Chapter 014: Rocket Man

My feet hit the ground as soon as my eyes opened. There was no time to take in everything around me, I had to find Nancy, and I had to find her fast. I could still hear Jonathan's voice calling out to her over the sound of my feet sloshing through the wet mud. Wait, what? Oh my God, I can hear, I realized. This was the first time I was able to hear everything in this world. As much as I wanted to stand there and celebrate, I didn't have the seconds to wait. I kept running, calling out for her every few seconds until I stopped dead in my tracks. Huddling against the tree in front of me was the one and only Nancy Wheeler but, more importantly, there was a monster lingering right behind her, one that was now completely zeroed in on me.

It came running towards me faster than I could blink. I heard Nancy yell my name, followed by Jonathan now calling out for me. I only had about half a second to defend myself, so I harnessed all of the anger that I could. Every time I had been able to fight one of these things, there was always a tsunami of emotions running through me. Okay Daisy, just focus, you got this. Suddenly, it was like I was sucking all of the energy out of the air. Holy shit, I'm doing it. I held out my hands as a single white sliver erupted from each fingertip. The monster was thrown back as I glanced over to Nancy. "The portal's right across from you," I shouted at her. She hesitated for a second, her body trembling. "Go," I said sternly. "I'll be fine."

As she got up to run, the monster darted towards her. It was quick, but I was quicker. I managed to swirl my hands towards it, wrapping it up just like I had when I defended Will. This time, I was careful though. I needed to keep myself conscious long enough to insure both of us would make it out alive. I lowered one of my hands as Nancy managed to disappear into the portal. Jonathan's voice rang out for her, followed closely by my own name. My heart leaped. It was just the motivation I needed to stand my ground against this thing. I furrowed my brows to help myself concentrate. Making sure I kept one hand wrapped around this thing, I swatted the other at it, accidentally knocking it right into the tree housing the only way out of there. It let out the most ungodly snarl I had ever heard before it slumped over and fell to the ground. It definitely wasn't dead. I could see it breathing. That was my opportunity though. If I couldn't get through the portal, I was going to have to wake myself up. I took a deep breath and thought about the person I had the strongest connection to.

Uncle Jack. I focused on the earliest memory I had of him. We were driving down the road in the beaten-up old Ford that took him a decade to part with. He had a box filled with terracotta pots, each one housing a different plant that I could never remember the name of. I was four years old. Our lives were packed away in his trunk, and I was sitting in the backseat. I didn't know where we were going yet, but I knew I would be happy anywhere with him. 'Rocket Man' by Elton John was playing on the radio. I remembered because it was our favorite song. Even as I got older, that song still made me think of him and the way just a simple hug from him made me feel like nothing could touch me. And I think it's going to be a long, long time, the lyrics rang through my ears as if I could still hear it, as if I was experiencing that moment all over again. I felt a tear trail down my cheek as my senses started to slowly fade out.

I was still crying by the time I woke up. My senses were a little fuzzy, but I was able to feel two strong arms carrying my weak body around. The world still felt like it was spinning when I was finally able to crack an eye open. We were nearing the edge of the woods, and I could just barely see Nancy speed walking away. She's safe. As much as I disliked her, I was still happy that I had been able to save her. I wasn't quite able to completely wake up. It felt like I had randomly woken up in the middle of the night and immediately tried to go back to sleep. I wasn't sure if I would remember this or not, but I felt a wave of comfort when I was able to breathe in the familiar scent of the person carrying me. "Jonathan," I mumbled softly as I started to lose consciousness all over again.

I woke up to someone pounding on my door. Like, literally pounding on my door like it was an emergency. Maybe if I ignore them, they'll go away. As much as I tried to shut my eyes and fall right back asleep, it was impossible. The knocking never stopped. I groaned and threw my blanket off of my bed, pausing when I realized where I was. I was at home, in my own bed, alone. Jonathan had left me. I rubbed my eyes, hoping I was wrong and he was the one knocking to make sure I was okay. I mean, I had passed out twice within, like, five minutes. He wouldn't just dump me in my bed after that, would he? But it didn't make sense that he would be knocking. He almost always just came right in.

Pound, pound, pound kept coming from the door as I wrapped my blanket around my shoulders and dragged myself through the living room. "I'm coming," I shouted, a little annoyed that I had been woken up after what might have been the worst night ever. When I finally got to the door and opened it up, I was surprised to see the literal last person I would've ever expected to show up at my house. "Steve?"

"Uh, hi," he said simply.

I squinted as the sunlight from behind him hit my eyes. "Why are you here? And how do you know where I live?"

"I went to go see Nancy last night," he said.

"Congratulations," I replied venomously, stepping back to shut the door in his face.

He stuck his foot out to stop me. "I saw her and Byers in her bedroom together."

