It Couldn't Get Any Stranger

Halloween

You and Max sit in front of the TV and drink hot chocolates.

It was cold and you had just had a full day so you needed to wind down.

You rested your feet by the fire and curdled up under the blanket.

"Max?"

"What?"

"Do you think El will be able to sort out the gate?"

"Well she's done it before!"

"No I mean like, you said she lost her powers at the Battle of Starcourt. What if she never got them back?"

"Good point I hadn't thought of that y/n"

You sit in silence.

"I'm sure it'll be fine Max"

You sit in an even longer silence before eventually turning in for bed.

You lie awake even though you are tired. It had been nice seeing the Byers and now you had to walk all the way to the Russian Warehouse.

It was 9 miles.

You yawn, you had walked much further before it was just that you didn't know if El had it in her.

She would've totally got her powers back.

If she had lost them, she would've told us.

Your heart began to beat fast.

The one thought that would completely crush any chances the Party had at defeating the monsters of the upside down again.

'What if it already had El's powers?'

You sit up and walk to the radio.

"Hello? Hello! Does anyone copy? This is y/n"

"Go to sleep y/n over and out" Mike's half asleep voice cracked through and filled the room.

"No come back, this is important!" You say again.

No reply, only radio static.

Max walks into the room.

"Y/n, what are you doing?"

"What if the Mindflayer already has El's power?" You say.

You were full of anxiety and a small tear leaked from your eye.

"Y/n, just go to bed, we will sort this out in the morning, it's 11 o clock, go to bed"

You sit there next to the radio all night, awaiting response but eventually you drift off.

Suddenly the hissing of the radio wakes you up. You look to the wall. 4:34. Suddenly your eyes whip back to the radio.

"Come back to the lab**atory. 007"

You scream again. It was an old ladies voice. You hadn't woken Max up luckily but you were still freaked out.

Your heart was racing.

You think back to the old lady in the McDonalds.

Your heart was racing faster.

You walked back to your bed and tried to get some sleep.

In the morning, you woke up and walked into the kitchen, maybe it was all a dream.

Maybe there was no old fat lady.

Maybe you were just so nervous you were hallucinating.

"Happy Halloween!!!" Max walks in with a mask on her face.

"What's Halloween?" You had heard it before but never knew what it meant.

"A long story short: kids walk around to different people's houses and get free sweets"

"Sounds awesome" you answer.

"I know right, totally tubularrrr" she laughs and you have yet another flashback.

***

It's 1984, you are sitting on the sidewalk of an old neighbourhood, you can feel the presence of people here so you sit.

There were pumpkins outside many houses and you wonder why they had appeared today.

"No it's like tUUUbular"

You hear a distorted voice.

"Hello???" You yell, suddenly on your feet.

You stand still awaiting the response.

"Help!!" Another voice filled the still air of the upside down. It wasn't distorted and sounded familiar.

"Will????" You shout.

Yep you were going crazy, Will was dead, the demogorgan took him.

Suddenly a huge shadow appears above you. It looms over you and all you can think of is running.

Running far away.

Away from Will.

***

"But don't we have to face those monsters today" you say.

"Yep, it's fine though, we are kind of too old for trick or treating."

"Alright, where and when are we meeting the others?"

Max looks at her watch and pulls a worried face.

"Ten minutes, let's go now."

She rushes you outside and onto her bike.

You begin pedalling off into the distance
just as the sun rises in the sky.