chapter twelve
fellas, i think he's possessed
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THE NIGHT BEFORE was a blur, all the screaming and yelling and running. If Rue forced herself to remember, she'd recall the bright lights and all the noise. Oh, there was so much noise.
The girl passed out on one of the chairs, and her eyes shut tight as she squirmed in her sleep. Maybe, she's having a bad dream, but as the blood rolled down her nose when she shifted, people would think otherwise.
There was a frown on her pink lips as she groaned softly. She felt awake. She felt wide awake. But at the same time, she felt like she was dreaming. Was it a lucid dream? Those dreams where you know you're dreaming?
She thought so until she turned around. What was this place, and why is everything black? What is this water at her feet?
Rue began to panic. Where was she? Because this was not the hospital room she fell asleep.
Oh my God, Rue has been kidnapped. She has gotten kidnapped, and they're going to kill her.
"Hello? E-Emilia?"
She froze, there it was, the same voice she heard that called for Mike a few days ago. Rue didn't turn around. Why was this person calling for her mother now? Why did this person kidnap her?
"Emilia?" They called again, and Rue swallowed thickly when she heard the splashing steps.
She jumped at the feeling of someone's hand on her shoulder, pulling her to turn around, "Please don't hurt me!" she squeaked, shutting her eyes. "I swear, I didn't steal anything or am I in one of those Italian Mafia bosses!"
"Mafia . . . bosses?" the person trailed off, "Wait . . . you are not Emilia." they spoke slowly.
Rue slowly opened her eyes, and her fear disappeared when she saw a girl with short curly brown hair. She huffed, lowering her hands, "No, I'm not. She's my mother."
"Where are we? Who are you?" Rue asked, and the girl narrowed her eyes at her tilting her head.
"Jane," she said, and Rue hummed. "I've seen you before, at Hawkins . . . Middle school?"
"You were the voice looking for Mike."
"You were the girl in my head."
Rue frowned, shaking her head. "No," she mumbled, "I wasn't in your head — "
"Yes, you were — "
"What do you want with Emilia?" She quickly changed the subject.
Jane huffed, "I am looking for her. I think — I think she is my sister."
Rue nearly laughed, "No, she's not. She doesn't have a sister."
The girl frowned and looked down at the ankle-deep water. Rue felt a shiver crawl up her spine the longer she stayed in this place. Spinning around, she tried to look for a way out, but it was all pitch black from as far as she could see.
"Where can I find Emilia?" Jane asked. "Where can I find your Mama?"
Rue winced, looking down at the smaller girl. "Portland,"
"Port . . . land?"
She nodded, "Portland's cemetery, next to the only church that doesn't have spray paint on the walls."
Jane furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding.
"She's dead."
"Oh." The girl chewed on her lower lip, thinking, "Maybe . . . since you're her daughter . . . with her . . . abilities . . . maybe that's why I found you instead."
"I'm sorry, what? What did you say?"
Jane fiddled with the sleeve of her flannel, and Rue watched her, utterly puzzled, but she looked away and up to where the sky was supposed to be when she heard a familiar voice calling for her. "Rue, Rue — Rue, come on, wake up."
A sad smile grew on Jane's face, and a tear slipped down her cheek, "Mike," she whispered.
"Rue!"
She spun around as she felt the water moving beneath her feet. Jane has disappeared into vapour, causing her to gasp and grip around her torso in fear she'd turn into smoke as well.
Blinking awake, Rue was glad to be pulled away from that nightmare. She jerked aside from the hand that was on her upper lip, and that's when she noticed the tissue stained with blood.
With a shaky hand, she tapped under her nose, feeling the warm liquid rolling between her fingers. Rue looked up to see Joyce, Bob, and Mike staring at her. Joyce, holding onto the tissue, Bob, running his hand through her hair and Mike watching.
Her eyes traced down to the trail of countless bloody tissues that lead to the garbage can by the door of Will's hospital room.
"Your nose was bleeding again," Mike said, and Rue forced herself not to roll her eyes.
"I'll get you some water," Bob told her while Joyce gave Rue an extra tissue to hold onto her nose while she cleared the rest from the floor.
Mike shifted in his seat, a blanket wrapped around his shoulder, "You bleed a lot,"
"I know."
He nodded and went silent for a moment before speaking up again, "Is that normal to you?"
Rue shrugged, blowing her nose on the tissue.
