SEVENTEEN WHO IS THE MONSTER?
💀
ANITA STOOD IN FRONT OF LUCAS' HOUSE, staring up at the door while fidgeting nervously with her hands. She knew she'd messed up earlier, when the Party was in the woods to look for the gate to the Upside Down. Well, actually, that was an understatement — she'd royally fucked up. (Yeah, that described it better.) They all had, to be honest. El had manipulated the compasses so they wouldn't be able to locate the gate, and then the whole situation just fucking escalated.
When they arrived at the junkyard, Lucas had absolutely lost it, because El wasn't helping them find Will, she was hindering them from it. And he let his frustrations about El he had bottled up over the last couple of days bubble to the surface, which had led to a fight with Mike, both of them getting violent after Lucas had said, "We're looking for some stupid monster... but did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?"
And then El had flung Lucas across the junkyard with her superpowers to protect Mike. Lucas had hit his head and was unconscious for a minute or something. (Anita had been scared shitless — but she would never admit that out loud.) Then Lucas had stormed away, angry with all of them. At that moment, all Anita could do was watch him leave. Now she wished she would've stopped him from leaving like that. She should've told him that she understood him, because, yeah, El was sabotaging their mission. But that didn't mean she was the monster they were looking for. That was the Midnight Man. The Midnight Man — or, the Demogorgon — had kidnapped Will and India. Not El.
El was not the monster in this story. El was just a scared girl who had escaped from a terrible place, Hawkins Lab, and Anita's dad had been the one to help her run away. And the lab had killed him for it.
Anita swallowed. She had to fix this with Lucas. He was her best friend, she didn't want him to be angry with her.
So, pushing the nervousness away — you're not a coward, Anita, you can apologize to your best friend without shitting your pants — she walked up to the door of the Sinclairs' house. She knocked. And after a moment, Mrs. Sinclair opened the door. She looked down at Anita with a surprised expression on her face. "Anita. What are you doing here, it's almost dark out." Anita had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at her concern. She knew more about the things that go bump in the night than Mrs. Sinclair did, and she was not scared!
"I wanted to talk to Lucas," she said instead. "It won't take long—"
"Anita?"
Anita's gaze snapped to the person who showed up behind Mrs. Sinclair. "Lucas."
Lucas' face was stern, displeased. He was not happy to see her. And Anita couldn't blame him one bit. "What do you want?"
"I'm gonna leave you two to it," Mrs. Sinclair said, smiling first at her son, then at Anita. Anita forced herself to return the smile, but she wasn't sure if it actually looked real. She also didn't care. Mrs. Sinclair gave Lucas a pat on the shoulder and disappeared into the house. Anita noticed Lucas sigh heavily before he came closer to her, now standing in the exact same place where his mother had stood — in the doorframe, not letting Anita inside.
"What do you want?" he repeated, this time with more emphasis on each word.
Subconsciously, Anita started to fidget with her fingers again. "I wanna apologize," she said.
Lucas crossed his arms, obviously wanting her to continue. "And?"
Anita narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, what El did was fucked up. And I'm sorry for how the situation... blew up."
Lucas' scowl deepened, and for a few seconds, he simply stared at her. Then: "That's it?"
"Uh..." Anita was lost for words.
Lucas scoffed. "Whose side are you on?"
"What?"
"Mine or the weirdo's?" Lucas clarified, getting impatient.
Anita looked at him perplexed. She didn't know what to say; she hadn't expected that — hadn't expected to have to choose a side. Yeah, she wanted him to forgive her for not defending him back at the junkyard, and Lucas wanted her to be on his side because they were best friends, and they always stuck together. But she couldn't say that she was on his side, she just couldn't. He thought El was the monster they were looking for, the monster that had kidnapped Will and India. And that was just wrong.
"Come on, Anita, me or her?"
"El isn't the bad guy—"
"Oh, screw you," Lucas snapped.
OK, what the fuck? Anita felt her anger flaring up. "It wasn't El who kidnapped Will, Lucas. You know that. It was the Midnight Man!"
"She almost killed me!" Lucas whisper-shouted; his family shouldn't hear that.
"That was an accident!"
