My Loves (Stranger Things)

06

The Bath

»»————-　.⋅ ✯ ⋅.　————-««

"I float in it," Eleven says. Everyone looks around, confused. 

Ben is the first to figure it out. "It's a sensory deprivation tank." The only people that understand are Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. 

"What?" Hopper asks. 

"Basically, it's water at a specific temperature with a high concentration of salt in it. This allows the person lying in it to relax and float," Ben explains. 

Hopper nods. "Okay, how do we make it?" 

"I don't know, but I know someone who might," Dustin says. He walks over to the phone and begins dialing a number. He waits for the person on the other end to answer.

"Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin." Mr. Clarke talks on the other end. "Yeah, yeah. I just, I...I have a science question." Mr. Clarke says something and Dustin cuts him off. "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?" Mr. Clarke talks again. "Fun." Mr. Clarke starts talking. "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?" Mr. Clarke says something.

Dustin walks over to the table. He picks up a pencil and starts writing on a notepad. "Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday." Dustin starts taking the phone away from his ear. "I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye." Dustin hangs up and sets the phone down. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" 

Joyce looks confused. "I think so. Yeah." 

"Yeah," Jonathan says. 

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it," Dustin says. 

"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper asks. 

Dustin looks down at the notepad and begins calculating. "I,500 pounds." Everyone is shocked by this. 

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asks. 

"Could we use de-icing salt?" Ben asks. 

Dustin nods. "That should work." "

Then we can go to the school and use that," Ben says. 

"Let's do it. Gather everything here and we'll go," Hopper says while standing up. Everyone stands up and gathers supplies.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Hopper takes the kids and Joyce in his car to the school. Jonathan follows him with Nancy and Ben in the car. Everyone splits up and prepares the sensory deprivation pool. It's soon all set up. Eleven puts the duct tape-covered goggles on. Joyce and Hopper help her into the pool. Eleven lays down. The lights flicker a bit and then turn off. A few minutes pass.

"Barbara?" Eleven says. Eleven soon begins hyperventilating and the lights start flashing. 

"What's going on?" Nancy asks. 

"I don't know," Mike responds. 

Nancy begins freaking out. "Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" 

"Gone. Gone. Gone," Eleven says. Eleven continues repeating this. 

"It's okay. It's okay," Joyce repeats a few times. Nancy begins crying. "It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey," Joyce continues to reassure Eleven. A minute passes

"Castle Byers," Eleven says. A moment passes. "Will?" Joyce gasps slightly. Everyone is slightly shocked. 

"You tell him...tell him I'm coming," Joyce says. 

"Mom is coming. Your mom...she's coming for you," Eleven says. "Hurry" is heard from the walkie-talkie. It's Will. 

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to...to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey," Joyce says while crying. 

"Just...just hold on a little longer. Will. Will," Eleven says. "Will? Will!" Eleven is heard on the walkie-talkie, hyperventilating. Eleven shoots up and takes the goggles off. Joyce wraps her arms around Eleven while comforting her.

Eleven gets out of the pool. The boys wrap her in a towel and sit on the bleachers. 

"So this fort. Where is it?" Hopper asks while putting his jacket on. 

"Uh, it's in the woods behind our house," Joyce says. 

"Yeah, he used to go there to hide," Jonathan adds. Hopper starts walking away. Joyce and Jonathan follow him. Ben sits down beside Dustin.

"I'm glad you're here," Dustin says. 

"I wish neither of us was here," Ben responds. They both laugh. 

"Yeah, but we're here, so that's not really an option," Dustin says. 

"At least we're together." 

"Yeah." Dustin smiles. A few minutes pass and Ben sees Jonathan and Nancy in the doorway. He gets up and walks up to them.

"What's up?" Ben asks. 

"We're going to kill this thing. You in?" Nancy asks. 

"Absolutely," Ben responds. They walk away. They all three get in Jonathan's car. They go to the station and grab the supplies Jonathan and Nancy got. Then, they go to the Byers' house and start preparing. They all three cut their palms and wrap them. Nancy wraps Jonathan's and Jonathan wraps Nancy's. Ben smiles seeing how they look at each other. There's a knock at the door.

»»————-　⋅. ✯ .⋅　————-««