Love And Hellfire

Chapter 19: Midnight

Gasping for air frantically, Avila awoke. Lay upon the hard, cold, concrete floor she found herself looking up at the patchwork ceiling, flashes of red lightning glistened through the many gaps in the brickwork and wood. 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' by The Clash was blaring overhead. Avila could only assume this was Will's favourite song that would save him from the curse, and furthermore....
"It worked." She sighed deeply, sitting upright to take in her new surroundings some more. It appeared she was in a kitchen, in a small house very similar to the look of the cabin. Seated beside a tall, circular table, Avila peered through the table legs in search of any clues that may reveal exactly where she was. A large crash of lightning from outside lead to her leaping to stand all of a sudden. Almost directly infront of her she found a darkened hallway, leading off towards various doors she assumed lead to bedrooms. This house seemed to be inhabited by a family because as she moved her way throughout it, Avila couldn't help but notice the children's toys that were scattered around the floor. However, you could tell the effects of belonging to the Upside Down were taking its toll. Vines covered each and every surface, the house itself appeared to be crumbling into ruins. It was such a sad thought, someones family home diminishing into nothing, slowly. Returning to the matter at hand, she continued to search for Will.
"Will?" She called out, stepping over a toy tin robot as she approached the front door to the house. "Will Byers?"
There was no response. All that could be heard was the persistence of the lightning storm rumbling away outside. Hesitantly, she took hold of the door handle. What if, she thought, the Upside Down in his cursed dream was just as dangerous as the real place. She could be stepping out into a battlefield. A trap, perhaps. Maybe lurking outside of this door was a Demobat army lying in wait for her to reveal herself so they could finally feast on her like they wanted to before. Regardless of her own valid thoughts and worries, Avila took another deep breath before opening the door. Outside she stumbled upon a rather large porch overlooking a small garden beside which stood a withered, raggedy shed. Gazing around, the coast was clear enough for her to make her way over towards it. She figured that if a young boy were to hide anywhere, perhaps it would be there. Proceeding towards the shed slowly, Avila subconsciously prepared herself for a fight. Maybe Will wasn't in there, she thought. Maybe something or someone else, was waiting for her instead. As she reached the door, pressing her ear up against it, she sighed glady with relief to hear the terrified panting she'd most definitely heard before. Flinging the door open, both her and Will screeched at the sight of one another. In defence, Will flung a large piece of firewood in her general direction, narrowly missing her.
"Hey!" She called. "Is that how your mother taught you to treat a lady?"
"Avila?" He said, wiping his tears away in disbelief. "You're here. What are you doing here?"
"Charming." She teased, leaning down to where he continued to crouch and offering him a hand up. "Nice to see you too. C'mon."
"No, no!" Will anxiously refused, pulling his hand away from her before returning to his hiding stance. "We can't leave, I can't leave."
Seeing him this way, Avila truly saw how scared he was. He was petrified. The more he spoke, he began to muffle his words through the tears that fell down his cheeks. Stepping towards him slowly, Avila found herself being more cautious than ever. She knew that she needed to get both him and her out of there, fast.
The closer she became to Will, he suddenly flinched as a loud crash of thunder and lightning blared overhead again.
"Will." Avila spoke softly, crouching beside him in the corner of the shed. "Why can't we leave?"
All of a sudden, a deafening shriek sounded from outside. It frightened Avila almost instantly, sounding very much like a roar of a beast. Of a creature that she'd never heard before.
"Because of him." Will trembled. "He can't see me! He can't know that we're here, he can't know that we know!"
"Who Will? Who's is he?" Avila pressed, grabbing him hastily by the arms. They were running out of time, she feared that greatly.
"That sure as hell doesn't sound like Vecna." She joked. "Besides, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm pretty sure he already knows we're both here..."
"He doesn't!" Will bellowed suddenly. "It isn't Vecna. Vecna didn't bring me here... I did."
Another loud roar blared once again, as Avila reluctantly arose to her feet.
"What do you mean Will?" She asked him. "How could you possibly bring yourself here..."
