Author's Note: I know, I KNOW, I've been gone forever. School and extracurriculars have taken up SO much time, and, on top of that, I still need time to be a normal teenager and enjoy my youth. Enough with the excuses! Let's get to the long awaited chapter!
~Sofi
*DISCLAIMER*
I DO NOT OWN STRANGER THINGS I AM JUST BORROWING THE CHARACTERS AND SOME EVENTS
Chapter 5: Strange Occurrings
The fine, gray dust kicked up beneath the car tires of Hopper's car. He had switched his usual police vehicle for a more discreet or casual one. After all, if he really was going to do this, he was not going to make a mistake like the last time, and he definitely was not dragging the Joyce or the rest of her family down with him again. Yes, they escaped and saved Will, but that was extremely lucky. And not to mention, with the help of a psychic, telekinetic teenage experiment.
Hopper had the wheel in one hand and a cigarette in the other as his car slowly rolled closer and closer to the entrance. The wire fence taunted him as he drove past, and what's worse is it actually kind of got to him. It reminded him of her. More specifically, it reminded him of what he did to her. Sure, it was an extremely difficult and critical decision for anyone to make, but anyway you look at it, it was betrayal. Straight up betrayal. The cop glared at the fence almost as if it were a person, but he quickly shot down the feeling and slowly rolled to a stop at the tall wire gate of the sinister laboratory.
"Shit," He muttered as he looked through the panel of crisscrossed metal. They must have increased security. Damn that Owens. Hopper ultimately decided not to go. It wasn't worth getting shot if he didn't have concrete evidence that she wasn't in that lab. Sure, there definitely was a high chance animals were eating those waffles, but there was still the tiniest sliver of hope that she was the one doing it. That was all he needed. The tiniest sliver.
Hopper's car looked gray and fuzzy within the eye of the security cam. A constant grain glazed the screen as well as various white streaks of static. The young man operating the monitors turned around in his swivel chair. "Do you know who that is, Doc?"
Doctor Owens surveyed the car as it slowly rolled off screen and beyond the lens of the camera. "Now I'm not totally sure," he began, locking eyes with the man, "But I have a strong inkling as to who it is... "
. . .
7 hours before Will's episode at Mike's: 8:30 p.m.
A knock startled Jonathan from the stove. Shit! I totally forgot, he thought. He hadn't realized how long it had been since Joyce had gotten back from taking Will over to Mike's. Jonathan quickly set the table before swiftly rushing to the door.
"Hey," Nancy greeted. She looked up at him and gave him a soft smile.
"H-hey," He responded, a bit winded from the hustle. "Sorry, I had to set the table really quick, uh, come inside," He moved aside and held the door open so Nancy could enter. "Mom! Nancy's here and dinner is ready!"
Within the next few moments, Joyce came down the hall. "Hey Nancy! How've you been?"
"Pretty good Mrs. Byers, you?" Nancy responded as Joyce greeted her with a warm embrace.
"Oh, you now, always hectic with two boys but we manage." She smiled at Jonathan while, unbeknownst to them, they both subconsciously thought of Will.
They gathered at the table. All three chatted for a while, enjoying the absolutely delectable, (as Joyce put it) American-style hamburgers Jonathan cooked up. They continued their banter a good half an hour after finishing the meal. Most of it was the usual, "How are you siblings?" "Your parents?" "How's school?" Once in a while though, they'd give little hints toward certain past events. Sometimes they'd, "Things have changed, but…" or "He's holding up, though." All in all, Joyce was just relieved Jonathan had finally found someone. Someone who understood him; someone who he could talk to when he wouldn't talk to her. Especially, she thought, especially after Will…
After the delightful reunion, Joyce separated from the pair to leave them alone. Jonathan had invited Nancy to a Guns N' Roses concert that was that night. She had mentioned them to him before as one of the only rock bands that she thought was kind of cool. He had remembered that and got tickets early, and she was more than grateful.
"You ready?" Nancy grabbed her bag and turned toward Jonathan.
Jonathan seemed to be looking around for something. "Yeah, just tryna' find my jacket. You know, I think Will took I'll check his room really quick."
"Okay, but hurry! We don't want to be late!" Nancy replied, taking a seat at the table for the time being.
Jonathan entered Will's room, which was littered with clothes. He began throwing clothes around, messing up the bed, and looking under everything. "Come on Will, where'd you put it?"
Crackle.