Anita wasn't really sure why she felt the need to defend El like this, she barely knew the girl. But there was just something about her that was so familiar to Anita. El was scared, terrified, and Anita knew exactly what that felt like, how that could affect you and the things you did. And now she knew that her father had risked everything to help her, to get her out of that lab. Maybe she wanted to finish what her dad had started: protecting El.
"An accident. Right."
Her hands balled into fists, and she felt her fingernails digging into the skin of her palms. "Listen, Lucas—"
"No, thanks." And he slammed the door in her face.
Startled, Anita stumbled a step back, the bang! of the door falling shut ringing in her ears. This was not how she had wanted this to go. But, then again, she had thought she would be able to talk to Lucas and explain that El wasn't the monster he thought her to be. She hadn't expected him to act like the biggest asshole on earth and just fucking slam the door in her face! Now, he could apologize to her.
She huffed. Anita hated this.
And, spiteful, Anita stuck her tongue out at the closed door. Then she turned on her heel and went home.
💀
THE NEXT DAY, ANITA WAS WOKEN UP by the sun shining through the window, and all she wanted to do was take a baseball bat and smack that insufferably bright ball out of the sky. Instead, she groaned, putting her arm over her eyes to block out the blinding light. This was the first time since her dad had died that she'd managed to sleep through the night (all thanks to Esme stroking her hair until she dozed off and holding her while she slept — now, their limbs were all tangled together), and then the sun just had to go and scare away her sleep. She cursed at it in whispers.
She blinked half a dozen times, then looked over at her sister. Esme's face was scrunched up while she slept as if she was deeply focused on solving a difficult math problem. Anita decided to let her sleep — she knew that Esme wasn't sleeping well either, using the late hours of the night to cry instead of to dream —, and carefully unwrapped herself from the knot her limbs had formed with Esme's, quietly climbing out of bed and leaving her sister's cleanly room (Anita found it was too clean, she thought a room needed to be a little messy to feel like home).
In the bathroom, Anita looked into the mirror, at her snow-white skin, her black eyes, her hair that looked like a bird's nest. The bags under her eyes weren't as prominent anymore, though, now that she actually managed to sleep for once, not being plagued by the harsh reality of her dad being gone, the Midnight Man being back, and India and Will being stuck in the Upside Down. Anita blew a raspberry, then she brushed her teeth and her hair, tying it into a high ponytail, as she always did.
And when she walked into her room to get her Walkman to listen to some Kansas while eating breakfast — she also wanted to prepare something to eat for Esme, to show that she appreciated her efforts to keep Anita healthy when she'd been preoccupied with everything that was going on —, she was greeted the static of her Supercom that sat on her desk, Dustin's voice crackling through: "Anita? It's Dustin. Do you copy? Anita, do you copy?"
Anita rushed to the Supercom, quickly extending the antenna for a better signal. "Yes, I copy."
Her thoughts were racing at high speed; maybe they had found the gate or something.
"Hey!" Dustin greeted her happily, and Anita could practically see his wide grin before her. "I'm at Mike's right now and we're gonna over to Lucas' so Mike can shake his hand. And we thought you should come with. Over."
Oh.
Anita thought back to yesterday, to the way Lucas had slammed the door in her face when she refused to pick a side, when she refused to pick Lucas over El. And she was pretty fucking sure that it would not go down any differently today. So she said, "No, thanks," just like Lucas had before shutting the door. She'd tried to apologize. Lucas was just too fucking stubborn. "Over," she added, because that was what Dustin drilled into all their heads that they were supposed to say when they were done talking.
"No, thanks? What do you mean, 'No, thanks'? Over."
"I mean, no, I'm not going with you to apologize to Lucas. Over."
"But why not?" Dustin asked, sounding indignant. "Over."
"Because I already tried yesterday, and he slammed the door in my face." Anita balled her free hand into a fist, while the other hand's grip tightened around the Supercom, still angry. "I'm not apologizing again. Over."
"Oh, my God," Dustin sighed. In the background, Anita thought she could hear Mike say "See?". Then there was silence for a few moments, Dustin and Mike probably talking to each other. She groaned, letting herself fall into her desk chair; it was too early for this. Then Dustin's voice crackled through again, "You're all so stubborn. But anyway... We also wanna look for El later. Over."
