long have I been sleeping? She didn't mean to drift off like that, but she just couldn't help it.
Sitting up, she could see Steve standing in front of a doorway to what looked like Hawkins. Home.
"Steve!" She sprang up from the mattress.
He turned around to face her.
"Were you going to leave me here?" She grabbed his arm.
Steve yanked her hand away. "I don't have time for your problems." He said.
"Wh—?" She stuttered, still disoriented from her sleep.
He started to walk through the door.
"Wait! Just give me more time. I can fix this!" She threw her arms out trying to grab him, but they hit an invisible barrier.
The door had rejected her.
She threw her fists against it. "Steve!"
The door flashed in a blaze of light.
Robin stepped back and shielded her eyes.
Steve's body vaporized and so did the exit. She was left in the store — on the train — Alone.
Robin wasn't sure what to make of it. She just stood there not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It was like a cruel reminder from the universe that this was how her life's always been. And like many times before, she'd been left to sort things out on her own.
Steve opened his eyes to swirling colours. He was behind a big see-through wall and could see Hawkins on the other side. Steve reached out to touch it, but he couldn't make contact with his home.
The image zoomed to the Wheeler's basement. He could see Mike, Will and Dustin.
"Hey!" Steve banged on the wall, but no one acknowledged his presence.
"Maybe he went back to The Upside Down and got stuck somehow?" Mike theorized. He had been pacing by the stairs.
"We could really use the whole party." Will reasoned. He was sitting at the DnD table fidgeting with a wizard figurine. "Why don't we call—."
"Lucas doesn't answer his Supercom anymore." Mike cut him off. "He's too busy with Max."
Will looked down at the ground. "Do you have any ideas?" He moved his head to face Dustin.
Dustin was sitting silently in the corner of the room. He was holding Steve's nail encrusted bat. Eddie's rings dangled from a chain on his neck.
Steve found himself transported elsewhere. He watched over them like a ghost as they headed toward the giant hell rift in the town.
The boys, led by Dustin, were all dressed up in combat attire and carried an excessive amount of weapons.
Though they were the same age, Dustin looked older as though he had aged from the ordeal. He didn't have his bright smile nor his typical upbeat attitude and adrenaline that he often brought to a fight.
They ventured into the valley of bats and demons. The Upside Down.
"I can't get a hold of Mike." A familiar voice interjected.
Steve turned around to see Nancy and Jonathon behind another big wall. They were standing in the Wheeler's kitchen. She had the phone in her hand dialling both the Sinclairs and the Hendersons.
"He's probably just hanging out with Will and Dustin." Jonathon replied.
"Someone should be watching them so they don't do anything stupid." Nancy hung up the phone abruptly and sped through the house.
"I'm sure they're fine. They're smart kids. They wouldn't do anything without us." Jonathon followed behind out to her car.
Nancy hopped into the car. "I'm not taking any chances." She twisted the keys in the ignition.
"Guys!" Someone interrupted.
It was Robin who was running up to them. "I overheard some people that said a bunch of kids went into Hell's Gate in town square and now the power is out like — everywhere!" She waved her arms. "It could be a coincidence but I highly doubt it."
"The Hospital— What about the hospital?" Nancy asked with alarm.
"I don't know." Robin replied.
Jonathon jumped in the passenger side of the car. "They're probably pissed we told them to hang back."
"Get in!" Nancy yelled at Robin who hesitantly scurried her way into the back seat.
The car squealed its tires on the road.
Steve watched the car dash down the street. There was something wrong here, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He turned to another wall. The hospital. It was almost pitch black, but he could faintly see Max still comatose in a bed, Lucas standing nearby, and Eleven standing motionless next to Max.
"El wake up. The power's out. El! EL!" Lucas yelled, shaking Eleven's shoulder.
Erica ran into the room. "The backup generator— It's dead." She said, almost out of breath.
Eleven continued to stand unresponsive as the ground began to shake.
Steve couldn't watch anymore. He moved away from the wall but bumped back into another.
It was his friends again. He observed their panicked faces. There was Nancy, biting one of her nails while she steered. Jonathon who looked intently out the window… and in the back seat, Robin who… Robin was…
"How did she get off the train?" Steve asked himself.
Robin's head moved and her eyes darted in his direction. She was looking right through the wall.
"Train?" She asked.
The wall shattered and turned black.
Steve started to fall. He rapidly descended into an endless void.
Robin turned to hear a big commotion. A gigantic jungle with towering trees and hanging vines encircled her. She sprang up, recognizing the sounds of her family and friends.
The voices echoed through the trees as she ran after them.
"Where are you?!" She shouted to them, looking every which way.
In a full sprint, she emerged from the jungle and onto the hot sand of a large island.
All of her relatives and friends were boarding a ship by the shore.
She ran as fast as her feet could carry, but it wasn't enough. The ship stayed the same distance away no matter how far she got. It stayed out of reach.
Robin jumped and waved at the boat. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one looked back.
She stopped at the edge of the island where the sand met the sea.
The boat was almost out of sight now.
