STICKS AND STONES ↝ S. HARRINGTON

[20]

The sheets rustled as Anna turned over in bed for what felt like the millionth time, trying to find a position to get comfortable so she could manage at least a few hours of sleep. Despite her attempts of tying the belt around her doorknob to keep her locked inside her room not working the night before, she'd still done it out of habit, praying that this time, it might do the trick if needed.

However, every time she shut her eyes, the feeling of fire burned up in her lungs as she remembered the water coursing through her system in the pool, the initial rush of chlorine waking her up from her dreams of Barb and the Demogorgon. She released a shaky breath as she buried her face in her pillow, forcing her eyes shut even as her mind continued to race at thousands of miles per minute.

Finally giving up on her attempts to sleep, afraid of her subconscious once she would eventually drift off, Anna pulled aside the covers, rising from her bed and pulling on the sweatshirt that lay draped over her desk chair before grabbing her car keys. She pulled on an old pair of sneakers lying in her closet and, moving slowly so as not to make a sound that would get back to either her mother or Dustin, slid open her bedroom window and climbed outside into the cool summer night.

She started up her car, a nervous feeling settling in the pit of her stomach as she backed out of the driveway, hoping that, if Claudia were to wander out in the middle of the night for a glass of water or to feed Mews, she wouldn't look out the window leading to the driveway to discover her daughter's car missing. With each turn at every intersection, Anna fought the urge to turn around, though she knew there was only one person that would understand her struggle to fall asleep, and maybe be able to do something about it.

She parked her car a block over from the Harrington house, killing the engine and stepping out into the night. She cut through the neighbor's backyard as she ran through the dewy grass, praying that none of them had motion sensor lights to alert the neighborhood of the sixteen-year-old girl sprinting through their yards. By the time she reached the backyard, Anna froze for a moment as her gaze found the pool, but she forced herself to shake it off as she moved for the trellis propped up against the side of the house, grabbing hold of it and beginning to climb.

As she climbed up onto the roof, she began to crawl, first passing Becca's window, her usual stop, and instead pausing at the one she knew to be Steve's. She knocked lightly against the glass, holding her breath as she waited for any sign of the boy inside, or if she'd accidentally woken up any other member of the Harrington household. After a moment, a light flooded from the other side of the blinds, and they opened to see Steve looking back at her with a curious expression as he quickly pulled the blinds up and slid the window open.

"Everything okay?" Steve asked, his eyebrows furrowing together, voice low so as not to wake up anyone else inside the house. "You didn't sleepwalk again, did you?"

"No," Anna said, shaking her head as she looked down nervously, suddenly regretting her decision to come over. "It's just... would it be okay if I stayed over again? I actually managed to sleep last night, for a little bit, thanks to you."

"Oh," Steve mused, a look of understanding crossing his face as he nodded, opening the window a little wider to allow the girl inside. "Yeah, come on in."

"Thanks," Anna said gratefully, climbing inside and stepping further into his room. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't," Steve assured her. "But happy to help."

"Thanks," she said. "I don't know, I just feel like I'm trapped in a cycle of needing to sleep, of wanting to sleep, but every time I do I'm back... there. But having someone there, I feel safer. Like if I start sleepwalking, someone's there to catch me and make sure I don't wind up back in there. Does that make sense?"