Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or any of the characters in this story.
Chapter 19: Try to See It My Way
The sound of giggling roused Mike from his dreamless sleep. He cracked open an eye to see El kneeling down next to him. "Hi, sleepyhead," she whispered.
"Hey, yourself," he replied, slowly sitting upright. "Are you feeling better?"
El nodded. "Yes. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth, then Max got me another shirt."
"So, you're vomit-free," Mike asked playfully. He immediately regretted saying it, however, when El's face reddened. "Shit, I'm sorry. It had to have been really bad in there for you to throw up."
"It was," she said. "But I'm glad you were there with me. It was really helpful." She reached up and tucked an errant strand of wavy hair behind his ear. "Mike?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we kiss now?"
Mike broke into a toothy grin. She clearly hadn't forgotten about earlier when she wanted to kiss him.
Wordlessly, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against El's. She wasted no time in swinging a leg over his to straddle his lap. They each let out a moan as the position made it so easy to deepen the kiss…
"Ewww. Come on, guys."
They broke apart in a daze and looked over at Will, who was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Can't you wait until you two are alone," he asked.
El still had a thing or two to learn about privacy and social norms. Unfortunately, all that was very hard to remember when her ridiculously good-looking boyfriend was in front of her.
"Sorry, Will," she said, trying to look appropriately embarrassed. Though she could not bring herself to regret her behavior in the slightest.
Will wasn't the least bit fooled. "Uh-huh," he said with an eyebrow raise.
Mike had slightly more decorum than El, as evidenced by his pink cheeks. But not enough decorum to stop himself from whispering, "Troublemaker," into her ear.
She shivered at the contact that his lips made against the shell of her ear, craving more. But they'd have to wait until later, as the living room was about to get a whole lot louder.
They startled at the sound of Max's quiet laughter. She'd just emerged from El's room, having put the soiled shirt from earlier into the hamper. Her attention had been drawn to the sofa where Dustin and Lucas were sleeping. Though they weren't just sleeping. They were practically cuddling.
The two boys were seated on the sofa with their heads tilted back against the headrest. Dustin's head was resting on Lucas' shoulder and Lucas' cheek was resting on top of Dustin's head. They were still fast asleep.
"It's moments like this I wished I had a camera," Max said forlornly.
"Well," Will began mischievously, "I do have my polaroid in my bag." He bolted over to where his bag was to retrieve the camera and quickly snapped the picture before the two boys could wake up. It was only after the picture had been taken that the group let out loud peals of laughter.
Dustin's eyes fluttered open first. He squinted at the others in confusion before realizing why everyone was laughing. With a sputter, he pushed Lucas away from him, eliciting even louder laughter from the others.
"What the hell, man," Lucas asked, rubbing his face tiredly. "Why'd you push me?"
"Why were you cuddling with me," Dustin asked. He was frantically trying to pull himself together, straightening his clothes and hat.
"Why were YOU cuddling with Lucas," Mike shot back.
"I was NOT!"
Max snickered. "Uh, yeah, you were. We've got photographic evidence," she proclaimed, waving the now-developed polaroid.
Dustin lunged at her. "Give me that," he shouted.
Both he and Lucas gave chase, trailing Max around the coffee table and back into the kitchen. Unfortunately for Max, there weren't a whole lot of places to run to in the cabin. She soon found herself backed against the kitchen counter with both boys in front of her.
"Your time has come, Mayfield," Lucas crowed triumphantly.
Max wasn't going to be so easily defeated, though. Thinking fast, she slid the photograph down the front of her shirt and into her bra.
"Tough luck, gentlemen," she said with a smile. "Unless you'd like to come dig into my bra. And we know THAT'S not going to happen."
Dustin, for once, was speechless. Lucas was suddenly finding the floor extremely interesting – he couldn't stop looking at it.
"Alright, guys. Much as I don't want to be buzzkill here, I think we should reconvene," Mike spoke up, still fighting a grin.
"I agree," said Will. "We need to get this glass cleaned up and get something to cover the window."
