precarious ; jonathan byers [2]

chapter ten- back in town and shit's goin' down

Re-Edited 3/28/2022 





Casey





Arriving back in Hawkins late that afternoon, Jonathan pulled up in front of his house, quickly stalling the car before shutting it off completely. I hopped out of the passenger side door before he could even throw it in park, the other two not far behind me. I hurried up the front lawn to the front door, practically swinging it open.

It was as if the beating of my heart changed completely as I glanced into the Byer's home for the first time in what felt like eons and I froze in my tracks. This caused Jonathan's body to collide with mine and he mumbled a small curse, placing his hand on the low of my back. "Casey? What are you-" There was a stoppage of his words as his eyes must have landed on the scene in front of us. Shit, I even heard Nancy gasp.

The walls of the house along with the floor and ceiling were all completely covered in hundreds upon hundreds of drawings of what looked to be tunnels. They all seemed to be connecting, almost like a gigantic maze. I gulped as I remained frozen in my spot, my eyes scanning over the room, trying to make sense of where the hell these drawings even came from. It felt very strange, and I didn't like it one bit.

I heard Jonathan feel against the wall next to me for the light switch before flicking it on, allowing some light for easier viewing. "Jesus," He muttered out of disbelief.

"What is all of this, Jonathan?" Nancy asked him, shutting the front door behind her.

"Seriously, what the hell happened while we were gone?" I mumbled, mostly to myself as I took a few cautious steps forward.

"I don't know. Will you guys help me look around?" Jonathan asked us and I nodded.

Jonathan and Nancy quickly took off down the hallway towards the bedrooms, calling out for Joyce and Will. I followed after them, being careful not to step on the drawings taped down to the carpet. Before entering the bathroom to check, I noticed a part of the maze on the wall circled with a bright red marker. I cocked an eyebrow as I glanced over it. It kind of looked like a pit in the shape of a circle with multiple tunnels connecting to it from all different directions. As far as I knew, I hadn't noticed any other part of the drawings that were circled. Why was this particular location so important?

The other two then hurried out of the bedrooms back to me. "No one's home," Jonathan informed me, slightly out of breath. I could tell he was beginning to panic. "But check this out."

He held out a different drawing and I took it from him, my eyebrows completely skyrocketing when I had looked it over. It was a drawing of a huge creature with absolutely no face that seemed to tower the trees drawn below it. It had multiple long, skinny arms that forked off in a horrendous way. There were also dark clouds hovering above the creature, lightning bolts outlined in red striking down around it. There was this odd darkness to the drawing and I hated it. I hated it because I was starting to understand what all of this crazy shit was about.

"Jonathan," I said quietly. "Your brother drew this. He drew everything."

His eyes furrowed, "What?"

"Who else would have done all of this?" I questioned him, gesturing to the maze of drawings surrounding us. "All of this has to be Will. And if all of this is affecting Will's mind...then that means-"

"All the events from last year are happening again," Jonathan finished for me, his eyes widening in realization.

"Wait, are you serious?" Nancy chimed in, taking the drawing from my hands to get a closer look. "This thing could actually be taunting Will?"

I nodded, "Remember when we were at the Hawkins Lab? The gate to The Upside Down was still open. What if all of these tunnels are real? Maybe the creatures are using these tunnels to go back and forth between realities," I theorized before pointing to the circled location on the map. "And if these tunnels are real then what did they find here?"