There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

EIGHTEEN

Hopper and Jonathan began to cut open the bags of salt that they had found and started pouring them into the pool. Catherine frowned, wishing that she could do something to help. She felt absolutely useless as she sat up and leaned against the side of the pool. She watched as Dustin placed an egg into the pool to see if they had made the isolation tank correctly. The egg sank and they all sighed as Hopper and Jonathan poured more salt into the water.

Dustin picked another egg from the egg box and placed it into the pool, smiling when he saw that it floated on the water's surface. Mike and Lucas both smiled as well as they patted their friend on the back. Cat smiled at her younger brother, feeling proud.

Mike placed the walkie-talkie on the side, changing the frequency so it was just static. El took her knee-length socks off her feet and removing the watch from her wrist as she prepared to climb into the pool. She looked at Cat who sent the small girl a reassuring smile, silently telling her that it was going to be okay. Eleven sent her a small smile in response and climbed into the home-made isolation tank. Joyce handed her the duck-taped goggles and the young girl slipped them over her head.

Everybody watched as she laid down in the water. The electricity started surging, causing the lights to flicker before encasing them all in darkness. Cat leaned her head on Jonathan's shoulder, not liking that there wasn't any light. After her trip to the Upside Down where she had been encased in darkness the whole time, she had started to get anxiety about being in darkness. Jonathan sensed her anxiety and wrapped an arm around his best friend. The group watched El in silence as they waited for something to happen.

"Barb? Barbara?" El spoke and both Nancy and Cat sat up straighter at the mention of their friend. El's breathing started to get heavy as she lay in the water. Cat shared a worried look with Nancy as they wondered what was going on. Was Barb okay? The electricity started pulsating and the teens all shared a look of worry.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know." Mike answered, looking at his sister worriedly.

Nancy leaned over the pool slightly. "Is Barb okay?" She asked El. "Is she okay?"

"Gone!" El screamed. "Gone! Gone!" She kept repeating the word.

Both Nancy and Cat started crying as Joyce tried to comfort Eleven. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." The woman repeated as Eleven continued repeating the word 'gone'.

"Hey. It's okay." Joyce told the young girl, holding onto her hands. Catherine closed her eyes, hiding her face in Jonathan's shoulder as she cried. One of her best friends was gone and she wasn't ever coming back. "It's okay, we're right here." Joyce spoke to El as calmly as she could. "We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. I'm right here with you. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, you're safe. You're okay, honey."

"Castle Byers." El spoke suddenly. Catherine lifted her head, looking at the girl as she wiped the tears from her face with the sleeve of her red flannel. Joyce looked over at Jonathan as he looked back at her. Castle Byers was the fort that both Will and Jonathan had built together a few years ago. "Will." Eleven breathed out. "Will?"

Joyce gasped. "You tell him... tell him I'm coming." She said to El. "Mom is coming."

"Hurry." Will's voice came from the radio. Cat brought a hand to her mouth, letting out a small sob as fresh tears fell down her face. Will was alive. They could save him.

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to..." Joyce stuttered out as she spoke to El. "To stay where he is. "We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey. Just... Just hold on a little longer."

El suddenly sat up, ripping the goggles from her head. She started breathing heavily as Joyce held her. "Oh, okay, okay." Joyce whispered, holding El to her. "I've got you. It's okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good." She pressed a kiss to the small girl's head as Eleven cried.

***

The kids sat on the benches as Lucas wrapped a towel around El. Cat took a seat next to them, placing her crutches beside her as she pulled the young girl into a hug. Hopper sighed, speaking to Jonathan and Joyce as he put his jacket and hat on. "So this fort. Where is it?"

Joyce stuttered. "Uh, it's in the woods behind our house."

"Yeah, he used to go there to hide." Jonathan added, both him and Joyce following behind Hopper as he walked out of the school.

***

Catherine pulled out of her hug with El, grabbing her crutches as she informed the kids that she was going to see how Nancy was doing. She left the gym, going as fast as her body would allow her to and stepped into the hall to see Nancy and Jonathan sat against the wall, hugging their knees. She hobbled over to them and slid down so she was sat next to Nancy, her head leaning on the girl's shoulder.

"We have to go back to the station." Nancy announced after a few minutes of the teens sitting in silence.

"What?" Jonathan asked, his head turning towards the girl.

"Yeah," Cat said quietly as she looked up at her friend. "Are you serious?"

"Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait."

"She has a point." Cat pointed out, looking over at Jonathan. "That thing is still in there."

"We can't just sit here and let it get them, too." Nancy explained. "We can't."

Jonathan sighed. "You still wanna try it out?"

"I wanna finish what we started." Nancy stated. "I want to kill it."

"Me too." Cat spoke as Jonathan nodded. "Just let me say something to the kids before we leave." Jonathan helped her stand up as Nancy handed her the crutches. Cat thanked them as she made her way back into the gym and over to the kids. "All right. I'm going with Nancy to murder that son of a bitch monster that gave me these stitches." She announced, standing in front of them. "Now, I want you to behave and not get into anymore trouble, you understand?" She watched as the kids nodded. "Okay. Good. I just wanted to say goodbye in case anything happened to me."

She was shocked slightly as Eleven unexpectedly stood up and hugged her tightly. Cat wrapped her arms around the girl as best she could without losing her balance. "I love you guys like crazy, you too El." She looked down at the girl, placing a kiss on her head. "And if anything happens to you while I'm gone, I don't know what I'll do. I mean, even if I stayed I couldn't protect you from anything. Look at me." She gestured to herself as she let go of Eleven. "I'm a cripple." The teen let out a small laugh as Dustin wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back tightly. "I just love you guys so much. You're my favourite people in this damned town. Hell, even in the whole universe." The boys and Eleven smiled at her as they all wrapped their arms around the girl they all thought of as an older sister.

***

Cat, Nancy and Jonathan snuck into the police station, Nancy carrying Catherine on her back so her crutches wouldn't make a noise against the floor. Jonathan opened the door to the room where their box of bear traps sat on a desk. He grabbed the box and exited the room. As they walked back down the hall, the two girls picked up a fire extinguisher and the Cat held it as Nancy carried her back to the car they had parked outside.

***

Edited: 12/4/2020

Edit 2: 9/9/2021