"STEVE, I'M SORRY BUT YOU NEED TO LEAVE." CARLA DEMANDED, "RIGHT NOW."
"No—I'm not trying to start anything, okay?" Steve clarified, looking at his ex with a pleading expression. He just wanted to apologize, to talk. To restart. The Wheeler opened her mouth to usher him away again, but he cut her off, "No, no, listen....I—I......I messed up, okay? I messed up—I messed up." He slammed his fist against the door frame as he stammered over his words. "Okay? Really. Please." He looked at her pleadingly, "I just want to make things right. Okay? Please."
Maybe it was the way he was asking politely and with such desperateness that Carla had to believe him, or his stupid eyes scanning through hers—almost forcing her to let him inside the house—that caused Carla the urge to just forgive her ex for his actions and to help him, to let him apologize. To just let them restart.
But Steve couldn't be here right now. With his terrible timing, he'd managed to walk in to a war and unlike yesterday in her garage where they brushed off their weapon practice as baseball practice, it would be rather difficult to explain the nail bat, the guns, and the Christmas lights. He had to get out.
So, she summoned up all that she could to deny the boy entrance into the house, "Steve, now's not the time. Just go back home, okay? Please—"
Steve opened his mouth to beg once more but closed it as his eyes caught hold of her bandaged hand, eyes growing in concern at the sight—that wasn't the same hand that had punched him. "What happened to your hand?" As if nothing had ever happened, the boy grabbed hold of the Wheeler's bandaged hand to examine it, Carla pulling her hand away at once. "Is that blood?"
"Nothing." Carla looks to her side to see Nancy, the girl looking at her boyfriend. "It was an accident."
Steve didn't buy her words, given the two wore identical bandages in identical places. It was odd if something happened that caused such matching wounds on accident. "Yeah, what happened?"
"Nothing."
Carla pressed on, "Accident, like she said."
"Wait a sec, did he do this to you guys?" the Harrington asked.
"What? No!" Carla exclaims, knowing that by he, Steve meant Jonathan. "Steve, no!"
"Nancy, let me in!"
"No, no, no, Steve!"
"Let me in—"
It isn't too difficult for the Harrington boy to shove past the two Wheelers and into the house, eyes wide and a look of shock on his face the moment he enters the shabby place. At first the light and letters confuse his mind, but then he's looking at the nail-bat beside Jonathan, as well as the countless other weapons aimlessly lying around the house.
"What is....What the....." Steve doesn't even know what to say as he looks around the house.
Jonathan rushes over to the boy, placing an arm on his shoulder to shove him back towards the door, "You need to get out of here."
"Whoa. What is all—"
"Listen to me. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, get out of here!"
"What is that smell? Is that—is that gasoline?" the Harrington rambled, concerned as to what was happening. He was concerned for Nancy, concerned for Carla and was definitely worried as to what they were doing with the Byers' home when it was in such condition.
Before any other comment can be made, the clicking of a gun is heard.
"Steve, get out!" Nancy's voice rises, and the three other teens whip their heads to see the Wheeler girl pointing her gun directly in Steve's direction. Carla sends a wide eyed look towards her sister, but is pulled away by Jonathan—who moved away from the Harrington—before she can say anything.
"Wait, wait. What? What is going on?!" Steve puts his hands in the air and stares at his girlfriend incredulously, confused and scared.
"You have five seconds to get out of here."
"Okay, is this a joke? Stop. Put—put the gun down." the Harrington panics.
"I'm doing this for you."
Carla looks at the boy with nothing but seriousness, "Steve, just go! Don't let me tell you again—it isn't safe for you to be here with us right now."
Steve looks at her, "What—what is that supposed to mean?"
"Three. Two—" Nancy begins to count down.
Steve rambles on, scared for himself. "No, no, no! No, no!"
There's a sudden jab on Carla's shoulder and suddenly she's meeting Jonathan's gaze, which was set directly on the Christmas lights above.
They were flashing—it was here.
Carla's face falls because this thing also had the worst timing. Steve was in the house practically covered in blood—he was a walking alarm. If this thing came, there was a chance the Harrington boy would be getting injured and Carla isn't sure she can take that. Barb was enough.
