strangerThings oneshots

Things That Make It Warm

Things That Make It Warm. (Or People.)

demolitionlosers

It was the same place again, just as it was yesterday, yet it felt as though it had aged a thousand years. Was it the same? It truly didn’t feel like it. The cold water felt the same as it lightly tapped the bottoms of El’s feet whilst she walked through the mist. Her eyes felt hazy, glossed over and glazed with condensation. Was it tears, or was it the brightness of the light in the dark, the seemingly endless cavern?

The light was right there. She could feel it, she could almost reach out and touch it- but hesitated. She knew there were others, the ones she could save. What was once only a few turned into dozens. The water wasn’t just water, it didn’t have a reflection. It seemed to be the path that the Others took, the children and adults alike. El couldn’t really tell if the path was moving away or towards the beacon of light. She looked down at her feet, subconsciously stepping back as she did so. The water was red, maroon almost, like someone had spilled their guts out. It was more slimy than what she had felt before. She almost thought that she may be slowly creating some fucked up story as she goes, no map planned out beforehand. Not any story, but one where she was the centric character.

The lost ones, the lonely people. Who were they? Are they truly just the heaps of blood and guts like they looked, or did they still have their souls? These little creatures, these poor creatures, moving against their own will. Is this how her stepbrother felt during the possession? Maybe these things could still see, like their eyes were still fully functional, but their bodies acted like a magnet. Dragging them slowly towards this huge creature, the one that destroyed the lives of many. They would plead for their bodies to cease movement in what was at first a small voice. Then screaming. Ear-piercing ones, like an annoying ring that lasts for hours. Yet only they could hear it.

El didn’t want them to be lonely. The ones who lost their lives due to being possessed, just like Billy. She didn’t want them to have to sit in that pile of the Mind Flayer’s remains, each and every one of them still just a small part of the body. Maybe she could join them, help them. Maybe she could keep them company, even if it’s only for a small amount of time. Maybe that’s where that beacon of light would lead her, as it was the only place in sight. Not to Starcourt Mall, where the remains previously laid, but just to them. To the lost people, the ones who were surrounded by dozens of others just like them, unable to communicate, knowing they were on the bridge of life and death.

Towards the light she sprinted. To meet her new friends, dozens of the lonely ones.

But her eyes shot open again, even though she didn’t recall closing them. The cold feeling spread away from her and was replaced with warmth. The musty, almost sharp air that she breathed in was replaced with the smell of cologne and cigarettes, one that was almost too familiar. Her feet weren’t soaked with blood, though the sensation stayed for a few seconds, but instead had air just tickling the tips of her toes. She reflexively tucked them back under the duvet. El breathed out a sigh of relief, looking around the room. Will was the first person she saw, laying calmly next to Lucas on the ground in their individual sleeping bags. Dustin had taken up the couch, Mike was on the floor right next to the blow-up mattress that the girls had taken up, and Max was nowhere to be seen.

El sat up, looking around the room. The door at the top of the stairs was open, even though she was sure the boys had it closed. Looking down at Mike, who was asleep just beside her spot on the mattress, she slid the duvet off of her and climbed off the bed. There were creaks in the hardwood, she knew that, but the amount of experience she had sneaking out of Mike’s basement during the party’s sleepovers helped her memorize which steps to avoid. She could manage to get out of the basement without waking the boys up, which must have been what Max had done.