"Okay? And?"

"Don't you think that's a little weird?"

"I think you showing up at my door is a little weird," I said, trying again to slam the door, but he was too quick, catching it again. "Look jockstrap, I don't want to talk to you. I don't care about your relationship, and I don't care about you. Please just leave me alone."

"I can show you," he interjected. "He's still there." I gave him a skeptical look. "Come on, do you think I'd just show up here if I was bullshitting you?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I think."

He let out a frustrated groan. "Fine, don't believe me. Forget I was even here."

I watched him whip right around and start walking back to his car. My pulse sped up as I felt everything rushing towards me. It was definitely weird that Jonathan hadn't even checked in on me yet. I mean, I could be dead right now for all he knew. I groaned and reluctantly called out to him. "Wait." He stopped, turning his head back towards me. "At least let me get dressed first."

"Your nose is bleeding," he pointed out, walking back towards the door.

"Uh—yeah—probably just the dry air."

I shut the door behind him as he quickly stepped inside. The last thing I ever thought I'd see was Steve Harrington popping a squat on my couch, but I guess stranger things have happened. That might be the strangest one though, which says a lot. I took one last look at him, the whole thing feeling like an out of body experience, before I scurried off to the bathroom.

He was right. I had two thick lines of dried blood coming from each nostril. As I grabbed a wet cloth and started to clean myself up, I caught another glimpse of myself in the mirror. To say I looked rough was an understatement. The bags under my eyes and my extra pale skin made me look like a dying child from the 1800s. It looked like my whole face was sagging. I had hoped splashing water over it would brighten me up a bit, but I was wrong. Now I looked like a dying dog instead of a kid. I shook my head and forced myself to at least look like I wasn't about to keel over at any minute.

Before I knew it, Steve and I were pulling out of my driveway and heading towards the Wheeler house. I still couldn't believe I was doing this. If I was feeding into some kind of sick joke he was trying to pull off, I would never be able to forgive myself for falling for it. Something about his demeanor made me trust him though. Maybe it was the constant tapping of his pinky on the top of the steering wheel or the way he was nervously running a hand through his hair every five seconds. I tried to ignore him as best as I could though, reminding myself of how cold he had been to me when he was confronting Jonathan.

The two of us sat in silence the entire way, only the faint music on the radio playing. I couldn't tell if it was nerves or my awkwardness. It must be the awkwardness. I mean, I trusted Jonathan, didn't I? But then, we weren't technically together, and he and Nancy did seem very concerned about each other last night. And why the hell hadn't he checked on me yet? Who just leaves someone after they nearly kill a big, slimy murder machine? Did he not care about me anymore? Or did he just care about Nancy more? A million questions ran through my head so fast that I didn't even notice we had stopped.

"Still don't believe me," Steve asked, gesturing towards Jonathan's car sitting on the other end of the street.

It was in that moment that I felt my heart shatter into hundreds of little pieces. He was right. Jonathan had stayed the night at Nancy's and left me completely alone this whole time. I didn't want to believe it, but the proof was right in front of me. I felt a rush of sadness consume me, and before I knew it, I was sobbing in Steve Harrington's passenger seat. Looking back on it, I was a little embarrassed, but I just couldn't control myself. I cared about him so much, and he does this?

"Shit," I heard Steve mutter. "I didn't think you were going to cry," he said, as if that was going to make me feel any better. "Why do you even care about him?"

I paused, still sniffling but caught completely off guard. "What?"

"Why do you care? He treats you like shit."

"No he doesn't," I whimpered, the tears still falling.

"Half the time I see you two, he's focusing on something else. It's like he doesn't even care that you're there."

"Now you're just being mean."

He sighed. "I know you think I'm just some asshole that's trying to hurt your feelings, but I'm not. Well, I kind of have been an asshole to you, but even I can see how much he doesn't deserve you. When you get out of here, you're going to find someone so much better. You won't even remember him."

I sat on his words for a moment. Was he really giving me a pep talk right now? And why was it working so well? Eventually, my sobbing died down until I was left with a tiny gasp in between my breaths. "Thank you," I said, and I meant it too. "I guess you're not as bad as I thought you were."

And with that, we were headed home.

"Is that a police car?"

"What?"

"Why is your door wide open?"

My head snapped towards his line of sight. I gasped when I saw who was at my house. I threw the car door open so fast that I was surprised it didn't swing right off its hinges. I thanked Steve and gave him a quick goodbye, practically running to my front door. "Hopper," I shouted as I sprinted into the living room. "What are—" I stopped right in my tracks when I noticed him sifting through my uncle's things. "Hey," I shouted, angrily grabbing everything from him and holding it against my chest like it was a long-forgotten treasure. "You can't just come in here and start tearing everything apart."

