"chapter seven: 'the bathtub'"
"Will you stop pacing?" Mike asked Dustin exasperatedly.
"I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!" Dustin replied, turning on his heel.
"When do you feel good about anything?" Lucas shouted. Seven grew irritated by the bickering. All of you, be quiet. They almost instantly stopped. Seven left the blood that trailed from her nose to drip.
"Holy shit," Dustin breathed. "That was cool." As he finished speaking, they all snapped their heads round in unison as a car door could be heard slamming.
"Shit!" Lucas hissed, as everyone ran to the front of the bus.
"Get down!" Mike exclaimed. Seven huddled up next to Eleven. Eleven smiled and took her sister's hand for comfort. They winced as they heard the door of the bus being opened. Seven felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Stop, stop, stop, she urged, apparently to no avail. They heard some grunts, and punches being made from outside, and all stood hastily as someone entered.
It was a man with a beard and a hat.
"Let's go." He directed. "Let's go!" He repeated, after nobody moved. They all hastily gathered their wits about them and followed the man out.
"This is Hopper. He's the chief of police here in Hawkins." Dustin explained to Eleven and Seven.
"Hop-per." Seven repeated slowly.
"Who's this? We knew there was one girl, not two." Hopper said as he got into the car, everybody following him in.
"This is Eleven," Mike pointed to El, "she's the one you did know about. But this is Seven. She doesn't have telekinesis like El, but she has mind control." Hopper nodded slowly, taking the information in, keeping his eyes on the road.
"So they have, like, superpowers." Hopper finalised.
"Thank you! Someone sees it for what it is!" Dustin exclaimed, glaring at Mike and Lucas.
"Technically. But where are we actually going?" Mike asked, leaning over Eleven to see out of the windscreen.
"The Byers house. Now, I'd appreciate it if you shut up until we get there." Hopper replied harshly. "Jesus, superpowers." he muttered through gritted teeth, rubbing his forehead. The car eventually pulled up in the Byers' drive, and everybody got out to see Nancy, Johnathan and Joyce waiting nervously.
"Mike? Oh, my god, Mike!" Nancy ran and hugged her little brother. He stood rather awkwardly in the embrace, unsure of what to do. She held him out in front of her. "I was so worried about you!"
"Yeah, uh, me too?" Mike tried. Nancy looked away from Mike slowly, and towards Seven and Eleven.
"Are those my dresses?" She asked. The two younger girls looked round to Dustin, who smiled briefly at them, as though trying to reassure them. Neither Seven or Eleven spoke, but they followed everybody inside. Mike took it upon himself to explain the concept of the upside down to the adults.
"Okay, so in this example, we're the acrobat." He pointed at the stick figure on his diagram. "Will and Barbara, and the monster, they're this flea. And this is the upside down, where Will is hiding." Nancy looked uncertainly to Johnathan, but focused back on her brother. "Mr Clarke said that the only way to get there is to create a rip in time and space.
"A gate," Dustin interjected.
"That we traced back to Hawkins Lab." Lucas added.
"With our compasses." Dustin interrupted again. Joyce, Nancy and Johnathan looked to him blankly. He inhaled sharply. "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the direction that the compasses point." Seven was uncertain of what a compass even was. She did, however, know about the gate. She'd seen it in person, gone near it. And she never wanted to see it again.
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked.
"Yes." Eleven murmured.
"Near a large water tank?" Hopper continued.
"Yes." Seven said this time.
"H-how'd he know all that?" Dustin stuttered worriedly.
"He's seen it." Mike murmured.
"Is there any way that you could find Will? That you could talk to him in this..." Joyce trailed off tearfully.
"The upside down." Eleven finished for her. Seven nodded.
"And my friend Barbara, can you find her too?" Nancy asked nervously. Eleven said nothing, but Seven spoke.
"She can try."
