wires, steve harrington

forty-three.

meadow looked next to her, and almost fell backwards as she saw steve, but he was clearly dead. his body was rout with maggots, and his eyes were sunken in. "that's not real." she told herself. "it's not real." she repeated when she saw dustin laying beside him, as well as the rest of her friends and family.

"you cannot save them." a distinct voice echoed. "you are the reason those around you suffer."

she looked up, hoping she'd see whatever it was, but it didn't show its face. instead, it showed her a memory. a memory of her father slapping her, of dustin crying in her room. she watched as all of her friends, in this hypothetical world, died, and how each of them was her fault.

"it is your fault that he left." the voice repeated, showing her more images of her father.

meadow put her hands to her head, shaking it violently. "that's not true, and none of this is real!" she screamed.

"then why are you so frightened?" suddenly, she saw it. vecna was approaching her. his body looked so similar to the demogorgon that she almost wanted to laugh, to spit in its face and tell it that it wasn't as scary since it didn't have big teeth. but his eyes were a haunting blue, and his fingers were long and pointed as he walked closer to her. "let it all go. surrender."

"no." she shook her head.

"they aren't your friends. they will leave you, too." vecna assured her.

"fuck you."

what meadow couldn't see or hear was steve's absolute panic. "meadow? meadow? m?" he asked, looking over at her. "no, no, no! not now! shit!" he shouted, placing his hands on her shoulders. "meadow, please, come back to me. please.. shit!"

"meadow!" dustin screamed, moving as if to climb the rope to be with her, but eddie held him back.

max looked up at the scene (which was upside down for her). "what's her favorite song? does anyone-"

"no, i don't know her favorite song, she always switches the channel over from any song i actually know." steve said, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he looked into her lifeless ones.

eddie hadn't been there when nancy and robin uncovered the secret to surviving vecna, and so he was confused by all of this. "she told me, i don't know if it's her favorite of all time, or anything, but she likes fade to black. metallica."

lucas turned to him. "okay, do you have it on.. on a mixtape, or something? a cd, even?"

he shook his head. "nah, nah, man. i can play it, though."

"then get your goddman guitar, man." dustin said through his tears, looking up at his sister, who was still paralyzed.

eddie ran off to get it, strumming the intro solo that he and meadow had talked about previously.

"play louder." robin mumbled.

"shit, dude, it's an electric, how loud do-" eddie stopped when max plugged the guitar into his amplifier. "okay, yeah. let's do this." he played the intro again, and steve stared into meadow's eyes.

"come on, come on. you got this." he mumbled, his hands back on her shoulders.

meadow, still in the presence of vecna, heard the distant sound of a guitar. she turned her head, as if she could find the exact spot it was playing from. "this cannot be real, i cannot stand this hell i feel." she said, quoting the song as she recognized it. "damnit, eddie." she smiled.

she could feel vecna's hand reaching out towards her, but she ran, moving through the empty area with the sounds of eddie's guitar echoing her footsteps. meadow eventually saw an opening, the only crack of light in the darkness, and sped towards it.

when meadow's eyes opened, she gasped for air. "holy shit." she panted, falling into steve's arms. eddie stopped playing, a triumphant smile on his face as everyone else cheered.

"oh, my god, oh my god." steve said, pulling her into his arms. "please do not do that.. ever.. again."

she smiled, remembering when she'd said that to him only an hour or so prior. "it wasn't by choice." she said, repeating his words.

"i thought i lost you." steve said, his hands on her cheeks. "i thought you were gone, i thought i really lost you-"

meadow shook her head. "steve, i'm okay. i'm okay, i promise." she rested her forehead on his, and he pulled her body closer to his.

"you know," he said after a moment, "this is a lot like our first kiss." he said, recalling the last time they'd been the last two stuck in another dimension, a looming hole above them, and close to a near imminent death. he ran his thumb over the small scar by the edge of her forehead, right next to her hairline, that she'd received on the bus those two years ago, the same night he'd admitted to falling for her.

"yeah, you're right." she replied. "we really have to stop getting into his same situation, don't we?" she joked, making them both smile.

steve shook his head. "i mean, i'm okay with it, honestly, if it means i get to kiss you."

meadow rolled her eyes. "shut up, that's so stupid, no." she laughed.

"no, i'm serious!" he replied, looking down at her. "truly, it is worth it, it is- it's like.. a reward. for the trauma that will certainly.. ensue-"

"oh, shut up, harrington." meadow said, pulling him down by the collar of the jacket he wore. their lips collided and steve smiled, holding her close to him.

they broke apart, and were thankful to see that everyone above (below?) them had looked away. "that is disgusting, steve. my sister nearly dies, and the first thing you want to do-"

dustin stopped talking when meadow plopped onto the mattress, quickly followed by steve. he tackled his sister, who laughed. "hey, i'm good, i'm okay."

"you can't scare me like that." he mumbled into her shoulder, his arms wound tightly around her neck.

the siblings broke apart, however, when eddie looked over at nancy. "hey, guys, you wouldn't happen to know her favorite song, would you?" he asked. sure enough, nancy's eyes had glossed over, and she had been taken over by vecna.

"shit." meadow said.

wires part three, volume two, july 2nd 2022.