𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿.

xvii. - el?

THE HAWKINS CASE !

THE UPSIDE DOWN
SEVENTEEN — EL?

                                          "How did they find us?" Lucas asked him and the others running through the halls. "I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." Mike told him. "Lando." Dustin said.

Lucy rolled her eyes and went to tell him to shut up about Lando once again. Before she could the doors in front of them slammed open. Bad men stood in front of them with their flashlights aimed right at the kids.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike yelled as they turned around.

They weaved through a few corners each coming to a dead end as the bad men crowded the building. Turning into another corner they stopped once again, being blocked off by a blonde woman and lots of men. All of them held guns.

Lucy let go of El's hand and gripped her head as she felt it shake with pain. Her eyes were clamped shut and she could barely hear all the people around her falling to the floor. Dead.

Her vision was black and her legs went weak. She fell to the floor as she tried to fight of the faint feeling, she couldn't pass out again and not now. Lucy felt around the floor, the coldness of it bringing her back with a tingling feeling.

With her sense back the first thing she noticed was the man sitting in front of El. He held her face in his hands, shaking her lightly to get her to snap out of her daze. The sight of him alone made a sick feeling go through her body. Something was wrong with this man.

"Eleven? Eleven, can you hear me? Eleven?" The man said. "Papa?" El groggily questioned. "Yes, yes, it's your papa. I'm here now. Shh, shh, you're sick. You're sick, but I'm going to make you better. I'm going to take you back home, where I can make you well again. Where we can make all of this better, so no one else gets hurt." The man told El.

"Bad. Bad." El hoarsely spoke before turning over and reaching out to Lucy who was sitting up on the floor. "Lulu. Lu, Lu."

Lucy reached her arm out weakly, the sudden flickering of the lights bringing her to a halt.

El wasn't using her powers... so what was wrong then?

"Blood" Mike whispered. "What?" Lucas asked. "Blood" Mike repeated.

The wall across from them began to crack and shift, a monster slowly crawling out of it. Never in her whole life did Lucy ever think she'd be in front of what was supposed to be an imaginary monster.

With the Demogorgon present, the bad men pulled out their guns and aimed it at the creature. Shooting at it rapidly. The boys took this as their chance and helped both Lucy and El off the floor, rushing to get somewhere safe and fast.

Lucy had to pull together all of her strength to get to a classroom, taking a few nearby chairs to make sure the door was shut. Lucy doubted they'd do anything against the Demogorgon though. She then made her way to the table El was laying on. She was the only one that could stop them now, so she had to push aside her fear and exhaustion to hopefully put some confidence into her.

"We're almost done, this is the home stretch, El. The Bad Man's gone, he's gone and soon we can all go home. Then you'll get your bed and Eggos, and we can go to the Snowball." Lucy told her lightly squeezing her hand. "Promise?" El softly asked the girl. "I promise." She nodded.

Lucy jumped, standing straight up as she heard the Demogorgon before rapid gunfire. They were close, really close now. Then it just all stopped. Going silent.

"Is... Is it dead?" Dustin stuttered.

The door slammed open, the few chairs Lucy had placed by it earlier had been thrown to the wall. The Demogorgon standing against the knocked down and broken door. Lucy couldn't help but just stare at it as her friends freaked out and began to launch rocks at it. There was just something about it, the way it walked, the way it's face opened up, the sounds it made. It was horrifyingly interesting.

Lucy watched silently as it flew towards the chalkboard. Pain surging through her head, taking away whatever energy she was using left in her to keep herself standing. El was trying to kill it, but she was going to get herself killed in the process.

"El... no." Lucy said trying to get up from the floor. But she couldn't there was no use in even trying.

Lucy let out a few loud and painful sobs as she watched Eleven. El hearing her turned and gave Lucy a light smile. "Goodbye, Lulu."

Lucy's eyes filled with tears as El lifted her hand up to the Demogorgon. She let out a shriek of pain as the monster began to disappear. Both it and El fading away into dust particles.

Lucy didn't even need to look away from the floor she just knew. She could feel it. And it hurt.

"El?" Lucy breathily whispered. The ringing in her ears was too loud, her vision had gone black before she even knew it.

     By the time Lucy woke up, Will had already been released from the hospital. Apparently, she had been knocked into a coma. She was slightly upset she didn't get to see Will right when he woke up but she was able to deal with it. He was back anyways that was more important.

Now it was almost as if things were normal again. She was back to living her normal life with her friends. Staying up late in Mike's basement to finish another game of Dungeons and Dragons. It was nice to not have to worry about fictional monsters or running away from men with guns.

"Something is coming. Something angry. Hungry for your blood. It is almost here." Mike dramatically told his friends. "What is it?" Will asked.

"It's the thessalhydra, I'm telling you." Dustin said. "It's not the thessalhydra." Lucas said in disagrement. "I'm telling you, it's the thessalhydra." Dustin repeated.

"The Thessalhydra!" Mike said placing the metal piece down on the board with a loud thud. "Damn It." Dustin said. "You always jinx us Dustin!" Lucy groaned.

"It roars in anger! Will, your action!" Mike said.

"What should I do? I-" "Fireball him!" Lucas said cutting him off. Dusting thought about it for a second before nodding his head in agreement. "Fireball the son of a bitch." Lucy tapped her hands against the table. "Burn it!"

Will grabbed the dice, shaking them quickly and throwing them across the table. The kids all cheering loudly when numbers showed to be fourteen.

"Direct hit. Will the Wise's, fireball hits the thessalhydra. It makes a painful..." Mike said standing up from the table imitating a screech. "And then... it crumbles to the ground. Its clawed hand reaches for you one last time and, and, and..." Mike cut himself off as he played dead on the floor.

The rest of the kids began to stand up from the table, all of them celebrating their win.

"Lucas cuts off its seven heads, and Dustin places them into his bag of holding. You carry the heads out of the dungeon, victorious, and you present them to King Tristan. He thank you and for your bravery and service."

"Wait, what? That's all?!" Lucy said stopping Mike from continuing. "No, there's a medal ceremony--" Mike said. "What the fuck, Michael! This is the shortest campaign ever, you can't end it now!" Lucy argued. "Yeah!" Will said in agreement with her. "It was ten hours!" Mike said.

"But it doesn't make any sense." Dustin said. "It makes sense." Mike defended. "Uh, no, what about the lost knight?" "And the round princess?" Lucas said. "And those weird flowers in the cave?" Will added. "I don't know, it's--"

The door to the basement opened and Jonathan made his way down the steps. "Have you guys been playing games all day, or just farting?" He asked nose scrunched. "It was Dustin." Lucy quickly said pointing to him.

"Dustin farted." Lucas said blowing a raspberry afterward. "Okay. Very mature." Dustin rolling his eyes as Lucas carried on.

"Bye, guys." Will said getting up from the table following after his brother. "Bye, Will."

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 — 1408