absquatulate - will byers (CANCELLED)

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fɪᴠᴇ

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎
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𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑
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The kids were running through the halls in search of their friend.  They had split up.

Out of nowhere, a screaming pain coursed through Genie's head and she gasped.  Mike who was running along beside her stopped and turned to face her.

"Genie, are you okay?" He asked the girl.  She was breathing heavily with her hands clutching her throbbing head.

"I am." She said darkly, "Will isn't."

Then, her vision blurred over.  The air was tinted a dull grey but Mike still stood before her.  She was half-way into the Upside Down.

When she blinked, Joyce was there with them and the world had gone back to normal.  Mike was dragging her out the door where Lucas claimed to have spotted Will in the field.  His claims were correct.

They found Will standing out in the field, frozen in the spot.

Genie's eyes widened and she ran towards him, ignoring the pounding headache growing behind her eyes.

"Will!" She called out, coming to a halt in front of him.  He wasn't able to hear her, not from there.  She took a deep breath and placed a shaky hand on Will's shoulder.  He was trying to scream but his throat was filled with a swirling, dizzying black smoke.

The tentacles of the shadow monster were easily identifiable in the air above the two.  Genie gulped and searched the boy's mind for anything to explain what the hell happened.  She found just that.

She saw Bob talking with Will about his own nightmares and how he faced them, she saw Will screaming at the darkening air, she saw the monster diving forward and overtaking him, freezing him to the spot.  A chill ran down her spine as she pulled from his memories.

"Will..." She breathed.  She didn't know what to say so she hugged him.  Pushing through the dark smog of the shadow creature, she wrapped her arms around him, "Will, I'm here with you."

Something in Genie's reassuring voice brought Will back from his personal Upside Down and he pulled away from her in shock.

"It got me." His voice was a soft sob.  The helplessness in his tone made Genie's heart sink.

"We won't let that shithead shadow monster get to you again, 'kay?" She kept her hands firmly on his shoulders until he nodded nervously. "Oh, you're mom's here."

She stepped to the side so Joyce could see her son. Behind her, her friends were chattering quietly so she backpeddled to join them.

Genie stood at the bottom of the stairs, nervously biting her lip. 

"Ok, that totally freaked me out, did that not freak you guys out?" Max turned to the boys.

"Two episodes in two days." Lucas said, ignoring the girl sitting on the step beside him.

"It got him." Genie whispered.

"Do you think it's True Sight?" Dustin turned to Mike.

"What's True Sight?" Max was clueless as to what was going on with Will.

The other three ignored her and went back in the school, questions swimming in their heads.

The next day, Genie arrived at school and found her four friends poking at a trash bin with sticks.

"What the hell...?" She trailed off as the other turned to look at her.

"We're looking for Dart, "Mike explained. Genie glanced skeptically at Dustin before returning her gaze to Mike, "Here."

She was handed a stick that she then used to poke around the garbage bin. "Where's Will?"

Nobody looked up at her. "He'll be here." Mike said. Genie frowned slightly but didn't question it further. He probably had a doctors appointment.

"Oh, Genie's here now! We can ask her about that secret." Lucas broke the silence, addressing the brunette as though she couldn't hear.

Genie sighed and exchanged a glance with Mike. He nodded and she turned back to the others.

"Um, this is gonna be a lot to take in so have an open mind, 'kay?" She began. The others nodded, eager to hear this huge secret of hers, "So um, I guess I have some form of...powers-i guess."

She wasn't quite sure how to go about saying 'I can read people's minds and control what their feeling whenever I want.'

"I'm an empath, and I can like read minds-it's pretty cool..." She spoke fairly quickly and nervously.

"Wait, empath?" Dustin asked, wide-eyed. Genie nodded.

"How are we just supposed to believe you?" Of course it was Lucas to question Genie's abilities. She didn't blame him, though. It was almost an impossible concept to wrap one's head around.

"Come on, Lucas-"

"No, Mike, it's fine. I guess I can try to prove it." She shrugged. Lucas gave her a challenging look.

"Alright, then. What am I thinking." He looked at her smugly. Genie exhaled slowly, concentrating solely on her skeptical friend.

'No way this shit is real. Man I wish I wasn't picked to get thrown in the trash. I wonder what we're doing in science today.'

It seemed Lucas was very scatterbrained but Genie managed to speak out every sentence she could read. In the end, his jaw dropped and he instantly believed her. As did Dustin. Max was still doubtful, however.

"How do I know you four didn't just set me up for a prank or something?" She tested. Genie sighed. She was worried they wouldn't believe her at first and she knew using her powers too much would drain her. She needed her friends to know the truth, though.

"You're thinking about polishing your skateboard when you get home. You secretly think one of the boys is cute. You're angry because you think you've been set up. You're worried Billy will see you with..." The confidence left Genie's tone gradually as she trailed off, making eye-contact with Max. The ginger was wide-eyed and beet red.

"Wow, okay. Um, you have superpowers. Cool." Max awkwardly rocked back onto her heels.

"Yeah..." The group, for once in their lives, had nothing to say so Genie mumbled, "I'm gonna go."

The remaining four watched their superhuman friend trudge up the steps and into them school.  She could be their best shot at defeating the shadow monster, for now at least.

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Oop the truth is out

See you in part four <3