That made Anita pause. "El didn't come back yet? Over."
After El had thrown Lucas across the junkyard with her superpowers, and he hit his head, falling unconscious, Mike freaked out on her. He'd yelled at her, asking what was wrong with her to do something like this. And though Anita was also angry that El had hurt Lucas, she didn't think it was right to yell at her. El had been overwhelmed; Anita was sure that she hadn't meant to hurt anyone. So, scared and hurt, El had run away, disappearing into the woods. And Anita hadn't done anything to stop her. She'd just stood there, like a fucking statue — she couldn't bring herself to follow El, and she couldn't bring herself to follow Lucas. She couldn't do shit except watch as everything fell apart.
"No," Dustin answered. "Over."
Worry crept into her system, and she bit her cheek. "Then come by after you talk to Lucas," she said. "'Cause I'm not talkin' to him. Over."
"Are you serious—?"
"Yes, I'm serious," Anita cut Dustin off. She was not going to talk to Lucas, not for the life of her. It was his turn to apologize for acting like a mouth breather and slamming the door in her face. "Over."
"Fine." Dustin sighed. "Then we'll pick you up before we go looking for El. Over."
"Thank you very much. Over and out.
With that, Anita threw herself on her bed and grabbed her Walkman and headphones from her nightstand. A Kansas tape was inside, but, honestly, right now she was in the mood for something a little bit... angrier. She leaned over to her nightstand once more, where a bunch of cassettes lay in a messy heap and rummaged through them. Her gaze caught on the newest one, and she took it, looking at the words written on it: 'Pretty metal', right above 'for my friend's little sister who I'd love to meet 'cause she sounds awesome!'
Esme had given her the tape two days ago, said it was from Vinnie's big brother Eddie (Anita had never met him). He'd made Anita a mixtape because Esme had mentioned to him that Black Sabbath (the music on the tape) sounded like something that she would like. And Esme had been absolutely right. So, Anita switched the cassettes and pressed play, Black Sabbath filling her ears, silencing the worried thoughts bouncing around in her head. She kept the Supercom close to her, so she wouldn't miss Dustin calling her.
The music couldn't drown out everything, though. Everything she'd learned about India and Esme and herself yesterday, everything she learned about her dad, and the lab and El... these thoughts were still pecking at her brain, like hungry birds pecking at the ground for food to satiate their appetite. It made sense now why their dad had brought the sisters to the lab for check-ups after their disappearance instead of the hospital. The lab knew about the Upside Down. And they thought that the sisters had opened a gate to it. Still, they didn't know about the Midnight Man...
Anita pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them. The Midnight Man was still out there, and he had India and Will in his clutches. Dread crept up her spine, and she couldn't stop herself from fearing that the Midnight Man would come for her, for Esme.
About 30 minutes later, Dustin called. They were on her way to Anita's house to pick her up — without Lucas. Surprise, surprise. Anita had called it. And she had said, "I told you so" to Dustin, because she was petty.
Whatever.
Anita quickly put on a pair of faded blue jeans and a black hoodie with the Nirvana logo printed on the front, then rushed downstairs to put on her boots and leave. But she hesitated. Esme was still asleep, and she would surely get a heart attack if Anita just disappeared. Like India, her mind added, rather unhelpfully. And Esme would probably get mad at her for leaving like this. But if Anita could find India, then everything would be easier again for Esme.
For all of them.
So she walked back into the kitchen, grabbed the notepad that always lay at the ready on the counter to write down the grocery shopping list, and left Esme a note: Going to Mike's, don't worry about me, I'll be safe.
Then Anita left the house.
Mike and Dustin were driving down the street toward her house on their bikes. Dustin waved at her when he spotted her, while Mike hardly acknowledged her, looking pretty pissed off. Most likely because of Lucas. Anita couldn't blame him, she'd reacted the same way. When they stopped in front of her, Anita climbed on Dustin's bike, holding onto his shoulders (her own bike was still in the garage, where her dad... died — she couldn't go in there, she just couldn't).
"So, where are we gonna start?" Dustin asked, unsure.
