STITCHES - S. HARRINGTON

06

the flayed

♛

It had been an hour and a half since Scarlett's strange near-death experience and their fall, and to say the group was confused would be an understatement. Scarlett sat against the wall beside Ben, in the room they had remained trapped in for the past hours. "It doesn't make sense. Was it the fall?" Ben was trying to figure out the reason she'd choked. There really was no logical explanation.

Then again, nothings logical in Hawkins.

"I don't think it's supposed to make sense. I mean, we're sitting in a room that literally plummeted thirty million feet into the ground!" Robin voiced, a sudden thought coming into her head. "What if the Russians have something to do with this?"

Dustin pointed at her, her statement sparking something in him as he turned to where Scarlett sat. "What if.. the Russians have some sort of connection to the Upside Down, and maybe you're like, linked in? I mean, in D&D, once you enter the shadow realm you never escape." He whispered to her.

"Wow, Dustin. Thank you so much for that. That makes me feel better." She groaned, sarcasm laced in her voice. "Can we just.. get out of here? Then we can figure out whatever just happened." She stands up, Ben's hands immediately shooting out to stabilize her just in case.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin chirped, now noticing everyone had now caught their breath, and the room was no longer moving.

"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know Russians can't design elevators!" Steve yelled and he stomped over to the door, swinging open the metal cover that concealed the gadgets.

"Just press the damn button." Erica demanded of Steve and Dustin, who stood continuously pressing the open door button.

"Why don't you press it one more time?" Scarlett teased sarcastically, placing a hand on her hip as Steve shot her a glare.

"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work." Robin stopped the boy from breaking anything.

"They're buttons. They have to do something." Steve stressed, running a hand through his hair as he pressed the button once again, expecting something to occur, but nothing did.

"Yeah, if we had a keycard!"

"A what?" Steve had no clue what Robin had just said, he just wanted to get out of the tiny, dense room he felt like they were going to die in.

"It's an electronic lock," Robin explained, approaching him. "Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard it won't operate, meaning-"

"We're stuck in here." Scarlett groaned, slumping back down on the wall next to Ben. "Why does everything bad happen to us?" She complained, throwing her hands up in the air.

Erica's sass had now fully returned, "Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's. And Tina always covers for me. But if we're not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow, and my mom finds out you five are responsible, especially you Scarlett,  she's gonna hunt you down one by one and slit your throat."

"Shit." Scarlett put her head in her hands, moving to rub her temples. "I'm really not trying to get disowned.. again." Scarlett whispered to Ben, who pat her shoulder comfortingly.