Moonstruck - Stranger Things

Fireball|29

W I L L

I don't know how I've survived this long without food or water. It could have been days, it could have been hours. There's no way to track the time wherever I am.

It seems like some sort of cave. I notice rocks and goo and weird plants all around me. And it all seems so familiar. I know exactly why, but I'd rather not think about it.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise drags my thoughts. "W-Who's there," I stutter, attempting to get up but failing. My heart starts to race, and I don't have any idea what kind of monster could have showed up.

I hear footsteps. Coming my way. I don't think I've ever been more terrified in my entire life.
I curl up in the smallest ball I can, trying to hide myself. And then I hear a surprisingly soft voice.

"Will?"

I look up, and relief floods throughout my body when I see the familiar face of Sarah Hopper. "Oh my god," I mumble, and to she takes me into a hug. My whole body immediately starts to feel warmer. I feel safe now, even if I am in the Upside Down. That night at Mike's house, we quickly became friends, and I'm so glad that I know I'm not alone. I just hate that she has to suffer this too. "Where are we?" She asks, pulling away. "I'm not exactly sure, but I think I have some sort of idea," I say. She looks at me for a second, and then she realizes. She gives me a sympathetic look, and I try to get off the subject. "What happened to you?" I ask, noticing a knife in her hand. "We were about to meet up in the tree house. Everyone was waiting for me in the car. I had to tell my dad that we were leaving because I didn't want him to worry, and it was just a couple hours after you disappeared. And then I heard this weird noise, I don't even know how to describe it. I grabbed a knife out of the kitchen and walked into the living room where my dad was. Only he wasn't there. I looked everywhere, the bedroom, outside, he was nowhere. And then I went to the bathroom and found him asleep in the tub. I shook him and told him where I was going, and he nodded his head. Then when I was walking out, I saw this weird slug thing. All I remember is passing out, and then nothing."

"Did you say a 'slug'?" I ask, feeling my heart rate going up again. "Yeah, that's the last thing I saw."

I start to think about the slugs that I puked up before. One was in the upside down, six more in the real world. I explain to her what happened in more detail, about the slugs and everything. And by the time I'm done, we're both terrified. "What do you think is going to happen?" She asks, shaking. "I have no idea, but whatever it is, it's all my fault."

M I K E

WE'RE ALONE.
They're all gone.
Will, Sarah, Gracie, Lucas, Max, then Dustin. The more they disappeared, the more unstable we all got. Especially Dustin, I never knew someone could change so much over the course of five days. Well, I guess you could say the same about me.

My eyes stay open, even though they want to close. Sleep is like a gift now, a rare gift that you get from you aunt every once in a while. And until things get better, that sleep will never come.

El sleeps in my arms, her steady breaths causing her chest to rise and fall. Since she became some sort of part-time human vessel for that thing that's taking our friends, we've started to drift further apart. Seeing her smile would be more rare than a blue moon. And for some reason, she won't talk. Even though she didn't have much vocabulary, she would talk to me about the world or her dreams or the stars. Before she fell asleep, she would ask me about the strange things she had seen earlier in the day, about what happened when I wasn't by her side. And now, she doesn't say a word. I think that thing- whatever it is- has done something to her. I think it's trying to turn her mind into some dark inescapable void. I'm probably overthinking this, but it's definitely a possibility. It could just be because our friends are disappearing and she's sad, but I have a feeling that it's so much more.