"I could ask you the same question!" He snapped, leaping to his feet as he paced the shed, panicking.
Will had never even remotely raised his voice to her, let alone taken this tone and behaviour in a time of such angst. Almost instantly, Will showed visible regret towards her.
"I'm sorry." He apologised awkwardly. "I really didn't mean to..."
"It's fine." She smiled. "So, if you brought yourself here, I'm hoping you know how to get back out."
Shaking his head in shame, Will stared at her with pure terror.
"I have no idea." He admitted. "This is actually the first time I've been here fully, the other times have only been brief, like visions and stuff."
"Visions." She nodded. "Your superpower is really coming to life now Will Byers."
The pair giggled, sharing a moment of normality amongst all the strange goings on. For a second or so, it was like they both forgot the extremity of their circumstances. Besides, there was still a monster lurking outside that wooden door. Waiting.
"So." She smiled sweetly, placing a caring hand upon his shoulder. "As much as this has been nice, we really should try and get out of this curse-vision thingy."
"Agreed." Will nodded reluctantly. "But how?"
Approaching the door to the shed all of a sudden, Will bounded over to block her exit.
"We can't go out there!" He reminded her. "He'll see us."
"Not if we're quick!" She suggested, attempting to get past only to be blocked once again. Rolling her eyes, Avila was becoming tired of his stubbornness.
"When I got here, I woke up in that house over there." She explained, pointing back to the diseased cabin across the garden. "Maybe the way back is there too, like a door or something."
Will persisted to shake his head, any mention of leaving the shed resulted in an immediate battle with him that Avila couldn't seem to conquer.
"Will!" She raised her voice suddenly, snapping him out of his negativity. "We need to go. We need to get back to our friends right? To our families?"
He began to nod, tearing up once again. As he did, she gently took him by the hand, and smiled.
"Then I need you to trust me." She pleaded.
Taking a deep breath, Will stared deeply into her eyes. To her delight, he began to nod slowly. As he did, Avila turned briskly and opened the door finally. The house could be seen just a short walk up from where they stood. However, the deafening roars could be heard once again overhead. Avila could feel Will shaking as he tightened her grip on his hand.
"Okay?" She looked up at him and back to the house, their target.
Nodding, clearly lying, Will took another deep breath.
"Okay then." She sighed. "Let's do this."
Much to his surprise it seemed, Will almost stumbled as Avila lunged the pair forward, and they darted across the grass towards the door of the house. As they did, Will couldn't help himself but stare anxiously off into the distance where the blood-curdling screeches could be heard from. Taking a short glance for herself, Avila observed a great, large shadow emerging from the ash and fog. A creature of enormous stature, long sharp wings and what appeared to be three heads. The pair only saw it for a second or two, before bounding on inside. As Avila slammed the door shut behind them, Will panted greatly.
"What now?" He panicked, resting his hand upon his knees.
"Ummmm, I think I woke up here?" Avila searched around, flitting from room to room. "I was meant to ask, do you recognise this place?"
"This was my old home in Hawkins." He revealed, admiring a toy car positioned upon the mantle beside a photo frame. "Before they relocated us to California."
"It's cute." She said. "Well i imagine it was without all the, yanno... vines and creepy stuff."
Chuckling together once again, quickly the pair of them jumped at the sound of rumbling approaching the house. The doors, windows and floor it seemed, began to shake simultaneously.
"Avila!" Will cried out, stumbling over to join her in the kitchen. Grabbing hold of one another, Will persisted to look over at the door which continued to rattle and shake. As though something was trying to break through it.
"He's coming!" Will shouted. "He's found us! He knows we're here, he.."
"Will, listen to me!" Avila told him, at first, he refused to look at her. "Will!"
Regaining his attention, slowly she lifted up her hands to place them on the sides of his face.
"What are you doing?" He flinched away, not allowing her to touch him at first.
As the house continued to tremble, she went on to try and place her hands upon him again.
"Trust me." She told him, staring deep into the fear within his eyes. As Will nodded slowly, she finally placed her hands upon his face, just as she did before when she set out to rescue this boy. For a moment, everything went dark.