Not Just Another Number

Team Assembled

Sarah's POV

"No. No way." Christine laughs from where she sits at the table. I pace around and try to explain it again. "Seriously. I'm telling you the truth!" Dustin sighs from the table next to her. He shakes his head. "Still don't understand why she needs to know."

"Because it's either we tell her now, or she finds out later and freaks out like you guys did. It's much easier if we tell her now." I urge. Christine shakes her head and stands up. She gives me an amused smile as she walks up to me.

Steve stands up and watches her. "Sarah, I get that you're trying to trick me, but do you really think I'm that gullible?" She laughs again and shakes her head, dark hair bouncing. "Like, I get that Hawkins is a weird town, but this is a little farfetched. Okay, maybe I can get behind the whole, secret government conspiracies. The monster thing, a stretch maybe, but the power thing? That's the craziest thing ever! It's not possible for a person to have superpowers."

She walks passed me, making her way back to the door leading to the front counter. I look over at Steve and Dustin, not knowing what to do. They look like they have no clue.

Shit, c'mon Sarah. Do something! I shoot my hand out, reaching to stop her, but my powers kick in. Water shoots out of my palm and hits her hand. But instead of simply splashing her, it wraps around her wrist like a vine.

What the!?! Why is the water somewhat solid? I look down at my hand and see it attached to me still, basically tethering Christine to me. "What the hell?" Christine says, voice raising in pitch. She turns around, eyes wide and mouth open as she looks at the water tether. I yank my hand, trying to make the water go back to how it's supposed to be, but instead, it pulls her to me.

Dustin and Steve catch her before she can fall while I try to figure this shit out. "Sarah, how do you let her go?" Dustin asks as he looks at the water in wonder.

"I don't know! It's never done this before!"

"Y-y-you h-have p-p-p...." Christine stutters before falling slightly. Steve holds her up and leads her to a chair. Well, might as well work with this. I move closer to the table and put my other hand out. "You believe me now?"

She nods frantically, still looking a little faint. "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" I ask quietly. She shakes her head. I sigh, relieved, and the tether breaks. Water hits us in the face. I spit some of the water that got into my mouth and sit in one of the chairs.

"How did that work?" Steve asks. I shrug and wipe my face. "Don't know. At least it was just water." I joke. I look back over at Christine, and she still seems a little freaked. "Christy, you okay?" I ask cautiously.

She nods. "Yeah, totally. I just learned that my best friend has powers, so that means everything else you said is true. Hawkins is a lot weirder than I thought." She scoffs and runs her hand down her wet face. "Crap, and I moved here to get away from all of the weirdness from my old town."

We laugh a little and Steve sits next to me. "Please, no town could be weirder than Hawkins." He comments. Christine shrugs. "You'd be surprised. My old town, Derry, had a few kids go missing last year. I heard, from an asthmatic kid I ran into, that it was some murder demon clown. Now, I'm starting to believe he was telling the truth."

Murder demon clown huh? Sounds easier than this shit. I nod and look back at Dustin. "Okay, so she's all caught up. Now, about this Russian business..." He nods and begins to dig into his bag.

He pulls out a tape recorder and puts it on the table next to the translation book. He plays the recording and we sit and listen.

I don't understand a single word, but I try to pick up on any words that are repeated. Sadly, it's basically all of them. They're repeated like a mantra. Or a code. By the end of the recording, music begins to play.