Stranger Things One-shots :)

Season Three: Possession

{Hawkins, Indiana. Starcourt Mall. 1985}

Third Person POV:

Crunch.

Max looks up at the ceiling, at the same time as Mike. Parts of the ceiling glass bend and crack. Mike looks across the mall at his sister, panic in his eyes.

"Nancy!" Mike screams.

The monster falls, glass shattering and spraying everywhere. Mike ran blindly, shielding his face as he ran over to a hidden area-- far away from the others.

The mall went silent, other than the stomping noise of the monster walking around.

Mike flinches slightly when he feels a burning sensation on his neck, the sensation crawling up his face and down his arm. He looks down at his hand, choking back a gasp when he saw black veins crawling across his skin.

What? When was I.... Mike's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he slumped against the bar table he was hiding behind.

A moment after that, the monster pauses searching, turning around.

Will's eyes widened from where he was hiding, with Max and El. Both the two other girls watched, looking at the area they knew Mike was hiding in.

But they could do nothing but watch.

The monster's tentacles started moving toward where Mike was hiding, and Will almost stood up to run over when Eleven grabbed his wrist, eyes begging him not to move.

A tentacle went in for a stab, or at least that's what it looked like. Will had to clamp his mouth shut with his hands to keep from screaming. Eleven and Max looked away, immediately thinking the worst.

In reality, the tentacle stabbed through the air, before wrapping around Mike's limp body. He started shivering, his teeth clenched in.. pain?

His dark hair cascaded over his face, making it unseeable.

But when the tentacle brought him out, both Will and Eleven had to hold themselves back from gasping in relief.

The flesh monster dragged Mike through the air, holding him closer to its head as if to inspect him. There was a soft gasp of Mike's name that sounded suspiciously like Nancy, but the flesh monster was too consumed in concentration to care.

Then-- Mike was flung across the mall, low to the ground so he doesn't crash into anything too hard. But he does end up crashing into a billboard before skidding across the floor into the wall, and the boy whimpers in pain, the sound echoing.

Nancy, from her own hiding place behind the car, tenses up as she watches her brother go limp once more. Her eyes focus in on Mike's face, half of it still covered, and notices the black lines.

Her hand grips at Jonathan's shoulder, nudging him to look.

Once her boyfriend does, he tenses up as well, and the two exchange a concerned, confused, and terrified look. Somehow, they can convey the three emotions perfectly.

The monster slowly moves closer to the area Eleven was, before Lucas shot a dart at a balloon.

Eleven, Max, and Will escaped quickly, running away to get to safety. Billy watches them leave as the rest of the group inside the mall finds a way out as well. He moves over to Mike, which the group had oh so conveniently left.

Mike's eyes slowly opened, looking up as Billy crouched down next to him. The black lines of corruption had grown thicker and around his eyes.

"You didn't know, did you?" Billy mutters, eyes narrowing.