Stranger Things Season 4 re-write

Chapter 8: Papa

Okay besties, this is mainly going to be from Mack's POV because she's still half passed out on the trailer floor in the beginning, and it'll save a lot of time and repeating if you're watching the episode along reading. I'm really happy that I got to put this all in 1 chapter. Enjoy 3k words of-
Oh you're gonna have to figure that out on your own :>
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(2:00)

"Nancy, just stay with me. Stay with me, okay? Whatever you guys are doing  hurry up!"

Erica runs across the trailer to where the group is looking for music that isn't metal, but they're in Eddie's trailer so it's just lost hope.

"Steve says you need to hurry!"

The lights are almost blinding to Mack and her vision is blurry, everyone yelling in distress doesn't help. The glass of water Eddie was going to bring her is shattered on the kitchen floor, tap still running. When can all of this just end? Yes, Mack is concerned about Nancy. Seeing Chrissy defy the laws of physics before her very eyes was bad enough, she doesn't need a newly made friend to do the same.

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Bestles? Music! We need music!"

"This is music!"

Mack chuckles at Eddie's outrage. Its true. They've gotten a lot of shit for listening to rock and metal, when it's just the same notes from pop in a different array and faster! She looks around and spots the bag Steve handed to the kids before they unknowingly went to hell. Her cassettes were in there, you know, her collection of about every genre in existence.
She tries her best to stand up, clutching whatever furniture is near her for support, and stumbles over to the bag to ruffle for her tapes.

"Gotcha. Hey guys I've got music!"

Her voice comes out raspy, like she has a cold or something, but she manages to get enough volume to have the little girl hear her and come by her side.

"We don't need more metal."

"Oh honey, this ain't metal."

The tape she holds up was her best friend's favourite. All the pop songs you could dream of from the last decade.
She searches for the player, quickly finding it and switching the tapes. Right when she was handing it to the girl, they heard Steve again.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here."

...
(22:20)

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this giant creature with... a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighbourhoods. Our homes. And then... he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..."

They're all in a cosy trailer, no one is around to see but Mack definitely didn't feel safe. She was sitting on the couch next to Eddie while Nancy was talking about what she saw. It all still feels so surreal. These monsters, portals, curses, everything. But somehow, this was their reality now. Their dystopian reality.

"Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean... I mean, it's not real."

"Not yet. But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."

Mack stands up, muttering something about going to the bathroom and then practically rushes there. She doesn't need to *go* to the bathroom, she just needs to be alone.