𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬
❝ᴍɪᴋᴇ, ɪ ғᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴏᴄᴏʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴘᴜᴅᴅɪɴɢ!❞
𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 dining table that was in kitchen. they were all watching eleven closely, the telekinetic girl having her eyes closed. static was coming from will's supercomm, the volume being all the way up as eleven tried to find barbara holland and will byers. they watched as her eyelids moved from her eyes moving frantically under. the light fixture above the dining table began to flicker as the sound of static started to trail off.
"i'm sorry." eleven whispered, her eyes automatically going to joyce.
joyce's eyebrows knitted together when eleven said that, her grip on jonathan's hand tightening as she stuttered. "w - what's wrong? what happened?"
"i can't find them." eleven answered, her voice breaking as tears started to well up in her eyes. arlo felt her heart ache at those words.
eleven had gone to the bathroom to splash water on her face and take a moment to herself. arlo had been standing between dustin and lucas, everyone still surrounding the dining table as the boys explained how eleven's powers worked. all arlo could think about is how they could get will back.
"whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." mike started.
"the more energy she uses, the more tired she gets. same thing goes for arlo." dustin continued, gesturing to the harrington girl next to him.
"like, eleven, she flipped the van earlier." lucas added.
"it was awesome." arlo chimed in.
"but she's drained." mike quickly said.
"like a bad battery." dustin compared.
"well. . . h - how do we make her better?" joyce questioned. if the party wanted to find will, arlo could only imagine how much joyce and jonathan wanted to find him.
"we don't. we just have to wait and try again." mike answered.
"well, how long?" nancy asked.
"i don't know."
"arlo, honey." joyce started, making the girl in question look at her with raised eyebrows. "is - is there any way that you can try to - to find them?"
arlo felt her heart clench at the look on joyce's face. she wanted her boy back, she needed him back. the younger girl looked away from joyce, swallowing the rock that had formed in her throat. "i - i don't know how to control them. they just. . . they just kinda happen when i need them to. like at the quarry. i didn't make it happen, it just did."
"and, she's exhausted. between not sleeping for days and using her powers earlier, there's no way that she'd be able to it now." mike quickly jumped in, looking at arlo closely. the bags under her eyes had gotten worse over the last few days.
"the bath." a soft voice appeared, making everyone turn towards the hall to see eleven standing there.
"what?" joyce asked.
"i can find them. in the bath." eleven elaborated, everyone finally realizing what she was talking about. the telekinetic girl let her eyes shift over to arlo, who was staring back in worry.
◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸
𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎 mr.clarke to ask how to build this big stupid bathtub they needed, and making a list on the things that they had to get, everyone was on their way to the school. joyce had brought the kiddie pool that the party used to bop for apples in when they were younger so that the water and salt could go in there. they needed 1,500 pounds of salt and apparently, hawkins middle school had a lot of it. well, a lot of salt that was used for when it snowed. once they got to the gym, arlo, lucas, and dustin was put in charge to set the kiddie pool up, which was a lot harder than they thought. hopper and jonathan went to go get the many bags of salt that they would need. nancy and mike went to get a long hose so that it would be able to get to the gym. joyce and eleven was in the science lab, getting eleven ready for what was about to happen.
once everything was set up and mike had placed his supercomm on a cart that they had taken from the science lab, it was time for the magic to happen. eleven took her socks off before she took mike's watch off, handing it to the wheeler boy. joyce then gave her the goggles that she put duct tape on so that it would be dark for eleven. the buzzcut girl placed the goggles over her eyes. hopper and joyce helped her into the kiddie pool before they let her go, eleven slowly laying down by herself. arlo could only imagine how cold the water was. as soon as she laid down the lights in the gym flickered, making everyone look up at them. they flickered for a few more seconds before they went off completely. it was complete silence for about a minute, everyone watching eleven in anticipation. arlo was on her knees, her fingers anxiously tapping along the gym floor.
"barbara?" eleven suddenly called out, her voice soft. this made everyone's spines straighten, especially nancy's. eleven then started to breath heavily, the lights above starting to flicker again.