Anita thought about it for a moment. El had disappeared into the woods yesterday, and Anita also knew that El didn't feel safe literally anywhere. So she wouldn't be staying somewhere in town, where the bad people from the lab could easily find her. She'd hide, El wasn't stupid. Anita looked over her shoulder to Mike. "I'd say in the woods?" she said, her voice going up at the end, making it sound more like a question than a suggestion.
Mike nodded. "Yeah. I agree."
"OK, let's go," Dustin said, and started driving down the road.
💀
AS ANITA TRUDGED THROUGH THE WOODS, she couldn't stop her gaze from snapping back and forth, afraid the Midnight Man was hiding somewhere in the shadows, just waiting for the right moment to kidnap her and drag her to the Upside Down. And that pissed her off. She didn't want to be scared, she didn't want to be a coward! She was not that scared little girl anymore that had played the Midnight Game, and had run to her sister for help because she was too scared to do anything.
"So..." Mike started. "El is from Hawkins Lab. And your dad helped her run away."
Anita nodded, a lump forming in her throat. "Yeah. And the lab killed him for it."
She'd told Mike and Dustin what she, Esme, and Steve Harrington had found out yesterday — about El, her dad, and the lab. And about her and her sisters.
"And three years ago, you opened a gate to the Upside Down, when you played the Midnight Game...?" Dustin reiterated, still unable to completely wrap his around everything. Anita couldn't blame him; it was a lot. But they finally knew who the bad men were, and why El was so scared of being found — she didn't want to go back to Hawkins Lab, to being experimented on. Anita thought that was valid — she remembered the lab being super weird and creepy, especially that old man with white hair. He'd freaked her out.
"Apparently we have an affinity to connect with the supernatural." Anita paused, unsure if she said that right. "Something along those lines."
"What does that even mean?" Dustin asked.
Anita shrugged. "Fuck if I know."
"Maybe El knows..." Mike said, his face determined. A second later, he shouted, "Eleven!" Anita and Dustin joined in. Anita really hoped that El would hear them, that they would find her. Before the bad men from the lab did.
Then, a noise.
"Hey, stop," Mike whispered and stopped walking. "Do you hear that?"
"What?" Dustin asked, confused.
Anita frowned. She had heard something — it had sounded like leaves being crushed beneath someone's shoes. Like someone was coming. Her heart started beating loudly and rapidly in her chest, her hands becoming clammy. This wasn't good. What if it was the Midnight Man, what if he finally came to snatch her away and take her to the Upside Down? Her stomach started twisting, and she felt like she was about to throw up—
"El?" Mike called out once more.
But it wasn't El that showed up between the barren trees. It was Troy Walsh and James Dante.
And Anita's fear turned into anger — this was the last thing they needed right now.
"Hey, there, Frogface," Troy called out. "Toothless. Witch."
A click was heard — he'd flicked open a knife. Anita's eyes widened; was he insane?
"Shit! Run!" Dustin shouted, and the three of them took off, leaving the bikes, Troy and James hot on their heels.
"You're dead, Wheeler!"
Anita was buzzing with anger. Or panic. She wasn't sure which, maybe both. What were they trying to do? Did they really want to kill them? This was fucking mad. Anita's muscles screamed as she sprinted through the dead forest, trying not to slip on the dead leaves. She wasn't sure where they were going — she hoped Dustin or Mike knew. They couldn't outpace Troy and James, though, none of them were fast runners.
They escaped the woods, now running up a gravel road.
"Ah! Cramp!" Dustin grunted and fell back, limping.
"Just keep going!" Mike shouted. "Keep going!"
Suddenly, James showed up in front of them, running toward them. "Fuck!" Anita cursed. They skidded to a halt, surrounded by the two mouthbreathers. Mike picked up a rock, Dustin a stick, and Anita held up her hands, her gaze going back and forth between Troy and James, ready to make the two boys see their worst nightmares come to life.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Mike warned.
But Troy and James just smirked.
That was when Anita realized where they were. Sattler Quarry. Below them, below the steep cliffs, was the lake where they had found Will's body— no, Will's fake body. Anita swallowed, wary. They were a little too close to the cliffs for her liking.
Mike threw his rock at James — but missed completely.
James scoffed. "Nice throw, numbnuts."
Dustin started yelling, swinging the stick at Troy. But Troy dodged him easily. Then he grabbed Dustin by the shoulder, getting him in a headlock, holding the knife at his throat. "Get off! Get off me!" Dustin shouted, frantic, scared.
