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

CHAPTER SIXTEEN | WILL. . .

Amanda looked up, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears at the sight of her mother. "Mommy!" she sobbed, holding her arms out for a long awaited hug. The two of them hugged and cried together, rejoicing in their reunion. "I knew you'd come back," Linda sobbed, "I told you you were a fighter."

Over Amanda's shoulder, through blurry tears, she saw Will standing idly in a corner of the room. Once she and her mother pulled apart, she waved Will over and brought him into a hug. Pulling back, but still in each other's grasp, he asked, "Do you. . .remember anything?"

"I remember your name," Amanda said, shrugging. "That's gotta count for something, right?"

The two of them smiled at one another before Amanda continued. "The major thing I remember was that I was having this crazy dream and we were fighting this thing called the Mind Flayer. Like from Dungeons and Dragons. And apparently the black stuff in the bucket is what came out of me." She nodded to the bucket on the floor.

"Mandy?" Will asked. "Yeah?" she asked in return. "That was. . .all real," he answered timidly.

"It was?"

Will nodded. "I think. . .you were in a coma. And what you were dreaming about was actually being seen through a projection of yourself. I don't know if the nurse told you all of this or not."

"She did." Amanda nodded. After a moment, she asked, "Can you grab my overalls for me?" Amanda pointed to her dirty overalls that were draped over a chair. Will walked over, grabbed them, and brought them back over to her.

     She reached into the left pocket and felt something. Pulling it out, there was a handful of Smurf Berry Crunch in her hand. "I also kind of remembered having a box of Smurf Berry Crunch with me and putting some of it into my pocket for good luck."

"Yeah. We had a bowl of it at a mini mart and Mike got mad that you brought the cereal box with you." Will smiled.

     "It was life or death! If I was gonna go out swinging, I might as well had a last bite of my favorite breakfast," Amanda laughed, then she looked up at squinted at him. "You also said that you were thinking about something?"

He reddened at that. "Oh." He shrugged. "I was just thinking about how cool it was to have a friend like you. Projection or not. You were really wise for how young you were."

     "I'm guessing I told you that I talked to the teachers during lunch?" Amanda giggled. Will nodded and the two hugged once more before the nurse had to, unfortunately, lead Will and Linda away so Amanda could get a few more tests done.

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It wasn't long until Amanda was released from the hospital and dressed in fresh clothes her mother brought her. When she went to go see everyone in the waiting room, everyone came up to hug her, Mike being the last one to do so.

     "Can I talk to you?" he asked quietly. Amanda nodded and she let him tug her to a different side of the waiting room. "What'd you wanna talk to me about?" Amanda asked.

     "For starters, I'm glad you're okay. I may be an idiot but I'm no dick." Mike smiled, laughing a little. "But, uh, I wanted to ask if you. . .remembered anything about me thinking I like you? And I know it's selfish of me to ask but I just. . .wanna know."

     "You think you like me?" Amanda raised an eyebrow at him.

     Mike shook his head. "It was complicated. El thought I liked you when I still liked her and then I thought I liked you but the world was ending and my emotions were all over the place. But then that thing between you and Will happened and. . ."

     "Wait," Amanda interrupted, "me and Will? I don't like Will like that. After what he told me that day in the cabin, that'd be weird of me to do."

     "Wh-what'd he tell you?"

      "That's for him to tell you when he's ready to. Not me." And with that, Linda called Amanda over so they could finally go home. Amanda hugged Will one last time and gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

     "Before I forget. Ha, forget," she said softly, "you're not an afterthought. You're a kid. You've got time." She then turned around and left the hospital with her mother. 

     "Welcome home, Manda bear," Linda congratulated Amanda as they got into the car. "Can we go to the video store?" Amanda asked after a moment of silence. Her mother nodded. "Anything you want, sweetheart."

     They pulled into the video store and Amanda asked the store clerk if they had a copy of The Outsiders. Lucky for her, they did.

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SIDE NOTE!
we've come full circle! kind of
if a part looks familiar, that's because i copypasted it right into the chapter (with some changes)

i wanted you to have some déjà vu with amanda crawling out of the hole because she had some muscle memory of getting herself out of the pumpkin patch (i also wanted to be cool with the whole "the-first-and-last-lines-are-the-same" thing but it didn't land all that well)

this also sounds like the end but it isn't

i still have the epilogue and then we'll be done! *internal sobbing*
but i do wanna thank you for reading though!