"I can, and I will," he practically grunted, ripping everything out of my arms.

I glared at him as I felt myself getting incredibly angry. Before I could stop myself, a thin shield-like puff came from my hands, knocking him over and causing everything in his hands to tumble to the floor. "Tell me why you're here," I said through gritted teeth.

He sighed and pulled himself back up, leaving my uncle's things next to him. "Jack works for Hawkins Lab," he tried to explain. "He w—"

"I know," I interrupted. "I found his key card."

He raised a brow at me. "You know and you didn't think to tell me?"

"Oh no," I replied sarcastically. "I thought to tell you, but that was after you told me never to call you again."

"Yeah, about that," he began. "They bugged my place."

I scoffed. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

"You're a sixteen-year-old girl that can shoot lightning out of her hands, and you're the skeptical one?"

"Yes," I replied simply.

"I'm on to them, and they know it."

"On to who?"

"Hawkins Lab"

I paused for a moment to take it all in. For some reason, I believed him. He wouldn't have shown up here if he didn't have a reason, and the fact that he had found out about Jack all on his own gave me a little more faith in him. "How did you find out about my uncle?"

"I looked through his file. The lab he worked for closed down six years ago, but he never reported it. I found the newspapers from the week it shut down. There was an ad for a botanist at Hawkins Lab. It never said why, but I bet it had something to do with what we saw."

I shook my head, refusing to believe it. "No, he wouldn't."

"Daisy—"

"Hop, I need more than your intuition to believe that my uncle was doing anything more than watering a couple plants."

Without another look, I turned to start picking up everything he had dropped on the floor only to be cut off mid-grab when he spoke again. "So you think it's just a coincidence that he's missing the morning after we break into the lab?"

I paused, thinking very carefully about what I was going to say next. I hated to admit it, but it made sense. Hawkins Lab had to have known who I was, and they definitely knew who Jack was if he had a key card to the building. So why would he go missing? I groaned and turned back around to face him. "Okay, fine. But how does that help us find him?"

"I'm willing to bet that wherever Will is, he is," he said just as the gears in my head started to click.

"The other world"

Jonathan and I had sat in silence for most of the car ride. It's not like I was afraid to say anything to him about what Steve and I had seen this morning. It was more that I didn't know how to start that conversation, so instead, I ignored him and focused in on the music playing on the radio. He kept glancing over at me, but he never said anything. I knew that if one of us was going to say something, it needed to be me.

"Did you sleep well last night," I finally asked.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered, not meeting my eyes.

"How's Nancy?"

"What?"

I crossed my arms instinctively. I didn't trust him right now. "Nancy? She got stuck in the other world and I had to save her ass?"

"Oh," he said, "she was still a little shaken up when I took her home."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Jonathan, I know you stayed there last night. And I know that you dumped me off after I literally saved her life and passed out twice and never tried to check on me. I also find it funny that Steve had to show up at my door and tell me about it instead of you, especially when you're obviously avoiding the question."

"Steve Harrington? You were hanging out with him?"

"We weren't 'hanging out'. He went to Nancy's, saw you in her room, and he came and told me the next morning, which you should've done."

"You're being ridiculous."

I scoffed. The audacity he had to call me ridiculous when he left me alone and unconscious for Nancy Wheeler. "I'm not being ridiculous. You're just being a jerk."

"Oh, I'm being a jerk?"

"Yeah, you are."

"So you went around spying on me with Steve Harrington?"

"You can just call him Steve. You don't have to keep using his whole name like he's some kind of disease."

"You shoot literal lightning out of your hands, Daisy! Who do you think is going to be able to defend themselves better? I stayed because she was scared."

"Oh, I'm sure that's the only reason," I replied sarcastically.

He finally got frustrated, smacking his hands against the steering wheel. I probably would've jumped any other time, but I was gunning for a fight right now. Honestly, I was pissed at him, and I wanted him to know it. "Why are you so jealous of her," he spat. "Ever since she came around, you've been acting like she's dirt under your shoes."

"Because I don't like her, Jonathan," I finally admitted. "Is that what you want to hear? She's a privileged, uptight suburban girl, and all she's been doing is holding us back because she hates her parents and wants to get back at them."

"And what is Steve then?"

The fact that he was really using that as an argument astonished me. "Is that really what you're holding on to right now?"

"He's a rich douchebag."

"Well he was a whole lot nicer to me than you are."

"Nicer," he asked with a dry chuckle. "Then maybe you should go hunt this thing down with him and see how that goes for you."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

And with that, the two of us were left fuming at each other. Neither of us spoke for the rest of the drive, and honestly, I was okay with it. If this is how he was going to treat me the rest of our relationship, then it wasn't something I wanted anymore.