And that was when Anita saw red, her temper and anger getting the best of her. She was closer to James, so that was who she turned to first, a smoldering glare on her face, a piercing look in her pitch-black eyes that only the Deverell women could muster. And James' smirk vanished. She charged at him. He tried to get out of her way, but she managed to seize him by his lapels before he could. She let herself feel heavy, her skin becoming radioactive, and she grabbed his chin. Immediately, panic contorted his face, his eyes flicking back and forth in fear — who knew what he was seeing; Anita certainly didn't care.
"Let him go! Stop!" Troy shouted. Anita turned to him. "Stop it! Or I'll cut him!"
He moved the knife closer to Dustin's face.
Anita's face tightened, then let go of James. The damage was already done, anyway — James was flailing about, fighting against something no one else could see. But Troy was not letting go of Dustin, even though he was on his own now. He knew that Anita and Mike wouldn't do anything, not if it would mean that Dustin got hurt. Anita hated this feeling of helplessness, of not being able to do anything to help her best friend. They were at Troy's mercy. Fuck.
"What do you want?" Mike asked, desperate.
"I wanna know how you did it," Troy replied.
"How I did what?"
Dustin whimpered.
"I know you did something to me. Or the Witch did." Troy's sharp look landed on Anita, then on James who still fought against air. "Some shit to make me do that."
"You mean piss your pants?" Mike said.
"Our friend," Dustin panted, "has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind—"
"Shut up!" Troy gripped Dustin tighter. "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist. Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."
Anita glared at Troy. He couldn't be serious. "Let him go, you psycho!" she shouted.
"Let him go!" Mike yelled.
"I'll let him go, sure. But first... it's your turn," Troy pointed the tip of his knife at Mike.
Anita tensed.
"My turn for what?"
Troy smirked. "Wet yourself."
What? Anita thought.
"What?" Mike said out loud.
"Jump" — Troy nodded at the cliff beside them — "or Toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist."
Anita's breathing became labored, panic pooling in the pit of her stomach. He couldn't be serious about that, could he? That was too extreme, even for Troy. But he didn't look like he was joking, just pretending. No, he looked dead serious as he brought his knife closer to Dustin's mouth, ready to cut out his baby teeth. Anita's hands trembled as she balled them into fists, torn between fear and anger.
"I'll cut him right now!" Troy threatened.
"All right, just hold on!" Mike cried. "Hold on!"
And he turned to walk toward the cliff.
With wide eyes, Anita looked at him. "No—!"
"Mike, don't do it. I don't need my baby teeth, Mike!" Dustin begged. "Mike, seriously, don't!"
Anita rushed after him, grabbing his arm and stopping him from going any closer to the cliff. "Mike, you can't do that, you'll die."
"I'll cut out his baby teeth!" Troy shouted once more, and Anita and Mike both looked at Troy and the fear and desperation on Dustin's face. "Jump!"
"I have to, Anita," Mike said, determination in his voice. But Anita didn't let go of his arm. He couldn't do that, that was suicide. Mike ripped his arm out of her grip and went to stand at the edge of the cliff, looking down into the abyss. Anita wanted to stop him, but she couldn't move, like someone else was in control of her body, keeping her in place, and forcing her to watch her best friend jump to his death, unable to do anything about it.
"Mike, don't do it! Seriously, don't do it, man! Seriously, don't!" Dustin wailed.
"Dentist's office opens in five..." Troy started the countdown. "Four! Three!"
Fear crawled up Anita's throat, and she forgot how to breathe.
"Two!"
"Mike!" Dustin shouted.
"One!"
And Mike jumped.
💀
THE WORLD WENT STILL. Everything around Anita stopped, freezing like a movie frame. She stared at the edge of the cliff, at the place where Mike had stood just a second ago. Now he was gone. Jumped into the deep, plummeting to his death. Anita never paid much attention in science class, but she did remember that when you jump into the water from a high enough distance and fall at a high enough speed, the water's surface becomes as hard and as solid as concrete.
There was no way anyone could survive that fall.
