DISCONTINUED
Alina Fairgrieves-Byers and Gabriel Burton have learned to expect the worst, but that doesn't make things less disappointing.
𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄
( 𝐎𝐂 𝐗 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑 )
( 𝐎𝐂 𝐗 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐘𝐄...
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talk to you later
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
The first thing that went through Alina's mind as she watched the news about the murdered Hawkins High student was Upside Down. Which was completely and utterly ridiculous, but, honestly, could you blame her? Hawkins had been a quiet town with virtually no crime—seriously. The biggest case in a decade had been an owl that had attacked someone's wig—until El had opened the gate. That had been when everything had first gone wrong—when Will had disappeared, when Barbara had died, when the Demogorgon had killed her father. It had led to the rise of the Mind Flayer, Alina and Will's possession, the tunnels that branched out underneath Hawkins. And it had finished with the fleshy monster that sought to take over the world and the supposed mall fire that had killed thirty people.
Suddenly, the peace of Hawkins had been disrupted. To the average resident, it was now unsurprising when some sort of tragedy befell the town. They didn't know it was the Upside Down—to them, it was just a series of unfortunate events. But as someone aware of the true nature of these events, Alina couldn't help but be suspicious. Everything that had happened was because of the Upside Down. Why wouldn't this be, too?
But the Mind Flayer was gone. Really gone, this time. It was dead, and, even if pieces remained, they were securely locked within the Upside Down. There was no chance of its return. This had to just be a regular murder. The actions of some... some psychopath. Or maybe it was just some drug deal gone wrong. Something tragic but normal, something you wouldn't raise an eyebrow at.
The second thing that went through Alina's mind was that she needed to call her friends. The name of the murder's victim hadn't been released, and Alina couldn't bear the thought of it being a member of the party. Imagining Max or Dustin or Lucas shuttled away in a body bag was horrifying enough that she sprung to her feet immediately, heading for Dolores's telephone. Gabe's grandmother watched her go.
"I'm sure your friends are all right," she soothed. "We would have gotten a call if they weren't."
"Still," Alina said, already inputting Lucas's number. He lived too far away from Gabe to contact via walkie-talkie, which meant that she was going to have to do things the old-fashioned way. Her heart thudded as she held the phone up to her ear. "I need to see if everything's okay."
