Strawberry Cigarettes | Max Mayfield

10. a pool with salt and some goggles

The kids drove with the man, who's name appears to be jim hopper but everyone calls him just hopper, to the byers residence. The tires were screeching against the gravel and after they stopped, three other people that Chris didn't know, got out of the house to meet them.

One of them Chris recognised. It was that girl from the family photo in Mike's living room. His sister. Nancy. "Mike, Oh my god. Mike!" She said and went to hug her brother. Mike seemed confused. He didn't even hug back. "I was so worried about you!" she continued.

The rest of the party and hopper were just awkwardly standing behind them, waiting for them to finish. "Yeah, uh.. me too" Mike stammered out. Nancy looked over to the two new members of the party, Chris and El. Chris just awkwardly gave her a small smile and a wave. "Hello" she managed to blurb out. The taller girl waved back and then turned to El. She squinted her eye sightly. "Is that my dress?" she asked, meaning the with dirt covered, pink dress that El had on.

Chris still had that one light gray sweater and the same pair of jeans she was given days ago. Mike snuck it into the washing machine once, so it really wasn't that dirty. Although the pair of jeans definitely have seen better days.

El just looked at Chris, not knowing what to do. Chris just shrugged and said "would you believe us if we said no?".

Everyone got into the house and Mike started explaining everything. Chris wasn't really listening. She knew all about it already. Instead she looked around the house, like that hole in the wall that was hammered shut with some wooden planks. Or the lights and the alphabet that were drawn and were hanging on the wall. She looked at the multiple burned phones that were just lying around and inspected the broken light bulbs that were thrown onto the floor.

"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." The black haired boy explained. "A gate" Dustin clarified. "That we tracked to Hawkins lab" Lucas added. "With our compasses." 

The adults were looking at them confused. "I know this sounds delusional but just trust me, that actually happened." Chris said, trying to make the situation a bit better.

"Yeah, the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction of a compass needle." Dustin explained. "What he said." Chris said afterwards. "Is the gate underground?" Hopper asked.

"No idea" "Yes" Chris and El said at the same time. Chris then looked at El for a second "Then yes, i guess" she said with an awkward smile. "Near a large water tank?" the man with the beard asked again. "Yes" El nodded. Dustin scrunched up his face in confusion. "How do you know all that?" he stuttered. Hopper just stared at the kids as he did before and kept silent. A slightly stern expression sitting on his face.

Chris raised her eyebrows as a lightbulb went of in her head. "He's seen it" she realises. "Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this--" The older woman, who's name appears to be Joyce, started. "The upside down?" El cut Joyce off. "Down, yeah." She whispered. 

"I can't but El can do it." Chris said to which the girl with the buzzcut nodded. "And my friend Barbara.. can you find her too?" Nancy asked eleven. Eleven just started back at the older wheeler teen.

"A picture" the girl said.

About 5 minutes later, Eleven was sitting at the kitchen table with a photo of Barbara in front of her and a supercomm next to it. Eleven closed her eyes and started searching. She was very focused. The lights above the group started flickering and Eleven was moving her eyes under her eyelids. But suddenly the static sound that filled the room just seconds ago, fainted away and El opened her eyes which were slowly becoming more and more watery. Her lower lip started slightly trembling. Chris grabbed the girls hand for comfort as the other girl started to talk. "I'm sorry" the girl whispered.