"what's going on?" nancy questioned, lookin over to her brother.
"i don't know." mike answered, his eyebrows furrowed together in worry.
"is barb okay? is she okay?" nancy quizzed, creeping closer to the makeshift tub.
"gone. gone. gone." eleven repeated, her voice shaky as she continued to breathe heavily. joyce immediately leaned forward, grabbing ahold of eleven's hand to bring some sort of comfort. arlo looked over to nancy, seeing that the older girl had started to cry, her hand covering her mouth to silence her whimpers.
"it's okay. it's okay. we're right here, honey. it's okay. i got you. don't be afraid. i'm right here with you." joyce soothed, tightening her grip on eleven's arm. that seemed to have calmed the telekinetic girl down, her breathing going back to normal.
"castle byers." she said suddenly, making arlo perk up. she looked over at the boys, who were already looking back. "will?" eleven called, making joyce gasp.
"you tell him - tell him i'm coming. m - mom is coming." joyce told eleven.
"hurry." arlo heard come from mike's supercomm, a small smile appearing on her lips. they hadn't found him yet, but he was still alive.
"okay. listen, you tell him to - to stay where he is. we're coming. we're coming, okay? we're coming, honey." joyce repeated, her voice shaking as she looked down at eleven.
eleven suddenly sat up, yanking the goggles from her face as she gasped for breath. joyce immediately leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the younger girl, whispering soft nothings in her ear to try and calm her down. eleven started to cry from the sudden pull back to reality, everyone watching with looks of worry. joyce helped eleven out of the tub and handed her over to the party, the five of them leading her over to the bleachers. lucas wrapped a towel over the telekinetic girl, who had her head on mike's shoulder. arlo was holding eleven's hand, her thumb rubbing over eleven's knuckles to bring some sort of comfort. and that's how they stayed for awhile, letting eleven get her rest.
at some point, the older group had left, even though nancy and jonathan was supposed to stay with the party. they didn't tell them that they were planning on fighting the demogorgan at the byers house. and when mike had gone to see where the two were at, he came to a realization that they were gone. eleven had told them what they had planned to do, probably using her telepathy to find that out since she doesn't have no super hearing.
"well, the only thing we can do is wait for them to come back." arlo told everyone, standing up from the bleachers before she started to stretch. "how about we get el into some dry clothes and go raid the kitchen for some food?"
"you think they have a stash of pudding in the back somewhere?" dustin questioned, perking up in excitement. he has a theory that the lunch ladies keep all of the chocolate pudding to themselves because they hate the kids.
"we'll never know unless we raid the kitchen." arlo answered, bringing her shoulders up into a shrug. "mike, go with el. me, dust, and lucky here will go find some food." lucas and dustin nodded, getting up from the bleachers so that they could head towards the cafeteria.
"guys, guys! this is crazy. we can't just wait around." mike tried.
"mike, in case you forgot, we're still fugitives." lucas started, making arlo point to him in agreement. "the bad men are still looking for us."
"yeah, and we don't even know where your sister is." dustin added.
"el can find them." mike tried.
"mike, look at her. she's exhausted, dude." arlo told him, gesturing to eleven, who was curled up on the bleachers.
"well, you can find them." mike then said.
"i don't know how, michael."
"i still think we should stick to the chief's plan." dustin said.
"exaxctly. we stay here, keep el out of sight of sight, and possibly arlo, and keep them safe. that's the most important thing, remember?" lucas reminded, looking at the freckled boy in front him. "besides, she's okay. she's with jonathan." he added, talking about nancy.
"yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so. . ." dustin reasoned, turning around to walk out the gym.
"wait, why possibly me?" arlo questioned, following dustin.
"if the chief knows about you, you don't think that the bad men know?" lucas shot back, his eyebrows raised with a knowing look as he walked besides her.
