sh; it started with a cigarette

x|welcome to the circus.

I am forced to come to terms with a harsh reality. The monster under the bed, the beast in the woods your parents warned you about, the creature in that one dark hallway closet...

They are real.

And they exist in a world with a veil between ours and theirs so thin that anyone can crawl through its walls. In a dimension so sinisterly similar yet different to ours, a fractured mirror of the real world.

If monsters are real, and there are other people like me, such as Eleven, what else is there out there?

"Hey," Nancy says, placing a soft hand on my shoulder.

I jolt, frightened. She immediately apologizes but urges me to stand.

Rushed tapping of tennis shoes on tile floor, inconsistent shuffling of coats being pulled on.

"We gotta go," she tells me, linking our forearms. Jonathan is at our side at once, Hopper and Joyce close behind. They murmur something between them.

"What's happening?" I say, voice cracking accidentally.

"It's okay," Jonathan reassures softly. His warm hand gives my shoulder opposite to Nancy a light squeeze.

"Go straight to the school. We'll meet you there," Hopper instructs.

"The school?" I question. Nancy lightly pushes me forward while Jonathan opens the doors.

"The body's not real," Nancy whispers to me once outside the station.

"What?"

"Will's body. It was fake. He's in that place," her hushed voice is rushed and trembling. "You were right. It didn't make sense. I can't believe we missed it."

"I don't think I want to be involved in this anymore," I add meekly.

"Y/N, please. We need your help. Both you and the girl," Jonathan pleads.

"When did you find out about Eleven?" I inquire as I open the back door to his Ford.

"When were you going to tell us you already knew about her?" he counters. The three of us don't even take the time to buckle our seatbelts. Jonathan floors the gas, screeching out of the parking lot and leaving black streaky tire marks in his wake. The stench of burnt rubber fills my nose and I scrunch my face in disgust.

"You're connected to that place somehow, you both are," Jonathan speaks, mindlessly swerving in and out of traffic.

"It's no coincidence that Will and Barb went missing shortly after you two got here," Nancy adds.

"Are you saying I brought that thing to Hawkins?" my throat closes, and I can barely get the words out. Have I caused all of this?

"No. Hopper thinks your supernatural presence woke something up. Kind of like when you throw something in a volcano and it reactivates,"

"You told Hopper?" I snap.

"We had to," Nancy tries.

"What part of 'don't tell anyone' was confusing for you two?"

Trust no one.

"Him and mom can help," Jonathan assures.

"Oh, fantastic! You told Joyce too! Want to give out my social security number while you're at it? I give it three hours before the CIA is trying to capture me for experiments,"

"We won't let anything bad happen to you," Nancy tells me sternly.

"Yeah, " I scoff, crossing my arms and slumping against the leather seat. "I've heard that before."