𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐮 | mike wheeler

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐.𝟐 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭

Hawkins, Indiana

Monday, November 7th, 1983

Brittany's scream echoes through the dark house and nobody comes to her aid.

"Wake up. Wake up!" She cries. She has to be dreaming. This is what nightmares look like, right?

"Bri?"

"Eleven? Hello?" Brittany's voice is frantic as her head snaps back and forth trying to find the source of the voice. It sounds like El, but she can't see her anywhere.

"El, please help me! I don't know where I am." And it's true. Brittany doesn't know where she is. It looks like the Wheelers basement, but then it doesn't. It looks as if she's fallen asleep for a long time and everyone has passed on or the world is in chaos.

She begins to cough again, her body convulsing with the force of her expelling lungs. Brittany falls limp to the ground and her eyes fall shut.

...---...

"Brittany?"

Brittany's eyes fly open to meet worried brown ones.

"Are you fine?"

"I don't know. I think I'm ok."

"Ok," El repeats.

"Where you here the whole time?" Brittany questions, her eyes full of confusion.

"Yes," she answers.

"Where was I? Do you know?" Brittany asks, taking the hand Eleven reaches towards her. The two crawl into El's tent and recover the front.

"What's it like?" El asks quietly, her forehead creased in concern.

"It's like here, but dark and miserable."

"Cold?"

Brittany thinks back to those short but terrifying minutes. It was cold. Extremally cold. She lifts her hand and touches her nose. It's icy.

"Yes, it was freezing."

"Upside Down," Eleven states, shaking her head.

"Upside Down? What is that?" Brittany's breath catches at the thought of that horrible nightmare actually being real.

"Bad place," She says.

Brittany is so tired that she doesn't even stop to think about how Eleven had come to know about the place or how she had spoken to her while she was there.

...---...

Tuesday, November 8th, 1983

"Bri?" Mike calls out as he opens the door to the basement. "Are you awake yet?"

Brittany rubs her eyes as she looks around her momentarily disordered. Oh, that's right, weird crap happened last night.

"I'm in here Mike." She calls out to the boy and he picks up his pace.

"Are you ok? What are you doing in there?" He asks, pulling back the make-shift cover.

"I'm ok," Brittany says, "Just thought I'd keep El company."

Brittany locks eyes with El and silently tells her to keep last nights events between them. She seems to understand and smiles at Mike to confirm Brittany's words.

"Did you sleep ok, El?" Mike turns his attention to the girl who just nods her head.

"That's good. Bri and I are going upstairs to eat, but we'll bring something down for you. Ok?"