Stranger Things Than a Tribrid

Chapter 7: Untimely Apologies

Hope's POV:

After coming to an agreement the three of us ensure that the kids won't leave or try to do anything stupid. Once they assure us the three of us get into Johnathan's car and drive to the police station. "I'll be in and out in a minute."

"I'll come with you." Johnathan says, going to unbuckle. I shake my head, stopping him. "I'm a witch remember. I can break in by myself easier than with someone else." He sighs, but nods and I get out. "Invisique." I mutter. "Whoa." I hear Johnathan say, informing me that I am invisible.

I walk over to the front door and ease my way inside. I easily make it past the worker on duty and into Hopper's locked office. Once I have our things we bought this afternoon I turn it invisible and head back out. Once I'm in the car I take off my invisibility spell.

"Got everything?" Nancy asks me. I nod. "Let's do this." They both nod and we head for the Byers' house. When we get there we set to work setting the trap. We fix the light bulbs and set up the bear trap.

Nancy loads her shot gun and I lay down some gasoline to make my fire spell catch better. I turn to see Johnathan hammering nails into a bat. Smart. That's when Johnathan comes back with a knife. "What's that for?" I ask. "The creature is attracted to blood." He tells me. I nod.

"Remember." Nancy says as we all face each other. "Straight into Will's room." I nod. "And don't step on the trap." Johnathan adds. "Wait for the yoyo to move." "And then..." He trails off and they both look at me. I nod. "Alright, you two ready?" He asks us. "Ready." We say in unison.

"On three." Nancy says. "One, two..." Johnathan trails off, looking at Nancy's scared face. "You don't have to do this." "Johnathan stop talking." She insists. "Three." I say and we all cut our hands. Before mine can heal I rub some on my sweater. "Why did you do that?" Nancy asks.

I show her my now healed hand. "Werewolf healing. Plus, vampire blood heals wounds and I have my dad's running through me. She nods and the two of them go off to wrap their wounds. I let them be, preparing myself to face a creature that did what it did to Barb.

I close my eyes and take deep breaths. How did I end up in this situation. Malivore. That son of a bitch ruined my life and then threw me out of my time. I can only hope that I'm only in the past. If I'm in another universe then I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I can hear them talking in the other room. I think back to the douche that apparently is Nancy's boyfriend. Steve. Just the way Johnathan is with her I can tell he likes her. She deservers so much better than that jackass who said those fucked up things about Johnathan's family.

Suddenly there's a knock on the door. My eyes snap open. "Johnathan! Are you there man? It's-it's Steve!" I've heard of 'speak of the devil', but with is ridiculous. I turn to Nancy and Johnathan who look very confused. "Listen, I just want to talk!" He continues to bang on the door.

Nancy rushes over and opens it. "Steve, listen to me." "Hey. Nancy, what-" "You need to leave." She insists. "I'm not trying to start anything, ok?" "I don't care about that, ok? You need to leave." She tries again, but he's not having it.

"No, no, no. Listen I messed up, ok? I messed, I messed up. Ok? Really, please. I just want to make things right." My anger towards him softens. At least he can admit it. Most douche bags can't see that they're douches. "Ok, please. Ple-" He stops mid beg.

"Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?" Crap. "Nothing. It was an accident." She lies, pulling her hand back. "Yeah, what's going on?" "Nothing." "Wait a sec. Did he do this to you? Did that strange girl from earlier do this to you?" I roll my eyes at his accusation. "No. No. NO!"

"Nancy, let me in!" He yells, shoving the door open. "No! NO! Steve!" She yells as he bursts through he door. "That's when he sees everything. The lights, the spiked bat, everything. "What is...what the..." He can't see to form any thought about what he's seeing.

"You need to leave now." I tell him with a hard glare. His gaze finds mine. "Who even are you?" I roll my eyes. "You need to get out of here." Johnathan snaps, shoving at Steve to leave. "What is all this?!" He yells. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, get out of here!" Johnathan yells.

"What is that smell?" He asks, shoving Johnathan's hand off. I hear a gun cock. "Steve, get out!" Nancy yells, holding a pistol up to his chest. "Wait. What?! What is going on?!" He snaps, looking between the three of us. "You have five seconds to get out of here." She snaps at him.

"Ok, is this a joke? Stop. Put the gun down." Steve tries. "Nancy, enough." I tell her in a warning tone. "I'm doing this for you." I zone out Steve's protest when the lights flicker. "This you?" Johnathan asks. I shake my head. "Nancy." I warn. "What is this?!" "Nancy." Johnathan tries.

"Three." "NO! NO! NO! NO!" Steve yells. "Two." "Nancy!" I try again. "NO! NO!" Steve is yelling as the lights get worse. "NANCY!" I yell, finally getting her attention. "The lights." Johnathan points out. "It's here." I breath. "Wait, what's here?" Steve asks. I sigh and turn to him.

"Where is it?" Nancy asks. "Where's what?! WHOA! CAREFUL WITH THAT!" He yells as she jerks the gun around. "Where is it!?" I ask. "I don't know. I don't see it." Johnathan asks as we all circle each other. "Where's what?" Steve asks again. I grab his arms and yank him into the circle.

"WHOA! Who even are you?!" I roll my eyes. The lights are getting worse now. "Hello! Will someone explain to me what's going-" He's cut off by a crashing sound. We all whip around to see the creature crawling out of the ceiling. Shit. Nancy fires a few bullets at it.

It doesn't seem fazed. "GO! GO! RUN! GO!" Johnathan yells. We all turn and sprint from the room. Johnathan pushes Nancy in front, then it's him, Steve, and finally me. I hear it scream. We come upon the bear trap. "JUMP!" I yell.

"OH, MY GOD! OH, MY GOD!" Steve yells in front of me as he leaps over the trap. Once I'm in the room I turn and slap the door shut. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Steve yells. "SHUT UP!" The three of us snap, effectively silencing him.

As we wait for it to burst through the door I stand in front of the them, arms raised, ready to cast my spell. I can hear it on the other side of the door. "What's it doing?" Nancy asks. "I don't know." I mutter. That's when the electricity goes back to normal. Everything is silent. What?

Where is it?