-july 4th 1985-
-reader's pov-
the mindflayer wailed in distress as a huge, colourful explosion erupted right at its head. the monster tumbled away, smashing into a marble pillar and crumbling it to pieces.
"flay this, you ugly piece of shit!" I heard lucas cry out before another firework was lobbed at the creature.
this firework exploded right in the mindflayer's gaping mouth, it stumbled backwards and crashed into another pillar. but before the beast could regain it's stamina, another firework was thrown, followed by another, and another.
as multiple fireworks were being tossed and chucked at the beast by the party, I had managed to free myself from the pillar that I was tied around.
"el! el! come here!" I called out, now knelt down on the tiled floor, my bloodied palms propping my torso up.
billy began to struggle as more and more fireworks harmed the mindflayer, meanwhile el had twisted around and now started to crawl towards me.
bright sparks from the fireworks shot around the mall, creating an illuminating sight for my strained eyes.
I reached my hand out for eleven to grab, the ends of her fingertips grazed mine but before I could strongly clasp her hand in mine, billy seized el's ankle and dragged her away.
"NO!" I yelled out as el began to scream under billy's threatening grasp.
I leapt up onto my feet and ran after billy, who was currently thrashing eleven against the ground. I threw a powerful punch at billy's beefy shoulder, only to be met with that same shuddering voice the second my fist touched his skin.
'I told you not to intervene, y/n.' the malicious voice spat before a throbbing pain panged in the back of my head. I hissed in pain as I toppled to the floor, a couple metres away from eleven's fallen body.
"y-y/n?" I heard eleven tremble as my eyesight began to fade, tears were flowing from her glossy eyes.
despite the racking pain in my head, I felt my lips curl up into a small, shaky smile as I looked into her eyes for what might be the last time. my furrowed eyebrows relaxed and rested in a content position as I felt myself slip away into the unknown. the fingers on my hand that was reached out to eleven stopped twitching. el's face was struck with pure horror and distraught as my eyelids fluttered shut and it felt as if my soul had left my body.
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I was dead.
or at least, I thought I was.
a murky oxygen filled my lungs and a second later, I shot my eyes open and began to gasp for air. I discovered that I was back in the empty void, meaning I wasn't dead.
"where am I?!" I shouted, knowing that this was one of the shadow monster's tricks.
"all that matters is you're not dead." the shadow monster's voice simply replied. I stomped my foot to the ground in annoyance, causing the shallow water to splash.
"what do you want from me!" I snapped at the voice.
"I want you." the voice answered dismally, "I want you to be my side as we watch this world tremble under our fingertips. together, we can change how this twisted world is perceived. we can form a new reality, a better, purer reality. a reality where everyone and everything other than us is inferior. nothing will ever get in our way, so what do you say, 013, will you join me?"
"what would happen if I said no?" I asked teasingly, knowing this would piss the voice off.
"nothing would happen." the voice told me, "nothing would happen because I'm not taking 'no' for an answer, not again. you're joining me, whether you like it or not."
suddenly, a flickering image of some sort of strange humanoid figure appeared in front of me. it's arm was reached out with its long, scaly fingers hovering over my head. confusion clouded my brain until the fingers abruptly clasped together and pierced through my skull. gallons of blood gargled out through my mouth and the newly-dug holes in my head as the unfamiliar figure's fingers drove even further into my head. but I didn't feel any pain whatsoever, I just saw blood and felt as if something was being engraved into the back of my mind. a million memories that definitely weren't my own rushed through my brain until it eventually ended and I got a taste of regular air again.
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my fuzzy vision slowly began to return, I was limply placed up against someone's warm body. this person was violently sobbing and they tightly clutched onto my hair.
"Y/N!" the voice howled as they pressed me up against themselves even closer. I quickly recognised that this person was eleven and she had her hand tightly clasped in my own.
eleven believed that I was dead.
she believed that until a sense of movement became detectable on the back of her hand. she looked down to find my thumb softly rubbing against the back of her hand, in the same pattern as earlier.
"y/n." she sobbed before readjusting herself to gaze into my bloodshot eyes, "y/n, I- I thought you were gone.."
"you really thought that you can get rid of me that easy?" I said with a mischievous smirk.
a huff of light laughter escaped el's lips as she pulled me in for another bone-crunching hug. during the hug, my eyes drifted off to find max mourning over billy's lifeless body, with lucas at her side, comforting her.
I felt bad for max, seeing as billy was her stepbrother after all, but at the same time I was glad he was gone. first of all, he was just some pathetic, racist jerk. secondly, he was possessed by the mindflayer so with no host, the mindflayer is no longer alive, but now I fret.
I fret that I am the new monster. but it's unlikely because a dead mindflayer is currently slumped next to me right now.
I'm not the monster.
right?..