"fair point." arlo mumbled. "mike, just get her a change of clothes from the lost and found! we're gonna get some food so that she can recharge!" she yelled back at mike, hearing the wheeler boy huff out.
the trio walked into the kitchen that was connected to the cafeteria, starting to look through the many fridges that was scattered around. arlo couldn't help but think about what her brother was up to in that moment. she hadn't seen him in two days and she knew that he must be worried about her. she'd be worried too if she knew that he was currently fighting the demogorgan at the byers' house with nancy and jonathan. she would also be worried about what had happened to his face, but then would laugh once she found out who did it and why he did it. she was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard dustin exclaim in excitement, making her look towards him.
"found it! i knew she was hoarding it. i knew it." dustin said as he started to pile the chocolate pudding into his arms. lucas quickly appeared, following the boy's actions while arlo watched the two in amusement. "always lying, saying she's out. bald-face liar. mike, i found the chocolate pudding!"
"okay!" mike yelled back, obviously not caring about the chocolate pudding.
lucas turned around and handed arlo some of the pudding, an excited smile on his face as he did so. she took the pudding, a chuckle escaping her lips as she watched the two boys gather as much pudding as they could. she knew that if they were gonna eat all that pudding, they were gonna pass out. she walked out of the kitchen and to the cafeteria, struggling to hold all of the pudding in her arms. she furrowed her eyebrows once she saw mike leaving.
"you want some pudding, el?" she asked, walking over to the table that the girl was sitting at. "it's this creamy substance, really sweet. it's really good, you'd like it. it'll help if you ate something, recharge your battery."
eleven hesitantly took one of the cans of chocolate pudding, looking down at it before she looked back at arlo. dustin and lucas then came in, dumping all of the pudding in their arms onto the table, making eleven jump at the sudden noise.
"guys! guys!" mike's voice appeared, making everyone turn towards him. arlo's felt her stomach drop when she saw the panicked look on his face. "they found us."
"shit." arlo hissed, dropping the pudding onto the table.
the four kids quickly gathered their belongings and put them on. mike grabbed eleven's hand before all of them ran out the cafeteria and into the dark halls. dustin's eyes widened slightly when he saw arlo in front of him, it looking like she was disappearing into the shadows that were in the halls. he wondered if lucas and mike were seeing this too, but didn't have time to dwell on it, hearing the footsteps of the bad men in the cafeteria.
"how did they find us?" lucas questioned in a hushed voice.
"i don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." mike answered.
"lando." dustin mumbled.
arlo suddenly held her hands out, making everyone behind her stop. they all saw the flashlights that were coming from the door down the hall, a group of men barging in. the party quickly turned around, all of them besides eleven yelling things as they ran down the hall they just came from. they ran through a door that led to the cafeteria, coming to a stop when they saw another group of men. they ran back through the door and made a left instead of a right, trying their hardest to get away from the bad men. but it didn't work, a lady with blonde hair turning the corner at the end of the hall. there were three men behind her, all four of them holding up guns and aiming them at the five kids in front of them.
arlo quickly noticed the change in eleven's demeanor, seeing a hard glare on her face. she smiled slightly when she turned to look at the woman in front of them, noticing that the flashlights that all of the guards had were starting to flicker. arlo saw blood starting to trail down the woman's cheeks, almost like she was crying. the same thing was happening to the all of the guards that were surrounding them. and then suddenly, all of them dropped to the floor. a few seconds later, eleven followed.
"el, are you okay? el!" mike asked, getting on his knees as he started to shake the girl. dustin and lucas followed him while arlo stayed standing, having a feeling that there were more bad men coming. "something's wrong!"
"she's just drained." dustin tried.
"no, she won't wake up." mike told the curly haired boy before he went back to shaking the telekinetic girl on the floor "el! el! she's barely breathing."
"we gotta go." lucas urged, silently suggesting that they would have to pick eleven up and carry her.
"leave her." a voice yelled, making the party turn to see a man with white hair. arlo felt a strong hatred appear in her chest at the sight of the familiar man, remembering the nightmare that eleven made her have a few nights ago. papa. he had three more guards with him. "step away from the child."
"no!" mike yelled. "you want her, you have to kill us first."
