𝐈 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭 (𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯)

18: Thought We Lost You.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
𝐘/𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

As Max and I ran hand in hand towards the small patch of red sky that had opened up and cleared away to reveal our friends around the grave plot, like we were somewhere far off in our own heads, the music of (fav song) played loudly, beating in my ears.

I scrambled, panting towards the seeming exit just as a piece of dark maroon cement smashed down between Max and I, forcefully pushing our interlocked hands apart. I let out a yell as it scraped against my wrist and palm.

We made connection again and held each other the entire sprint to the opening, only letting go once we arrived, out of breath and in a frenzy.

"We jump on three!" Max nodded at me, preparing herself for the insane task.

And so, we launched ourselves through the stormy hole and proceeded to crash down back onto the grave plot unannounced, the shouting of our friends coming back into our ears ringing.

The three boys made an attempted grab at us, arms thrashing the air as Max and I fell painfully onto our backs.

Max started hyperventilating and backed up into Lucas's arms, gasping and grabbing at him while he tumbled over words.

"I thought we lost you, Max, I'm right here." He comforted her.

Tears I didn't know were there pooled my waterline as I tried to steady my breathing, shaking in Dustin's arms.

"I've got you, I'm right here, y/n, I've got you." He whispered in my ear, placing me in his lap with his big arms around me as I started to cry.

Steve stood back, shaken up and worried. He let the four of us have our moments before yanking me from Dustin and squeezing my shoulders as he looked me in the eye.

"You okay?" He scanned my face out of habit, searching for the answer.

I pulled him into a hug, more tears trickling down his shirt. I nodded into his shoulder.

"I'm okay." I said faintly, letting go and sitting back in my place in Dustin's lap.

Steve checked over Max before I got up and threw myself at Max in a hug.

"We're still here..." she trembled in my embrace. "We're still here, y/n."

I nodded my head into her, letting her know I understood.

"Shit." Steve let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

Without another word, we all stood up and walked in silence to Steve's awaiting car.

The rest of the day became a blur, we drove into town again and got some snacks, and ended up back at the Wheeler's by the end of the day.

Mrs. Wheeler made us meatloaf and potatoes but I couldn't stomach anything that night. My mind had become a slave to the events from earlier, running over every part of the upside down I had experienced.

I was so restless that Nancy suggested Dustin watch me at night to try and get some sleep and to perhaps make sure I didn't wander the house all night.

Max wandered and chatted with Mrs. Wheeler for the hours she was up, but I stayed in the pullout bed with Dustin that Mike had bought from a garage sale back in 9th grade when the party got bigger.

We talked all night, mostly about nothing and rarely about Vecna. I dozed off in his arms long after he had fallen asleep, the sound of his soft small snores the only comfort around me in all the dark.

Word count: 635!!;)