A loud buzz sounded from the dark corner of the room. Jonathan jumped up, nearly tripping on the clothes sprawled out beneath him. He looked toward the noise and paused. The corner was cast in a shadow via Will's door, allowing the unknown sound to remain hidden.
Crackle.
". . .H e . . . l p . . ."
The sound went in and out continuously. Jonathan's heart raced as he tried desperately to decipher what his ears were hearing. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. He walked toward the light switched, keeping his eyes square on the corner, and flicked on the lights. He walked toward the sound as it continued to sound. Eerie and unknown.
His heart stilled as he picked up the device emanating the mysterious noise. Now, Jonathan had a Super-com when he was Will's age, but he could hardly remember what the knobs and buttons do. Eventually, Jonathan turned the right knob and turned up the volume.
"Jonathan? You read- what is that noise?" Nancy walked toward Jonathan and surveyed the object in his hand.
"I-I don't know, it just started making these noises,"
"You think it's Mike or something?"
"I don't see why it would be, since Will and the others are over there and there'd be no reason for their walkie talkies to be on,"
". . .G r r . . ."
"Jonathan, I don't like this," Nancy whispered, holding onto Jonathan's back.
". . . W i . l . i n . . r o u . . . l e . ."
Jonathan and Nancy stared on. A feeling stirred in their guts that they just couldn't place. It wasn't a voice they recognized...Or was it? Who was on the other side?
. . .
Present time: Wheeler's Household
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…"
"Check under the sink!"
"Maybe it moved into one of the sleeping bags?"
"Dustin! Cut it out!"
Lucas smacked Dustin on the back of the head. "Dude, what the hell was that for?!"
"Shhh!" Lucas reminded. "Pacing around and panicking won't help! We need to find this thing, and fast at that!"
"We don't even know what this thing is!" Dustin countered. They looked at eachother with fire in their eyes, ready to brawl, but this wasn't the time.
Will walked in between them. "Both of you cut it out!" All three of the boys, including Mike who had been searching the bathroom, looked toward Will. ""Fighting won't help either! We all have to focus. Mike, continue searching the bathroom. I'll check the sleeping bags while you two search the couch and floor."
Each party member got straight to work. It was weird, though. They usually thought of Will as a shy, push-over type kid, but seeing him like this startled the boys. They've never seen him like this.
Maybe it was under the sofa? No. In the garbage can? Nope. The shower? Not there either. Slowly and slowly, despite Lucas and Will's words, they all began to panic. Mike looked over to Will rummaging through the sleeping bags. Mike took a particular notice to his face. The young wise wizard looked determined. His heart was set on finding this thing, but he also seemed worried. Well, Mike thought that wasn't quite the word for it. Somewhere between worried, and terrified. Paranoid might have been the word, but it still wasn't completely satisfactory. Mike, or the other two boys for that matter, was clueless as to any idea of what this grotesque creature was. If Will was like this trying to find it, then there's no limit to what evil-doing that tiny life form could commit.
Suddenly, a shout came from the corner just to the right of the bathroom. "I got it! I found it!" Dustin exclaimed, a hint of pride engraved in his voice.
"SHHHH!" They boys chimed in unison, causing Dustin to roll his eyes as they gathered around him.
After surveying the creature a bit, the boys placed the slimy entity onto the table and put a clear plastic bin square on top of it. They gathered a few heavy toys and books to set atop the box as well. You know, just in case.
They sat Will down on the couch and stood in front of him. From Will's perspective, Lucas was on the left, Mike center, and Dustin to the right. Mike took particular notice to Will's quite heavy breathing. Why did he notice this?
~:~
A crack of thunder sounded outside the walls.
The girl looked down, breathing heavily. She was drenched, and, even though Mike's coat was draped around her, a chill still ran up her spine. She was seated on a couch, though she didn't know what that was. Three boys, the ones who found her running in the woods, stood before her.
"Is there a number we can call, for your parents?"
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?"
"Did you run away?"
"Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Her eyes darted to each boy as they spoke, but the questions were moving way too fast. They were moving too fast to comprehend.
"Is that blood?" The boy to the farthest left reached out to confirm his suspicion, but his hand was quickly swatted away by the dark haired boy standing next to him.
"Stop it! You're freaking her out!" The boy said, scolding the one who had tried to touch the blood stained onto her shirt.
"She's freaking me out!" The boy countered, but the center boy just ignored it.
