Invisible- Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter Forty Seven: The Service

*Will's POV*
   After everything, I was somehow Nikki's closest ally. She gave Dustin shotgun and sat next to me on the ride to the memorial service, occasionally meeting my glance and smiling reassuringly, as if to silently tell me she was okay. I really was trying not to treat her like a China doll or something, since I knew how shitty that felt. The two of us had been through arguably more than anyone in the group. Plus, we had a lot in common when it came to our trauma: we'd both been thrust into the whole monster thing, we'd both dealt with a lot of death... Plus, we were both made fun of at school because of our experiences, making our friends treat us even more like we'd break the second they said the wrong thing. So, yeah, I think we understood each other better than anyone else.
   The drive to the memorial service was silent. Nobody spoke until we saw the rest of the party, who exchanged little sympathetic "hi's" and "hello's" with Nikki while smothering her in hugs. The service was being held at the rec center, which had been decorated with a lot of black. Jeez, for celebrating the guy's life, they sure made it morbid.
"Nikki!" Georgia, the junior at our school who'd skipped third grade, made her way over to us quickly. She hugged Nikki tightly, then smiled at all of us. "I'm so glad you could make it."
Nikki nodded silently. "Um, thanks. It's... good to be here? I'm sorry, what do you say at these types of things?"
"Maybe, 'where's the victim's sister so I can say hi?'"
Hollie was right behind Georgia, and had come over to say hi to Nikki.
"Hollie! How are you?"
The younger girl rolled her eyes a little at Nikki's question. "You really had to ask that, didn't you?"
"I'm- I, um-"
"It's okay," she interrupted. "I guess I'm doing okay. But you're the one getting credit for watching him die. Shouldn't I be asking how you're doing?"
It made Nikki's breath stop for a second, but I don't think Hollie's response was supposed to be as malicious as it sounded.
Georgia looked between all of us, then slowly backed away. "I'm gonna go.... yeah."
Dustin looked at Hollie, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You can't say stuff like that. Especially around people who weren't there."
Hollie rolled her eyes again. Damn, she did that a lot. "Keep your shirt on, Henderson. Georgia's kinda clueless."
"Obviously not, if she's fifteen and in her junior year of high school," Nikki retorted. "Anyway, shouldn't we be finding seats or something?"
She grabbed one of my hands, one of El's, and walked to the area where all of the chairs had been set up. Everyone tried to make her sit in the front because she was Liam's girlfriend, but she stayed with us and took a seat all the way in the back, still scratching the patch of skin behind her ear every now and again.
"Hello, everyone." Liam's mom, Sherry-Anne, stood at the podium. "We're here today to remember a very big part of all of our lives: my son, Liam. He- he was... he was popular at school. Everyone loved him, he was friends with everyone he met."
Nikki was looking straight ahead, no emotion whatsoever on her face. She was in another world, her eyes so glazed over  they almost glistened.
"... hearts are broken. Not a day will pass that we don't miss him."
   I looked over to see silent tears streaming down Hollie's face, Georgia softly sobbing next to her. Nikki's face was still blank, still totally zoned out. I squeezed her hand gently for support, which caused her to jump slightly, staring at me wide-eyed before whispering, "Let's go. We have to talk."

*Nikki's POV*
   One second, I was sitting in the rec center, listening to Liam's mom talk about how dead her son was. The next, my vision was blurring and un-blurring to reveal a weird, blue-grey-ish atmosphere. I looked around for my friends, moving involuntarily toward a low rumbling noise.
   I was still in Hawkins, it seemed, just a warped version of it. Like an alternate universe.
   When I stepped around a dimly-lit corner, I saw a few figures, sitting on the ground in a circle. Well, there were three of them, so I guess it was a triangle.
   One of them had their back to me, but the other two I recognized. The girl was Barb Holland, who'd been pronounced dead last year. The other was Bob Newby, the man who worked at Radio Shack who had suddenly disappeared a few weeks before we found out about Barb. Both of them were there, but neither really looked like themselves. They were dusty, decaying almost. They looked... not of this world.
   The third person finally turned to face me, their face not quite as decomposed as the other two, but still pretty bad. In his hair, the same disgusting slime I'd last seen all over him.
   "Liam," I whispered in shock. "Y-you're alive?"
   This version of Liam. chuckled- a creepy, low, guttural sound- before his face became the only thing I could see. In an even more demonic voice he said:
   "Welcome to the Upside Down."
   I felt something grab my hand. As soon as this hallucination (nightmare?) had started, it ended again. My vision zoomed way out like when a television turns off, a thin white light the only thing I could see for a moment.
   Then I was back at the rec center, in the exact same position I'd been before I left. I saw Will looking at me in concern, then slowly got up, still holding his hand.
   "Let's go. We have to talk."