the view between villages // a stranger things choose-your-own-adventure

PAGE 2: Go with Steve, Dustin, and Robin

Your heart sinks when, inside the box, is a foreboding metal case.

Steve turns the top of the case and lifts it, revealing four metal handles.

"That's definitely not Chinese food," he grumbles. He motions with his hand. "Maybe you guys should, you know, stand back."

You all do, except Dustin, who refuses to abandon Steve. His devotion to his friend/babysitter baffles you a bit. Something must have happened to make them so close. You just aren't sure what.

Steve pulls on one of the handles and unearths a cylinder of bright green liquid. It pulses and oozes in its case. It's radioactive.

The entire room you're in shakes.

"Booby traps," Erica whispers, eyes wide.

"Let's just grab that and go!" Robin says, taking the cylinder from Steve and rushing to the door, Dustin right on her heels.

He hits the button to open the door, but nothing happens. He slams it repeatedly, to no avail. Steve presses a different button, and a steel wall slams down in front of you all.

The shaking gets worse, causing you all to stumble on your feet. This secret room is more than a room—it's an elevator. And it's dropping way, way too fast. Your heart sinks in tandem with the elevator's rapid descent.

You aren't exactly sure when, but eventually, you stop moving. The five of you try to brainstorm a way out, but the button to open the doors is jammed without a keycard, and the doors are too heavy to force open.

After about two hours of failed plans and fighting, Steve tells you, Dustin, and Erica to try and get some sleep.

"There's got to be a way out," he says. "Even without a dumb keycard. Robin and I will keep trying to find it."

Curled up next to a Kaufman Shoes box with your back to the others, you try to sleep—but it's impossible. You're overwhelmed and you're kicking yourself for getting involved in this in the first place.

You don't even know when you start crying. It begins as silent tears rolling down your cheeks and escalates to shaking shoulders and sobs muffled behind your hand.

You don't want to worry the younger kids, even more than they already are. You don't want to be a nuisance or act like a baby. But you're so, so scared, and you can't stop your sobs from getting slightly louder.

You hear tentative footsteps approach you and you tense up. Steve calls your name softly.

"Are you okay?" he asks, voice barely above a whisper.

You roughly rub the tears off your cheeks and sit up, before turning to face him.

"I'm fine," you say. Your wobbling voice and tear-stained cheeks give you away.

"Can I sit here?" he asks, gesturing to the empty space next to you.

You nod and he joins you on the floor. You see Robin perched on a box a few feet away, staring intently at the steel doors as if she could melt them with her mind.

"We're taking shifts," Steve explains. "She's got first watch. Then she'll wake me up and we'll switch places."

"That's smart," you say, voice a little hoarse from the crying. "If you need me to, I can—"

"No, no," Steve says. "You don't have to. You just rest."

"I'm trying to, but it seems impossible." You let out a shuddering breath. "I can't relax."

Steve looks down at his feet.

"I'm sorry," he says. You can see a multitude of emotions flicker on his face: shame, frustration, guilt. "I shouldn't have let you get involved."