✨CHAPTER 19✨
At the end of the night everyone ended up at the hospital waiting room, where they were waiting for Will to wake up. When Dustin, Lucas and Mike saw Hailey, they gave her an earful for leaving them all on their own, and after hearing that Eleven disappeared stopping the Demogorgon from hurting the boys, she burst out in tears.
Hailey felt guilty and at fault for leaving them, but she explained to them, that she left them, because she knew Eleven would protect them, she just didn't think the girl would give up her own life to keep the boys safe, it made the teenager cry even harder.
The boys all pulled her in a hug and she hugged them right back, Steve watching them from afar, and for the first time he understood why she was always around the younger children, because they all cared about each other, and she seemed to always look out for those she cares about, he knew it was wrong, but he fell for her even more.
In the waiting room, Hailey was seated between Lucas and Dustin, both fast asleep on her shoulders, she was also fighting, trying to stay awake. Jonathan came into the room looking relief.
"Guys. Guys, he’s up. Will is up. Guys, Will’s up."
Those words had Hailey sitting up straight, waking up the two sleeping on her, making grunting noises, Mike shook them completely awake.
"Guys, come on." Mike says, first one out of the waiting area, entering the room Will was laying on a bed.
"Byers!" Mike says happily, Dustin laughing to see their friend again, in one piece.
"Be careful. Be careful with him." Mrs Byers asks nicely of them.
"Move." Dustin says, pushing Mike out of the way, wanting a hug aswell.
"Guys, guys."
The room was fulled with laughs and happiness of having their friend back. "Go easy on him." Jonathan tells them.
"Hailey?" Will calls for the teenager standing behind the others, the boys stepped aside so that she could get through.
"Hey, there my little wizard. How you feeling?" Hailey asks, hugging him, not hard knowing he's probably in pain. "I'm okay." He mutters. Hailey gave him a pat on the head.
"I'm glad your back." She says, with a smile on her face, and tears in her eyes, she stood to the back, so that the boys could tell him everything he has missed.
"You won’t believe what happened when you were gone, man." Lucas states.
"It was mental." Dustin says in excitement.
"You had a funeral." Lucas adds.
"Jennifer Hayes was crying."
"And Troy peed himself."
"What?" Will asks, not believing what they were telling him.
"In front of the whole school!" Dustin says.
"Yes!"
Will started coughing, having his friends look at him in concern.
"You okay?" Mike asks. Will looks up at him. "It got me. The Demogorgon." He states weakly.
"We know. It’s okay. It’s dead. We made a new friend. She stopped it. She saved us. But she’s gone now." Mike told their friend, about the girl that gave up her life to save theirs.
"Her name’s Eleven." Dustin speaks up.
"Like the number?" Will asked curious, knowing Mike doesn't just accept anyone.
"Well, we call her “El” for short." Lucas states.
"She’s basically a wizard." Dustin informs him.
"She has superpowers." Lucas whispers.
"More like a Yoda." Mike corrects.
"She flipped a van with her mind, and these agents were trying to shoot us..." Dustin started talking about their entire day.
"Yeah, it flipped over us..."
"Then she squeezed the brains out..."
"And blood was pouring out of their faces."
"It was pouring out of their eyes."
"Agents just started grabbing us and stuff..."
"...shot out of the wall..."
Hailey smiled at their chattering, happy to have everyone together again, she gave Jonathan a pat on the shoulder, silently telling him she was going to leave, leaving the boys to catch up.
In the waiting room she saw Steve holding Nancy in his arms, as the two were whispering to each other, she slowly made her way out of the hospital, enjoy a walk home where she could have her thoughts to herself.
*•1 MONTH LATER•*
Hailey found herself in the Wheeler basement on Christmas Eve, dressed up for the boys campaign, without any complaints, she would always do anything for them.
"Something is coming. Something angry. Hungry for your blood. It is almost here." Mike says, staring at the boys from over a book.
