- GIRLS ON FILM -

Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister

________________________

Jane Hopper's limp body was curled up in Steve's lap, looking lifeless and covered in crimson blood. The claw marks that dug deep into her back were still weeping the scarlet liquid but her blue eyes were wide. Staring up at the boy who held her so feverishly, pupils blown and filled to the brim with fear, tears, and agony. God, she was in so much pain.

He wanted to ask her if she was alright, he wanted to ask where it hurt or if there was anything he could do. Steve Harrington wasn't stupid, he knew that she was in pain and he knew that the more he talked about her invasive wounds the more she would dwell on the fact. He knew the best, his bruises didn't hurt until Lisa Harrington asked where they had come from.

"Sweetheart, what happened to your face?"

Just like lightning and fire his cheek lit up in pain. Aching all the way down his jaw and into his nose. He hadn't even remembered to try and ice the bruise, it didn't hurt all that bad when it had happened.

"Hey, don't close your eyes." Steve reminded her, taking his free hand and pushing a stray hair behind her ear. "Stay with me, come on, keep those pretty eyes open." His hand remained on her cheek, providing gentle comfort in contrast with the cold earth beneath them.

"Don't worry Stevie, I'm still here." She answered softly, her voice croaking the more she spoke. It hurt her lungs to breathe, to inhale deep into her diaphragm. How it made her back sting and sear red hot pain through every nerve.

With how weak her voice was, Steve wasn't convinced when she promised she'd stay awake. With his brown eyes closed he quickly pondered on what he could do to keep her talking. To keep her alert and her mind away from the intense lacerations lining her body.

"Tell me about Metallica, which album is the most recent?" The boy asked, begging her to keep talking, to stay distracted, to stay with him.

"Ride The Lightning. It came out last July, like the twenty-fifth or something."

"Who came up with that? Riding the lightning? Seems weird."

"The guitarist, Kirk Hammett. He loves horror stuff, named it after a saying from The Stand. He only wanted to name a song after it but James, Cliff, and Lars liked it so much that they named the whole album after it." Jane explained, her brow drawn in pain as she took a deep breath.

"What's The Stand? Why is he riding the lightning anyways? Doesn't seem very safe." Steve continued to conjure up questions, even if he wasn't necessarily listening to the answers. She was talking and that meant she was still here. Still here breathing and blinking and bleeding. There was blood everywhere... more blood than the Harrington boy had ever seen.

"It's a book by Stephen King, you know the guy who wrote The Shining. Riding the lightning is alluding to death by electric chair. That's why there's an electric chair on the album cover."

"Hmm, that's an interesting way to explain that. What's your favorite song from the album?"

"For Whom The Bell Tolls, probably but I don't know. I like them all, Eddie likes Fight Fire With Fire the best but that's 'cause Dave Mustaine wrote it and Eds loves Megadeth." Jane started to smile, looking up at the stars. For such a terrible night, the view wasn't so bad. The fog that had rolled in earlier had since cleared leaving the stars twinkling bright as always. There was hardly any light pollution in Hawkins.

"Who's Dave Mustaine and why are we talking about Megadeth now?" Steve looked up at the sky as well, eyes trained on the stars. Steve loved to look at the stars, from the angle of his window he could almost always see the Big Dipper. "Thought I'd be listening to Metallica facts all night." He muttered, rattling off all the queries he could think of that would keep Jane speaking.