Complicated • Stranger Things

8 - The Bathtub part 2

We all sat down and Mike started explaining everything he knew so far. He drew a line—not a very straight one, but a line—a stick figure above it and, I don't even know what the other thing was.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbra, and that monster, they're the flea." A flea. That's what it is. "And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."

"A gate." Dustin added.

"That we track to Hawkins lab." Lucas stated.

"With our compasses." Dustin said, and everyone looked slightly confused. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction of a compass needle."

"Is the gate underground?" My dad asked.

"Yes." Eleven answered. It was the first time I've heard her talk; her voice was very quiet and soft.

"Near a large water tank?" He questioned.

"Yes." She replied.

"H-how do you know all that?" Dustin asked, but he didn't answer.

"He's seen it." Mike stated.

"Is there any way that you could...that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"

"The Upside Down." Eleven said, cutting Joyce off.

"Down. Yeah." Joyce said in barely a whisper. Eleven nodded.

"And my friend Barbra?" Nancy asked. "Can you find her too?"

She nodded again, this time with a small smile on her face. We all moved to the table and grabbed the walkie talkie. Eleven sat down along with Mike and Joyce while the rest of us stood around the table.

Eleven sat with the walkie talkie in front of her with her hands on the table and eyes closed, but all that was coming through was static. Then the lights started to flicker and Eleven opened her eyes with a somber expression.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"W-what's wrong? What happened?" Joyce asked. I noticed that my dad had his hand on Joyce's shoulder and her hand on his. What was that about?

"I can't find them." She replied, sounding like she was about to cry. She then went to the bathroom while the rest of us tried to come up with a plan.

"Whenever she uses he powers she gets weak." Mike told us.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets. Like, she flipped the van earlier." Dustin told us. "It was awesome."

"I bet." I commented. Imagine being able to flip an entire van with your mind. That would be so fucking cool.

"But she's drained." Mike said.

"Like a bad battery." Dustin added.

"Well...h-how do we make her better?" Joyce asked.

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike told us.

"How long does that take?" I asked.

"I don't know." He replied.

"The bath." We all turned to see eleven standing there.

"What?" Joyce asked.

"I can find them." She said. "In the bath."

I would love to say that the fact that I didn't understand a word that was coming out of anyone's mouth, was a lie. It's not. Science was never my subject and this just proves that even further. I just sat there in silence as everyone talked about...whatever. Dustin ended up calling his science teacher to find out how to build a...sensory deprivation tank? Anyway, Mr. Clarke gave Dustin a list of materials and directions as he wrote everything down on a piece of paper.