Stranger Things: Rebuilding
Chapter 26 of my Stranger Things story, enjoy.
Reviews
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, and yes indeed :)
JaynetheFawn: Thanks, yeah, things are looking rather bad right now. As for the note well, we can only wait and see.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stanger Things or its characters.
Lingering Hope
As she sat very still on Eric's bed, half-clothed with her chin resting on her hands, Jessica noted the whole dorm was dark and perfectly quiet. She knew in her mind that she felt horribly wronged, betrayed and mistreated by Eric, but strangely her insides felt dry, too dry for tears or any of the really intense emotions. She couldn't help but wonder why that was, wonder why she felt so oddly clam and lucid.
The only thing that brought any change to her current emotional state was the memory of Jane Hopper's ravaged face when she saw her and Eric together. That change in emotion was a burst of gratification and maybe even joy, something which ironically brought her to mind of the German language class she had attended on Friday, brought one particular word to mind that summed up her feelings there perfectly.
Shadenfreude, shameful joy, taking pleasure in someone else's pain.
She sighed bitterly 'Odd, that should make me feel bad, ashamed, yet I don't feel anything,'
That wasn't all she didn't feel, she should have felt shocked and furious at Eric, but she didn't quite, maybe later. She just felt numb and couldn't understand why. Perhaps it was because she already knew, in her heart of hearts, that Eric had only been going through the motions tonight, that he had already fallen in love with Jane Hopper and have never truly loved her in the first place. Whatever the reason, she couldn't understand why she just sat there, feeling numb, doing nothing about it.
XXXXX
El knew she was in danger, stuck sitting on the ground, with Troy looming over her with his gun. But the far greater danger was standing behind Troy, towering over him. The horrifying monster, a tall and thin humanoid creature with elongated limbs. Its head seemed to lack facial features but she knew it could unfurl the flesh like a flower to reveal "petals" lined with many sharp teeth, and a large open mouth. Its arms and digitigrade legs ended in claws and its skin was slimy.
"What the…?" Troy muttered.
He had noticed her reactions and finally, slowly, turned to look behind him and saw the monster.
"Holy shit!" He screamed.
He staggered back, yet remarkably, managed to aim his gun and fire three shots. The monster shrieked at that and El took the chance to stand up.
"Move!" She cried.
With that she grabbed his arm and pulled him along as she ran. Troy stumbled at first but soon found his feet and ran, not daring to stop, keeping pace with her as the monster pursued them.
"What the fuck is that!?"
El shook her head. "A monster, from the other side...I can't explain it any better than that!"
"But-!"
"Just run!" She cried.
They continued to run and, in a move that actually surprised El, due to how daring it was for him, Troy shot over his shoulder at the creature.
They had no way of knowing if it was hit, so they didn't stop running until finally they found themselves cornered as the creature managed to outflank them and push them back against a tree. Troy fired twice more, both shots connected but didn't faze the creature.
He tried to fire again but the gun clicked, out of ammo. Then suddenly, the monster shrieked and began flailing, trying to pull at its right leg. It was then El realized that it was caught in a hunting snare and then saw that from where it was standing, she could finish it off, with one blow she could crush it and end it, but to do so, she'd have to do one thing.
'No choice.' She told herself.
With that she focused her powers on the tree that was in line with the monster and broke through trunk while exerting enough force to push it the way she wanted. Troy could only watch in amazement as the tree fell and slammed with terrible force into the monster, crushing it underneath it, causing it to twitch, gurgle and then go still. El was horrified, how could this creature even be here.
As far as she knew, the only way for a gate to open involved her powers causing her to make contact with the creature on the other side, but she had not had anything like that happen to her in years. She also was sure she would have sensed another gate opening, but had felt nothing of the sort.
After a long pause, Troy exhaled heavily.
"Holy shit...this is, this is crazy. Some fucking monster and, and...you, that tree falling was you, wasn't it?" He burst out.
El bit her lip. "I…"
Troy looked down at his now useless gun before surprising El by tossing it aside.
"This is not what I was expecting...shit I thought he was a coward but James had it right all along." He finally said. "This is too much, and if I don't kill you, they're gonna kill me on Monday...unless…"
That made El tense. "Unless?"
"Unless I follow James' example...It's enough, I don't know if you really did kill Justin or not and I don't care anymore." Troy explained sadly. "I just want this to be over...I promise, you won't have anything to worry about from anymore. Hopefully with the extra info I've got...the chief can get the rest of the gang arrested too, so they're not any further trouble for you."
That startled El. "You, what do you know that James doesn't?"
"Their hideout." Troy revealed. "Well, I guess this is it...thanks, for opening my eyes."
With that Troy walked away, leaving El alone and shocked. Even as she tried to process everything that had just occurred, her mind began to fill with the images she thought gone, of Eric, of Jessica and she felt her tears returning. This time on top of that, it was what had just occurred, overwhelming her so much. She didn't care if she was going to be punished anymore, she just wanted to go home.
XXXXX
The game had ended at least an hour ago and right now Hopper's only solace was he had not received any alert from the watch he'd given to El. That didn't make him any less angry as he remained seated, waiting for her to come home. She had blatantly defied him and snuck out when he had told her not to go out.
The only reason he wasn't out searching for her yet was that he was still clinging on to one last shred of hope that she'd return to her sense and return home. If she came through the front door he'd be waiting. If she sneaked back in through her window, he was checking her room every now and then to see, then he'd leave any lecturing until the morning, but that was the only concession he was willing to make.
At least until the moment the door did indeed open. He straightened up in his seat and fixed his steady gaze on El as she entered, shutting the door behind her. His resolve crumbled the moment he saw her tear streaked face, the devastation in her eyes and knew, what had happened out there, hurt her greatly.
"Oh hell." He muttered before gesturing for her. "C'mere kiddo."
She slowly approached the sofa and sat down and he pulled her into a gently hug as she clung to him and finally broke out sobbing, her tears falling again he did his best to soothe her.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
So we end the climax and part 1 of the story.