Love And Hellfire

Chapter 10: Purple Rain

"Shit!" Avila jumped yet again at the sound of another loud crash of thunder. She held her chest, taking note of her heart beating at what felt like 1000 beats a minute. She was so scared, but determined.
The rain seemed to become heavier and heavier as she observed Jonah up ahead. Still following him, he hadn't looked back once to check on her pace. Perhaps he didn't want her to follow him, maybe she'd gotten the wrong end of the stick.
Regardless, he was behaving strangely and she still cared about him. Despite his weird behaviour the last time she saw him. Her gut instinct was telling her something was wrong. She just didn't know what. Not yet.
Soaked through, she proceeded to follow him deep into the woods, seemingly in the direction of the storm itself. Avila was very conscious of that old wives tale about standing near trees during lightning storms. That fact alone made her so uncomfortable. Keen to get out of the woods, she followed him in the hopes he'd be leading her to shelter. Luckily for Avila, the extremity of the storm meant no armed guards or squadrons were on patrol tonight. No chance of getting caught, or in the worst case... shot.
Nevertheless, the sound of a twig snapping to her right caused her to jump out of her skin once more. Looking over her shoulder, she had that horrible feeling she was being followed. Or watched. Slowly, she looked around, the best she could anyway given that it was now...
A quick look at her watch confirmed the time. 6:17pm. It was end of March, so still dark around this time in the evening. Even with the random flashes of lightning, she still struggled to see what was directly infront of her. Nobody or no thing were in the direct vascinity of her or Jonah, so she continued on her way with the hopes that they were indeed alone and her mind was just playing tricks on her.

She'd become distracted with her own wild thoughts, so much so that she hadn't noticed that Jonah had infact disappeared from their trail.
"Oh shit." She cursed, picking up the pace towards the direction she vaguely remembers him heading in. The thunder and lightning crashed again, illuminating the entire forest for mere seconds. Avila caught sight of a large metal fence up ahead. This was the very same fenced off area Jonah had led her to days before, when the weirdness began. His behaviour then was worrying, but now is completely different. For a moment or two, Avila doubted her own mindset. Had she imagined Jonah altogether? Was he even here? Outside of her window?
Had the events of the day finally taken their toll on her? Was she losing her mind?
Squelching her boots through the sodden mud, Avila marched uphill slightly to meet the edge of the fence. Just as she could remember, the fencing encased the diseased area of Hawkins, the part she can now speak of as the 'Upside Down'. Staring into the sky, she noticed the specks of Ash like material, falling somewhat like snowflakes. Just as Dustin had described. This whole place felt, eery. As she observed from afar, she could make out old buildings, cars, streetlamps, all of which had been encased with large, black vine like plants. It was most certainly like entering an alternate world. She looked around some more, the lightning appeared to strike more regularly up here.
Out of nowhere, a spine tingling voice whispered "Avila...."
Instantly, she spun around to face her stalker. Most surely it was someone messing with her. Following her all the way out here to play games with her mind.
To her sheer panic, there was nobody to be seen.
"Avila..." the voice spoke again, this time, coming from the direction of the Upside Down itself. The other side of the fence. Deep down, Avila knew she should not engage. She shouldn't go in there, especially alone. The sensible thing to do would be to go on home, speak to Robin and Steve. Tell them her troubles and work it out with the rest of the team.
On the other hand, Avila was stood before an opportunity. One she hadn't had before. This was her chance to explore and be independent. Perhaps learn something new. Be a hero. That would show Nancy Wheeler exactly what Avila Buckley is capable of. Not that she wanted Nancy to know she cared.
Taking a deep breath, Avila leant slightly against the metal fencing, to which one side pulled away from the other creating a small opening. Not too small however, as Avila could just fit through. As she passed over to the other side, she felt exhilarated. This was exciting but terrifying at the same time. A feeling she'd never ever had before.
As she wandered down into the side of Hawkins she hadn't had the honour in exploring, she tried to keep her head straight.
Avila looked at everything, every little detail, vine or Ash. Everything and anything she saw tonight could be useful to Dustin and the others. It could even save the world, she thought happily to herself. She passed many houses, abandoned of course. Many destroyed also. Endless vehicles were being devoured by vines and dead plants. Its as though the dead parts of this part of town.... were actually living.
Making her way past an old shop, Avila heard a sudden noise come from inside. Stopping dead in her tracks, she tried to see inside from the sidewalk. After a moment had passed, a large rat suddenly came running out of the opened door. Avila jumped up and down, holding her hand over her mouth, trying her best not to scream. She hated rats. With a passion.
"Jesus Christ." She scolded. Taking another deep breath, she slowly moved inside the building. What was once an old pharmacy was now an empty shell of a building. The shelves appeared to be fully stocked, but again covered in disease and decay. Nothing could survive here for long, she thought. The disease itself made sure of that. Glancing around once again it wasn't long before something peculiar caught Avila's attention.
Right at the back of the store, there were stacks and stacks of books. One on top of another, in a perfect circular shape. Each stack differed in height, but the books themselves remained stable in position. A person had most certainly done this. There was no way a rat had created this...
"Books?" Avila began talking to herself out loud, an easy way of remembering what she saw to inform the others of later. "Lots of books."
She moved closer, upon doing so, noticing one book in particular was placed directly in the centre of the circle.
It was opened on a page flooded with illustrations. Avila struggled to recognise any of them. She figured this story wasn't a classic one from her childhood. Crouching beside the book, she admired its casing and cover. They seemed very old and worn. Delicate to the touch. The pages were torn in some places, stained in others. The text appeared to be handwritten, along with the pictures that were in fact drawings, much like Will Byers. That's what they reminded Avila of.
The sketch in the centre of the pages displayed, looked to be of 3 beings. 3 separate beings. One of which, in the middle was floating, great amounts of power and energy surrounded them. The other two remained at their side, arms out, eyes whiter than snow. Upon first glance it looked to be some sort of ritual. But for what?