teenage tragedy (Max Mayfield)

1. six

Camden's doorbell ringing woke her up the next morning. She was lying in the covers, this time, and she vaguely remembered Steve tucking her in when he came to say goodnight, and him returning at some point in the night when she woke up from another nightmare.

It was the same one it had always been, the fire, and she was Thirteen in it again, instead of watching it like in her void. She was just glad she hadn't had another panic attack, 'cause Steve would end up telling Marissa and Peter and they would think of her as a psychopath more than they probably already did.

"Cam, it's your friends, honey! I'm sending them up!" Marissa called.

"Okay!" Camden yelled back.

She waved her hand and the door opened for whoever it was.

She quickly climbed out of her bed and waved her hand, the bed remaking itself for her. She grabbed some clothes out of her walk-in-wardrobe and headed into the bathroom to get ready.

When Camden came out, Dustin and Mike were looking around her room with wide eyes.

The walls were painted a soft pink colour, Camden's favourite colour. Her double bed was on the right wall, pastel coloured butterflies painted on the wall behind it with a different pattern on each wing. Camden and Steve had painted them together last month when she got her room redecorated.

Her bed was a four poster one made from white wood, with a white canopy decorated with pink butterflies above it and tied to each poster as curtains. Her bedding was white with her pink teddybear sat in the middle of her pink throw pillows.

There was a bedside table on either side of the bed. One held Camden's pink phone on top and the other had a glass of water and a stack of magazines on there.

On the wall opposite the door were the doors to her balcony, the white curtains pulled back to let in the sunrise. Opposite her bed was a television built into a space in the wall, a stack of DVRs and tapes on the shelf built underneath it.

On the same wall as the TV, there were two doors, one on either side. One led into her en-suite and the other into her wardrobe. Near the wardrobe door, the vanity stood on the same wall as the balcony doors, decorated in makeup, perfumes, hair accessories and little bits and bobs.

The wall opposite the balcony with the door that led to the rest of the house, photographs and posters covered the wall. Most of the posters were for bands or singers, or for different Vogue models. Most of the photographs were of Camden and Steve growing up, or the two of them with their parents, or a few with Camden and some kids in school.

Mike and Dustin, however, were staring at one photograph in particular. Will Byers' ninth birthday party. Joyce had invited all of the kids in class, but Camden was the only person not in the party who went. The photograph was of Camden and Will hugging in the arcade, massive grins on both of their faces.

"Your room is so cool," Dustin said.

"Thanks," Camden smiled. She grabbed her shoes and kicked them on, brushing down her skirt. "What's up?" she asked.

"We spoke to Mr. Clarke at the funeral about the Upside Down. Basically, there must be a large enough force to rip open the universe to allow the portal to open. Dustin had the idea that all compasses would point us in the right direction because the electromagnetic force from the gate would be too overpowering when compared to the Earth's magnetic poles," Mike said.

Camden considered it.

"That makes sense. What went wrong?" Camden asked.

"Eleven messed with the compasses so we wouldn't get to the gate because it's dangerous. Lucas and I got into an argument over it and El used her powers to throw him back," Mike looked down.