AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (BENEATH HIS FEET) | STRANGER THINGS ✓

CHAPTER FOUR | MINDFLAYER'S KIDS CLUB‪™‬

Amanda went and stood behind her mom and carefully put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her for comfort. Her mother put her hand where Amanda's hand was and Amanda quickly pulled away in surprise. "Sometimes I feel like you're still here," her mother continued, "I can even smell your Sunflowers perfume from time to time. I miss you, Mandy. Come home whenever you're ready."

Her mother stood to leave and Amanda moved out of her way, a few tears streaming down her face. She was stuck and there was nothing she could do about it. There had to be a way where she could get her body out of the tunnels. There just had to be.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

"Why are we here again?" Will asked as they parked their bikes on the bike rack. He, Mike, and Lucas were at the Starcourt Mall. Mike had explained the reason, but he had zoned out.

     "I messed up, Will," Mike answered. "Big time. I blew El off because Hopper threatened me and I need to find a way to make it up to her. Lucas is here to help."

"But what about our DnD campaign? I still need to go home and set it up."

"We can do that later. But first, we need to prioritize. Lucas, where to?"

     "There should be a jewelry store around here somewhere. We should start there," Lucas instructed and Will rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

Amanda walked out of her house and made a break for the forest, making sure to be careful to not fall into the hole again. She stopped when she found her mason jar and flashlight at the edge of the hole. Or, at least, where the hole used to be.

     "No. No, no, no." She got to her knees and began to dig at the ground. It was completely packed up. How could that have happened? It must've happened during the year that she went missing. Someone must've come by and filled the hole up. But wouldn't they have noticed her flashlight? Then that would mean that it wasn't someone that filled the hole, but something.

     She had to get out of the forest because she had a bus to catch.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'

Getting off the bus, Amanda was greeted by a building that had a sign that read Hawkins Post above it. She figured that if she was going to get answers, this was the best place to start.

Walking in after someone, she made a start for the pile of discarded and dated newspapers on a rack by the front desk. She grabbed a pile of them and got comfortable in a chair to begin reading. Her eyes skimmed over the bold article titles as her hands turned the pages of the newspaper, quickly searching for something, anything, that would lead her to somewhere.

Then, she found it.

It was an article by a man named Murray Bauman that talked about the closing of Hawkins National Laboratory due to "a gate being opened to another dimension and unleashing a monster into our world." The Mind Flayer. It had to be. Amanda continued on reading. "There were these flower-mouthed creatures — dubbed 'Demogorgons' —  that had started to come out of the tunnels and invading the laboratory, eating a few of the scientists on the way, leaving gashes in their throats and stomachs."

     Amanda put a hand to her throat as a reaction to reading that, not realizing that that was one of the ways she could have actually left the world. And no one would have ever known. That's what I saw the night I disappeared, she thought, it wasn't a dog, it was a Demogorgon.