Putting her hands on her knees, she tried to catch her breath, but when she lifted them there was a red residue.
Robin turned her hands over slowly. They were coated in blood.
She plunged her blood soaked hands into the water, and while the blood spread into the sea, it didn't make them clean. She scrubbed and scrubbed but no amount of water or pressure made a difference. The blood was just as much a part of her as she was to it.
A sudden darkness swept over the island. The waves began to rise and crash onto the sand. It packed a powerful sting as cold wave smacked hot sand.
Before she knew it, the sea had raged in a whirlwind of confusion and terror.
Robin clung to a tree to stop from being whisked away, but the sea was unforgiving. She tried to climb higher but lost her grip as a giant wave collided into her.
The waves were dark and moved chaotically. It was a struggle to stay above the surface but she persisted.
Robin was pushed down by the heavy water again and again. Her arms flailed upward in a desperate attempt to stay afloat or catch hold of anything to stop her from spiralling down into the abyss.
Steve was trying to find his bearings but it was pretty hard with the endless falling loop he found himself in.
It felt like endless butterflies in his stomach. Like the minute before a school presentation in front of peers, or right before battling a monster. It was enough to leave him on the verge of vomiting. And the feeling only grew stronger.
Where am I? He was starting to forget. It was like someone had taken the switch and not only turned the lights out, but ripped the wires straight from the wall. He was falling blind inside and out.
He thought back to what tipped him off before the fall.
Robin.
He thought hard, racking his brain.
He glanced at his arm and pulled up his sleeve. There was a bite mark and it hadn't come from a demogorgan. This looked like a bite from a dog… a wolf!
The memories came flooding back. Robin and Steve had boarded the train from hell.
He shut his eyes tight, walking himself through the events of the day. There was a library, he thought. And… a mattress store!
Okay, okay, okay. He repeated in his head as he spun every which way, tumbling through the void.
Steve wondered if he could imagine landing or remember his current surroundings to wake up. He envisioned the mattress store with a mattress below him.
His body plummeted toward it.
Robin's hand shot up from the water and gripped another tree branch tightly.
The combination of the slimy tree bark and her wet hands made it hard, though she clung to it with all her might. Her hands started to slip further down.
One hand came loose. It flew in the direction of the current. The force of it was so powerful she couldn't pull it back to the tree.
Robin gritted her teeth. The onset panic had already made it hard to breathe, but the waves were even more suffocating.
Her other hand was slowly coming loose.
Hoping to pull the loose hand back again, she looked to it. It shook violently as she tried to bring it forward. Robin feared her arm would come clean off with the pressure.
In a moment of clarity, she noticed something was missing. The hand no longer oozed blood, in fact, the palm of her hand was blank. Something was supposed to be there.
A number! She thought.
The realization had hit her. This wasn't real. Not if she didn't let it be real. Robin's mind was made up, she wasn't going to die. Not today. Not like this.
Robin's eyes shot open.
There was a ceiling above her. It had familiar white with black speckled panels.
She was still in the mattress store, where they had never left.
Robin tried to move but couldn't. Her eyes moved over to the right where Steve was laying. There was a hovering, glowing jellyfish-like monster attaching its dozens of limbs to his head.
She moved her eyes back and slowly lifted them towards the top of her head. There was a creature attached to her as well.
Robin tried to move again to no avail. She shut her eyes and began to focus.
In her favourite novel there was this creature that could feed off a human's nightmares. They were called 'dream sprites' and they subjected you to an eternal slumber if they successfully held you hostage til morning. She recalled the main character falling into this predicament and breaking free by focusing all her energy onto something small. Once conquering that, the rest would all return like muscle memory.
All her energy went to her pinky, trying to lift, tap, or do anything with it. Robin started to sweat as she saw the rising sunlight slowly illuminating the store.
Finally, her pinky lifted from the bed. She blinked hard. Breaking free from paralysis, her hand shot up and grasped the creature. It shrieked in anger as she ripped it off her forehead.
Robin threw it across the room and picked up the baseball bat denizen. She rushed the creature and hit it to the floor. Her head was throbbing but there was nothing she could do about it now.
The sound of a scream made her head turn.
Steve was awake and struggling with his dream sprite. Its many limbs were tangled up in his fists.
He slammed it into a dresser.
THUMP. THUMP.
It toppled into the drawer and he slammed it again.
The sprite's limbs recoiled.
Finally, he pushed the drawer shut.
They looked at each other knowing what they needed to do. They grabbed their things and made a break for it.
But Robin's sprite hadn't stayed down. As it flew at her, she armed the baseball bat, ready to swing.
Steve pushed her out of the way and threw his fist into the creature, sending it across the room.
"I had that!" Robin yelled at Steve as they ran out the door and across the bridge.
"I definitely don't want to stay here!" The baseball bat chimed in.
"Relax, man." Steve said to it.
A figure on top of the train car was watching them move. It was Alfie, or rather, what was left of him.
His condition had worsened and spread to his hands. The tips of his fingers had morphed into dark shadowy claws.
He snarled at his former "friends" below.