Krystal let out a yawn as she wandered over to her school locker, stretching her sore arm. It had been aching all day, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She must have slept on it, the vague pins and needles feeling remaining. Just as she reached out to turn the dial on her locker, her vision went dark, as hands were placed over her eyes, obscuring her vision. She let out a laugh when she felt a kiss against her neck a second later and didn't have to turn around to tell who it was. Billy.
"Someone seems happy" She giggled, as the hands were lowered.
"I got the job" Billy replied, as Krystal whipped around with a gasp.
"I told you, you could do it" Krystal grinned, as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"Well, you know better than anyone how good I am with my hands" Billy smirked, leaning in close to kiss her.
Instinctively, Krystal pulled away, her eyes darting around the school corridor, glad to see no one seemed to be paying them much attention. In fact, all the student's eyes seemed glued to the ground.
"What's wrong?" Billy frowned.
"Nothing. It's just…we shouldn't be doing this in public…should we?" Krystal questioned, her own thoughts a jumble.
"Why not?" Billy stated.
"I…I'm not sure…I don't remember…" Krystal trailed off, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"Hey, I was thinking we could celebrate tonight. I'll take you out" Billy insisted, as Krystal's lips pulled into a smile.
"Like a proper date?" She asked, as Billy nodded.
"Nothing but the best for my girl" Billy replied, as Krystal leaned forward to press a quick kiss to his lips.
"Ugh, get a room you two" A familiar voice exclaimed from behind her.
"Don't give me ideas, Maxine" Billy grinned, as the ginger girl rolled her eyes.
"Mom said she has a surprise for us tonight. So don't be late" Max warned the pair.
"When did you get so bossy?" Krystal scoffed, as Billy wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Yeah, can't imagine where she gets it from" Billy teased, as Krystal slapped his arm, playfully.
"Billy's actually got some news for you, Max. You want to tell her?" Krystal inquired, turning to her boyfriend.
"…I got the job" Billy shrugged, with a small smile.
"Holy shit! Really?" Max cheered, her whole face lighting up.
"My boyfriend the mechanic" Krystal mumbled, in a sing-song voice.
"I've got to make a good impression first. They could still fire me" Billy pointed out, seeming a little nervous.
"They'll love you. I know they will" Krystal told him, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, as the bell rang.
"I'll pick you up after fifth period. Don't be late. And no making out with Lucas in the back of my car, dipshit!" Billy warned Max, who was already running towards her class with a large grin.
"Are you gonna' tell…" Krystal trailed off, losing her train of thought.
"Who?" Billy asked, as Krystal bit her lip.
"Uh, everyone else. The kids" Krystal clarified, even though she had been thinking of someone else.
An adult, she thought. Someone who had been important to Billy. Whoever it was couldn't have been too important for her to already forget their name…right?
"And never hear the end of all the mechanic jokes?" Billy scoffed.
"They'll be proud of you" Krystal insisted, as Billy pursed his lips.
"I'm sure Max has probably told half the school by now" Billy stated.
"You want to skip last period and celebrate properly then?" Krystal asked, as a mischievous glint grew in Billy's eyes.
"You know I do" Billy smirked, giving her a chaste kiss.
With a smile Krystal turned back to her locker, wanting to put her books away. The smile fell from her face as she found the usual numbers weren't there on the dial. Instead, they had been replaced by strange symbols, ones that Krystal couldn't understand. Her vision began to blur for a moment, as a sick feeling grew in her something.
"What the fuck?" Krystal mumbled, under her breath.
"What's wrong?" Billy queried, as she turned to him for a moment.
"My lockers…" Krystal trailed off when she turned back to see her locker door was already open.
"You okay?" Billy frowned, as Krystal stared at the empty locker, in confusion.
"Y-yeah. I just thought…it's nothing" Krystal murmured, shoving the books inside, and slamming the door shut.