"What is it?" Will asks.
"It’s the thessalhydra, I’m telling you." Dustin states.
"It’s not the thessalhydra." Lucas says in total denial.
"I’m telling you, it’s the thessalhydra." Dustin tells Lucas with all seriousness.
Mike slams a figurine on the board, it made a loud thud against the table. "The thessalhydra!" He yells out.
"Damn it." Lucas says in defeat.
"It roars in anger! Will, your action!" Mike asks the Byers, who looked at the other two in question "What should I do? I..." Lucas and Dustin had a quick silent conversation coming to an agreement.
"Fireball him!"
"Fireball the son of a bitch."
Hailey watched closely, as Will threw the dice, as it stopped rolling. "Fourteen!" They all yelled in excitement.
"Direct hit. Will the Wise’s fireball hits the thessalhydra. It makes a painful..." Mike yells, making a painful roar, falling to the ground, imitating it painful screeching. "and then... it crumbles to the ground. Its clawed hand reaches for you one last time, and, and, and... and..." Mike pretends to be dead.
The other cheered that they have taken down the monster making Hailey smile at them. Mike got back up from the floor.
"Lucas cuts off its seven heads, and Dustin places them into his bag of holding. You carry the heads out of the dungeon, victorious, and you present them to King Tristan. He thanks you for your bravery and service." Mike says, bringing the end to the campaign.
"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s not it, is it?" Dustin asks, not believing that could be the end.
"No, there’s a medal ceremony..." Mike tries to tell them, but got cut off. "Oh, a medal ceremony? What are you talking about?" Dustin asks, not believing what he was hearing.
"And..."
"The campaign was way too short." Lucas points out, everyone else agreeing with him.
"Yeah!"
"It was ten hours!" Mike reminds them how long they've been sitting there.
"But it doesn’t make any sense." Dustin states.
"It makes sense." Mike argues back.
"Uh, no, what about the lost knight?" Dustin asks.
"And the proud princess?" Lucas asks.
"And those weird flowers in the cave?" Will asks, Hailey was only laughing at their bickering, laying on the coach, shaking her head at her silliness.
"I don’t know, it’s..." Mike wasn't able to finish talking once again, as the basement door opens, and footsteps approaching them, it only turned out to be Jonathan.
"Jeez, what’s that smell? Have you guys been playing games all day, or just farting?" Jonathan jokingly asks, making them chuckle.
"Oh, that’s just Dustin. He farted. Dustin farted." Lucas says blowing raspberries.
"Okay." Dustin says not very impressed with his friend.
"Dustin farted."
"Very mature, Lucas." Dustin says, Lucas kept on blowing raspberries, but when quiet when Hailey spoke up.
"I'm pretty sure it wasn't just Dustin who farted, but all of you." She states, Jonathan finally noticed her laying on the coach dressed up. "Nice outfit." Jonathan says, making the older Henderson playfully glare at him.
"Will. Come on." Jonathan says, Will got up, grabbing his bag.
"Bye, guys." Will says, following his brother out.
"Bye, Will."
"See you, Will."
Hailey would have loved to go home, but Mrs Wheeler invited them to stay for dinner, she wanted to refuse, but her brother wanted to stay, so she couldn't do that to him.
The boys kept on making jokes and laughing at each other, until they were all called for dinner, the moment Hailey dreaded most, because Steve was there as well.
Hailey didn't say a word, which her brother picked up on, it made him unhappy to see his sister so down, and he knew why, she did mention some of it to him, but he promised himself he'll try and cheer her up over time.
Steve also noticed the girl not saying a word, but he also noticed that she has been avoiding him as much as she can the last month and he just couldn't understand why she was acting like that.
After dinner Mrs Wheeler offered for them to sleepover, which Hailey immediately denied, she really just wanted to get home and in the comfort of her bed, where she could fall asleep and escape from reality even for a little bit.
*°Unedited°*