The boy to the far right joined the conversation. "I bet she's deaf." Suddenly, and without warning, he made a loud 'clap' with his hands in front of the girl, who flinched. "She's not deaf," he shrugged.
"Alright, that's enough, alright?" The dark haired boy once again silenced his other friend. "She's just scared, and cold." She looked amongst the boys, still fairly confused.
An idea popped into the dark haired boy's head. He swiftly turned around and retrieved a pair of pants and a sweatshirt from a basket of clean clothes not too far away. The other two boys continued to look at her as the thunder boomed louder. She squeezed her eyes shut. The boy was right for something. She was most definitely scared.
The dark haired boy returned from the basket and handed her the clothes."Here, these are clean, okay?" The girl looked puzzlingly at the clothes, but, hesitantly, she took them. She very softly smelled them, and they smelled absolutely wonderful. Definitely better than anything in that place.
She carefully got up, and began to lift her shirt.
"No no no!"
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"
The two boys to the right and left quickly turned around, shielding their eyes from what the girl was about to do. The dark haired boy was swift to stop her from stripping in front of them. She still seemed puzzled, though. She was only changing. This is how she did it everyday.
"Over there," the dark haired boy informed her as he pointed to a door at the back of the room, "That's the bathroom. Privacy, get it?" She looked at him, feeling bad for what she did. She didn't think she was doing anything wrong, but by their reaction, she obviously was.
The dark haired boy led her over to the bathroom where she could change. She walked in, surveying the room as the dark haired boy closed the door. She panicked and stopped him. No way she was letting that happen.
The boy seemed startled. "You don't want it closed?" He asked, trying to figure out why she didn't.
The girl hesitated, but finally spoke up. "No."
The boy seemed a bit pleased by her voice. "Oh, so you can speak." He began to think of a solution. In no way was she changing with the door wide open, but she obviously had a problem with closed in spaces, or at least closed doors. "Okay, well, um, why don't we just keep the door, just like this? Is that better?" He finished, having closed the door with nothing but a sliver that he could see her through.
"Yes," she responded. He nodded for assurance and left to give her that needed privacy. What was with this girl?
~:~
"Alright Will, talk."
Will shifted. He didn't think his friends were going to find out this way. "The truth is, I don't really know what they are…"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Dustin threw his hands up in frustration. The other two looked toward him somewhat sympathetically. Will's brows knitted themselves into a sorrowful expression, and he couldn't help but feel terrible for this. Useless. Of course he didn't have the answers. Of course he didn't.
Even though this was true, he tried to defend himself. "I-I'm scared, okay?! I don't know what's happening to me, I don't know what those things are! I'm sorry I don't know how to fix this!" Will buried his face into his hands, weary of the eyes on him. Mike joined him on the couch.
"Will, it's ok, I think we're all just a little shaken because of this." Will looked up toward Mike as he spoke, remnants of a few loose tears near the brims of his eyes.
"Yeah, but Will, you gotta understand." Lucas sat on the other side of Will. "If you don't let us know these things, they're not gonna get fixed, okay? I know you don't want us to worry, but we're okay with it. I mean, look at what we've been through!"
Will nodded, giving Lucas and Mike a genuine smile. Dustin calmly placed a hand on Will's shoulder, a metaphor for forgiveness, perhaps. It was nice, Will thought. Just to be there. In the 'now', as people called it. To be forgiven. To have friends who understood him. For once in a very long while, he seemed genuinely, completely happy. Dustin's expression quickly turned to that of concern, though.
"Are we gonna tell anyone?" Dustin questioned. They were all silent. If they told anyone, it would eventually get to Hopper and they would all gettheir asses whooped. Mike shuttered at the very thought of it.
"I-I think I'll tell my mom tomorrow," Will spoke, trying desperately to pull any kind of confidence to his voice. "I've kept it a secret long enough, and I don't want to carry this worry around with me any longer."
They all smiled, happy that Will chose this decision. It was rare that this happened, even for close friends. To be completely in sync with each other. They might have not known exactly what was happening to Will, or what was going to happen, but they understood each other. And yes, it sounds cheesy, but it's true. When you are truly close with others, this 'cheesiness' becomes a sort of second nature.
"Well, not to ruin the mood, but…" Mike began, glancing at the table in the back of the basement.
"Yeah?" Will question, following his eyes.
"What are we gonna do with that thing?"
To be continued…
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Now that Will's secret is out, the real action will start soon… Excited? I hope you are! Until next time,
~Sofi