Krystal's arm still ached as she made her way towards the front porch of her house, with Billy following close behind her. She was about to start rummaging in her bag for her keys when the door was ripped open and a large smile grew on her lips.
"Hey, kiddo" Benny greeted, warmly.
At that moment, Krystal felt happier than she had ever been. Everything was just so perfect. Benny bent down to press a quick kiss to her forehead as she entered the house, finding her Mom and Max already sitting at the kitchen table, dinner laid out in front of them.
"Max told us you had news" Krystal announced, as she and Billy wandered over to the table.
"Never one to beat around the bush" Benny laughed, shaking his head fondly.
"Your father and I have been talking and…well, we want to give our relationship a second chance" Susan admitted, as Krystal had to do a double-take.
"What?" She frowned.
"Since your Mom moved back to Hawkins, we've reconnected. It's time for us to be a family again" Benny went on.
"You said you'd never get back with Dad in a million years" Krystal pointed out.
"Ancient history, sweetheart" Susan waved off the concern.
"And with how well things have been going at the Diner recently, we should be able to help you two move out next year. Get your own place" Benny suggested, turning to the pair.
"Seriously?" Krystal asked, surprised.
"You're not gonna' want to stay with us old folks forever, are you?" Benny smiled.
"…I don't know what to say, sir" Billy exclaimed, with wide eyes.
"Billy, I've told you, just call me Benny" He insisted, as Billy laughed nervously, pulling out a chair for Krystal to sit on.
"But, if you hurt my little girl, I'll run you over with my car" Benny added.
"Understood, si—Benny" Billy nodded, amused.
"Max, are you okay with this?" Benny asked, as Krystal and Billy took their seats.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think I am" Max nodded, with a small smile.
"Let's eat then" Benny chuckled, as they all began to tuck into their dinner.
After the first piece of food touched her tongue, a strange realisation hit Krystal. She couldn't taste the food. She reached out to pour herself some juice, placing her glass to her lips, as her forehead wrinkled.
"I can't taste anything" She murmured, under her breath.
"Something the matter, sweetie?" Susan asked, her eyes snapping over to Krystal's.
"Uh, no…no, everything's fine" Krystal shook her head, putting the glass down.
Her gaze flickered down to her hand, as her vision blurred for a moment, and she saw blood running down her knuckles. The pain in her arm intensified, as a memory whizzed behind her arms. She had been trying to push a door open…but when? Where? Krystal balled her hand into a fist and watched as blood dripped onto the table. Jonathan had been there, she was sure. Why had she been trying to get to him? Pain shot through her head as she desperately tried to remember.
Krystal.
She flinched as she heard a soft voice whisper her name, her eyes darting around the room. She recognised the voice, but she couldn't place who it belonged to.
Krystal, can you hear me?
"Do you hear that?" Krystal questioned, turning to Billy.
"Hear what?" He frowned, still eating his dinner.
"It's nothing, dear" Susan insisted, as Krystal closed her eyes.
"No. It's…it's Eleven" Krystal realised, trying to focus on the voice.
I want to help.
"El? Where are you?" Krystal exclaimed, her eyes still closed.
"Don't listen to her, Krys" Billy told her, firmly.
"She sounds scared" Krystal mumbled, as she felt someone grab her wrist.
"She wants to take you away from us. You don't want that, do you?" Benny pointed out, his grip a little too strong.
"Dad, you're hurting me" Krystal stated, trying to pull away.
"Stay here with us. You don't need them" Benny went on, as Krystal grit her teeth.
"Let go of me" Krystal warned, but he only held on tighter.
"You already let me die once, Krystal. Are you really going to make the same mistake again?" Benny questioned, as Krystal's mouth went slack.
Another memory whizzed past her. Benny's lifeless body on the floor, blood pooling out for under him. He was dead. He had been dead for years.
"No…no. This isn't…what is this?" Krystal gasped, using her other hand to try to wrench his grip off her.
"You can't leave us. You can leave" Benny told her.
"You're not my Dad" Krystal exclaimed.
