||Stuck in Another Universe|| A Stranger Things story

•A better life•

"I'm stuffed." Char expresses, slapping her stomach, laying herself out on the couch.

"I'm putting the rest of our food in the fridge, don't finish it. We should save as much as we can." You tell her.

"Big brain..." She mumbles, falling asleep on the couch.

After putting the food in the bag and storing it in the refrigerator you grab the motel's complimentary notepad and write on it:

Heading out, don't get mad, you fell asleep :)
   - Y/N

Grabbing the keys and heading out the door, you take a deep breath before locking it behind you. Twirling the keys in your hand as you walk down the stairs. Stopping midway you feel an ache in your chest, lowering yourself to the ground, you grab your head, wincing in pain. Sitting on the stairs you lose consciousness.

"Again?" The man laughs, "Missing me already, I see." He teases, "You know all the other girls I've inserted into this world have already made claim to their favorite characters, chasing them around town like maniacs." He starts, "Why must you be so different? What in your simple life back here makes you want to come back so badly? The world is a terrible place, you know this first hand, do you not? Y/N L/N. Why do you want to come back, when you know they don't want you?" He laughs, "You seem so miserable. I gave you an opportunity... now's your chance to live a different life... a better life." He finishes.

Opening your eyes and catching your breath, you slowly stand up from the stair, using the rail to stabilize yourself.

"I worked so hard for what I had in my world, and you stole it. You... stole it..." You wept, holding back your tears, "Now I have to work as hard as I can to protect myself and Charlotte. Make sure we can survive here... and wait until the day we come back." You assured, regaining your confidence. "Fvck you and your stupid mom's basement." You snicker, walking down the stairs, making your way back to the gas station.

4:10 p.m

"Mm, she'll probably be there already."

Waking through the door the same boy greets you.

"Welcome to Rocket- oh it's you, wait right there." He tells you, walking into a back room until coming out with a lady.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Marie Len, and we've been extremely understaffed lately so I just want to thank you for applying." She smiles.

"It probably means more to me, than it might to you." You smile back.

"Well in any case it means a lot. I went through your application, do you mind if we talk outside?" She asks, walking out from the other side of the counter.

"Yeah that'd be great." You agree, following her out the door.

"So I heard you weren't able to put down your address... is this a security type of thing? Because I see this a lot and I can assure you-"

"No it's nothing like that... I just don't have a steady living place at the moment. I happen to be staying at that motel right over there. I just... I'm not sure how long I'll be staying or where... quite yet." You inform her, "Sorry for interrupting." You apologize, smiling.

"No it's not a problem I understand that. You're in a difficult situation and looking for work... and we'd be happy to have you. Do you mind if we go back inside and go over some scheduling?"

"That would be... wonderful." You smile, "You have no idea how much this means to me." You sniffle.

"It's no problem at all." She explains, smiling, heading towards the door.

Walking into a door next to the register, into her office she sits you down, in front of her desk.

"What days can you come in? And how many hours are you willing to work?" She starts off, pulling her glasses over her eyes and intertwining her fingers.

"I can come in any days of the week... and do you offer full time? 8 or 12 hours?" You ask.

"That's great! We have 5 days a week, 8 hours each. How does that sound?" She asks.

"That sounds amazing, thank you so much."

"So it would be Monday through Friday, because we get slammed the most on those day. School days." She explains.

"That's perfect, yeah."

"The pay is minimum wage, as you know, $3.35. I've considered your situation and I have an offer." She smiles, "I can work it out so that you get paid after every shift."

"Are you serious?" You smile. "I can't believe you would do that for me."

"Of course, I'll let whoever is working above you, tonight, know to pay you after work." She adds.

"That's incredible." You laugh, tilting your head back, making sure the tears don't fall.

"The shift's will be from 5:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. Is that okay?"

"Yeah that's... wonderful. It's perfect because I'm thinking of signing up for a high school around here, and classes end at 3:00 p.m." You tell her.

"That's great! I love to see such youth such as yourself taking things into your own hands." She smiles, "Since today's Thursday and there's really well..." she pauses looking at her watch, "Only 15-20 minutes until you officially start, you can either stay here or run back home for 20 minutes." She offers, "Well other than that, that wraps things up here." She states, standing up, holding out her hand for you to shake.

You grab her hand and shake it firmly, "You have no idea what this means to me, thank you so much."

"It's no problem, honey. I'll have Jake give you a uniform before your shift tonight."

"Thank you." You add one last time before heading out her office doors.

On your way to the motel you stop by the bridge overlooking the lake. Taking a deep breath, letting yourself know that everything might actually be okay.

"Just stay away from anything that could cause you or Charlotte harm." You tell yourself, "Keep her safe."

"At all costs."