𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

GONE, GONE, GONE !

☀︎

THEY HAD NEEDED A SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK IN ORDER TO APPEAL TO ELEVEN'S IDEA. The issue was that they had needed 1,500 pounds of salt in order for this to work. The only place they were sure that they could easily find it was at Hawkins Middle School. When they had arrived, they all had split up into different groups in order to get everything that they had needed to get this done as quickly as possible. This had left Alex, Dustin and Lucas in charge of setting up the pool-- something that was deemed impossible by the three.

Once more, the side of the pool had flopped back inwards, sending the entire pool back into a fold. "How does this even work?" Dustin voice had been filled with frustration and he gave a sharp kick to the fallen pool.

Wanting to give it one more go, Lucas pointed over to where Alex stood. "Here, get that side." Still, the moment she had lifted it up, another side of the pool had folded inwards on them.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin yelled, tossing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"I can't believe I got stuck with you two morons," Lucas grumbled, dropping down his side of the pool. He had stood their watching as the two Henderson's had attempted several more times to keep everything in place, only for a string of swears to fly out their mouth with every failed attempt. Crossing his arms, Lucas had sent them a glare. "We need to start filling it with water to keep the sides up."

"Now you tell us, Lucas. Really?" Alex grumbled, dropping her side as well. She groaned in annoyance as she took a seat beside the folded in pool while they had waited for Nancy and Mike to return with a hose to fill up the pool to get started.

『••••』

IT HAD TAKEN SOME TIME-- BUT EVENTUALLY, THE BICKERING HAD DIED DOWN AS THE POOL WAS SET UP. Eleven had swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping to calm her nerves as she stood knee deep in the pool. Looking around, she had seen all eyes had been on her, watching her every move with their fingers crossed that this was enough to get them to Will and Barb. Taking the goggles that Joyce had duct taped, she slipped them over her eyes and found herself in complete darkness.

Everyone had kneeled down around the pool as Eleven had laid herself down, floating on top. There was a silence as the lights began to flicker before stuttering into darkness.

"Barbara?" Eleven whispered after moments of silence. In the void she had been visiting, she had felt the fear of what she had seen before her. The sight of Barb's dead body had caused Eleven's breathing to pick up as the lights pulsed alive once more before going out.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked her in a panic.

"Gone. Gone. Gone," Eleven repeated, her voice filled with fear. Alex shut her eyes and hung her head down to hold herself together. Seeing this, Dustin pursed his lips into a frown as he reach out, slipping his hand in hers for any comfort that she had needed after losing a friend.

"It's okay. It's okay. I got you," Joyce repeated to Eleven. Her words were gentle, not matching the panic that she had felt inside herself. She remained calm for the sake of Eleven to be doing something so big for the group. Joyce had reached her hand into the pool, holding onto Eleven's as she continued to soothe her with her words of comfort.

"Castle Byers," Eleven whispered. Everyone had felt their hearts collectively stop for a moment. All of this had started because Joyce was not willing to give up on her son. If he had been gone just as Barb had, then their fight had seemed worthless. "Will?" Eleven questioned and Joyce gasped in surprise.

"You tell him... tell him I'm coming," Joyce said to Eleven, hoping she had heard her words.

"Hurry," Will's voice came out from the walkie talkie next to them, everyone's attention shifting from Eleven over to it now. He had been alive and waiting for them. Their fight would continue on and with his instruction to hurry-- they would do just that.

As the void had slowly began to lose it's picture of Will, Eleven had sat forward urgently in the pool. She whimpered quietly into Joyce's arm, unsure what more she could do if she could no longer see Will and give him the reassurance he needed to keep fighting.

Eleven managed to get herself out of the pool, wrapping a towel tightly around her and walking to the bleachers with the comfort of her three friends. Alex watched as Nancy tried to hide her sadness, walking out of the gym and into the hall. The thought of Barb being dead had hung heavy on her. All she could do was blame herself. That night, all she had to do was go home with Barb when she had asked.

Alex had followed her out the door, watching as she slid down the wall and clutched her knees closely to her chest. "I shouldn't have gone upstairs with Steve. Then she wouldn't have been out there," she whispered to Alex, her eyes glued to the floor.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have left her either. And I should've looked for her more." Alex had taken the spot beside Nancy, resting her head on her shoulder as she slipped her hand into hers. It was the only comfort that they needed right now.

"I left you too," Nancy continued on. "In that... that place. I ran and left you behind."

"It's okay," Alex said in a single breath. "I'm still alive." However, that was not enough. That night, she felt that a piece of her was left behind at that place. Something that she would never be able to get back.

Jonathan had came through the door next, allowing it to slam shut behind him as he walked up to the two. He had taken a seat on the other side of Nancy and a silence had hung within the group. It had been quite some time since they had felt themselves in this much silence when together.

The silence had gotten to Nancy as she ran things over in her head. Joyce and Hopper were heading out to continue this fight and all they had been doing was hiding. Now was the best time to step in and fix what Hawkins Lab had created. "We have to go back to the station. Your mom and Hopper are walking in there like bait. That thing is still there. We can't just sit here and let it get them. We can't."

"I want to kill it," Alex said, wanting more than anything to finish what they started. All this time, she had felt that her fear of reliving what the monster had done would happen again, but more than anything she had wanted to use that fear to turn into revenge. She wanted it dead and what better way than to do it with her friends alongside her.

"We can't bring the kids. And they can't know we're leaving or they'd want to come too," Jonathan stated, the first to stand up, holding out both of his hands for the girls to take. Tonight was going to put an end to this all and all it had taken was for them all to find one another. So, the girls placed their hands into Jonathan's, allowing him to pull them up onto their feet to finish this.