Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Lakes

It was pitch black outside by the time they started getting close to their destination. Granted, the days weren't long to begin with, but it still made Annie feel creeped out.

Some time during the journey, Steve and Max migrated over to Annie. Steve knew she wasn't a fan of the dark, so he had an arm around Annie's shoulder to keep her safe and secure. Max was on the other side of Annie, holding her had and wondering where she was in the song.

Dustin tumbled out of the woods first, the rest following right behind. "Something's happening," he said, then hurried forward while everyone else struggled to get through the brush.

"Dustin? Can you slow down?" Eddie tried, breaking out first. "Dustin!"

The rest broke through and Annie just managed to see Eddie having to grab Dustin's hoodie to stop him from tumbling into the water. However, she also would have loved to see that happen. Instead, she slipped her headphones off and thought of what could have been.

They gathered around the lake shore. The obvious answer was the "snack-sized" gate was out there, in the water. "Oh man, you've gotta be shitting me," Steve complained.

"Yeah," Eddie sighed. "I knew these woods looked familiar."

"Lover's Lake," Robin concluded.

"This is... confounding," Dustin said. Leave it to him to use huge words.

Max titled her head. "There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" she asked, super lost.

"How does a gate open in a lake?" Annie added. She didn't know as much about this part of the Upside Down. This was stuff they dealt with back when Will had first been taken.

Luckily, Nancy had answers. "Whenever the Demagorgan attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way."

No one spoke as they thought it over. It was Steve who decided to break the silence. "Yeah, only one way to find out."

Annie definitely didn't like where this was going. Getting on a boat to check out the middle of the lake? In hopes of finding a gate to the Upside Down? Terrible, awful, horrible idea. It made her feel sick.

Eddie led them over to his boat, which he had hidden under a tarp. "All right, let's get this bad boy out on the water, yeah?" Steve asked, looking at Eddie.

The man nodded, dropping the tarp unceremoniously and getting a position to help Steve move the boat. Annie watched in amusement as the two boys bickered, then Robin went right between them to get on the boat.

Eddie went in next, then helped Nancy in. When Dustin tried to go in, he was stopped. "Hey. Hey, hey, you trying to sink us?" Eddie asked.

Annie could immediately tell where this was going. She stopped her music and started walking toward Steve. "No way, what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked.

It felt like she was trying to scold, but Steve heard the tremor in her voice. "Hey," he said softly, taking him and Annie a few steps away, to keep the other's voices in the background. "It's gonna be okay. I seriously don't want to leave you, trust me, but who else is gonna swim to the bottom of the lake?"

Annie let out a shaky breath, knowing he was totally right. None of the others had enough athletic skills to take them to the bottom of Lover's Lake. Steve was the only one who had been doing sports for more than a year. Lucas and Annie weren't quite there yet.

"I know," she whispered, her arms going to wrap around her stomach. "Just... please don't do anything too stupid, okay? I kinda need you around. Plus, I'd rather not give Vecna anything else to feed off of."