falling for him<3 //steddie//

chapter 54: something's wrong

Steve ~
The phone rings. I walk over to the phone. "Hello?" I say. "STEVE! YOU GOTTA HELP! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH EL!" Max yells. "What-" "EL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Max screams.

"Max, what's going on?" I ask. "EL IS ACTING CRAZY! EL! WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? STOP!" Max exclaims. "WHAT IS SHE DOING?" I ask, frantically. "EL STOP! ST-" Max yells. "Max? MAX? WHAT'S HAPPENING?" I ask. No response.

The line goes dead.

I grab Eddie's keys and run out of the door. I don't even know where they're at. Maybe Hopper and Joyce's cabin? I think Max stays there sometimes. I get in the van and Eddie runs after me. "What's going on?" He asks, getting into to the van.

"I don't know. Max was screaming and then it all went quiet. She said something about El acting crazy." I reply, starting to drive to the cabin. "What? Supergirl El?" Eddie asks.

"Yeah. They probably just had a fight, but I want to make sure they're okay." I respond, wiping some hair out of my face. I park and get out, starting to walk through the woods. Eddie follows me. "Weird." I mumble. "What?" Eddie asks. "The door is open. Come on." I reply, running inside.

I see Max laying on the ground. "Max! What happened? Are you okay?" I ask, sitting down next to her. "That's... That's not El. Her eyes they were.. weird. That wasn't her. She would never hurt me." Max replies.

"Where is El now?" Eddie asks, looking down at Max. "I- I don't know. I woke up a few minutes ago. She threw me against a wall-" "MAX!" Dustin yells, running inside.

The rest of the kids follow him. "Where is she?" Mike asks. "We don't know. Where are Hopper and Joyce?" I ask. "They weren't here when El and I got here. She was acting fine and then I said I was tired so we took a nap together, and she woke up and was acting super weird. Her eyes were like, a pale blue. It wasn't her." Max answers.

"Wait. You said her eyes were pale? Did she say anything?" Dustin asks.

"No, she didn't." Max responds. "Oh god. You know what this means, right?" Dustin asks, looking over at me and Eddie. "He's not dead." I reply. "And, he's got a hold of El." Will adds. "Well, shit." Eddie replies. "How is he not dead?! We've killed him like... a lot!" Lucas exclaims.

"The vines. The vines are a hive mind. So... they would be connected to Vecna. They would have to be. So technically, if we were to somehow, kill the vines, we would kill Vecna." Dustin explains.

"Henderson, come on. The rest of you, try to find El. Walkie us if you find her." I say, grabbing the walkie out of Dustin's hand.

Mike pulls one out of his jacket and nods. "Be safe. Don't do anything stupid." I say, walking out of the door. "Where are we going?" Dustin asks. "We're going to find El. We need to figure out if this is even Vecna." I reply, walking through the woods.

"It is, Steve. Did you not hear Max? The eyes, the mind control. Oh my god. What if it's the mind flayer?" Dustin asks. "JUST LET ME THINK! SHUT UP, HENDERSON. PLEASE." I exclaim.

Eddie ~
"He's just stressed." I whisper. "Yeah." Dustin replies. "If she isn't at Mike's house, then we're gonna have to go to the upside down." Steve says, sighing. "She's probably fine. It's gonna be okay." I assure him, getting into the van. Dustin gets in the back of the van and Steve starts driving.

"Max is right. El wouldn't hurt her on purpose." Steve mumbles. He parks in Mike's driveway and knocks on the door. Dustin and I stay in the van. "She's not here." Dustin says while Steve walks back to the van. "Upside down it is." He says, getting in and driving back to the cabin.

"You still have that lighter?" Steve asks me. "Yeah." I reply. The drive back is completely silent. He parks. "Henderson, walk back and check on the rest of them. We'll be right there." I say. He nods and gets out, shutting the van door. "What?" Steve asks.

"I can't lose you again." I reply.

"Eddie-" "NO DON'T 'EDDIE' ME, BECAUSE I KNOW SOMETHING IS GONNA GO WRONG. I HAVE THIS LIKE... THIS GUT FEELING. I don't think we should do this. I don't think it's gonna turn out good." I say, fidgeting with my rings.

"You're right. But, if there is a small chance that we can get El back, we have to go. We need her. I don't think it's going to turn out how we want it to, either, but we need to try. Promise me that you'll try." Steve responds.

I sigh. "I promise. But no dying. Like, if you die, I will be insanely mad at you." I reply, getting out of the van.

"Same with you, Munson. You better make it out of there in all your pieces." He responds, walking next to me. "You make it sound like we won't be together." I say, nervously laughing. He doesn't respond.

"We will be together, right?" I ask.

"I-I don't know. Let's just figure it out when we get to the gate. If he has El, a gate has to be open. Right?" Steve asks.

"I don't know, man. I was just introduced to this stuff like a year ago." I reply, walking inside of the cabin. He walks in behind me. "We're going to the upside down?" Max asks. "Yeah. Is there in gas in here? Like a gas can or anything?" Steve asks.

"Um... I think so." Max replies, moving some boxes around. She holds a can of gas up and hands it to Steve. "Henderson, if Vecna has El, a gate would be open, right?" Steve asks. "Probably." Dustin responds. We all started walking back to the van. "So how are we doing this?" Lucas asks.

"We'll figure it out when we get there." Steve replies. They all pile into the van and, I grab Steve's hand. "Munson, we need to-" I interrupt him with a kiss. He smiles. "Come on, we need to go." Steve says, getting into the van. I sit down next to him.

A/N: hey readers! go check my conversations/announcements page on my profile, please. it's something very important. i hit 8000 reads! im so happy. thank you all so much. im so glad you all are so interested in my book. it means so much. thanks for reading! much love♥️
words ~ 1114