Eleven sat at the head of the dining table, holding Seven's hand, for a sense of security. Everybody else stood around the table watching intently. Eleven had her eyes closed, the supercomm lying in front of her making crackling sounds. The light above them flickered momentarily, but Eleven opened her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered tearfully. "I can't find them." Her voice broke. Joyce brought her hand to her mouth, breathing shakily. Eleven stood and walked to the bathroom.
"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets...drained." Mike tried to explain.
"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets." Dustin tried to further Mike's explanation.
"Like, she flipped a van earlier." Lucas said.
"It's was awesome. But now she's drained. Like a bad battery." Dustin said.
"How do we make her better?" Joyce asked nervously.
"We don't. We just have to wait and try again. And it's not like Seven can do it. Can you?" Mike asked. Seven shook her head sadly.
"Eleven had the most power." Seven said quietly.
"Well, how long do we have to wait?" Nancy asked, a hint of impatience in her voice.
"The bath." Eleven had reappeared. She paused as everybody turned. "I can find them... in the bath." Everyone stared at her, except Seven, who knew what she meant. Dustin's eyes widened. He walked over to the phone and started dialling.
"Mr Clarke, it's Dustin. Yeah, yeah. I just... I... I have a science question." Dustin said hesitantly over the phone. "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one? ...Fun." He grimaced as he said it. "You always say to never stop being curious. To always open every curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" He persisted. Seven was extremely confused as to what 'curiosity doors' were. It sounded as though the teacher had given in, and Dustin moved over to the table, signaling for a notepad and pencil. "Uh-huh. How much? Uh-huh. Yep, alright. Yeah, we'll be careful." He smiled slightly. "Definitely. Alright, thanks Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday, Mr Clarke. Bye." He hung up the phone, turning to Joyce "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"
"I, er, think so." Joyce turned to Johnathan for confirmation.
"Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it." Dustin said certainly.
"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper asked, folding his arms. Dustin consulted the notepad again.
"Fifteen hundred pounds." He said, wide eyed.
"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked, sighing. Hopper thought for a moment.
"The middle school. Let's go, now." He said. Joyce found the kiddie pool in the shed easily, and everybody piled into Johnathan and Hopper's cars. Once they reached the school, everyone filed from the cars. "Okay, Johnathan, you and I are going to get salt. Nancy, you and your brother need to find some hosepipes. Joyce, take the girl and find something that will make sure it's dark. And you two," he pointed at Dustin and Lucas, "take her, and set up the pool." He pointed to Seven. Everyone nodded, and walked away to do their assigned jobs.
Dustin and Lucas carried the pool into the gym, Seven following sheepishly behind.
"Curiosity door." She said. "What is a curiosity door?"
"It's a... um... figure of speech, if you like. If you really want to know something, the thing that will let you know stuff about it could be the curiosity door. Like a gateway to knowledge." Dustin replied. "But it's not an actual door." Seven nodded, not quite sure she understood.
"You two, stop talking about random crap. We need to get on with this." Lucas said, dumping the folded pool on the floor. "Okay, Dustin, get the other end, Seven... just try and help." he directed. Lucas and Dustin went about trying to stand the pool up, but it kept falling over again and again. "Try that side."
"How does this even work? Son of a bitch." The two boys continued bickering over how to stand the pool. Shit!" Dustin swung his hands in defeat.
"Work together." Seven said.
"We're trying! We could really use your help here!" Lucas exclaimed. Seven stepped forward nervously and grabbed an edge of the pool.
"Lucas, don't stress her out. She's been through a lot." Dustin said. Lucas rolled his eyes, and they continued trying to set it up. Eventually they found a balance point.
"Yes!" Lucas exclaimed, holding his hand up to Seven for a high five. She looked at him in confusion, raising her hand cautiously. "Oh... um, you... like this." He took her hand and placed it against his own. "But harder, like this!" He gave Dustin a proper high five. Seven turned to Dustin, her hand up. She smiled at him and high fived him.
"Nice!" Dustin grinned, clapping her on the shoulder. She blushed slightly, still smiling.