teenage nightmare [ stranger things ] discontinued.

chapter twenty.

TEENAGE NIGHTMARE
CHAPTER TWENTY — PART ONE.
CLOSE GATE.

( gif by SPDERVERSE )

" Do you remember the day dad left? " Jonathan asked, and Will turned his head to look at him, eyes wide and pupils busted, leaking an inky black into his iris. It made Charlie sick to see how pale he was, his skin almost translucent. The group of Joyce, Mike, Jonathan, Hopper, JP, and himself had been trying to use past memories to snap Will out of the Mind Flayer's control. Franny had yet to wake, but her body kept jolting as if she was going to soon. JP had opted to sitting on the other side of the room, across from his sister, waiting patiently for her to wake up.

Jonathan shifted to crouch in front of Will, saying, " We spent all night building Castle Byers, just the way you drew it. And it took so long, because you were so bad at hammering. "

Joyce softly chuckled at that, and Charlie halfheartedly smiled as Jonathan continued, " You missed the nail every time. And then it started raining, but we stayed out there anyway. We were both sick for like a week after that, but we just had to finish it, didn't we? We just had to. "

As JP kept his eyes glued to Franny, he started to get worried. Sure, they had dosed her with the anesthetic a while after Will, but there was no way she should still be out. Unless it was of her own accord. The blond narrowed his eyes at the thought and leaned forward, getting close enough to see Franny's eyes moving underneath closed lids. Confusion flooded him, and he noticed that the veins running up at the base of her neck had darkened, turning the skin around them a faint color.

Inside the blackness, Franny sat on the floor of nothing, cross legged as Will mirrored her. They'd been like this for a while, all of her attempts to get him to talk proving as fruitless as the group's own tries. So, Franny had stopped talking and just placed her hands on her knees, staring Will in the eyes. His eyes were sunken in and his pale skin was the brightest thing in the absence of light. Franny frowned at him, and, after what felt like an hour of silence, she spoke to him again.

" Will, " Her voice seemed to echo like it usually did in this state, so she lowered it, a pang in her chest when his eyes didn't focus on her, instead staring through her. " Will, I need you to talk to me. If you can't talk to them, you have to talk to me, okay? This thing. . it's gonna kill you, Will, and I can't let that happen, so, please, talk to me. "

The boy's hands moved to his knees as well, gripping at them with a death grip as his knuckles turned white. His lips were pressed together in a thin line, but Franny saw the slightest indication that he was listening. His eyes flickered for a second.