I Notice

Chapter 10: Gate

None of this is making sense. I'm trying to find him? I don't want anything to do with him. Why would I go out of my way to do this?

"Dustin I'm confused. How could I be looking for him?" I ask very confused.

Dustin looks up to me. "I don't know Astrin but your doing it." He responded.

"I'm not going out of my way to do this. That would be-"

"Crazy." Dustin said. "Maybe that's what he wants. He somehow made your brain look for him to make you think your crazy. He's doing this."

My own fucking body is working against me. Holy shit.

"How do we fix it." I ask

"We keep someone on watch. To make sure you don't go there. If they see you there they wake you up." Dustin says.

"What if they can't wake me up?" I ask.

"Music. But I think we will be able to. If it's not him putting you there and it's you then you can pull yourself out." Dustin says.

I look to Eddie. He is clearly worried. I am too.

"When I got to shore I tried calling you guys, but, uh, My walkie was busted man" Eddie said trying to change the subject.

It failed to make me stop thinking of how my own body is against me.

" So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran." Eddie chuckled.

Poor boy.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie said pulling out his watch.

"9:27." Nancy said looking at the watch.

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey. Which means what, exactly?"

"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick."

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks. And where he attacks from. So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart. If he has a heart." Robin said.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve said confused.

"It was a metaphor." Robin responded.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked.

"I say we chop his head off." Max added.

All of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the Upside Down." Nancy said

I don't know why they bother coming up with ideas. In the end it's going to be me. Unless El somehow helps. Which I think is actually impossible. There's just so much right now I need time to think.

"Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"Eddie asked looking over to Dustin.

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."Steve responded.

"Boom! Bada... bada... boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north." Dustin said to Steve.

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve said all pissed and shit.

"Mm-hmm." Dustin said.

"This is Skull Rock. Okay? Mm-hmm. You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now." Steve said still pissed.

"Yes. And no." Dustin responded.

What is this kid on my gosh.

"Oh my God."

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. Correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin said.

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve said trying to do anything he can to prove Dustin wrong.

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?"

"An electromagnetic field." Lucas said.

Shit. Gate.

"Yep. Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin said causing me to chuckle.

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or... There's a gate." Dustin said. Boy he's smart.

"But we're nowhere near the lab."

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful. Snack-size gate."

"How? Why?"

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Dustin said.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods." Steve said as we walked off.

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie.What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin said looking to Eddie.

" I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... The Shire is burning. So Mordor it is." Eddie said.

Mordor?

"What is Mordor?" Steve asked.

We began to walk. and walk. and walk. We continued to follow Dustin's compass.

"Something's happening. Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?"

"I think we're getting close. Watch your step, big guy."

"Oh man. You gotta be sh¡tting me." Steve said. As we all looked out to a lake. Lovers Lake?

"Yeah."

"I thought these woods were familiar." I said.

"Lover's Lake." Robin said.

"This is confounding. There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Dustin asked.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way."I said.

"Yeah, only one way to find out."

Me, Robin, Eddie and Nancy got on the boat.

"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" Eddie said as Dustin tried to get on the boat

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble. You keep an eye out." Nancy said to Dustin.

"It's my goddamn theory." Dustin said pissed off.

"You heard Nance." Robin said to him.

"Who put her in charge?" Dustin said hella pissed.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos. Miss you already!" Robin said as we started to move awake from them.

This shits scary.