"Nancy!" Carla and Jonathan yell for the girl in unison, voice finally raising over Steve's panicked rambles.
"The lights." Jonathan says, causing Nancy to look towards the lights with her jaw dropped. "It's here."
The trio immediately grabs their weapons from the table, Steve watching with wide eyes as he confusedly watches the three frantically grab weapons, the lights flickering uncontrollably. What was happening? "Wait, what's here?"
Carla looks at Steve, jabbing a finger in his direction, "Steve, get out of here right fucking now before it hurts you or worse!"
"Hurts me? What is it?!" Steve yells.
Nancy's eyes dart around, "Where is it?"
"Where is what?!" the Harrington screeches, eyes widening as the trio starts to circle around, the two Wheelers with guns, the Byers' with a nailed bat. He's frightened by their tenseness and by the weapons. "Whoa! Easy with that!"
"Where is it?"
"I don't know." Jonathan breathes, "I can't see it. Carla?"
Carla's hands are practically shaking in anticipation, "Nothing but these goddamn lights."
"Where is what?" Steve continues to ask as the three circle faster and faster, matching their paces to the flashing of the lights. When met with no answer once more, the brunette boy screeched, "Hello? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going—"
The Harrington is cut off as the ceiling crumbles above them.
With wide eyes, Carla turns around to see the creature crawling from the roof, pieces of plaster and wood crashing down as it entered. The lights are flickering faster than ever, and the Wheeler watches as it's head peeks through the roof, it's petaled face closed.
Nancy raises a gun and starts to shoot at the thing, acting on instinct. Carla just holds her gun close and watches with an agape mouth, "Holy shit."
Jonathan grabs the girl around the waist, "No! Go! Go! Run! Go!" He looks at Steve and Carla, "Go get out of here!"
The monster comes crashing onto the floor and Carla doesn't have to be told twice before she grabs Steve's hand and races the two of them to Will's room—their safety spot. Dragging her ex boyfriend by the hand, she sloppily jumps over the bear trap, sparing a quick warning to the boy behind her, "Jump!"
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Steve leaps over the bear trap, right on Carla's heels as they speed into Will's room, the Harrington slamming the door shut when he rushes in, body in full panic mode. "Jesus! Jesus, what the hell was that? What the hell was that!?"
"Shut up!" the trio yells in unison, all holding weapons towards the door—Jonathan had his lighter, Nancy had her gun, and Carla was now holding the nail-bat, gun having been dropped in exchange for Steve's hand.
The four quietly stand on the ready, ears pricking at every snarl or footstep. Carla's eyes are trained on the yo-yo they'd set up, it's stupid smiley face staring right back at her as she awaited it to move ever so slightly.
"What's it doing." Nancy asks, confused on why the yo-yo wasn't moving.
"I don't know." Carla answers, clamping the bat in one hand, the other staying slightly behind her to make sure Steve didn't try moving.
It then went silent, and the light flickering stopped.
"Do you hear anything?"
Jonathan flicked the lighter closed, "No."
The Byers boy slowly opens the door, the nail-bat which he'd taken back in his grasp. The other three teens filed out after him, eyeing up the hallway. The bear trap was completely bare, and the house was completely quiet. It was gone.
But, the four continue to walk into the living room with apprehension, Jonathan and Nancy in the front with weapons—Carla stayed at their heels though, despite being weaponless. Turns out, she was okay to be weaponless because there was nothing there. No sign that the creature had even entered the house other than the ceiling debris on the floor.
Odd.
From behind the trio, Steve was starting to panic. A giant monster just fell from the ceiling and Carl, Jonathan and Nancy normal? How were they not freaking out? "This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!" The boy dashed for the Byers' phone, shakily holding the item to his ear after dialing what Carla could only assume to be 9-1-1.
Nancy stormed over to her boyfriend throwing the phone out of his grasp. Steve whipped towards the girl, eyes wide and fearful as he yelled, "What are you—what are you doing! Are you insane?!"
"It's going to come back." Nancy informed in a raised voice, wanting to get her point out a serious as possible. "So you need to leave. Right now."
