Complicated • Stranger Things

9 - The Upside Down

We pulled in front of the Byres' house and brought all of our stuff inside before coming up with a plan. We hung up more lights so we could tell when the monster was coming since it seemed to affect electricity.

We also put a beartrap in the hallway so when it tried to chase us it would hopefully get caught, and then we could burn it. That was basically the plan. Nancy made sure there were bullets in the gun while Jonathan hammered nails into Nancy's bat and I poured gasoline in the entire hallway the beartrap was in.

"Remember. Straight into Will's room and-"

"Don't step on the trap." Nancy said, cutting off Jonathan.

"Wait for the yo-yo to move." I added.

"Then." Jonathan said as he pulled out the lighter.

"Seems easy enough." I stated.

"You ready?" Jonathan asked, looking between Nancy and me.

"Ready." We both said. Since the monster is drawn by blood—maybe—we all had knives and were gonna cut the palm of our hands, hoping to attract it here.

"On three. One...two...you don't have to do this." He told Nancy, who looked scared. I don't blame her.

"Jonathan, stop talking." She said.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to-"

"Three." Nancy said and we all dug the knives into our skin.

I winced and quickly put the knife down and grabbed a paper towel to put over the cut for now. Before the monster came we decided it was a good idea to not have open cuts so we took turns wrapping our hands with bandages.

"Did you hear that?" Nancy asked. There was a faint creaking noise that would have probably been ignored in any other situation.

"It's just the wind." Jonathan said and Nancy hesitantly went back to wrapping his hand. "Don't worry. My mom, she said the lights speak when it comes."

"Speak?" Nancy asked.

"Blink." He corrected. "Think of them as alarms."

Nancy finished Jonathan's hand and there were a few moments of silence until there was a very loud knock on the door, scaring the shit out of all of us.

"Jonathan! Are you there, man? It's...it's Steve!" He shouted as he continued pounding on the door. "Listen I just want to talk!"

"Why the fuck is Steve at your house?" I questioned.

"I don't know." Jonathan replied, as seemed just as confused as Nancy and I.

Nancy got up and opened the door just enough for Steve to see her face. "Steve, listen to me."

"Hey, Nancy, what-"

"You need to leave." She said.

"I'm not trying to start anything, okay?" He replied.

"I don't care about that. You need to leave." Nancy repeated.

"No, no, no. Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed...I messed up. Okay? Really. Please." He pleaded, sounding pretty upset. Good. He should feel bad. "I just want to make things right. Okay? Please. Please... hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?"

Shit. He must have seen the bandage.

"It's n-nothing. It was an accident." Nancy told him. Jonathan and I were giving each other 'we're screwed' looks because, well, we're screwed.

"Yeah, what's going on?" He asked.

"Nothing." Nancy said.

"Wait a sec. Did he do this to you?" Steve asked as he tried to push himself through the door.