Billy's gone.
Ruby Buckley's world ended with him.
But Hawkins isn't done with her yet.
When strange deaths begin again, Ruby is pulled into the heart of the storm. Between shadowy nightmares, the town's newest outcast, and someone she was never s...
( songs for the chapter ) nutshell // alice in chains skyfall // adele
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Ruby plunged into oblivion.
Darkness swallowed her whole, pitch-black, infinite, a nothingness so total it seemed to breathe around her, alive in its silence. She couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't even tell which way was up.
She thrashed on instinct, arms and legs flailing against empty air.
"Hello?" Her voice cracked, shredding itself raw as she screamed.
No answer. No echo. Just the sound of her own panic ricocheting inside her skull.
Her stomach dropped further, a free-fall so deep the nausea clawed up her throat. And then the headache that had been simmering all night erupted, a sharp, blinding crack behind her eyes, so violent she felt certain her skull was splitting open. The pain wrenched another scream from her, tears spilling hot down her face.
She fell.
And fell.
And fell.
Just when she became certain this was death, a forever-plummet into endless dark-
She hit the ground.
Hard.
Pain detonated through her. Every bruise shrieked. Every bone. The impact punched the air from her lungs. A piercing ring filled her ears, a high, needling whine that stabbed behind her eyes until she thought she might black out again.
Ruby groaned, clutching one hand over her ear while the other pushed against the ground, trying to lever herself upright. Her breath came in sharp, frantic bursts. The surface beneath her palms was cold and gritty, alive with faint vibrations, as if the earth itself were humming.
Shaking, she managed to get her feet under her.
She hugged herself, arms locked tight around her torso.
She was still in the Upside Down.
But... not the part she knew. Not the forests, or the trailer park, or the neighborhood replicas the others had crossed. This place felt older. Heavier. Wrong in a different way.
She turned slowly, fear tightening every muscle, and then the layout hit her like an unwanted memory.
Starcourt Mall.
But not the Starcourt she remembered, not the neon glow, or the pastel storefronts, or the crowds. This one was grey and gutted. Hollow. Vines crawled over every surface like veins on a corpse, pulsing faintly.
Ruby moved forward on trembling legs, stepping deeper into the central atrium. Her shoes scraped over cracked tiles as she climbed the ruined steps without taking her eyes off the ceiling.