"You saw that thing, Steve." Carla's gaze was soft yet stern as she came to her sisters aid, wanting nothing more than for the Harrington to leave. "I don't want you here when it comes back, and I don't think you want to be either. So please leave. I'll explain everything to you later."
Steve looked between the two Wheelers and then at the ceiling a few times before dashing straight back out the Byers home, hands fumbling around his pockets for his car keys.
Carla was about to let out a comment of relief but the lights then started to flicker again, harshly. The room dimmed every other second, which made it difficult to see where the creature was, but the Wheeler girl tried her best, scrambling to grab her gun before meeting in the middle with the other two teens.
As they circled around each other, Nancy asked, "Where is it?"
"Come on. Come on, you son of a bitch." Jonathan muttered, "You see it?"
"No...." Carla breathed, clammy hands gripping the gun.
"Come on. Where are you? Come on!"
The lights blinked out.
Carla froze at the sudden darkness, but was quickly unfrozen at the sound of growling. Her head whipped around to see the creature stalking over them—more specifically Jonathan, who stood unknowing it was behind him. Eyes wide, the girl shrieked, "Oh my God, Jonathan!"
The boy turned around but was quickly tackled to the ground, the bat rolling out of his hand. The Byers boy was pressed on the floor with an iron grip, the monster lowering itself upon him, saliva dripping down on to Jonathan's face.
"Jonathan! Jonathan!"
Carla isn't sure what was going on in her head, but suddenly, she doesn't even care about her own safety and is pulling the trigger on her gun, aiming directly for the back of the monster. Jonathan's safety was more than hers right now.
"Go to hell mother fucker!"Carla yelled, pulling the trigger at the creature as it opened it's flower like mouth over her friend. Her bullets ricocheted off of the slimy membrane of the creature, the monster growing more aggravated the more Carla shot. Eventually, it stood up to its full height, towering off the Wheeler girl by many feet—she'd always been considered tall for a girl,, but suddenly she felt tiny.
Carla continued to walk backwards, shooting at the creature so it followed her. But, the bullets on lasted for so long, and after a few seconds, her gun clicked, signaling it was empty. Signaling that she was on her own.
Fuck.
Suddenly her back hit the wall and if Carla wasn't fucked before, she certainly was now. The monster was approaching her next—she was its new target—and she had no protection and nowhere to run. Oh God, she was dying.
She was going to die right here in the Byers house, and so were Jonathan and Nancy. She'd never get to kill the monster, or see Will alive and well, or babysit Lucas and Dustin again. She'd never sit with Jonathan at lunch, or reconnect with Nancy. She'd never get to help Eleven live a normal life, or hug Mike again. She'd never get to forgive Steve—never tell him that she still wants him, even though she shouldn't. That she really does love him.
A scream echoes through the room, and it takes Carla a moment to realize shes the one screaming. There's a sharp, painful, burn digging into one of her wrists, while the other is throbbing in even more pain, but if the Wheeler's honest, she can't even pay attention to her arms while all she she's in front of her is the monster, it's breath fanning across her tear stained face.
She can hear Jonathan and Nancy screaming out for her, as well as the ricocheting of bullets against the monster's skin but she knows deep down it's no use. She was dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Carla awaits the feeling of the monster rows of teeth inside of her fragile skin. The feeling of death.
Except that feeling next came.
Instead, the sound of the monster screeching sounded and she felt its hot breath and spit fan away—it was backing up.
Another cry left her lips as the creature pulled away, its claws scraping her wrists once more. Her eyes, glossy with tears, glazed over to beside her, mouth dropping in utter shock and gratitude when she saw an ever so familiar figure slamming the nailed bat into the creature.
Steve Harrington.
"Steve?" Carla breathed, relief hidden in her pain filled voice. The boy spares a glance at his ex-girlfriend, but is then back to harming the creature, slamming the bat into it's side, a growl leaving its petal of a mouth.
Carla watched as her ex boyfriend continued to defend himself against the creature, her feet slowly shuffling away from the wall—despite how much she just wanted to slide down the wall and sit there with how much pain she was experiencing.
Holding her arm against her chest, she watches in shock as Steve twirls the bat around before hitting the creature again, the monster slowly making it's way towards the bear trap when suddenly she remembers that they had a plan.
