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THE AIR WAS MURKY, an unsaturated blue tint coaxing the moonlight that emerged from seemingly no where, not a celestial being in sight as the sky was filled with pure black, an endless void of nothingness.
The leaves that once crushed beneath her feet now emitted a nauseating squelch as the blonde clambered to a full stand, leaving a red handprint on her knee where she used it for support.
Heaving and bent over her torn up legs, Valentina desperately tried to catch her breath before suddenly remembering the reason she'd just crawled through the depths of Hell.
She turned to face the mysterious tunnel she's just crawled through, coming face-to-face with the normalcy of one of the wide trees that scattered among the forest. Only, this one inhabited a gaping hole, waxed in gray sludge and a fiery light burning dimly from within. It'd seemed completely dark when the girl entered through it, which only added to the confusion that clouded Valentina's brain.
Backing up from the eerie hole that called to her like it had her name displayed in big bold letters above it, she spun around to face the replica of her own world again.
It felt like a dark and twisted version of Hawkins, adorned with floating particles and air so thick she felt like she was suffocating while breathing it in, filling her lungs with the unnatural sludge that covered her body, the trees, and the leaves beneath her.
Walking through the woods—that felt so familiar, yet she had never seen before—a feeling of Deja Vu fell over her as she subconsciously made her way through the regular path her and Steve used to walk behind his house.
A path she hadn't walked in a long time—mentally and physically.
Her blue eyes crossed over every inch of the parallel universe, recognizing the woods that she'd spent years exploring with Steve.
She came across a familiar tree with a large dent in the bark just above the base of the trunk, and her lips parted with a gasp before running off in the direction she'd memorized about eight years ago, yet repeated the same movements of her childhood's body like she'd done it everyday since.
Her feet carried her over the wet leaves until she reached a tree she hadn't been to in years—or ever in this reality—planting a painted hand on the wood where an inscription had been engraved into the bark with the dull blade of one of Steve's dad's blades.
"SteVee - 1975."
It stared back at the girl, whose eyes glistened in a bundle of emotions. Reminders of when her and Steve had decided to carve the year their friendship was born played in her mind, like a movie on the big screen rather than a memory.
She was watching it, not living it. Like this memory no longer belonged to her—to them.
Unfortunately or fortunately, that viewing was interrupted by a low grumble from nearby, startling the blonde. Valentina jumped backward, looking in every which direction but the sound felt like it was swarming from everywhere all at once.
