𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿.

xvi. - so... the snowball?

THE HAWKINS CASE !

THE BATHTUB + THE UPSIDE DOWN
SIXTEEN — SO... THE SNOWBALL?

                                          Everything was ready now. All they had to do was wait for El to slip into her mind and find Will. The lights had shut off and Lucy could already see things in her head. Darkness, Eleven, a weird pile on the floor. Lucy could even swear she was hearing things too. These weird gurgling sounds.

Lucy was starting to feel on edge at everything she was seeing in her head, despite knowing that this was evidence of the plan working. The weird pile on the floor had turned out to be Barbara, she was definitely dead. Slug-like creatures crawling out of her mouth, her eyes stuck open, and her skin an ugly and unnatural color. It wasn't a pretty sight.

El's breathing got heavier as did Lucy's. Her hands lightly shaking as she moved to cover her mouth. She suddenly didn't feel like keeping any of her orange juice down from earlier.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked the lights flickering. "I don't know." Mike shrugged.

"She found Barbara." Lucy told them and she looked down at her lap.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy frantically asked Eleven. "Gone. Gone. Gone." El repeated her voice shaking.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." Joyce said to El in a comforting way. "It's okay. It's okay. Hey. It's okay. It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you."

The Eleven in Lucy's head shut her eyes. As she opened them up again she could see Castle Byers stood in the middle of the darkness. Lucy couldn't see inside of it yet, but she was hopeful that Will was okay.

"Castle Byers." El muttered.

She walked towards Castle Byers, pushing the cloth door aside and stepping in. He didn't look like Barbara, though he didn't seem to be doing that well himself.

"Will?" El said in a questioning voice.

"You tell him... tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming." Joyce told El. "Hurry." Will's voice said shakily through the radio. "Okay. Listen, you tell him to... to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."

Everything around mind El had vanished. A weird growling sound was heard. Lucy could've sworn the creature was right by her ear when it made that sound. If it wasn't for her extreme exhaustion she probably would've jumped and freaked out. But she could barely do that.

The most she could do was let a few tears fall out, her body slouching against the floor. But she couldn't tell if they were from happiness, fear, relief, or sadness.

     Lucy's nose scrunched at the faint smell of salty water. Her eyes opening to get a small peek of the world. She was no longer sitting on the floor, glancing to her side she could see that El was next to her. Letting Lucy lean against her El leaned against Lucy.

El noticing her movements look over to Lucy. Giving her a soft smile and wave as they made eye contact. She was guessing that she had passed out. She wouldn't be surprised if she did. But that didn't matter, everything had worked out in the end... she's guessing at least. She couldn't tell from the way her friends were arguing.

"Guys, guys! This is crazy. We can't just wait around." Mike said. "Mike, in case you forgot, we're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us." Lucas told him. "Yeah, and we don't even know where your sister is." Dustin pointed out. "El can find them." Mike said.

"Mike, look at her. Look at Luc! I still think we should stick to the chief's plan" Dustin said. "Exactly. We stay here, keep El out of sight and keep her safe. That's the most important thing, remember? Besides, she's okay. She's with Jonathan." Lucas said. "Yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so.." Dustin before turning on his heels and heading for the gym doors.

"Well, where are you going? You just said stick to the plan!" Mike called to him. "I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding. I'm telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit." Dustin called back to him. "Are you serious?" Mike shouted. "The girls need to be recharged!"

     Lucy and Eleven were sat at one of the cafeteria tables. The two of them waiting for the boys to come back with the chocolate pudding. Lucy probably would've suggested drinking some more orange juice but she had already gone through all the juice boxes earlier when preparing for the bath.

They'd have to settle on pudding for now.

"Lucy, I found the chocolate pudding!" Dustin screamed from the kitchen. "Good! Now keep it down!" Lucy screamed back before turning to El her voice lowering. "Uh, you feeling better?" She asked.

El just shrugged and looked over at the floor. "What's 'putting'?" She asked. "Pudding, uhm, it's a chocolate goo that you eat." Lucy explained which drew a disgusted look from El. "Don't worry though, you won't have to eat junk food and leftovers for much longer. Mike's mom is actually a pretty good cook and I'm sure she'd make you whatever you want." Lucy told her.

"Eggos?" El asked. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll make you Eggos." Lucy nodded with a chuckled.

Her eyes drifted to her lap, her smile fading away lightly as she began to play with her fingers. Lucy suddenly felt nervous and she didn't know why. "You know when all of this is over with, and Will's back. I was thinking you'd go back to live with Mike, unless the Wheeler's can't do that. Then I'm just assuming you'd come live with us. My dad's also a pretty good cook, even if he's not home that often and Melanie, my sister, she's pretty good. My dad could be like your dad and my sister would be like your sister."

"Will you be like my sister?" El asked. Lucy quickly looked up from her lap, her eye's slightly widened as she shook her head. "No, no, no!" "Why no?" El asked. "Well, it's just... it's different." Lucy said starting to glow pink in embarrassment. "Why?" "Okay, actually it depends. But it's stupid honestly!"

"Lu?" El said making to another girl look at her. "Yes?" Lucy answered. "Friends don't lie." Lucy's eyes darted around before she sighed and sunk further into her seat. Her fingers twirling around a strand of her hair. "Well, I was kinda hoping that we could maybe... uhm go to the Snowball together?"

"'Snowball'?" El questioned. "It's a school dance. It's cheesy and I've never really gone but I know that you aren't supposed to go with your sister." Lucy explained. "No?" "I mean I guess you could, but it would be weird. You're supposed to go with somebody... you know... a person... you like..." Lucy tried explaining feeling more and more nervous the more she talked.

"A friend?" El asked. "No, not a friend. Like uhm, a person... some you, oh my god, fuck it." Lucy groaned.

She leaned up from her seat and leaned forwards until hers and El's faces were centimeters away from each other. Lucy hesitated for a second before she pressed her lips against El's for a few seconds. Leaning away and sitting back down in her seat both girls stared at each other for a few seconds. Light smiles on both of their faces.

Mike then slammed through the doors, ruining the peaceful moment they had going on. "They found us."

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