How to escape your imagination

Chapter 15

"Where are you taking us?"  I ask, following Dustin through winding paths of his garden.  

"You'll see."

We finally reach a set of double doors on the ground and Dustin yanks them open with much effort.  

He gestures that I should go down into the sketchy dark entryway and I shake my head.

"Not happening."  I say crossing my arms.

Max pushes in front of me and practically hops down the stairs, El close behind her.

"Babies..."  She mutters.

"Dustin I swear if there's--"  I pause as a low growl can be distinctly heard from below.

Max stops before the bottom stair, and El collides with her back.

"What was that...?"  She asks looking up at Dustin.

But he doesn't look scared at all, and neither does Will, which is weird for his squirrelly personality.

"What aren't you telling us?"  I ask firmly using my height to my advantage over the stumpy teen.

"I have a pet Demogorgon."  He says simply.  He walks in front of me and down the steps.

"Where are you Dart?"  He calls.

A creature comes running forward toward him and jumps up, making affectionate gestures.

"What the hell--"  I begin.

"I found him...before--I mean..."  Dustin stumbles through the sentence, and Will steps forward.

"Dart used to be a Demogorgon back when El had to close the gate and stuff."  He starts.

"And, we found him again when we were in the forest, just Dustin and I."  

Mike's eyes widen slightly.  "I can't believe you kept this from us, Jonathan can get out now!"

Dustin throws his arms against the doorway, kind of dramatically and glares at the five of us.

"You are NOT killing him!"  Dustin throws a hand across it's back, bringing it off gingerly as slime protrudes between his fingers.

"Uh Dustin...?"  Max says walking backwards up the staircase, El moving behind her.

"What?"  He says wiping his hand on the wall.  "What is it?"

"There's more."  Is all she says.

Dustin slowly turns around, 'Dart' beginning to growl.

Three carbon copies of Dart are prowling out of the darkness of the basement, and they are coming right for Dustin.

"That isn't Dart."  El says quietly.  Dart's face opens up and runs towards his...friends?"

"Dustin, Dart died."  Mike says, starting to slowly go down the stairs his arm outstretched for Dustin to grab.

"Help..."  He whimpers walking backwards a little too quickly.  The Demogorgons spring forward, their jaws/faces snapping at Dustin.  

He sprints towards the stairs, and grips Mike's hand as they both jump up the stairs.  We all lean on the trapdoor to keep them down, but it's no use.  The large creatures push hard against the door and it explodes open, flinging us backwards.  

The Demogorgons spring forward, nearing closer to us as we crawl backwards towards the forest.  

I am just about ready to sacrifice another life, when all of a sudden a young man runs out of the forest.  If the situation wasn't already as weird as it was, I would've been worried that he was a serial killer.  

"Steve!"  Mike yells in joy.

He smiles and jumps forward, swinging a baseball bat covered in nails around the mass of Demogorgons.

Soon after the event, there are four of the creatures lying limp on the ground.  Multiple of them are still alive, which leads me to believe that a baseball bat covered nails is a simple, yet effective weapon.

"Steve, what are you doing here!"  Dustin yells at the boy wrapping his arms around him in an awkward guy hug.

"I came to find Nancy, but she wasn't at your house."  He says gesturing at Mike.

"So I came here, thinking maybe she was with Jonathan."

"I wasn't with her."  I say confused.

"Other Jonathan."  Max whispers.

"Where's Lucas?"  Steve asks scanning the group.

"He couldn't come, he had to babysit his sister."

"Oh."

Steve pauses to look at me.  "Who's this guy?"  He asks shoving a thumb in my direction.

"I'm Jonathan."

"Jonathan?"

"Yes, Jonathan."

"Two Jonathans?"

"Yeah, two Jonathans."

"Oh."

Steve throws around his baseball bat a little bit and I back up slightly. 

"Oh look this guy isn't dead."  He says lifting up his bat to hit the creature again.

"No! Wait!"  Mike shouts yanking the bat out of his hand.

"Don't tell me you guys are keeping one of these things again, you have to know that's dumb."

Mike hands me the bat and I gingerly take it.  "No, Jonathan has to do it."

Steve throws his hands in the air.  "Why?"

"I'll tell you later, just be quiet."  Mike finally succeeds in shutting Steve up and turns to look at me expectantly.

I swing the bat around a couple times as I approach the creature lying on the ground, moving around slightly.

"Here we go."  I bring the bat back and swing it down, ending the Demogorgons life.  Almost the second I make contact, Joyce's backyard disappears from my vision, along with Mike, Steve, Max, Dustin and Will.

I am waiting for the voice to return to my head, but it doesn't.  I look around me, even thought very direction is the same story, shadows, black, darkness.

This time, I recognize the ground coming at me, but it isn't ground, it's water.  I look around but there is no up, I begin to flail and I can't swim up.  My lungs begin to give out as I sink further into the murky water.  The last thing I see before I black out is a pair of hands reaching down into the water.

Jonathan?  I hear a voice calling out to me from the darkness.  Jonathan where are you?   

I sit up and peer into the shadows looking for the source of the voice even though I already recognize it.  "Simon."   I say out loud, my own voice fading into the echo around me.

The room lights up slightly as Simon runs out and throws his arms around me.

"I have been looking everywhere for you."  He whispers into the cotton of my shirt.

I hold him out an arms length from my body and look him in the eyes.

"This isn't real."  

His face falls, but then goes back to normal.

"But, it can't not be real, Jonathan, I'm here." 

I look him up and down and smile sadly.

"You died, Simon."

He nods, and pulls me back into a hug.  What he says next gives me the most hope I had ever felt in my life.

"I'm alive, Jonathan, and I will die before I stop looking for you."