Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 53: Up to Speed

The group sits out on the front porch of Bill's house, pondering their next steps. The rain had returned, but at least there was no thunder or lightning. The quiet sounds of the rain hitting the roof could be seen as comforting and relaxing to most people, but for them, a heaviness hung in the air. Both groups thought they'd put their unnatural and otherworldly experiences behind them, but that wasn't the case. Both IT and the Demogorgon were skulking around Hawkins and terrorizing people they cared about or themselves. Why couldn't they just be normal?

Bill can never look at his house the same way again. It no longer felt safe but haunted. He also felt an immense amount of guilt not believing his brother when he claimed that there was a monster in his closet... a monster that came from Hawkins and was now tormenting his little brother. All those nights Georgie claimed there was a monster in there and wanted to sleep in his brother's room. He'd never deny that request to his brother ever again. If this creature was as vicious as the others said it was, no one should ever enter that room. It had killed multiple people, including Mike's sister's best friend... but how come there was no portal and if this thing was like an animal, why hadn't it attacked any of them in the house? Why was it bent on scaring Georgie more than anything worse?

"So what happens now?" Max asks, breaking the long silence between all of them.

"I-I'm never going i-in Georgie's room again," Bill emphasizes.

"Not without a shotgun," Dustin adds.

"But there wasn't a... what did you call it? A portal?" Beverly asks.

"Gate," Dustin says, causing Max and Will to roll their eyes in annoyance with his desire to be correct on everything.

"Those things can reseal themselves," Will reminds them. He shuts his eyes as a flashback of him talking to his mom through the rip in between their worlds and being forced to run instead of being rescued.

"But here's the thing, can a gate be that small?" Ben asks.

Dustin and Will pause for a moment. The gate in his house was small and Nancy also found one in the woods that was only big enough for her to fit through.

"I think it can," Dustin says.

"It's the Demogorgon who creates it when it comes through, so I guess it would depend on the size of the Demogorgon," Will suggests.

"But if that's the case, how come there weren't a ton of gates when Dart and his pack of freaks ran through?" Max asks.

Dustin wants to defend Dart as the Demodog had actually helped them before, but he has to keep reminding himself that his pet was a Demogorgon and could have turned on them at any moment. But those Demodogs used tunnels to travel around the town.

"Maybe it's something only a fully grown Demogorgon can do," Dustin says, liking this theory.

"S-So how do we stop it?!" Bill asks sternly, wanting some kind of solution to protect his brother and family. If a Demogorgon is living in their house, they need to find a way to stop it.

El looks at her friends, a realization comes to all of them.

"You can't," she replies.

"W-w-w-what you mean you can't?!" Bill barks.

"There's no telling where the Demogorgon is going to go next. Like any animal, it's unpredictable and has no pattern to its behaviour. It's not like we have a crystal ball to know where it's going to appear next," Dustin states bluntly.

Bill is shaking in anger and frustration. He regrets the minute they stepped foot in Hawkins, from one nightmare to another.

"Unless we figure out why it's coming through your brother's closet," Will says, trying to calm his friend down. "Does it have a reason to be here?"