The Overcomer, Stranger Things

Her demise under the moonlight

The boy never got an answer as his sister simply whirled around and sprinted into the woods, not knowing that something was following her...

The rain fell from the heavens above as Gwen Byers ran through the woods. She wanted away. Away from her brother. Away from her tragic childhood. Away from her visions. Away from her death sentence. Away from her pain. But it would only get worse.

She sprinted through the forest, tripping over sticks and slipping on mud. Her ankles were scratched from the pointy twigs but she didn't care as she kept running in the rain. Dark tree trunks cast shadows over the barely visible black trails snaking through the undergrowth. The moon was shining through the shadowed pine trees, stretching up like arrows into the sky, creating a zebra-like pattern over the pathway. The wet leaves crunched under Gwen's shoes as she jumped over a log, unknowingly cutting her leg, and causing it to start bleeding. And that's when the ground started to shake.

Gwen's eyes widened in pure terror as she turned around to see the mind flayer in all its glory. It was awful. A red mushy color that looked like a combination of guts and human skin. It had to be at least 30 feet tall, with four long legs and a wide-open mouth with a range of teeth. The blond felt herself freeze as the creature let out a monsterous roar, causing the ground under Gwen to rumble and the trees around her to sway.

Before she knew it, the flesh monster was coming towards her, trees falling down behind it as the ground quivered with every step it took. As if snapping out of a spell, Gwen quickly came out of her stupor and started running again. Except this time she had something chasing her and it wasn't going to give up easily. Gwen ran through the woods, screaming out the name of anyone she could think of as she tried to get away from the monster.

"Mom!" she yelled, twigs snapping under her feet as she continued on the trail.

"Will!" she shouted, the monster was getting closer.

"Johnathan!" after one last desperate cry for help, Gwen let out a grunt of pain when her foot got caught in a root causing her to trip and hit her head.

As if her senses had heightened and weakened all at the same time, Gwen could feel everything. From the blood running through her veins to the pounding of her heart against her chest, to the tingling all over her skin. And at the same time, she couldn't feel anything. Like the rasp of her throat or the constant throbbing of her head. There was a slight ringing in her ears and Gwen couldn't even hear herself as she continued to scream for someone to help her.

And that's when she realized, she walked right into their trap.

This was what the monster wanted. It wanted her to be thinking about her loved ones, the people that would do anything to protect her. That way, it could use them against her. And it was too late. The Mind Flayer had already plagued Gwen's mind, watching her memories like a popular television show, using her weaknesses against her... using her mom. Gwen did this to herself.

The ground rumbled under Gwen as she slowly rolled over, and she turned her face to the other side. She had a big gash over her forehead from where she just cut her head on a root and the bruises around her neck were fully visible again due to the rain washing the makeup away. Her face was deathly pale, showing off the dark bags under her eyes. And the blood trickling down her face was now mixing with the salty tears rolling down her cheeks. But that wasn't even the worst part. Her eyes, her big, beautiful blue eyes were glassed over, like a frozen lake, as she watched the flesh monster stomp toward her.

It was like she was frozen in time as the monster neared Gwen the most it could before reaching out a tentacle for her, it was cold and wet as it wrapped around her ankle. Practically paralyzed, Gwen couldn't find any strength inside of her left to move. Yet her eyes were wide open as she watched the world spin around her. The ground was rough against her skin as she was dragged across the dirt, being pulled closer to the monster that stood over her protectively as if she were its next meal.