"Hallway!" Carla croaked, nodding towards where the bear trap was set up. Her face contorts in pain, before she yells again, "Steve, lead it to the hallway!"
Steve does as he's told, and swings his bat again, slamming the monster directly into the bear trap. There's a small click signaling its capture, and Nancy rushes over to her boyfriend, watching the action. Carla shuffles her way over, too.
"He's in the trap!" Steve calls over the monsters aggravated shrieks and growls. Carla, through the flashing lights and pain clouding her brain, can see the creature struggling to break out of the trap. "He's stuck!"
Nancy shrieks, "Jonathan, now!"
Jonathan slides in front of the hallway, lighter in hand. Flicking it on, he tosses the item into the hallway and the floor immediately ignites in flame. The light is engulfed in a bright light—Carla looking away, unable to raise a hand—as is the creature, flames over powering it's body.
The creature lets out ear-piercing, unbearable, shrieks and all Carla wants to do is slam her hands over her ears but she can't because her arms are throbbing in a fiery pain. Biting her lip to keep from crying, she's forced to listen to the shrieking until it.....stops?
"Get back!" Jonathan yells, running off for a moment before returning to the hallway with a fire extinguisher. Carla does as asked and watches as the boy smothers the fire down in thick smoke, only charred carpeting and fire-burned wall remaining.
The four begin to cough as smoke fills the room, the lights turning back on as if nothing ever happened. The only sound between the four is panting, but eventually they begin to stalk towards the bear trap, curious.
Nancy breaks the silence, "Where'd it go?"
"No. It has to be dead." Jonathan pants breathlessly, leaning against the wall. "It has to be."
As if the world was trying to contradict his words, the Christmas lights flicker back on.
But this time, they're calm. Each light returns one by one, rather than the obnoxious strobing that had just been in effect. It's almost as if the lights are leading them somewhere—as if someone was in an opposite dimension, walking through the same hallway.
The group starts walking backwards, Steve in front with the nail-bat out in case the monster does decide to re-show itself. But, he soon lowers his weapon as the lights flicker on in the opposite direction, towards the front door.
Despite feeling light-headed, Carla follows the lights, as does everyone else.
Looking at the front door, Jonathan softly mutters. "Mom, is that you? Mom?"
Without knowing what was really happening, the other three teens follow Jonathan outside of his house, watching as the streetlight started to blink in place of the now absent Christmas lights.
Nancy asks, "Where's it going?"
Jonathan shakes his head, "I don't think that's the monster."
Nancy and Jonathan turn around to enter the house again, going to regroup. Steve goes to do the same, but is stopped by a tugging on his sleeve. The boy turns around, only to be engulfed in a hug by Carla—or as best as a hug she could do with one injured hand, the other curled into her chest,
Steve doesn't pull away. He wraps his arms around the girl in return, holding her close because if he's honest, he misses this. He can date any other girl in Hawkins High, but he'll always miss what he had with Carla, what he still has with her no matter how much they wanted to ignore it.
Carla lets a tear fall down her face, "Thank you."
Steve doesn't say anything. He just holds the girl until she pulls away and turns towards the house again. The Wheeler only makes it a few steps though before her knees buckle and she stumbles against the front porch wall, a hiss leaving her lips.
The Harrington boy is at her side at once, concern written all over his features, "Whoa, Carla, are you okay? How about you sit down for a minute, drink some water—"
"No, I—I'm fine. Just a little light headed." Carla denies being anything but okay, though she gives in to her ex's words, and slides down to the porch floor—she doesn't even care that she's on the porch, she just needs to sit.
Steve opens his mouth to reply, but it's quickly shut when he finally notices one of her arms curled up against her chest. Kneeling down at her level, the boy's brows furrow when he notices the sleeve covering it has turned a deep red color—Steve then glanced down at her arm, of which the sleeve had turned a deep red. "Carla, what happened to your arm?"
"I said I'm fine, Steve—fuck." the Wheeler tries to deny being injured, but it's hard as another round of pains rolls through her, a small whimper leaving her lips, as if her body was trying to tell the Harrington the truth itself.
