Bloody Negatives {Stranger things}

Chapter Forty-Two

《Chapter Forty-Two》
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Quite frankly, everything was going wrong. There was no other way to phrase it.

It had all gone to shit, and Tally didn't know how to deal with it.

His friends—was he allowed to call them that?—were in trouble, and he didn't know how to do anything other than stand there uselessly.

He felt the vile vines begin to creep their way up his own body, so he kicked out frantically, yelping in pain as his ankle twisted in an unnatural direction.

It felt like his spine shattered as he was dragged onto his back, pressed against the floor, yelling and kicking like a maniac.

Tally squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He wasn't quite willing the situation to go away, but he wasn't not doing that.

He could fix this. He knew he could. What was the point of having superpowers if he couldn't use them?

He would fix this.

Tally's head was fuzzy as he counted. To five. Then four. Then three. Then two. Then one.

He'd have to remember to thank Ms. Kelley for that later. Well, he'd have to remember to thank her if he managed to survive this.

Tally refused to open his eyes until the noise around him stopped. He'd been expecting to see El. And he supposed, it was El. Just a different version of her. The same El he'd seen banish Henry Creel into the Upside Down.

Young El, who had such a resentful face even though she couldn't have been older than eight.

He stared at her. She wasn't talking. Or moving. Barely even seemed to breathing, actually.

Tally walked in a slow, wide circle around her. Studying everything.

Her pale hospital gown, that hung off her body like it was five sizes too big.

Her narrowed, unblinking eyes that seemed to only have one purpose in the world.

The hint of a nosebleed beginning to make it's way onto her upper lip.

The empty dark void around them didn't show anything. Nothing about where they were, or how Tally managed to get himself there when his intentions had been very clear in his head.

Anxiously. He waved his hand in front of her face.

He wasn't quite sure what the time ratio between the Upside Down and Void was, but he knew he was running out of time to save his friends. He needed help.

She didn't do anything at first, so he tried again, extending his hand out right in front of her eyes. If she was really there, there'd be no way she could miss it.

He began to pull back when the girl's hand clamped around his wrist firmly. Painfully, to be honest.

Tally cried out in pain, for some reason believing that would make her let him go, though of course, she only tightened her grip.

Young El didn't speak. She just tilted her head to stare at Tally. Her expression was worth more than a thousand words.

"I don't know what I'm doing," Tally eventually sighed. She didn't seem to be able to talk, but maybe she could hear, at least.

She nodded the slightest bit, as if in agreement.

Tally smiled. "I need help."

Young El didn't respond, she turned her head back to face away from the older boy, letting go of his wrist. Re-entering the pose she'd been in when he found her.

Then, with no warning whatsoever, a crippling headache sent Tally tumbling to the ground.

He felt the mysterious water floor of the Void soak the knees of his ratty old jeans, and make his palms slick with wetness.

He felt like his head was being torn in half with a meat cleaver. He tried to shout, but no sound came out.

His nose grew thick with the scent of blood as he felt the hot liquid begin to pour out onto his lips—and teeth, after he attempted to yell a few more times.

Admittedly, it was difficult to see anything, though he could make out Young El, who just stood there, watching him writhe around in pain.

His entire body was engulfed with a strong feeling of hatred.

He squeezed his eyes shut once again, trying to fight off the increasingly intense feeling of his impending doom.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back at Creel House, in the Upside Down, surrounded by the homicidal vines curling around the room.

Tally's head couldn't even register what he was doing as he watched the vines slowly fall to the ground, one by one, looking almost... dead. The vines then slowly began to slither across the ground, though this time away from the group. Like they were retreating.

He breathed in and out heavily, still not quite sure if what he'd experienced was real.

"Was that you?" Robin asked him, coughing in between words, rubbing the pain out of her throat.

Tally shook his head for a brief moment. Of course, he'd helped, but there'd been a presence with him. The presence of someone.

Tally felt his face crack into a wide grin. "Eleven," he stated firmly and confidently. "She's back."

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