"I'm trying to be nice, Krystal. You don't want to see me when I'm mad" Benny hissed, his fingernails biting into the skin on her wrist.
"My thoughts exactly" Krystal snapped, grabbing her fork with her free hand, and slamming it down onto his hand.
Benny cried out in pain, wrenching his hand back as Krystal pushed herself to her feet, her chair falling back. The lights around them flickered, as the air became thick with tension. Everyone in the room apart from Benny becoming eerily motionless as if they'd been switched off.
"This isn't real. You're not real" Krystal shook her head, backing up a step.
"You want to see what I really look like?" Benny asked.
Krystal couldn't stop the strangled sound that left her lips as Benny's face suddenly morphed into the decaying form she remembered from not so long ago. His skin was peeling back, bones on his face on prominent display. His eyes seemed to have melted away, only his eye sockets left to sag. She could feel bile rising in her throat, her breathing becoming erratic at the horrifying sight.
"Is this better?" Benny questioned, as she scrunched her eyes shut again.
"This isn't real. You're just in my head" Krystal murmured, feeling close to tears.
"Exactly" Benny replied, as she could hear the smirk in his voice.
"El? El, where are you?!" Krystal cried, pulling her hands over her ears, trying to drown everything else out.
Billy's leg bobbed up and down as he kept his eyes trained on Eleven, watching as blood slowly dripped from her nose. He still didn't fully understand the girl's powers, but if it meant she could get through to Krystal that was all that mattered. She had told them she had found Krystal and had been spending the last few minutes trying to find any real part of her that remained in her mind. So far, she just seemed to be going through the brunette's memories.
"What do you see?" Max questioned.
"She's at the Diner. With…her Dad. She looks young. She can't reach the top shelf…" Eleven trailed off, as Billy shook his head.
"You need to find her more recent memories" Billy insisted.
"There's a storm up ahead…I think that's where they are" Eleven gulped, her hands shaking a little.
"Max, are you sure we should be doing this? Is Eleven up to this?" Lucas whispered in his girlfriend's ear.
"She can do this. I know she can" Max retorted.
"I hope so. For all our sakes" Nancy muttered, having hardly spoken since they left the hospital.
"Quiet" Eleven told them, her forehead wrinkled.
"Sorry, we didn't—" Max began, but Eleven cut her off.
"No. It's quiet here. There's a house…Krystal's at the table. There are two people there with her. They're all silent" Eleven frowned, feeling uncomfortable.
"Did you get up too much yesterday, honey?" A sickly sweet voice came from the woman.
"Um, just studying" Krystal replied, quietly, not looking up from her plate.
"No one called the house?" The woman questioned, as Krystal tensed.
"No. I don't think so" Krystal mumbled, flinching as the woman scoffed loudly.
"That's strange. Because the phone records show that you called a Californian number, for a whole hour" The woman went on.
"I just…I wanted to speak to my sister. I didn't mean—" Krystal began, but the woman stopped her with a wave of her hand.
"We're supposed to be your family. Not that brat! We took you in when your father blew his brains out!" The woman shouted, as Krystal's eyes widened.
"My Dad didn't kill himself!" Krystal insisted.
"Don't speak to your mother like that" The man warned, finally speaking up.
"You're not my fucking parents" Krystal whispered, under her breath.
She had been expecting the slap that came a second later, her cheek stinging under her foster mother's hand. But she hadn't been expecting the glass that was smashed against her head, causing her vision to blur.
"Sweetheart, don't…" Krystal's foster father began, as the woman dragged Krystal from her chair.
"She's going to learn some manners" The woman spat out, slamming her foot onto Krystal's chest.
"S-stop…" Krystal spluttered, as the woman continued to kick her.
"You will never speak back to me again, do you hear me?!" The woman yelled, opting to stomp on Krystal's chest.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please—stop!" Krystal cried, trying to crawl away.
