𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞 | steve harrington

015| morse code

❂❂❂

THEY DROVE TO WHAT BRIAR LEARNT TO BE the Byers' residence. Will Byers was unconscious, dressed in some hospital gown. Briar didn't know what was wrong with him, she'd heard whispering of him being possessed. Whatever it was connected to this upside down thing that Dustin had started to explain. Briar's head hurt just thinking about it.

The others walked to the kitchen to give the Byers some room as Hopper tried calling some reinforcement from the army. He was yelling angrily into the phone which suggested that whoever was on the other end wasn't actually listening.

Briar was sat up on the counter, glad to finally get a sense of peace. Her hair was messed up and her hands had dirt in her perfectly painted fingernails. Her face was red with crying, she felt pathetic in this group of people who had definitely faced something like this before but she didn't know what else to do. From what she caught, the lab was tied to everything she'd leant to forget. Will Byers' disappearance and the death of Barbara Holland.

Nothing made sense the way that it once had, she felt nervous and on edge the entire time. The Byers house didn't exactly help. Although it held the skeleton of a home with warm lighting, floral cushions and fridge magnets, there were these drawings placed together and filled with furious scribbles. Together they connected into weird vines that stretched over the walls and doors and table. It was strange to stare at.

Steve came into the room after Hopper had angrily slammed down the phone. Everyone seemed dejected, someone had died but Briar didn't know him. All she was aware of was that Joyce Byers had disappeared into a room somewhere, that she had loved him. The atmosphere was depressing, she sat very still and scared she was imposing. That was until Steve stood beside her, his hand on top of hers. He found a way to wind their fingers together against the counter as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"When this is over" Briar asked softly, "can we watch the shining?"

"If you still want to, yeah" Steve nodded and Briar pressed her forehead into his shoulder. They stayed rather still, she wanted to hold him again. Briar wanted to be anywhere else, in another day of her life, to escape monsters and lab experiments. But she had Steve, that made all the difference.

"Do you know that Bob was the original founder of the Hawkins av?" Mike Wheeler asked as he walked into the room. Briar guessed Bob was the man who had died. Mike looked dejected, the three kids turned their attention to him and Briar raised her head from Steve's shoulder.

"Really?"

"He petitioned the school to start it and everything" Mike nodded, "then he had a fund raiser for the equipment. Mr Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah" the kids agreed.

"We can't let him die in vain" Mike spoke simply.

"What do you want to do Mike?" Dustin sounded bitter, "the chiefs right on this, we can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own"

"Demo-dogs?" Max raised her eyebrows.

"Demogorgon... dogs" Dustin said simply, "demo-dogs. It's like a compound. Like a play on words or something—"

"Okay" Max interrupted, looking as though she wished she'd never asked.

"I mean when it was just Dart, maybe" Dustin shrugged,

"But there's an army now" Lucas added.

"Precisely"

"His army" Mike said quickly, Steve rose from the counter slowly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"His army" Mike said again, "maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too"