~ Hidden Love ~

CH7 - The Bathtub [PT2]

"I'm so glad you kids are okay." I told them and pulled away from the hug.

"Yeah. We are glad you are okay." Dustin told me as Lucas nodded in agreement. I looked to El.

"Hey El. It's been awhile." She smiled and walked to me and gave me a hug, which I returned.

I pulled away and I heard Nancy say, "Is that my dress?" El just looked at me worriedly. I gave her a slight smile. We all went inside the house. Mike started explaining to us the 'acrobat and the flea' and the gate.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked.

"Yes." El answered.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes." She answered again.

"How-how do you know all of that?" Dustin asked Hopper.

"He's seen it." Mike interrupts.

"Is there any way that you could.. " Mom started to ask El, "that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"

"The Upside Down." El said to her and nodded her head yes.

"And my and Y/n's friend, Barbara. Can you find her, too?" She shook her head again. She explained to us how she is going to do it. We gave her a picture of Will and Nancy gave her the taped together picture of Barb. I used my radio for the static sound. She sat at the table while we stood around it. The light started to flicker for a moment. She opened her eyes and looked at us.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" Mom asked her.

El said to us, "I can't find them." I looked down at my bracelet. Dustin walked next to me and gave me a hug. I chuckled lightly.

"Thanks, Dustin." I said to him.

"Anytime." He said to me in a smile before he walked away. I went to stand next to Nancy. The boys started to explain to us about how El's powers work.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike explained.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets." Dustin continues.

"Like, she flipped the van earlier." Lucas said.

"It was awesome." Dustin admits.

"But she's drained." Mike says. "Like a dead battery."

"Well.. how-how do we make her better?" Mom asked them.

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike explains.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asked, impatient.

"I don't know." Mike answered honestly, as we heard El speak.

"The bath."

"What?" Mom looked back confused.

"I can find them." She told us. "In the bath."

"Wait, like a deprivation tank?" I asked her. She nodded her head yes. "How do we make one?" She shrugged at my question.

Dustin intervened, "I might know who." He told us as he walked over to the phone to dial someone.

"Mr. Clark. It's Dustin."-"Yeah, yeah. I just, I.. I have a science question."-"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"-"Fun."- "You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find."-"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Dustin said as he made his way to the notebook to write down everything. He told his bye to Mr. Clark. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" He asked Mom.