Say Anything | Steve Harrington |

Ch. 16 Monster Hunting

November 12th, 1983
Hawkins Middle School
Gymnasium

With the lights shut off in the empty gymnasium, the only source of light for us was the soft beam of moonlight that drifted through the windows at the top of the building. Through the quiet of the gym, El's heavy breathing was all that could be heard as she concentrated on finding Barbara and Will.

Suddenly El's breathing began to shallow as she found what we assumed, was what she had been looking for. "Barbara?" She whispered, her breathing slowly beginning to grow heavy once again. Looking over at a hopeful Nancy, I smiled slightly at the thought of getting our friend back home safely.

Though the hopeful dream was soon shattered as El spoke again in a faint whisper, "Gone..." She repeated the word over and over again, her pitch raising in anguish as she began to tremble in her place in the center of the pool.

"Gone! Gone!" She continued to scream from her place, now thrashing her arms rapidly through the water. "It's okay, it's okay... I got you. We're right here with you." I reached out for her hand and she gripped it tight, pulling herself closer to me.

Her screaming slowly came to a halt, the words dying in her throat as her heavy breathing remained and began to pick up yet again. After a few seconds of silence had passed she spoke again, "Castle Byers..." she whispered.

Letting out a gasp, Mom leaned closer to the girl, "Will..." She muttered with relief. "Tell him I'm coming. Tell him, Mom is coming." Mom called out from beside me before Eleven spoke again, only this time to the boy we couldn't see. The Walkie Talkie from the edge of the pool turned on by itself and the voice of Will carried through the static, "Hurry..." He whispered weakly; we didn't have much time.

"Tell him to stay where he is. Tell him we are coming." Mom spoke again and Eleven repeated the words to Will again, though this time instead of hearing Will's voice through the Walkie; the sound of El's cries and whimpers reached our ears.

El thrashed in her place in the pool, trying to escape from her mind until she was finally able to pull the goggles away from her eyes. Pulling her towards me, I wrapped my arms around her and whispered to her in hopes of calming her down. "I've got you... Hey, it's okay... It's okay." I lightly rubbed her arm as she continued to cry.

Helping the small girl out of the pool, she continued to cling to me, only allowing Mike to wrap a towel around her to keep her warm. "Let's sit down, come on..." I whispered to her and slowly walked her towards the bleachers while Hopper spoke to Mom about where Castle Byers was located. "It's in the woods behind our house." She answered him hurriedly as the party, El, and I sat down on the bleachers. "I'm going." Hopper stated and slammed through the doors of the Gymnasium's exit, though Mom and Jonathan followed close behind him.

Slowly but surely, El began to calm down. Moving on from holding on to me, to instead now place her head on Mike's shoulder. The boy flushed slightly at the girl's contact but grinned to himself while the other two boys rolled their eyes at his reaction.

Spotting Jonathan coming back through the gymnasium doors, I excused myself from the group and hurried toward him. "We should go check on Nancy... We have to." I mumbled to him once he came to a stop in the middle of the gym.

"I think she'd rather just talk to you..." He looked towards the doors that led to the hallway that connected to the gym, the same doors that Nancy had rushed to once Eleven had broken her communication with Will. "It'd mean a lot to her if you were there too... I know it would." I stated with a small frown.