Choices

Vol 1: chapter 20

"All right let's go!" Hopper yells as we all jump up and get into his car. "Seatbelts!" I say as I hop in the front. "You kids okay!" Hopper says getting the car. "Fucking just about." I say and he looks at me. "Why the fuck are you here anyways? Your literally everywhere." He says driving away. "Nancy said you were with her, plus you ran from the cops, that's a felony right there." He says and I laugh. "Is this the kid?" He says looking at el. "Yeah, this is Eleven, El for short." I say and she smiles. None of the other kids want to talk. "How did you find out about her?" I ask and he taps his nose. "Not in-front of the kids." He says and I nod. "How did you?" He asks. "The boys were going in the woods to find Will the day he went missing I ran into them in the road and went with them, she was in the woods." I say. "Oh shit okay." He says as we pull up to my house." Okay El, there's going to be a lot of people in here, there good. " I say and she nods. "Boys go in first." I say as I hang behind with El.

"Are you going to be okay?" I ask her and she nods again. "If you get overwhelmed just tug my arm and I'll get you out of there." I say and she hugs me. "Okay let's go in." I say and we walk in. "Oh Josie! Where the fuck have you been!" Mom says as she hugs me. "Oh my god, I thought you died!" Nancy says running over to me. They all look at eleven. "Is that my dress?" Nancy says and El hides behind me. "Yeah, we raided your closet." I say and she looks annoyed. "Okay do you guys want to know how to get Will back or not?" Mike says and they all nod. "Okay let me explain." He says pulling out a bit of paper. "Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat.
Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea.
And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding.
Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space." Mike starts and Dustin interrupts. "A gate.That we tracked to Hawkins Lab."
"With our compasses." Lucas continues. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field,
and that can change the directions of a compass needle." Hopper says and they nod.

"Is this gate underground?" Mom asks. "Yes." Eleven says. "Near a large water tank?" She continues. "Yes." El says sitting on the floor next to me. "How do you know all that?" Mom asks, stuttering slightly. "She's seen it." Mike says sitting next to her too. "Is there any way that you could-that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—" mom starts and looks to me to finish. "The Upside Down." I say. "Down. Yeah." She says patting my hand. "And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?" Nancy says and El nods. "Okay how do we do this?" Nancy asks. "She needs music, and blackout glasses." I say and they all get up to find the stuff. "Johnathon turn your radio on." I say and he rushes to his room. "Are you sure you can do it? You look tired". I say and she nods. "Yes." She says and I lead her to Johnathon's room. "Fucking hell Johnathon your room stinks." I say and grab an air freshener. "Shut up." He says looking over at Nancy who's laughing. "I got a blindfold!" Dustin says coming in. "Where did you find that?" I ask laughing. "Your moms top drawer in her bedside cabinet." Lucas says. Mom goes bright red and me and Hopper burst out laughing. "Shut up just use it." She says hitting hopper on the shoulder. "This isn't strong enough." El says. "What do you need." I ask. "A bath." She says and mom rushes to the bathroom, hopper following, still laughing. "Bring the smaller radio." I say and mikes grabs it. "Be careful!" Johnathon says taking it off him. "Okay this better?" Mom says running the faucet. "Yes." She says and she gets in the bath. It all goes silent as she puts the blindfold on and lays down. Light start to flicker and static is heard, it goes on for a couple of seconds and it just stops. She gets up and starts crying. "I'm sorry." She says and mom looks upset. "What's wrong what happened?" She stutters. "I can't find them." She says crying.

"It's okay, you just need more energy." I say as she jumps out the bath. "I know what to do." Dustin says running to the phone. "Hey mr Clarke!" He says. "I'm going to dry her off. Tell me when you figure it out." I say leading her into my room. "I'm sorry." She says still crying. "Hey, hey! It's okay!" I say grabbing a towel. "Will." She says rubbing her eyes. "We will find him, don't worry about him right now, worry about you. I don't want you draining your powers completely. Dustin is finding out a way to get you more energy, until then, let's focus on you." I say and she hugs me again. "Hey, you alright." I say drying her tears. "You need new clothes, chose what you like." I say opening my closet.

"You guys done?" Nancy says knocking on the door. "Almost!" I say as I finish rolling her sleeves up. "Pretty." She says looking in my mirror. "Very pretty! Mike won't be able to take his eyes of you!" I say laughing. "Guys we figured it out!" Dustin yells and we exit the room. "Wow, you look-" Mike starts as he comes up to her. "Pretty." He says. "Pretty awesome?" She says. "No just pretty". He says. "Aww looks like Mike has a little crush!" Lucas teases. "Shut up!" He yells as me and Nancy nudge each-other. "Okay let's go!" I say and hopper holds me and Johnathon back. "I don't want you mom anywhere near this." He says. "He's our brother." Johnathon says trying to break past. "You gotta trust me on this." He says looking at me for support. "I've gotta be there for El, plus if you find will, he will want a familiar face." I say running past him. "Fucking Byers." He says as Johnathon pushes past too.