Star Crossed Lovers (STEVE HARRINGTON)

The Flea and the Acrobat

Murph's POV:
I woke up midday, still feeling slightly light headed and still very worried about Jonathon. So, without eating breakfast, I grabbed my keys. Wearing the same outfit as last night (which I'd slept in) I got in my car and drove to the Byers'.

When I got there, I dusted my skirt and grabbed a cigarette before getting out of the car. I knocked on the door and... Lonnie? answered.?

"Um" I began. "You're Jonathon's friend right? Aw well come in." He invited, before I could step inside Jonny came out, his eyes slightly widening when he saw me. "Jesus Byers" I said pulling him into a hug, the news had shaken the entire town. We were probably going to have some shitty assembly about it soon and I hadn't even seen him yet.

He hugged me back and then held my arms at my sides, looking me deeply in my eyes. "I need you to go home. I'll meet you tonight at Base Henderson." He quickly rushed out, referencing a nickname we hadn't used for years about the basement. "I... Jonny let me be here for you and Joyce." I said, turning my head away to blow smoke out. He shook his head softly, a tear in his eye.

"Murph. I love you but I really need to do something and I'll be at your place tonight with snacks and we can talk all night about this but right now.. I need space." He almost pleaded. I backed off a little before taking his hand. "You sure? I can always bring..." He cut me in, sighing seriously. "Please." I didn't really know how to react so I just nodded and walked away. Back to my car and headed home.

Opening the front door, I sighed as Mews nestled her head onto my boots. I crouched down and petted her before she ran over to mother. As I placed a hand on my forehead, I jogged down to the basement, grabbing a bottle of water on the way.

When I sat down I looked into the corner of the room sensing something off. "What the fuck" I muttered to myself as I made my way to the corner of the room. Seeing a little fleck of what could pass as snow, I held my hand out letting it land on it gracefully. Almost immediately, everything felt cold. I looked around with furrowed eyebrows, the entire room looked normal but it was darker. Colder.

When I looked forwards, into the corner I'd been standing at, there was a little pathway. I suddenly began feeling really cold and felt myself walking towards god knows what. Fear erupted in my stomach, I had no idea what was going on. It felt too real to be just a high and I'd been hearing Joyce mention some seriously creepy stuff.

Stopping, I took a deep breath to calm myself down, my heart feeling like it was going to implode. Fuck. I thought to myself, beginning to feel weary as I pushed myself to keep walking. I walked so much I fell, and when I fell it was like animals crawling all over me. My face, my arms, I couldn't breathe.

I tried to scream, swinging my arms trying to get out of the grip of whatever was covering my body. "Murphy." A weak voice mumbled. I recognised that voice. I began clawing out of the grasp of the creatures on the floor and got up, spinning around attempting to find where the voice came from. When I got a closer look, it was Castle Byers. I felt tears slide down my cold cheeks as I fumbled inside and saw him laying there, eyes barely open. Skin blue and icy. "Will." I whispered, pulling his head onto my lap. I took my oversized jacket and covered us both with it, favouring him more considering he was visibly colder.

"Where are we?" I whispered quietly. His teeth chattered as I rubbed his arms in a poor attempt to keep him warm. "I don't know Murphy. I've been so ... ssscared" His teeth chattered noisily. I pressed my face against his almost gasping at the temperature. I covered his body with mine, practically bear hugging him as he sighed softly into me. "You're okay Will. You're alive. You're so strong buddy." I spoke into his hair. He weakly coughed, as I rubbed his back.

If Will was here... whose fucking body was shown on the news yesterday. I thought to myself eerily. I heard screeches in the distance and froze, he did too. "Don't. Move." He whispered. I found myself squeezing him a little in response as we sat completely silent. Waiting for the quiet again. Whilst we sat, terrified I felt him cuddle closer to me and then I cried, silently.

He hadn't noticed, with his head facing down into my coat. "You smell like Dustin." He spoke, looking up at me with tired eyes and a small smile. I rolled my eyes playfully "You mean Dusty smells like me? God I've told him a million times to stop using my perfumes." I said jokingly seeing Will shake a little with laughter.

"I'm gonna get you out of here okay?" I promised. He nodded in seriousness. We warmed up for a little while longer before I wrapped him up in my coat and kept my zip up on myself. Credits to me for layering, thank you oh great fashion sense of mine.

"How did you end up here?" He asked, his hands swallowed in the sleeves of my coat. "I don't know, I was in my room one minute and the next..." He suddenly spoke, "The next everything goes cold." He confirmed, looking down. I nodded, looking around. "Castle Byers is awesome." I said and he smiled "Thanks Murphy." I sighed leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

Ruffling his hair, I cleared my throat as I began thinking of an escape plan. Some way to get us both out. He then began shuffling closer to me again and unzipped my coat from where I'd left it and putting it around us again. He felt a little warmer this time, not by a lot but it was still progress. "Okay so we need to firstly figure out where the hell we are and what those creatures are outside." I started. He nodded quietly before speaking up.

"Demogorgan" He whispered, his eyes filled with fear. I almost coughed as he raised his eyebrows a little to confirm he was being serious. "As in... dungeons and dragons type of.. how? How is that possible..?" I spoke. He attempted to shrug. "It wants to hurt people." He said before adding "I feel it." My breath shuddered as I began speaking, feigning confidence to reassure him we were going to be fine when in all honesty I was bricking it.

"Okay so we, escape it? We need to distract it, maybe try and lead it astray. Then when it's not focused on us ... we run. I'm going to go back in the direction I walked from and I'll see if there's some sort of gate or entryway we can cross back." I said, feeling a plan form as I spoke randomly in stress. He grasped my hand quickly. "Please don't leave me." His eyes pleaded and it reminded me of earlier when Jonathon had begged me to go home.

"Okay Little Byers. We need to check when it's all clear. When it is... we go back in that direction. I'll show you. If you hear something, you run okay? Don't look back. Promise me that?" I said, trembling. "Don't look back." He confirmed. He kept a hold on my hand, his tiny in mine. I gripped onto it for comfort and we began walking.

"Does everyone think I'm dead?" He asked, my heart cracked at his words. I shook my head a little. "Your mom knows you're not." I said. He sighed quietly. "Everyone else?" With innocent eyes he glanced up at me. I shook my head, not meeting his eyes. He nodded in the corner of my eye as we carried on walking. When I realised that Barb had gone missing the other day I decided to ask Will. "So buddy.. have you seen Barbara Holland here?" I asked.

His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to put a face to the name and then he looked up at me. "I haven't seen anyone since I ended up here." He quietened down after that and I left the conversation there. When we reached where I'd came from there was just more paths. Feeling let down, I took a left with Will in front of me.

Then a loud screech came from the direction we were walking in so I spun him around and pushed him in front of me again as we began running. Tightening his grip on my hand, he strained his neck not looking back as I pushed my feet to keep running faster and faster.

We were sprinting towards castle Byers as the screeching began sounding noisier and noisier. When we got there, we lay down flat. Covering ourselves messily with the coat. I threw stuff from around the teepee over us to conceal us.

His breathing slowed as I inhaled as quietly as I could, holding my breath. The noise passed us and I began nudging Will. When he didn't move, I pulled him up to see his eyes fluttered shut. "Will wake up." I gasped, shaking him feeling worry overcome me.

"Come on buddy. Stay with me." I mumbled into his hair, covering him with every bit of warmth I could give him. An eerily warm tear slid down my cheek as I scrunched my eyes as tight as possible. Before I knew it I felt myself drift off into peaceful nothingness.