"I don't think you've learnt your lesson yet" The woman spat out, kicking Krystal in the head, knocking her out stone cold.
"El, what's wrong?" Max questioned, seeing how Eleven had begun to sniffle.
"It's before she went to California. Foster…parents" Eleven replied, making Billy stiffen.
"Get out of that memory. You don't want to see that" Max sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm somewhere else. There's a car and…Billy's there. It's raining" Eleven went on.
"Fucking hell, would you stop that?" Billy complained, pulling over in front of a pharmacy.
"What?" Krystal inquired, confused.
"Breathing so loudly" Billy answered, as a scoff left Krystal's lips.
"Sorry my being alive is such an inconvenience for you" Krystal muttered.
"It is actually. Because of you, my Dad is forcing us to leave California" Billy accused.
"I couldn't stay where I was…I thought you of all people would understand that" Krystal exclaimed, running her tongue over her split lip.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Billy grumbled.
"I know he hits you" Krystal stated, in a quiet voice.
"You don't know shit" Billy retorted.
"What's that then?" Krystal asked, reaching out to brush her fingers against the bruise growing on Billy's jaw.
"Don't…" Billy trailed off, seeming to shiver under her touch.
"I'm sorry. I know it's—" Krystal began, but Billy cut her off.
"You know?! You don't know anything! My Dad may be an asshole but at least he didn't shoot himself in the head like a fucking pussy" Billy spat out, as Krystal's mouth went slack.
She closed her mouth a second later, turning away from him, as anger sparked behind her eyes. She was clearly shocked by what he had said.
"Look, I didn't mean that" Billy sighed.
"…What, you're not even gonna' reply now?" Billy scoffed, as she refused to even look at him.
"Well good. I'd prefer you as a fucking mute anyway" Billy stated, as she ripped open the car door and stormed towards the pharmacist.
"Find your own way home!" Billy yelled, after winding down his car window, pulling out into the road a moment later.
"You left her in the rain. You didn't come back for her" Eleven announced, as Billy hung his head, knowing what memory Eleven had been watching.
"I messed up like I always did" Billy shook his head.
"You're making up for it now" Max insisted.
"Do you see any other memories?" Nancy questioned.
"I'm at Max's house. I'm outside Krystal's bedroom. I can hear…screams? I think they're the happy screams—" Eleven began, as Max's eyes widened.
"Woah, woah. Nope. Don't go in there, El. Trust me, you'll be scarred" Max grimaced.
"Happy screams?" Nancy scoffed, raising an eyebrow at Billy.
"What? I'm a giver" Billy shrugged, smugly, as Max made a gagging sound.
"I hear her!" Eleven suddenly announced, sitting up straighter.
"She's calling to you?" Max questioned, with a hopeful expression.
"I can see her. I'm running…she's saying something. I can't hear" Eleven frowned.
"Get closer. I need…we need to talk to her" Billy insisted, leaning in closer.
"She's saying its not him" Eleven exclaimed, making them all frown.
"Who's not him?" Billy asked.
"Me" Lucas exclaimed, suddenly pushing himself to his feet.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as Max's eyes connected with Lucas, seeing the black veins that now pulsed underneath. He had been infected. Max's eyes flickered down to something that glinted in Lucas' palm, letting out a gasp when she saw it was a pocketknife. She tried to grab him, but he effortlessly pushed her away, far stronger than he should have been. Max watched in horror as her boyfriend placed the blade to Eleven's neck, who was still blindfolded, and let out an ear-splitting scream.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Poor Lucas, they didn't even realise Krystal had gotten to him. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see in the coming chapters, especially seeing as this story is going down a more AU route? Please leave a review:)
LoveFiction2021: Thanks!
eebhonii: Aw, thank you so much for this review:) It's really helped to motivate me and I love that people are still finding this story! I'm really glad you're liking the direction of this story, I thought it'd be interesting to go down a more AU route rather than just stick with the show's storyline. You've got to love some angst! Sorry about the new cliffhanger, haha.