Unhinged | S. Harrington| B. Hargrove | Stranger Things

He's Back.

"Oh hey, Charlie." Max's voice came from inside, she was standing behind Niel. A second later, El came out too.

"Charlie, hi." El smiled, glancing at Niel.

Niel gave him a stern look and walked back into the house. Charlie let out a breath and looked at the girls, dressed up and ready to go out. Max and El walked up to the door.

"Whats going on, Charlie? Why do you look so-" Max couldn't finish her sentence before Charlie interrupted her, still a little out of breath.

"Where are you guys off to? Did something weird happen since we left the halloways?"

"No... I mean yeah-" El fumbled.

"Lucas called code red on the radio this morning. Then Mike called us to come to his house, saying it's very important. Like life or death." Max explained.

Charlie rubbed his entire face with his palms, turning bright red. El and exchanged glances. Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Charlie turned to the girls.

"I'm coming with you two. My jeep's still at the garage, do you have the extra bike?"

"Yeah, come on." Max led him to the two bikes, leaning against the house.

The boys were a little surprised to see Charlie with El and Max but said nothing of it. Perhaps even they had noticed the shift in Charlie's bahavior, eerily similar to how he was last year when everything went down. It was all the more reason for them to worry.

As soom as they sat down in Mike's basement, Will started speaking. Charlie's speculations hadn't been wrong. If he felt something, will felt it too, a presence, a chill.

"The first time I felt it was at the Day of the Dead."
Will said.

"Power went out that night too." Mike added.

Charlie remembered clearly thinking it was just his PTSD and nothing more. Will continued.

"Then I felt it again, at the field near the Nelson farm, the next day. Then yester I felt it again near castle Byers."

"That's after we left the Halloways," Charlie turned to El and Max, "I felt it too."

"What does it feel like?" Max asked.

"Do you know how you feel when you drop down on a roller coaster?" Will asked.

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"No." El replied innocently.

"It's like everything inside you body is sinking, all at once, but worse." Charlie said, turning to Will. "You go cold and you can't breathe."

"I've felt it before. Whenever he was near."

"Whenever who was near?"

"The mind flayer."

"I closed the gate." El said softly.

"Yeah in know...," Will started "But what if he never left." abruptly he stood up.

Will brought out a sheet of paper and a charcoal pencil. He drew the dearie image of the mind flayer, the others circled around him.

"The mind flayer got me in the field. My mom got it out of me. When El closed the gate he left but what if... The part that was in me never left. What if it stayed back in out world." Will looked around.

"But the demodogs died when El closed the gate. The brain died the body dies." Max argued.

"Yes but we have to assume the worst. The mind flayer is back."