𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 ; ᵂᶦˡˡ ᴮʸᵉʳˢ

i ; MADMAX

1983

"Shit..." Ethan mutters under his breathe, slowly pulling his head up, looking around. It's cold, and dark. The air is polluted with some white bulbs of dust or something. It's genuinely hard to breathe here. 

He looks behind himself, making sure to stay silent just in case. He was laid up against a tree next to a run down looking lab. No doubt its Hawkins National. He slowly picks myself up, almost falling over in the process. His whole body feels weak, and his head hurts like someone crushed it in just a moment ago. He feels fatigued, and tired. His mouth and forehead are covered in dry blood and spit. He feels disgusting. He look down at his arms and legs, scattered with some scratches, and his left knee has a large scab scarring up now. 

He picks himself up from the tree, wobbling around like he was some elderly person trying to walk with a walker. He keeps his balance on the tree, trying to stand correctly. He slowly walks towards the building, and the gate around it. There was a massive tear in the wire fence, he could just walk right through. The scratchy, yellow paint on the building read "HNL". Great.

The air was dirty, and there was no sunlight, it was cold and dark, and scary. He could inference this is the Upside Down. Plus the Demogorgon bashing his head against the wall also ties up with his headache, the blood. His body is in so much pain. He doesn't know what day it is, what happened, and how he ended up so far away from the school. Now isn't the time for questions, he needs to get home, before a Demogorgon scoops him up and eats him.

Looking back at the view behind him, he could just barely see the quarry, where Mike jumped off and lived, where Dustin was held at knife point and Eth couldn't do shit because more people knowing about his powers would only make everything worse. Down the hill a bit towards the left is a white converse. Just one shoe, with blood splatters on it, real fucking blood. Great to know someone's died here. He looks up at the sky, dark blue or grey, or black, he can't even tell. But there was enough light to see something in the sky, like some weird spider thing that looked like it was a tornado, but it was living? What the hell. 

He's already freaked out enough as he quickly walks into the lab, where the gate is. It's literally right there, its huge, the size of car in height. Its reddish, and pulsing like a heart, and there's this weird, slimy layer covering it so he can't see what's on the other side. He walks up and touches it quickly with my fingertips. He hates how it feels, its disgusting. 

But he can't stay here, even if it means being trapped in the lab again. He has to find his friends, and his mom. He needs to make sure they're okay, He needs to talk to El again, he needs to see Mike's victory face after he's won an arcade game again. He needs to see Dustin's smile again, he needs to see Lucas finally be happy with who he is again, he needs to see Will be okay.

He stretches the slimy, scab like substance out to make a rip big enough for him to get a leg through, and once he hops in it, it rips some more of course. The slime gets all over him, in his hair, on his clothes, etc, it's not a fun feeling. 

<->

1984

It was Sunday night, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will were going to the arcade to hang out for a bit. As he gathered up some change from the mason jar he keeps on my dresser, Will thought he saw a quick glance of a shadow dashing down the hall. He stuffs the quarters in his coat pocket and peers out into the hall.

Nothing. He shrugs it off as his imagination and walks into the living room where his mom was waiting for him.

"You ready?" She asks him, grabbing her bag.

"Yep" Will smiles, following her out the door.

They walk out to the car and listen to some music on the radio as she pulls out of the driveway and onto the road. Ever since the Upside Down, she hasn't let him ride out in the dark himself. It sucks, but he knows she's trying to keep him safe. He just wishes everyone would stop acting like he was about to crack at any moment, it's driving him insane.