025. Kitchen Blues

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AS MAVIS OBSERVED THE WORLD AROUND HER AS SHE FELT HER SKIN GROW COLD. She was unsettled. Every night, she has had the same nightmares on loop, but this one was different.

She was in her room, surrounded by a cold and dark version of the world around her. Reminiscent of her time in the Upside Down. It was dead silent, a silence so quiet that all she could hear was her breathing. She made her way around the house, becoming more and more confused with each step. As she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, she decided to look out the window. She was shocked that nothing had happened yet, and she began questioning how real this dream was.

Out the window, she found her horror. A massive spider-like creature hovered over the town. Her eyes grew wide, this was wrong. This was not a memory, she had never seen this monster before. Her fear only increased when she could hear the faint sound of knocking. She turned around, trying to find the source of the noise, and to her dismay, when she turned back, the creature's "head" was now looking right at her. It began moving closer. The sound of its wind and storm filled her ears.

Unsure of what to do, in void of any weapon or clue on how to deal with this monster she slowly shuffled backward until she hit the kitchen counter, she allowed herself to slowly slide down the cabinets and curl up into a ball, now sobbing. Whispers filled her mind they called her to stay, open her eyes. "Please no!" she began screaming repeatedly over the whispers. Even though she knew there was no use in bargaining with a monster. A few moments later she felt something touch and begin to shake her.

All of a sudden the wind ceased. Nothing could be heard except for her sobs and the panicked calls of Steve Harrington. Shocked, she stopped screaming. She looked up to see Steve crouched down in front of her, her eyes darted around the room, shocked to see the world around her had regained its color. She was even more shocked to see that she was still in the kitchen. She moved. It was not a dream.

"May? May, what's wrong?" Steve called out. All Mavis could think to do was hug him, she didn't know why he was there but she was glad he was. Something real. She had never been happier to see Steve Harrington in her life. He hugged her back without question, rubbing her back, trying to find any way to calm her down and figure out what the heck happened.

Pressed together, he could feel her whole body shaking as she sobbed into his shoulder.

After a few minutes, Mavis pulled away, leaning back up against the wall. Her eyes stayed low, not daring to look at the boy.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" he asked. She really didn't want to, she had done everything in her power to keep her nightmares and day life separate. And now that separation had crumbled.

Desperate to avoid his question, she proposed her own, "how was the dinner?" she asked. Nancy had mentioned their dinner with the Holland's earlier that day.

He saw right through her attempt to redirect. "No. You don't get to do that again May. You don't get to pretend like nothing's wrong after I find you screaming and terrified on your kitchen floor. You can talk to me," He said, both desperate and frustrated.

She looked up at him. For a few moments, staring into his eyes she found it hard to not tell him. Until she saw his eyes begin to water, she was reminded of everything that happened the prior year and how he got dragged into it all. She couldn't drag him into this again.

She stood up, wiping her tears and leaning back against the counter. He stood up too. "It's nothing, it was just a nightmare, I get them from time to time this one was just worse than others I guess," she hoped that was a good enough explanation.

He looked like he was about to say something when he instead turned around. He grabbed some paper towels and walked back to her. "Your nose is bleeding," he said.

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