funny feeling | max mayfield

13. 1,500 pounds of salt

"1,500 POUNDS OF SALT"

<•—•> As the group reached the Byers' house, Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy ran outside.

"Mike? Sam? Oh my god." Nancy rushed towards the two and pulled them into a hug.

"Hey, Nance." Samantha smiled. The three stared at Nancy in confusion as she hugged Mike. She didn't do that often. After she lets go, she starts yelling at them.

"I was so worried about you." She looked between the two, slapping their shoulders.

"Sorry?" Mike and Samantha said questioningly at the same time. Nancy looked at the whole group before staring at Eleven questioningly.

"Is that my dress?" Nancy asked. Samantha held in her laugh as Eleven looked between her and Nancy.

"Come on, let's go inside." She went to Eleven.

"Okay." She agreed. The group quickly went inside and Mike immediately grabbed a piece of paper and explained what Mr. Clarke had told the boys. The others listened intently as Samantha and Eleven ate their Eggos.

"Good," Eleven said with a smile.

"Yeah, good." Samantha agreed with a mouthful of waffles in her mouth. "Thanks, Joyce!" Samantha grinned.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Joyce smiled before looking back at Mike.

"Can I ask you something?" Samantha said suddenly.

"Okay." Eleven nodded.

"Do you think Eleven is your real name?" Samantha asked.

"I don't know," Eleven answered.

"Do you like being called El?"

"Yeah," Eleven answered with a smile. "Pretty."

"Yeah, it is a pretty name." Samantha agreed.

"Sam?" Nancy called.

"Yeah?"

"Didn't you tell us that what we found was a gate?" Nancy questioned.

"Yeah. You guys said it was gooey and weird, right?" Samantha went over to them and Eleven followed with her plate of waffles.

"Yeah." Nancy nodded.

"Wait. You found a gate?" Mike questioned.

"Yeah. But it was in a tree. Not Hawkins Lab." Johnathan answered.

"When the Demogorgon takes its victims, it rips open a gate. How else would it get to The Upside Down?" Samantha explained.

"When I found the gate, the Demo-thingy took a deer," Nancy told the rest of them.

"Demogorgon." Dustin corrected with a cheesy smile.

"We can track the other gate," Lucas says.

"With our compasses," Dustin said with a nod. The others looked at him confused. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction of a compass needle," Dustin explained.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopped questioned.

"Yes." Samantha and Eleven say. "I've seen it. So have you, Hoppy." Samantha said with a look. "Near a water tank? Ring any bells?" Samantha said with a smile.

"Yeah. How do you know this?"

"I saw you in my vision. That looked like a nasty needle." Samantha grinned.

"Yeah. Okay." Hopper shook his head.

"Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him?" Joyce asked shakily. "Either of you?"

"I can't. My visions are random. I can't control them how you want me to." Samantha said with a shake of her head. Eleven just stared at Joyce. "Hey." She whispered nudging Eleven. "Do you think you can do it?" She asked. Eleven looked at her.

"Yes," Eleven said so everyone could hear. Joyce smiled at the girl in appreciation. The group moved to the table and Samantha turned on the radio before changing the channel to static. Eleven sat with a blindfold covering her face and a picture of Will in front of her. A couple of minutes later she sighed and took the blindfold off.

"I'm sorry," Eleven said, defeated.

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce stuttered.

"I can't find him." Eleven's voice cracked and Samantha put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go wash up." Samantha took Eleven's hand and brought her to the bathroom. Eleven turned on the faucet and stared at herself in the mirror as she placed her hands under the cold water. Samantha looked at her with a small smile. Eleven started crying softly and Samantha turned off the faucet and pulled the girl in a hug.

"It's okay, El. You did what you could." Samantha soothed, rubbing her hand on Eleven's back.

"I-I didn't help." Eleven cried.

"No. No. You did. You helped a lot." Samantha pulled away and wiped Eleven's tears. "It's okay," Samantha repeated. Eleven nodded lightly and wiped her tears.

"Okay." She whispered to herself.

"Yeah." Samantha agreed.

"Tub," Eleven said suddenly.

"What?" Samantha questioned and Eleven left the bathroom. "El!" She called out, following behind.

"The bath," Eleven says to Joyce.

"What?" Joyce questions.

"I can find him." The group stares at her. "In the bath." She looks at everyone.

<•—•>

"Uh-huh. Thank you so much, Mr. Clarke. I'll-I'll see you on Monday. Yeah, we'll be careful. Yeah. Bye-bye." Dustin ended the call. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Joyce.

"I think so. Yeah." Joyce looked at Johnathan.

"Yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it." Dustin used his pencil for emphasis.

"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper questioned. Dustin looked at the notes he had taken.

"1,500 pounds." He responded, flicking the pencil against the notebook.

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy scoffed. Samantha exchanged a look with Hopper, a grin on her face.

"Can I-"

"No."

"But I didn't even get to ask!"

"You can't drive, kid."

"How did you..."

"Let's go." Hopper sighed, getting up and leaving the house.

"Shotgun in Jimmy's car!" Samantha yelled, rushing into the passenger seat.

"Oh, great." Hopper groaned.

a/n: i love chapters with hopper and sam content. they make me happy. anyways, hopefully, i'll post on time as i have prewritten this at 8:00 p.m. the day before. yay, i'm posting on time.