afterlife ➳ stranger things [2]

Chapter 9: The Demons Inside All of Us

Nancy walked into the Baltimore police station, noticing Steve and Hopper in the corner. She approached them.

"Nancy this is my friend, Officer Kott," Hopper introduced her to him. "He's helping us track Kali's credit card."

"How's it coming along?" Nancy asked, crossing her arms.

"So far we found records of her at a store downtown, yesterday at ten o'clock." Officer Kott explained.

"Anything else?" Nancy eagerly asked.

"Nothing we can find." Officer Kott answered, shrugging. Nancy nodded, starting to leave.

"Where are you going?" Steve looked up at her.

"I have an aunt here, who would kill me if I didn't say hi." Nancy explained, opening the door and leaving.

Outside was Kali, Cassidy, and Sarah sitting on the bench. Kali had sunglasses on, white Cassidy had a hoodie on, and Sarah was out in the open, still unrecognizable.

"Jeez you think you could be more obvious?" Nancy asked.

"Hopper and Steve haven't seen us," Cassidy sighed. "So we're good."

"Not the point," Kali paused. "Any intel?"

"They're tracking your credit card." Nancy responded, sitting next to Kali on the bench.

"Shit." Kali said under her breath, but loud enough for people to here. A mother and daughter walked by, the mother giving a disgusted face.

"You didn't pay for the hotel with your credit card, right?" Sarah asked.

"Dr. McFee paid for that." Kali explained.

"That's good," Nancy paused. "Can I see your credit card?" Kali nodded, taking out her wallet and handing Nancy her credit card. Nancy, without a doubt, snapped it in half and handed it back to Kali.

"What was that for?" Kali was shocked, holding her 2 piece credit card.

"So you don't use it so they can track it. Merry Christmas." Nancy sighed before heading back into the police station.

Steve took notice. "I thought you had to visit your aunts house."

"I called her, she wasn't home. Any updates?" Nancy asked.

"Nothing so far. She probably hasn't used it sense," Hopper sighed. "We lost our only lead."

"We'll find her." Steve sighed, looking back at the computer.

—

"Erin." Cassidy's voice awoke Erin.

"Hey, what time is it?" Erin groggily sat up.

"Around six, but," Cassidy paused, Erin noticing the sorrow in her eyes. "It's time."

"How do you know?" Erin asked, slowing becoming more alert.

"Will had a seizure this morning," Cassidy looked down as Eleven entered the room. "Kali is in a coma. Sarah is in the hospital, now it's just us three to stop it."

"Shit." Erin got up.

Suddenly, Erin launched up in her bed, now awake. Her breathing was fast as she stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom, trying not to wake Eleven. She looked at herself in the mirror, bags under her eyes. It was night 2 of Hopper, Steve, and Nancy being gone. She turned on the cold water, splashing her face. She looked up at herself, not recognizing the girl in the mirror.

Behind her on the wall, was an arm of black. When Erin turned around, it was gone. She hurried out to the kitchen panicked. She got water from the sink, and before she could drink any of it, she heard ringing in her ear.

Not just subtle ringing, violent ringing. She dropped her cup, water splashing everywhere. She knelt down, grabbing onto her ears. She screamed out in pain, waking up Eleven. Eleven rushed out of her room to find Erin on the floor, on her knees, and plugging her ears.

"Erin?" Eleven rushed over to her side. She carefully removed Erin's arms from her ears. "What's wrong?"

"Something is happening to me." Erin felt the tears begin to fall.

"How many nightmares?" Eleven asked.

"Eight in the last two weeks." Erin explained.

"Have they had a break?" Eleven hesitated.

"No, I-I-I can barely sleep, I can barely get a drink of water without hearing a ringing that's not even real. I cant even go into the bathroom without hallucinating a Demagorgan," Erin paused, looking up to Eleven. "Something is happening to me."

Eleven sighed. "Can you stand?"

Erin nodded, standing up with the help of Eleven. As soon as she stood up, she dropped back down, fainting.

"Erin!" Eleven panicked, rushing to her side.

Erin woke up to Mike holding Eleven on the other side of the room, arguing with Dustin, Max, and Lucas. Will sat next to Erin. Everything was hazy and voices were barely understandable, but as soon as she came to, her senses came back.

"What the hell?" Erin opened her eyes, sitting up.

"You fainted." Will said softly.

"You didn't bother to take me to the hospital?" Erin asked with a disgusted face.

"I called Joyce!" Eleven defended herself.

"How many have you had?" Will asked, turning to her.

"Four this week, not counting nightmares," Erin sighed. "So where is Joyce?"

"She's outside trying to get a hold of Hopper." Lucas explained.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Max asked.

"I thought I could handle it." Erin said, taking the cup next to her and drinking out of it.

"Well obviously you couldn't." Max snapped, getting a glare from Erin.

"How long have you had them?" Will asked, looking over at her.

"The past two weeks," Erin explained. "Including nightmares."

"Usually they stop at a week for me." Will looked up at Mike with a terrified look.

"You've had them?" Max asked.

"Most people do," Will nodded. "I know Kali has."

"I've had them for a week straight," Eleven explained. "It's usually flashbacks though."

"So the one in biology isn't the first one you've had?" Dustin asked, helping her up.

"No," Erin shook her head before turning to Dustin. "I wish I had told you." He held her as she stood up, Dustin understanding.

"Yeah we all wish you had told us." Max shrugged.

"Not what she meant, Max." Mike sighed.

"Not the point," Will rolled his eyes. "What do you see in them?"

"Demagorgans, Demadogs, Dema everything. Usually after nightmares and episodes I hallucinate. Just before I tried going to get water, I hallucinated a demagorgan in the house. The nightmare before that was Cassidy telling me that I," Erin paused, looking at Eleven. "We had to kill it. Everyone was gone, and I think Sarah was in the hospital."

"Sarah was in this?" Will asked.

"Yeah, why?" Erin nodded.

"We've had a premonition about Sarah too." Will stated, exchanging looks with Eleven.

"Looks like someone will be entering our lives soon." Lucas stated, exchanging looks with Max.