For the next few minutes, the cabin was silent as the kids worked to sweep up the glass. Lucas managed to find some cardboard somewhere along with some duct tape, and quickly got to work. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do.
"What happened to that," El asked, gesturing towards the window. "I mean, it must have been when I was…" she trailed off. "Oh my god. Hopp is going to kill me! He told me not to go into the void, and I go and break a window."
"Don't sweat it, El," Dustin said casually. "I'll take the fall. I'll just say that we were throwing a baseball around and it went through the window."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Great idea. Only problem? We don't play baseball, remember? We're athletically challenged."
"Then we'll just think of something else," Mike said impatiently. "Point is, please don't worry about it, El, okay?"
She nodded. "Okay."
"Good. Do you, uh, want to tell us what happened in the void?" Mike treaded lightly. He figured it was fairly traumatic for El this time, and didn't want her to get overwhelmed.
"Yeah, and why weren't you talking to us as much as before," Max added. "It scared me, El. I didn't know what was happening to you."
"I couldn't," El said simply. "Too much energy. Needed to focus."
"Focus on what," Will asked with some trepidation.
"Well, I saw this cloud above me," began El. "It was dark and swirling and had fire coming from it. I thought maybe that's what I was looking for, so I walked under it. But…then I couldn't see anything."
"That's right," Max exclaimed. "I remember you mentioned that. But then that went away, and you saw…"
"Brimborn Steelworks," El finished.
"Then I mentioned how it's this abandoned steel mill on the edge of town," said Dustin. "What came next?"
"I, uh, I started walking towards the entrance. When I got there, I saw this huge crowd inside. They were standing around something, but I couldn't see what – there were too many people. So, I got down on the ground to see if I could see between their legs…"
El trailed off, breathing through her nose as the nausea returned. She was getting riled up and if she didn't calm down, she was going to have a repeat of what happened earlier.
"I saw someone lying on the ground and Billy was kind of kneeling over them. And then…Billy threw up, but like, it wasn't normal." She stopped talking, her face unsure. "Guys, it's so gross…"
"It's okay, El. You can tell us," Mike assured her. He tried to keep as neutral of a face as possible, hoping that his nerves didn't betray him.
"A slug. He threw up a slug and it crawled into the other person's mouth," El finished quickly, wincing as the others groaned in disgust.
"What in the actual fuck?"
"That's so nasty."
"Do ALL those people have slugs crawling around inside their stomachs?"
"What kind of slugs were they," asked Dustin.
The kids looked at him like he had three heads.
"I don't know, Dustin," replied El incredulously. "I wasn't close enough and when I saw what happened, I threw up in the grass."
"That's when you threw up in here," Will correctly assumed. "I probably would have, too."
"But anyway, that was it. Once I threw up, Billy heard me. Everyone came to look for me, and that's when I took the blindfold off," El finished.
"So…all these people are connected with the slugs," Mike began. "Once a slug gets in, that's it. And if they're connected to the slugs…"
"They're connect to the Mind Flayer," said Dustin. "The slugs must be from the other dimension. Everything in the other dimension is controlled by the Mind Flayer. So, it only makes sense that when one of those things gets inside us, we are then under its power."
Max sighed. "But we still don't know how this all started. How did Billy get possessed? I'm starting to think we may never know."
"Well, I think I should wait for just a little while before I go into the void again," El said, looking seriously at Max. "It took a lot out of me and I'm tired."
"I agree," Mike said, slinging an arm around El. "It's a good idea to wait and recharge."
"And by 'recharge,' do you mean make out," Lucas cracked, causing the others to laugh.
Mike's face reddened. "What? No, that's not what I meant."
"Guys, come on," Will said impatiently. "We need to get back on track."
"THANK you, Will," replied Mike loudly. Understandably, he was eager to get the attention away from himself. "So Brimborn Steelworks…" he trailed off, his face deep in thought.
Everyone looked at him expectantly. After several seconds, Max asked, "Yeah, and?"
