Breaking Gates

Chapter 4

They were quick to return to the house, Asher not willing to risk her wandering off again and even more desperate to get in touch with the doctor. Owens hadn't talk to them in months, not needing anything as she had not shown any symptoms, not that they really knew what to look for. His niece had passed every test easily, other than nightmares, which they had assured were normal, so why was this happening now? Slight panic shot through him, was Will going through something similar, just too scared to say something?

Ally had been mostly silent, whispering things to herself and overall scared out of her mind. He knew something more than walking away had taken place, he just didn't know how to bring it up. He was far out of his depth; he had been since he saw his first monster. Now, once more, he was forced to watch her battle something he couldn't comprehend. She had bolted to her room, muttering something about drawing. He simply set to changing the lightbulbs, not wanting to smother her.

She wanted to scream in frustration as her pencils flew across her sketch book. She had tried to draw the monster she saw in the councilor's office, and everything she could recall from the upside down, even making multiple sketches of the Demogorgons, yet it didn't stop. It was as though the more she tried to think about it, the more scenes she knew she had never witnessed flooded her brain. From the moment she made that first lead line, she hadn't been able to stop.

"Kiddo? I got us some Chinese, you hungry?" Asher called, softly opening her door all the way. His eyes fell upon the trail of pictures, each one more detail than the next. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, something making him uneasy. Picking one up he looked at it closely.

"Where did you see this?" He asked, alarm rising. From what he knew she had never been to the gate within Hawkins Lab, so how could she have drawn it.

"I didn't, someone else did. I think, that I'm seeing their memories." She tried to explain, her face still buried in her sketch book, hand never stopping.

"Whose memories?" He asked, sitting in front of her.

"The monsters. I think something happened when I found him, now there is this link, and I think it is getting stronger. I can see things, and if I concentrate, I can hear things too. They are like whispers, secrets that he doesn't want me to hear." She whispered; eyes focused on her art.

"Ok, you keep drawing, I will make you a plate and bring it up. Hopefully, we can make sense out of these pictures." Asher offered, slowly getting up and leaving the room. He called everyone he had in his black book, making sure to leave a threatening message for the doctor if he failed to be at his door within the next twenty-four hours.

He sighed, having never planned on calling on his brothers in arms. They had all tried to move on with their lives, but this, whatever was coming, he knew he would need help. He left each one a cryptic message, where only once they were in his home would he disclose details, though he made sure to mention they could end up dying. It was as he hung up the last call that the doorbell rang. Quickly paying for their food and moving it all to the kitchen he rang his hand over his face. He was getting too old for this shit.

"Ally, I brought you your favorites. Do you think you can stop long enough to eat?" He asked, moving to sit next to her. She let out a tired sigh and finally put down the pencil.

"I think I'm done, now we just have to try and figure out of anything makes sense." She stated, not even knowing what it was that she drew. It was like her mind was hijacked, leaving her as nothing more than a tool to draw the memories.

"Eat first, figure out the monsters plan after." Asher ordered. She still needed to change the bandages, and rest, though he couldn't imagine wanting to sleep after whatever happened on her walk.