𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝, 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦
☼
❘ ❙ ❚ ❚ . .in which he refuses to
admit that he's fallen in love
with a girl no one's ever noticed
or
steve and the girl with scars along
her ski...
𝐽𝐴𝐶𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑁𝐸 𝑊𝐴𝑆 𝑆𝑇𝐴𝑁𝐷𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑂𝑁 her back porch with a cigarette between her lips. Her big sweater hid the shorts she was wearing underneath as it hung off one of her shoulders. Jacqueline's mixed shoes, one brown and one black, paired with bright red hair that hung loosely on her shoulders.
She knew that Steve's party was still going on and the music was turned down. It was actually really quiet out, so much so that she could hear the crickets. All Jacqueline was doing was trying to enjoy the nature, but her life constantly seems to want the opposite for her.
As Jacqueline was twisting her torso a little, slightly cold, but still not going inside, she very suddenly heard a high pitched scream. She looked over at Steve's backyard, since that's where the sound came from. She saw Barbara, who she still didn't understand why was at that party, but she was getting dragged away on the ground. Jacqueline very quickly threw her cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. She immediately ran towards the Harrington house, luckily, they don't have fences separating their yards, and hurried after Barbara.
No one else but Barbara was outside at the party, so no one else but Jacqueline heard Barbara's screaming. Or possibly they did, and didn't care. Jacqueline ran after Barbara, who was still getting dragged along the ground by some large being that Jacqueline couldn't make out because of how dark it was, all she knew was that she wanted to help her friend.
"Jackie, help me!" Barbara screeched, unable to break free. Jacqueline tried to be smart about this, so while she was running, she picked up a branch that had fallen and threw it at the monster. It fell forward and the log did hit Barbara's leg, but she was free. Jacqueline helped her friend to her feet, but when she tried to run, she almost fell again. She held up her friend and helped her stumble away from the monster as fast as they could, but it wasn't quick enough.
The two girls got knocked down by the monster again, but it wasn't the same one. Barbara started to get dragged away again, but so did Jacqueline. She, however, was able to flip on her back, her sweater getting torn from the ground beneath her. Jacqueline grabbed her the lighter that was in her pocket from the cigarette's before and turned it on. Her hand hovered behind it and she used her unique powers to create flamethrower. The monster was engulfed in flames and it screeched in agony.
With this opportunity, Jacqueline broke free and was able to run off. She did responsibly run off because she went to Barbara. Jacqueline's bandages had burned off from her using her powers, but because her hands were still heated up, she was finally able to make a flame in her hand that she threw right at the monster dragging Barbara. Now, with this opening, Jacqueline went to help her friend to her feet again, but before either of them could actually get everywhere, everything turned to black...
The girls had no idea how long it took for them to wake up, but when they did, it was very sudden, like they had jolted awake from a nightmare. Jacqueline got to her feet, stumbling a little, but she got there. Jaqueline took in her surroundings, quite weird surroundings. There were black vines everywhere, ash floating in the air, and it was so insanely dark. They were in Steve Harrington's pool, but it wasn't quite his pool. It was...different.
Jacqueline turned enough to see Barbara, who was struggling to her feet. The bright haired girl helped Barbara up as she questioned, "Barb, are you okay?"
Barbara hissed as soon as their skins touched. Jacqueline's hands were still hot from the fire. She immediately pulled her hands away, getting flashbacks from when she got home from the lab and was having a rough time controlling her abilities. She kept accidentally burning things and people all because she couldn't cool her hands down. "I'm sorry, Barb! I'm so sorry!"
"Oh my god, Jackie, turn around." Barbara wasn't phased by being burned after the fact since there was something much more horrifying. Jacqueline turned around and was met with something only the devil could have created. An extremely tall, gray skinned, skinny man with what looks like talons for hands, and a face that opened up and screeched. This monster immediately lifted its sharp hand to slash Jacqueline, but her instincts saved her there. Jacqueline caught its hand, burning it, and hearing another screech.
When the creature had stumbled back, Jacqueline yelled at her friend, "Barb, run!"
Barbara did not fight that suggestion. She immediately sprinted for the pool ladder so she could escape, but she wasn't too lucky. While Jacqueline had tried to fight off this creature as best she could with the skills she had from the lab, the vines in the pool ended up grabbing her and keeping her movements restricted.
Jacqueline kept quickly burning off the vines, but they moved too quickly. As soon as she got one off her arm, another would appear around her leg. Jacqueline just couldn't seem to escape it, which was so incredibly unfortunate because that forced her to have to watch one of her only friends, Barbara Holland, get mauled to death by this monster.
Jacqueline cried, she screamed for her friend in pain. She wanted to save Barbara, but she couldn't even save herself. That's what it's always been. All Jacqueline ever wants is to help people, but she can't. She loves helping her dad paint, but she's a horrible artist. She likes helping Wesley write his novel, but she's a bad writer. She likes helping Steve with all of his problems, but she never understands them because she doesn't have those problems. Jacqueline so desperately wanted to save her friend, but she couldn't escape.
Jacqueline let out a cry as she saw her friend's lifeless body laying on the floor of the pool. She screamed, letting all of her pain out, but it also made her lose control. Fire emerged from the ground in random lines, completely out of Jacqueline's control, but she was the cause. Jacqueline cried as the monster melted into nothing, it's shrieks of agony slowly dying out.
Jacqueline was trapped in this otherworldly place all because she wanted to help someone. She was able to protect herself, she was the one still alive, but no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she cared, Jacqueline couldn't save people. She was born and trained to be a weapon of mass destruction, that's what Dr. Brenner always wanted, but she could never be a saviour.