"that's right!" dustin nodded, stepping in front of eleven.
"eat shit!" lucas spat as he did the same. arlo just simply glared at the man, her eyes becoming darker as more shadows casted around her face and body.
before either of the four kids could do anything, they were grabbed from behind, four more guards coming out of nowhere. all of them shouted as they tried to get out of their holds, arlo going as far as kicking the guy in the balls. he still kept a firm grip on her though, a pained groan escaping his lips as he did so. arlo continued to fight against his grip when she saw the man with the white hair pick eleven up from the floor.
"eleven? eleven, can you hear me?" the man quizzed.
"papa?" eleven questioned, her eyes barely opened as blood dripped from her nose
"yes, yes, it's your papa. i'm here now."
"don't fucking touch her!" arlo spat as she continued to fight against the guard's hold.
"let her go! let her go, you bastard!" mike yelled, doing the same thing arlo was doing.
arlo didn't hear anything else that was said between papa and eleven, still trying her hardest to get out of the guard's grip. but she immediately stopped when the lights above them started to flicker on and off, the boys doing the same as they slowly realized what was about to happen.
"blood." mike mumbled.
"what?" lucas asked, looking at the freckled boy.
"blood." he repeated.
arlo's eyes went over to where the three guards and woman were on the floor, seeing puddles of blood coming from their heads. she could only imagine how much blood was behind them because of how many guards were there. her eyes shot to the wall, hearing something hit against it as a big crack appeared in it. more and more cracks appeared in it before the brick started to crumble away, being replaced by a weird layer of slime. the slime was ripped as the demogorgan came through, arlo's heart dropping to her stomach.
"demogorgan." dustin mumbled just as it stepped out from the gate that it created.
the guards let go of the four tweens, quickly pulling out their guns and aiming it at the monster in front of them. papa got up from the floor, leaving eleven lying there. dustin was the one to pick eleven up from the floor, holding her bridal style as he ran down the hall. mike, lucas, and arlo followed him, looking back to make sure that no one had seen them. the lights above them continued to flicker on and off as they ran down the halls, trying to find a classroom that was far enough from the shooting and the horrendous creature. they had settled for mr.clarke's classroom, which happened to be the science lab. dustin placed eleven on one of the tables that was in the back, mike immediately grabbing ahold of her hands.
"just hold on a little longer, okay? he's gone. the bad man's gone." mike told eleven, looking her straight in her eyes. "we'll be home soon, and my mom. . . she'll get you your own bed. you can eat as many eggs as you want. and we can go to the snow ball."
"promise?" eleven asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she started to cry.
mike sniffled, squeezing the telekinetic girl's hand gently. "promise."
the sweet moment was ruined by the sound of the demogorgan screeching in the hallway, it being a little too close to the door. the gunfire continued, followed by some thudding. and then it just got quiet. no screeching, no screaming, no gunfire. just silence.
"is - is it dead?" dustin questioned.
before anyone could answer, the door flew off the hinges wit the demogorgan on it. dustin and mike immediately turned to lucas since he had had a bunch of weapons in his bag, including the wrist rocket. arlo on the other hand, she held her hand out as shadow casted her arms. her honey brown eyes were quickly replaced with the black color as she quickly shot a shadow ball at the ugly monster. before she could throw another one, a rock flew past her and hit the demogorgan in the head. while lucas reloaded, arlo shot another shadow ball at the demogorgan. lucas shot another rock at it, and that's what they did. they took turns, lucas shot a rock and while he reloaded, arlo shot a shadow ball.
arlo quickly realized that it was too close to her and the rest of the party. but before she could do anything, it was already looking at her - if you would call that looking. she took a step back to try and throw another shadow ball, but the monster was quicker. it flicked it's claws out and slashed them at arlo, the girl screaming in pain as she flew towards the side of the classroom. she hit the wall before she fell down to the counter of the cabinets that were along the wall. she groaned at the immense amount of pain she felt on her side, a whimper following.
"arlo!" the boys yelled, seeing that she wasn't moving.
