The Overcomer, Stranger Things

Goodbye, Gwen

Gwen Byers woke up with a start, coughing up what looked like a combination of blood, throw up, and slime. She felt slightly queasy when she looked down to see that her entire body was covered in the vile mixture. The frail girl slowly got to her feet to see that she seemed to be in an underground pool. The deep pool was decrepit and cevered in big, webby vines. Where was she?

"Hello?" she questioned, turning around slowly.

"Gwen?!" a familiar voice called from her right.

Gwen whirled around to be met with a sight that horrified the girl to her core. Her babysitter- the girl she thought of as an older sister- hurt and disoriented and, worst of all, in the upside down. 

"Barb?" Gwen whispered, shocked. 

"Barb. Oh my gosh. Barb," the girl sobbed, her emotions overwheling her.

Gwen limped over to Barbara, who met her in the middle, throwing herself into the older girl's open arms. A million questions ran through the tiny girl's mind as she gripped onto Barb like her life depended on it. How did Barb get here? Did the Demagorgon get her? Why was she here? What was this disgusting yuck they were covered in? And, most importantly, where was the "thing" that brought them here?

"Oh Gwen. I've been worried sick about you," Barb cried, pulling back slightly and cupping the younger girl's face. 

"What are you doing here, Barb? Did the Demagorgon get you, too?" Gwen whispered.

"Demagorgon? What's a ---" Barb started, only to get cut off by a snarl that came from behind the girls. 

The girls turned around to be greeted by the monsterous beast that brought them here in the first place, the Demagorgon. Barbara screamed and grabbed onto the other girl's hand, while Gwen stood in her place paralyzed with fear. Barb dragged the terrfied girl behind her as she ried to find a way out of the pool. She eventually found a ladder and started urging Gwen to go up. 

"Gwen, come on. I'll give you a boost," Barb encouraged, trying to ignore the Demagorgon's growls that were nearing them. 

"Barb, no. I'm not leaving you," Gwen argued back, not wanting to lose another person she loved. 

"I'll be right behind you. I promise," Barb responded, giving the girl a small smile.

Gwen felt tears well up in her eyes, thinking about earlier today when she said those same words to Will. The feeble girl obliged to Barb's pleas, letting the older girl help her up the ladder. Gwen scurried up the ladder, desperate to get Barb away from the Demagorgon. Once at the top, she grabbed onto Barb's hands and started to help her out of the pool. 

Gwen whimpered as she ehard the Demagorgon screech from below Barb. Both of the girls screamed as a tentacle wrapped around Barb's feet. The world seemed to go into slow motion as Barb's hands slipped from Gwen's grip. Gwen screamed as the older girl got pulled away from her, back into the pool. 

The younger girl launched herself toward Barb without hesistation, grabbing onto the older girl's wrists. Barb was barely hanging on. Her now white hands were grpping onto the ladder while the rest of her body was dangling in the pool. Barb shreiked as she looked down to see the Demagogon unfurl its face to reveal sharp teeth and a large, open mouth. 

"Grab my hand, Barb" Gwen urged, knowing that helping Barb could very possibly end in her demise as well as Barb's. However, Barb knew this too. And she wasn't going to let Gwen die. 

"Let go, Gwen" Barb pleaded with a sad smile to the girl who's eyes filled with tears.

"No. Never" Gwen responded through gritted teeth, still holding tightly onto the older girl's wrists. 

Barb looked at the kid she had spent nearly everyday with the past three years, a single tear slipping down her face. She loved Gwen like a sister. And she protected her like a sister. 

"Goodbye, Gwen" Barb whispered. 

The older girl pulled her wrists out of Gwen's grp, sacrificing herself for the younger girl. Gwen let out a bloodcurling scream as Barbara Holland got torn away from her, never to be seen again. Gwen squeezes her eyes shut, unable to watch Barb's brutal death. When the screams stop, she opens her eyes and is horrified to see the Demagorgon halfway up the pool ladder. With no time to grieve, Gwen pushed herself up and ran for her life.