Word count: 3011
"Like home, but dark..." Mike mutters from the couch.
Rose looks up at him from her spot beside Dustin with wide eyes.
"What did you just say?" she asks, getting ignored.
"Empty and cold." Dustin says. "Wait, did he say cold?"
"I don't know, the radio kept cutting in and out." Lucas says, crossing his arms.
Like home but dark... No...
"Maybe he means his house?"
"Or maybe like Hawkins."
"Upside Down." El and Rose say at the same time.
"Rose?" Lucas says, looking over to her as the other two look over to El.
"The Upside Down." Mike mutters, walking over to his D&D board. "When she first showed us where Will was, she flipped the board upside down. Dark. Empty. Think about it, when El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"
"Yeah, but he wasn't there." Lucas says.
"But he was there." Rose says, Mike nodding.
"We just couldn't see him, he was on the other side." he says, flipping the board over to the top. "This is Hawkins."
"This is where Will is." Rose says, flipping it back over. "It's cold, it's dark, and it's horrible. It's the Upside Down."
"Like the Veil of Shadows." Dustin says.
"If that helps you remember it, yeah." she says.
"An alternate dimension." Mike whispers.
"But... how- how do we get there?" Lucas asks.
"Cast Shadow Walk." Dustin says confidently.
"In real life!" Lucas shouts, Rose putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Maybe we can't..." Dustin says, looking up from his book. "But she could."
"Dusty, I don't think that's-" Rose starts to say but is cut off by the boys walking over to the little girl.
"Do you know how to get there?" they ask her.
El shakes her head and they all groan. She looks at Rose, Lucas noticing.
You've been there. Long time... you know how to get there
"Don't go in my head!" Rose snaps, making the girl flinch as she starts walking forward. "Never do that without permission."
"Woah..." she hears Lucas mumble, snapping her head to him. "Your eyes."
She closes her eyes and breathes out, calming herself down.
"I'm going home." she says after opening her eyes. "Keep me updated."
She runs upstairs and goes outside to her bike, pedaling away before any of the boys can talk to her. So instead of going home, she goes to a place of comfort for her...
Lover's Lake.
She often went here in the Upside Down to practice her powers. At ten years old, she knew how the drills in the lab were, so she created more humane versions for herself. She sits at the edge, grabbing a rock and skipping it across the water, wrapping it in a ball of water in midair and throwing it back at herself.
She did this a few times before someone else caught it before it hit her hand.
"Sup Mother Nature." a voice laughs.
YOU ARE READING
Every Rose Has Its Thorns (Harrington x OC)
FanfictionThirteen ran. She ran as fast as she could away from these... things. Even after five years in this god forsaken place, she had no name for these creatures. Creatures with no defining features other than that they have no defining features, whose...