"lucas, this is the killer!" dustin shouted, handing the sinclair boy the rock that they had found in the school yard that day.
lucas quickly grabbed it, putting it in the slot before he pulled it back as far as he could. he looked over to where arlo laid on the counter before he turned towards the faceless monster. her closed one eye as he tried to get a good aim at it, sucking in a deep breath before he released it. and then, he let go of the rock, making it fly towards the demogorgan in front of him. it seemed like it had worked, the monster flying back until it hit the chalkboard that was at the front of the classroom. that surprised everyone. how could a small little rock do all that. but then they put two and two together, the boys turning around as eleven walked past them. arlo looked at her from the counter, holding her side firmly as she did so.
eleven was a lot paler, everyone being able to see the veins under her skin. blood was dripping from her nose and her ears, the girl pushing her powers to their limits to save the four other people in the room. eleven looked over at arlo briefly as she walked towards the demogorgan, who was being pinned to the chalkboard because of the telekinetic girl. arlo saw that her eyes were darker than they normally were, which has never happened before.
"eleven, stop!" mike tried, running towards the girl.
but she simply waved her arm back, sending the wheeler boy flying to the floor. he slid against the floor until his back hit the cabinets. eleven looked back at the monster as she slowly walked towards it, a screech leaving it's mouth as it tried it tried to move. eleven continued to walk towards it until she was right in front of it. she turned around to look at her friends one last time before her eyes landed on mike. "goodbye, mike." she whispered. she then turned back towards the demogorgan, a glare appearing on her face. "no more."
she held out her hand, the monster immediately starting to screech. arlo quickly brought her blood covered hands up to her ears, her face twisted up as she tried to block out the awful noise. the boys were doing the same, all of them hearing the faint sound of eleven screaming. and then suddenly, the screaming just stopped and the lights stopped flickering, staying on. arlo pulled her hands away from ears and quickly brought them to her side. she could feel all of the blood that was leaving from the scratches that the demogorgan had caused and she knew that if she didn't get medical attention, she was gonna die. she could hear the boys calling out for eleven, but there was no point. eleven had taken herself and the demogorgan out.
"g - guys." arlo mumbled, the taste of metal appearing in her mouth. "guys, i - i need help."
lucas was the first to turn around, remembering what had happened to his best friend. he ran over towards her, grabbing his jacket from the table as he did so. he quickly pressed the jacket onto the deep scratch marks on her side, making arlo scream out in pain. "i'm sorry. i'm sorry." he quickly apologized. "guys, call for help! she's bleeding! a lot!"
mike quickly wiped his tears and ran over to the harrington girl, seeing the blood that was smudged all along arlo's face. he saw her eyes closing, making him gently slap her awake. he couldn't lose her, not after he just eleven. "arlo, hey. stay awake, okay? you - you gotta stay awake. please."
"i'm trying." arlo mumbled, a small smile appearing on her blood cover lips as she turned her head. dustin had joined them. "hey, dust."
"hi, arlo." dustin smiled sadly. "you gotta hold on a little longer, okay? just a little longer."
a mixture of a grunt and a mumble left arlo's mouth, the dark skinned girl nodding her head. she started to breathe heavily, struggling to get air to her lungs. the boys held her close, dustin being the one that saw the light dimming in her tired eyes. his own eyes started to fill with tears as he watched her closely, trying to get her to wake up.
"no, no, no. arlo, arlo. you gotta stay awake for us, okay? stay awake." dustin muttered, mike and lucas looking at him as tears started to trail down their cheeks too. "you're gonna be alright. you're gonna be okay, you just gotta stay awake. arlo! charlotte!" dustin yelled, started to shake her.
lucas let his head fall onto arlo's stomach, a silent sob escaping his lips. they had lost both of their girls that night.
◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸
daij speaks!
hope i didn't make anyone shed any tears while reading. this one is probably the longest chapter i've written for this book and that's only because i didn't want to separate it. and i'm in a rush to get to season 2 cause we get max and arlo interactions. FINALLY.
but i hope u guys enjoyed 🫶🏼