𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍; steve harrington

ᵗ ʰ ⁱ ʳ ᵗ ʸ ⁻ ᶠ ᵒ ᵘ ʳ

July 2nd, 1985

THE THUNDER SHOOK THE HOUSE, the lightning brightened the room, and the rain pelted against the roof. The treacherous storm woke Aven up from her heavy slumber. She pushed herself off the light sheets with a yawn as she tried to rub the drowsy remnants of the nightmare out of her eyes, peeling them open to tiredly glance around the flashing room. It was still dark out, and yet the lightning made it seem as if it was day.

Stumbling out of her room and trying for the lights, she came to the realisation that she had been thrown into darkness overnight with no way out. She could only hope the continuous bolts of electricity outside would keep striking. 

Slowly walking down the hallway with her hands gliding against the plastered walls, she made it to Billy's room. It seemed eerie to her, like something was wrong, but it was dark - that could be the simple explanation. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong.

When she reached forward to knock on the door, hopefully awaking Billy from his sleep, her arm just continued to inch forward. His door was open. Billy never left his door open. With a deep breath, Aven stepped through the open doorway and walked into his shadow-filled room, only one thing catching her eye instantaneously. Most of the room was bare and plain, nothing enrapturing or bright that would peak someone's interest - except the shoe.

Planted in the middle of the room was a singular shoe, a blue and red stripe zig-zagging across its white material. Hesitantly moving closer and picking it up, she let out a gasp before letting it drop back onto the floor out of pure shock. The scene from the television immediately flashed within her brain, the shoe covered in blood splatters sitting in the middle of a dark, shadowy warehouse replaying in her mind. Billy had been there, and it didn't look safe.

It all made sense. Catching his shoe on the television but not seeing him ever since, finding an exact replica of the footwear sitting in the middle of his room without its pair. Unfortunately, it all pieced together perfectly, which left only one thought pressing into the girl's hectic head. The Mind Flayer.

She ran out of the room, banging into walls and tripping over loose objects on the floor as she struggled to see what was in front of her. She burst into Max's room, only to see the bed empty, but her walkie-talkie on her bedside table. She immediately reached for it and hurriedly flicked it on, shouting into the device in hopes that somebody - anybody - would answer.

Thankfully, a sleepy Michael did.

"Hello?" The grainy voice sounded through the speaker, Aven letting out a deep sigh of relief at the sound. 

"Mike! Oh, Michael, thank god!" Aven shouted into the device. 

"Aven? Is everything okay?" Mike sat up from his position on the couch, his languor being forgotten as his brain buzzed with anxiety. He was in his basement with Lucas and Will, Lucas sleeping on the floor beneath him whilst Will was draped across the other sofa. As soon as he sprung up, one of the empty soda cans rolled off his couch and onto Lucas' face, banging against his forehead loudly. He let out a groan in response, which woke an annoyed Will up on the other side of the room.