Moonstruck - Stranger Things

Danger|28

D U S T I N

"Come on guys," I urge, as we all make our way to the tree house in Gracie's back yard. This was supposed to be for us and us only, a place that we hung out, had tickle fights, ate chocolate pudding, and even had the longest conversations. I guess that's over now. We climb up the ladder, into the tree house hat stands at about 30 feet in the air. "Woah dude, when did you build this?" Mike says, tired from heaving a half asleep El up the ladder. At least he's strong enough to carry her now. "Just a couple months ago, Gracie says, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor. I remember that night crystal clear. It was one of the best nights of my life.

"You know what, Dusty? You're my best friend." She calmly says the moon light shining on her winter fire, january ember hair. "You know what, gingerbread? You're my soulmate," I say, putting my arm around her shoulder. I see her faint smile that she tries to hide by subtly biting her lip, and it makes my heart flutter. We're going to build a tree house, a place for me and her. A place where her mom won't walk in on us laughing our butts off over something hilariously stupid. A place where we will be young, and nobody will stop us.

Before I know it, I'm walking into the supply store. "Hey kiddos," I hear from the young man at the register. "What are you too youngsters doing here this late?"

"Oh, just getting some wood for our tree house," Gracie says in a fake innocent voice. I try my best to hold in a chuckle. "Aw, how sweet," the young man laughs, and we continue look for supplies. We end up getting a hammer, nails, parts for a ladder, and a billion planks of wood. We have the rest of the essential stuff like saws at her house. We also get a dolly to help carry all of the stuff. By the time the cashier rings all the stuff up, the price comes to an even 120 dollars. My face goes red as I realize I only brought twenty. "I got this," Gracie whispers, grabbing the twenty dollar bill out of my hands. In an instant, she somehow folds it making it look like multiple bills. She nods for me to start walking and I make my way towards the door with the whole cart. I look back at her as she places a hand on her lay chin, the other one slamming the money on the table. "There ya go, sweetie," she says in a weird deeper voice that I've never heard before, and I almost start screeching with laughter.

"Keep the change," she says, quickly walking away and pushing me out the door. We here distant yelling from the cashier, making us run faster and laugh harder. We finally make it back to her house, us both out of breath. "That was some funny stuff back there gingerbread," I laugh, and she does the same. "Now let's build us a tree house."

We don't sleep at all that night. We work until he sun rises, and we watch it together through the tree house window. And that's when she places a soft kiss against my lips, giving me a feeling I've never had before. I'll never forget this night.

"You remember that night?" Gracie asks me, pulling me out of my daze.

"How could I ever forget?" I ask, and she smiles. It's a soft smile, one that temporarily pulls her out of the scariness and stress of the moment.

"Do you guys know what happened to that view finder?" Mike asks. "Yeah, I got it right here in my back pack," I say, handing it to him. I carefully watch as he flips through it, his expressions becoming more and more terrified. He shakily brings it down from his face and hands it to El, sweat dripping off his forehead. Her reaction is the same, although she seems even more terrified. "Why was I-" he starts, but he doesn't finish. I think I know what he was going to say, and I understand why he would be so scared. "I don't know," I say, "but we need to find a way to stop this." After Max looks through it, we all sit in a circle and try to think of something.

"Okay, since it actually shows who's going to be taken, why don't we just watch that person? Make sure no slugs get to them. And if we see a slug, we kill it," Max says, and the room is filled with some nods and some disagreements. "No, because the moment we look away, that person could be taken. It happened to Will in a split second. Who is supposed to be taken next, anyways?" Lucas asks. "You were," I see, and his face drops. I see him trying to hide the fact that he's scared. I guess I like to read people.

"Well, El's getting possessed by some demon. It's been in my mind too, I recognize the voice. Why don't we wait for it to come back, interrogate it, and try to get some information on it. There's a source to everything. If we find out what monster is taking our friends, we can kill the son of a gun," Mike says, and the room goes silent with thoughts. "Not a bad id-" I start, but I'm cut off by Lucas. "Wait, does El have some sort of connection to this thing?" He asks, and all eyes turn to her. "I think we forgot that she has super powers here." She looks around, her hands playing with her shoulder-length hair.

"Guys, we can't just use her like that," mike says, grabbing her hand. "Why not?" Lucas retorts. "Our friends are disappearing, and she might be our only hope. You have to start thinking of the many instead of the one. So what if she gets a little tired."

Mike doesn't say anything, he just looks at El. "Could you connect with it?" He asks in a soft voice. "I-I could try," she mumbles, looking down at her crossed legs.

After a few minutes, we figure everything out. Mike and Max are watching El as she tries to contact the monster that took Will and Sarah, While Gracie and I are carefully watching Lucas and making sure nothing happens to him. Luckily, the sun is coming out, so light is beginning to shine through the window. At least we know it won't be so dark that we won't be able to see if anything tries to take Lucas. Across the room, I hear the voice speaking through El once again.

"You've summoned me? I didn't even have to come myself. Oh, and I see you have a plan, too. Well, if you do not know what I am, I am the soul of the thing you call a 'thesselhydra'. I am not real, only in your heads, yet I am still here. As soon as I can find a way to get my vessel out of the shadow world, I am coming. Anyways, I've heard all about your idiotic plan. You may want to check that little view finder of yours again. Oh, and may I mention, I am the infamous photographer that gave you those magnificent photos."

"You're sick," Max spits, and I get behind Lucas so I can watch him and the others at the same time. Max picks up the view finder, flipping through it. I watch as her eyebrows furrow, and she gasps.

"You see," the voice says, "I am powerful. I can manipulate you, deceive you, make your lives a living hell. I can change the track of time, turn night into day. And I will make sure that I will do whatever it takes to ruin you."

"Why us?" Mike asks in a cold, stern voice.
"Guys," Max quietly says.
"Oh, you don't understand, do you?" The voice says.
"Guys," she repeats, louder.
"You should have asked your friend Will, well, before my slaves took him."
"Guys!" Max yells.
"I can change anything I want to, and you might want to take the time to put your attention somewhere else," the voice says. I see El's eyes close as she passes out again.
"Gracie!" Max screams running towards us.
Only it isn't us anymore.
"The pictures," max says. "That thing changed the pictures. After Sarah disappeared, it was Gracie, not Lucas. We don't know what it could change next. We don't know who is safe anymore."
"None of us are safe," Mike says, trailing his hand over El's cheek and looking back at us.
"We never will be."

-

OKAY WHAT AM I DOING IM HIGH THIS STORY IS GETTING WEIRD AS FRICK
ALSO TWO UPDATES IN ONE NIGHT IM WYLDE
tbh I want to end this book it is physically painful to write this BUT ANYWAYS WHO CARES RIGHT
I AM WRITING FILLIE AFTER THIS IDC WHO JUDGES ITS GOING TO BE AMAZING DONT FITE ME OR COME AT ME IM REDDIE
THIS WILL ALL BE OVER SOON DONT WORRY BABY CHILDS

Lauren