𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 | stranger things
Marleen thought that maybe after fighting an interdimensional monster everything would've come back to normal. And it did, at least for a year.
Then another monster decided to take a liking...
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chapter twenty, infiltrating a russian bunker? sure!
MARLEEN DIDN'T KNOW how long had passed since the elevator fell down. It could've been a couple of hours or even five, Marleen didn't know. All she knew was that Dean must be worried sick about her.
At some point in the night, the older teens had huddled up to try to find a way to open the door. As usual, Steve had proposed brute force, idea that was scrapped due to the noise it would make; Marleen proposed to wait until the elevator went back up and hide, again scrapped since they didn't even know if it was going to go up; Robin, on the other hand, proposed to just wait and hide, scrapped since it wasn't a solid plan. In conclusion, they were back to the starting point. Trapped.
Marleen quickly left the huddle, opting to hide in between two shelves while Steve and Robin continued to find a solution. She needed a moment to herself, another one. The situation was crushing her, she had never felt this lost before- even the last couple of years with the Upside Down stuff, she had her brother and Jonathan close to fall back on, and the comfort that was having El or Hopper and Joyce to fix the rest. Stuff like liking Steve and being jealous (because yes, she was, she can accept that) of Robin, or even her failing friendship with Jonathan, felt completely juvenile and stupid compared to her problems at that moment. Oh, how she wished for simple problems like those and not Russians, secret codes and death elevators. If only.
Suddenly, she started to feel restless, even more than before, her heart was beating itself out of her chest, she felt hot and cold at the same time, hands shaking and breath shaky. She was freaking out. The walls seemed to close in on her and the air seemed to disappear, unable to breath deeply.
Through her blurry sight, Marleen suddenly saw Steve's worried face. She could feel a warmth on her face, it took her a minute to recognize those as Steve's hands. It took her another second to realize Steve was whispering something to her.
"Hey, Lee," It's the first thing she heard as she focused on him. "It's okay, breathe. C'mon, you can do it. Follow my breathing..." He stopped. "Wait, no, don't. I'm also freaking out. Okay, Lee, breath slowly."
Marleen looked around, it seemed that Steve had been the only one that realized Marleen's panic as Erica and Robin appeared to be sleeping and Dustin was looking around the boxes. As Steve continued his whispered ramble, Marleen started to calm down bit by bit. The pressure on her cheeks and Steve's legs brushing her own, as well as the older teen's rambling, calmed Marleen as quickly as it was possible, in those circumstances.
"Okay," She whispered. "I'm okay. Sorry."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," Marleen nodded, then shook her head. "No... I don't know." She groaned.