"Yeah, I'm not buying that." Steve shakes his head, gently moving a hand over to her slightly bloodier sleeve, slightly lifting the arm away from the girls chest. His face cringed together as the Wheeler let out a painful groan, and he quickly set it back down apologetically. "I'm sorry."
Nancy appeared at the door, face immediately falling when she saw her sister slumped against the porch wall, a painful expression engraved on her face. "You two coming—oh. Carla are you okay?"
"No." Carla says through gritted teeth. She's not okay because if she were okay, her shirt wouldn't be stained a deep red and her wrists wouldn't be on fire. Her mind wouldn't be aflame with unbearable pain. "My wrists."
"Steve, you roll up one sleeve, I'll get the other." Nancy crouches down, sending her sister an apologetic look. The girl's face looked pale, and by her deep red sleeves, the Wheeler knew her sister was bleeding—she needed help fast. "This is gonna hurt like hell, Carla, okay? But, I—we have to see what happened."
Carla squeezed her eyes shut, "Okay."
The two crouched brunettes started to roll up the injured girls sleeve, which was proven difficult given Carla cried with every move, clearly in pain. And it was no wonder she was—Nancy and Steve both looked agape at the wounds she'd been dealing with.
"Jesus."
"Oh my God."
Her wrists were completely scratched up, causing a bloody mess. The red substance was pouring from her gashes, the girl losing blood too fast for anyone's liking. Not to mention the clear broken wrist she had on one wrist, the arm limp and slightly flared up.
Nancy didn't truly care about the broken bone—her main priority was the fact that her sister was bleeding from her wrists. Full of veins and arteries, Nancy knew her sister would pass out from loss of blood sooner or later, and she'd rather have that happen when the girl was safe and sound in a hospital rather than on the Byers' front porch.
"Jonathan, start the car! Carla's hurt!" Nancy yelled into the house, looking at her sister with nothing but guilt. She was the one who wanted to come back to the house, to risk her and Jonathan, and Carla's lives. If she'd just held back her guilt for Barb for five seconds, maybe her twin wouldn't be in this position. "Carla, I'm—I'm so sorry. I—"
"Nancy, go get a first aid kit, wrap, a towel—something to keep pressure on her wrists." Steve informed, cutting his girlfriend off. The girl didn't hesitate before running into the house, leaving the exes on the porch by themselves.
The Harrington boy looked at Carla, who looked even paler than before. She was losing too much blood. "Hey, Carla, look at me, yeah? We're gonna take you to the hospital, and you're gonna be just fine. Just keep your eyes on me."
Carla took in a hitched breath, "How—how bad are they?"
"You're gonna look badass with the scars." Steve lightly chuckled, trying to make Carla think about anything other than her pain.
"Hey, Steve?" the Wheeler weakly asked with a frown. The boys gaze met hers and she quickly spewed, "I'm—I'm sorry for spilling about the beer to Hopper, I'm sorry I caused your dad to lash out at you, and I'm sorry for making that comment about your family. I—I'm just sorry. I've been such an asshole to you—"
Steve cut her off, "No, Carla, I've been an asshole—I've been one since after our break-up to you. I should have spoken it out with you because maybe......maybe things could have been different. But I was an asshole and I just ignored you as if we never happened, as if you weren't.....aren't......the most important person to me!"
She was the most important person to Steve. A ghost of a smile was on Carla's face as she replied, "You're the most important person to me too."
The two look at one another and three words sit on the tip of their tongues, just waiting to be said.
"Steve, get her in the car!" Jonathan runs out the door, flying towards his car. Nancy follows after, handing her boyfriend a towel to use for her sisters wounds.
"Steve, get her in, the cars running!" Jonathan called, peeking his head through the front door. Nancy quickly came back, holding a towel they could use for the wound. Kneeling down against, the girl wraps the towel around her sister's unbroken arm, Steve holding it tightly with one hand, the other wrapped around Carla herself to get her in the vehicle.
Setting her in the car, Steve is beside her, holding on to the towel for dear life. Jonathan flies into the drivers seat and Nancy takes the passenger seat, trying to hold back her own tears.
Carla doesn't remember anything else.
maras misc
hey.....