Behind Blue Eyes

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C L O S E G A T E

The letters were written in big font, with a red crayon over brown construction paper. I was standing beside Eleven, with Joyce on her other side. The older woman gently placed three of her fingers on the paper, turning her torso to look at Eleven. 

"You opened this gate before, right?"

"Yes," Eleven replied. Blood had begun to trickle down her nose again and I bit my lip looking between them in confusion. There was an ominous feel to the air, like all the happiness had been sucked out of it through a huge straw. I had no idea what they were talking about, but it couldn't be anything good by the way Eleven looked like someone had ruined her day. 

"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Joyce asked softly. The hope in her tone matched the wary look in her eyes. Like she wanted nothing more than for Eleven to say yes, but was pushing it down deep within herself in case Eleven said no. 

"Yes," she says in a whispery voice. She turns her head towards me, her brown eyes boring into mine. "I helped you. Now, you can help me." 

I nod slowly, feeling her eyes burning into me, daring me to deny her. Something had changed about her. Gone was that meek, scared little girl from the lab. In her place was a girl of spit and fire. A warrior. A superhero. Smiling softly, I grab ahold of her hand and squeeze it gently. She nods back. 

With that we all gathered around the kitchen table, maps and plans scattered across the top. Reese and I stayed near the back of the group, the latter not really wanting to be involved in whatever this was. I didn't really blame him. I had this burning ache in my chest and a desire to be as far away from the Hawkins lab as possible. For that was where we were heading. Apparently, this 'gate' had been opened up in the observation room connected to the Rainbow Room. Eleven and I had made eye contact at that, and the silence had been heavy. 

She obviously knew a lot more than I did about what was happening, and I still hadn't had the chance to ask her what had happened that night. I had a feeling I'd know soon enough, though. What I also didn't understand, was why all these kids were involved. There was Dustin, Lucas, Mike, Max, a couple of older teenagers named Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan, Joyce, Hopper, and Eleven. It was like we had our own small army. Currently, Sheriff Hopper was standing in the center of our large circle around the table and pointing to nowhere in particular at the map. 

"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs," Hopper says after a sigh. He seems a lot calmer now than he had been when we had first arrived. 

"Demo-Dogs," Dustin corrects quickly. Hopper pauses, his brain scrambling to get back on track after Dustin had needlessly named them. 

"I'm sorry, what?" 

"I said, uh, Demo-Dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-" 

Hoppers glare intensifies the longer Dustin rambles. His frustration makes my skin prickle with anxiety and goosebumps. "How is this important right now?" He snaps. 

"It's not, I'm sorry," Dustin blushes and turns away, avoiding the angry sheriffs glare. I suppress a chuckle, feeling bad for the kid but also finding him very endearing. He'd been the friendliest since I'd arrived, even going so far as to teach me what a hand shake was, and being sly enough to trick me so that he could lay a kiss across my knuckles. Nancy, a bushy haired skinny senior had smirked proudly at him for the move, but Lucas had scoffed, rolled his eyes and shook his head at his friend.  

"We can do it," Eleven interrupts, gaining everyone's attention. 

"You're not hearing me," Hopper says, much calmer now, but a tinge of fear has crept into him as he speaks to his surrogate daughter.