ON HOLD peaches

vii

as mike trudged out the gym in search for el, sam still inspected max. "alright, peaches, i think i'm good." max giggled as sam was now inspecting max's ankles. sam sighed as the two sat on the bleachers, waiting for mike.

"hey sam?" max asked, filling the comfortable silence.  "yeah?" sam asked, looking at the redheads eyes. "i.. i need to tell you something." max admitted. sam furrowed her brows. "what?" sam asked, setting her hand on max's. max inhaled. "d-" max was about to start before mike barged in.  "we found him." he called. the two hopped over the bleachers, following mike.

lucas, mike, max, and sam all barged into the bathroom by salernos. "where's dart?" mike asked desperately. "i don't know. not here." dustin casually stated as he awkwardly leaned on the bathroom stall. sam furrowed her brows at dustin's weirdness. dustin's always weird, but not this weird. "what?" mike asked, checking the stalls. "he said by salerno's, right?" max asked for confirmation. no one said yes.

"yeah, maybe wills has him." dustin suggested. sam furrowed her brows, noticing that will wasn't with them. mike noticed too, coming out the stall he was in. "where is will?" the two asked in unison.

the 5 kids spread out across the school, yet dustin max and sam had met up again, so they decided to work together and call out his name.  just as they turned the corner, they wer met by a frightened joyce byers. "dustin! samantha!" mrs. byers saw the 2 and max, who were all confused on why she was here. "mrs. byers?" dustin asked in confusion. "what's going on? where's will?" she asked, wondering where her son is. just then, lucas ran in from the door that went to the field. panting, lucas yelled "the field!". the 4 didn't waste a second, racing after lucas.

as the 4 sprinted to will, sam felt that same cold, frozen feeling when she approached will. she ignored it though. "i just found him like this! i think he's having another episode." mike yelled, specifically to joyce. but as soon as sam got close will, she was transported to the all too familiar upside down. she was stood next to will now as she watched the mind flayer go into will, horrified.

back in the real world, sam was now in the same state as will - unresponsive and stiff. max was panicking as she watched the brunettes eyelids flutter. "sam, wake up!" max yelled. "guys, something's wrong!" she told the group. everyone looked at her in horror, terrified for their two friends.

back in the upside down, the dusty wind was now reaching out to sam. unfortunatly, sam was too busy trying to help will that she didn't see the sporting wind branch coming to her. she soon realized though as the mind flayer now went into her. she was hyperventilating and internally screaming, trying to break the branch. she used all her power and strength to try and touch the wind, hoping it would stop it. miraculously, the short harrington somehow reached out her hand and ran her fingers through the dust, which sent her spiraling into the air at the field.

a few seconds later, will jolted awake. sam groaned as she landed in the crunchy autumn grass, not knowing what happened. seconds later, she saw max running to her. joyce looked back at the brunette before rushing over with will following slowly.

"sweetheart, samantha, can you here me?" joyce asked, cupping the girls face and inspecting it. the veins were popping out and she was extremely pale, but sams just nodded yes with a small hum. joyce nodded, hugged the girl and apologized for not helping more, then walked off with will, the boys following.

"sam, are you okay? you went flying!" max informed the brunette as they followed the others, not far behind. sam just nodded.

they all watched at the front of the school as joyce led will into her car, then drove away. "okay that totally freaked me out. did that not freak you guys out?" max asked, confused and scared on why will was frozen and sam had been thrown back. "two episodes in two days." "it's getting worse." lucas and mike stated to no one in particular. sam hummed in agreement.