"Mike!" Dustin cried out. And the world was in motion again. Dustin and Troy ran past Anita to the cliff, Anita following them. She was scared to look down, yet unable to stop herself. And when she did, her heart dropped into her stomach, a wave of relief and astonishment washing over her. There was Mike, hanging in the air a couple of feet below the edge of the cliff, floating. "Holy shit," Dustin breathed.
Then, Mike started moving upward, back to where Troy, Anita, and Dustin stood, mouths hanging open in shock. Mike flew over their heads, floating behind them and slowly lowering to the ground. Six pairs of eyes followed his every movement. And then he dropped to the ground, landing on his ass. He grunted. They looked down at him with wide eyes, Mike looked up at them in equal bewilderment. He turned his head to the left, and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.
Anita, Dustin, and Troy followed his gaze, seeing...
"El," Anita said, surprised, relieved, and happy, all at the same time. And Anita knew: El had saved Mike. She was still wearing the baby pink dress the boys had made her wear so she could come to school, but now it was dirty and tattered, just like the blue jacket she wore over it. The blond wig she had worn was gone, though. The nice and sweet girl they had presented her as at school was gone — now, a murderous look sparkled in her eyes.
Anita grinned.
At that moment, James stopped flailing about, fighting invisible things around him, looking around, very very confused — at Mike on the ground, at Anita, Dustin, and Troy standing next to each other (that alone was freaky) and staring at something behind him. "What happened?" he asked, out of breath, fear still making his voice tremble. No one answered him, so he turned around, following their gazes, and saw El. El fixed him with a hard look — and he was thrown back, onto the floor, by an invisible force.
El abruptly cocked her head to the side — Troy's arm made an ugly crack! — he screamed.
"She broke my arm! My arm!" Troy wailed.
"Go," El said — no, commanded —, blood dripping from her nose.
James scrambled to his feet. Troy stumbled back. Then they ran.
"Yeah, that's right!" Dustin shouted after them. "You better run! She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back here and she'll kill you! You hear me? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches! She'll kill you, you hear me?"
Anita couldn't help but laugh. Cowards. They got what they deserved.
A dull thump made Anita spin around — El had collapsed. She gasped, hurriedly rushing to her side, along with Mike, falling onto her knees beside her, not caring about the pebbles digging into her skin. "El?" she asked, but El didn't react. She was unconscious. Anita took her hand in hers and flinched. Her hands were ice cold, almost as cold as Anita's and her sisters' hands always were. El must have been freezing.
"El?" Mike shook her, careful not to hurt her. "El, are you OK? El?"
El stirred. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, then opened them, blinking a few times, getting used to the light. She looked up at Mike. "Mike," she said, and her voice broke, a sob escaping her throat. Anita frowned, squeezing El's hand, hoping to comfort her that way. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Mike asked.
"The gate... I opened it. I'm the monster."
Anita stared at her, her breath hitching in her throat. El had opened the gate, through which the Demogorgon had come into this world. It hadn't been the sisters, it didn't have anything to do with the Midnight Game. El had opened the gate with her superpowers, bringing the Midnight Man back. Anita thought she would get angry, angry for letting her worst fear back into her life, but as she looked at El, at the dispaired expression on her face, Anita couldn't be angry at her for that. After all, she and her sister had also unknowingly opened a gate to the Upside Down when they played the Midnight Game.
"No, El, you're not the monster," Mike said softly. "You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me."
"I know monsters," Anita said. El's gaze found hers. "You're not one of them."
El smiled.
Mike carefully pulled her up and hugged her. Anita joined the hug, putting her arm around El's shoulders while her other hand still held her hand. Then, Dustin kneeled down beside them, putting his arms around all of them. Anita closed her eyes, enjoying the moment of peace.
After collecting Mike and Dustin's bikes from where they had dropped them, they marched through the woods, back into town. A calm had settled over them, all of them just happy that they had found El and that she was with them now. If they had paid a little bit more attention to their surroundings, maybe they would have noticed they were being watched...
this fic is BACK FROM THE DEAD with an anita chapter !! idk if this is any good but whatever, at least we're back!
the next one is a stesme chapter tho and i am SO EXCITED to write it bc it's such an important one for their relationship
so, i hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought!
(there are only 5 chapters left of season 1 this feels surreal)