He shrugged. "I guess I'm wondering why all those people were gathered there."
"Probably because it's abandoned," Will answered. "Like Dustin said, they're all being controlled by the Mind Flayer. He probably chose it as, like, his headquarters."
They were silent for a moment before Lucas spoke next.
"Maybe this is a bad idea, but…"
"Lucas, a bit of advice," Max began, "Don't EVER start a sentence with 'maybe this is a bad idea.'"
He laughed awkwardly. "Sorry. I guess what I meant was do you think it would be a good idea if we went out to Brimborn? We need to figure out how to stop these people…see what their everyday patterns are like."
"I don't know, Lucas," replied Max apprehensively. "Hopp told us to stay here."
"Yeah, and didn't he specifically say not to follow Billy," asked Will. "It might be too dangerous."
"Look, all I know is I'm sick of staying inside and we have a lead. We've done so much already, but like I said, we need to figure out how to stop these people."
"Well," Dustin began, a speculative look in his eyes, "I think we need to focus more on how to stop the Mind Flayer. That's what's doing the controlling. If you stop the Mind Flayer, you stop everything he controls."
"The hive mind," Mike whispered. "If the brain dies, the body dies."
"But, if we kill the Mind Flayer, wouldn't all the possessed people die, too," Max asked.
The others could see where she was going with this. Dustin tried to answer as gently as he could.
"I think so," he replied quietly. "I'm sorry, but I don't know how they couldn't."
"Well, they're possessed, right? Can't we just, like, exorcise them?"
"All those people? I don't know. How would we get the slugs out? And if we did, that's hundreds of slugs from another dimension that would be crawling around," Dustin explained.
They shuddered. As if they could forget about the slugs.
"No."
El spoke quietly but firmly. Everyone turned to look at her.
"I think I need to close the gate."
El's voice was like a lightning strike to their brains. It was the most simple and obvious thing, yet it was one of the last things the kids thought of. That didn't make it any less daunting, though.
"Um, how," Mike asked, visibly stunned.
"The same way I opened it."
"But you opened it on accident before," Lucas said, receiving several raised eyebrows from some of the others. "I mean, no offense or anything," he added on.
"Well, isn't it a good thing she opened it on accident," cracked Dustin. "It would be a little shitty if she opened it on purpose."
Mike threw his hands up in exasperation. "Will you guys be quiet so she can talk?"
Max rolled her eyes and leaned in towards Mike. "So authoritative," she commented sarcastically.
The sound of a door slamming in the house made the kids jump about a foot in the air. They faced a seething El, who was glaring at them, blood dripping from her nose.
"Listen to me," she said, "I opened the gate – I need to be the one close it."
El couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. Maybe she had subconsciously, and the rest of her brain was catching up.
"How can we help," Will asked, breaking the short period of silence.
"We need to get into the lab-"
"What," Mike nearly shouted. "After what they did to you there? It's so dangerous. What if we're caught and they take you away?" He reached out to her, wrapping his arms around her. They both relaxed into each other, the negativity leaving their bodies.
"I can't lose you, El," he said quietly. "Not after I've just gotten you."
She pulled back and looked him square in the eye. "Mike, you won't lose me. I'm really scared," she admitted, her voice trembling. "I never wanted to go back there again. But it's the only way. I can't close the gate from anywhere else."
Mike understood, but that didn't make it any easier for him to stomach. El could still tell from his face that he was struggling. She took his face in her hands and kissed him quickly. Their friends, thankfully, had SOME tact, as there were no quippy comments on this.
"You won't lose me," El whispered again.
"Do you promise?"
"I promise."
A slightly shorter chapter, which I'm sorry about. But this seemed like a logical place to cut things off. How are you guys doing? Things have been pretty low-key for me, which I guess is a good thing. Our Halloween was a success, and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving.
I've been loving the behind-the-scenes filming photos that have been popping up! I can't wait until we can watch the new season and all secrets will be revealed. Anyway, please leave me a review. I really appreciate it.