"Her arm," the Whisper said, "it must be on her arm if I'm right."
"Here, Rue," Bob came back, handing Rue the cup of water. She took it gingerly, taking small sips, feeling the cool water rush down her throat, and she noticed how dry it was.
"How's Will?" she asked, looking at Joyce when she sat down next to Will's sleeping figure on the bed. The woman smiled sadly, running her fingers through Will's hair. "Did you find out what's wrong?"
Joyce sighed, pursing her lips and shaking her head. "Not yet, we're just waiting for him to wake up."
As if on cue, Will began to shift on the bed, "Mom?" he called in a quiet voice. Bob beamed before running out of the room, calling for a doctor.
Joyce smiled and her boy, who looked a lot healthier than the day before. She held his hand, asking if he felt better.
Bob ran back into the room, "They're on their way," he said, standing next to Joyce, grinning at Will. "Hey, buddy."
Will gave him an unamused look, "Who is that?" he asked in a shaky voice.
"What?" Joyce huffed in disbelief.
Bob's smile ran off his face, and he furrowed his eyebrows, "It's me, big guy, it's Bob," he went to hold his hand, but Will moved it away.
"Are you a . . . " he looked at Rue's father up and down, his eyes catching the blue scrubs he wore. " . . . Doctor?"
"No . . . no, it's just me . . . just . . . " he looked over at his daughter for a second before looking back at the boy, "just Bob."
Rue felt as if all the air got knocked out of her lungs while she watched. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and by the looks of it, Mike couldn't either.
The sound of the monitor beeping filled Rue's ears as Dr. Owens did some checkups with Will. The girl stood between Mike and her dad with her hands shoved deep in her pockets as she stared at the tiled floor.
"Do you know your name?" Dr. Owens finally asked, making Rue glance up. She remembered the doctors asking her the same thing after the car accident.
"Will," the boy said, wires taped from his forehead and his cheeks.
"Your full name?"
"William Byers,"
Dr. Owens nodded, shifting in his seat. "Do you know who I am?"
Will closed his eyes for a second as if he was trying to remember before he gave up and said: "A doctor."
"Have we met before?"
"I don't remember."
Dr. Owens hummed in response, taking a glance at the other doctor. Rue furrowed his eyes, looking over Mike's head to see them. Her green eyes scanning them up and down, they didn't seem much like doctors. She snapped back to reality as Dr. Owens pointed a mike, asking if Will remembered him.
Mike's breath hitched as he sent Will an awkward wave.
"That's my friend," Will started, tripping over his words. "Mike."
The boy let out a small breath of relief as he smiled.
"What about me, kid? You remember me?" The chief of police said out of the blue, a smile of hope over his face. However, it didn't wipe away when Will shook his head no. "They tell me you helped save me last night. You remember that?"
Once again, Will shook his head. "I remember they hurt me," he croaked.
Joyce turned her head away, and Bob hugged her.
"Do you mean the doctors?" Dr. Owens asked.
"No. The soldiers."
Dr. Owens furrowed his eyes, leaning closer. "The soldiers hurt you?"
"They shouldn't have done that," Will almost glared daggers at the man. "It upset him."
The room went silent for a few beats.
"Is this him?" Owens pulled out a picture Rue couldn't see, but Will nodded. Dr. Owens sighed, looking back at the visitors. "I'm gonna try something, it's gonna seem a little odd at first but I think it's really gonna help us find out what's going on, is that okay?"
"Okay."
（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）
A few minutes later, another doctor walked in with a glass box that held a large worm of some type inside. When Mike got a view of it, he quickly pulled Rue away and sat next to her on one of the counters with the chief.
Rue jumped when the doctor turned on the flamethrower, nearing it to the creature. Then looked over at Will after hearing his monitor beep faster.
"Do you feel anything?" Dr. Owens asked.
"A— a little sting," Will stammered.
Rue frowned, looking back and forth from the worm and Will, completely confused.
The man holding the flame dropped it closer to the worm - or was it a vine? Will groaned in pain, and his groans soon turned into cries.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere!"
"Wait, stop," Rue said, her heart beating at her chest at the sight of her best friend crying. "Please, stop. It's hurting him!"
Then Joyce and Bob were asking for them to stop, but the man kept moving it closer, making the worm shake wildly and break the glass, and Will screamed and thrashed around on the bed.
"That's enough!" Jim Hopper yelled. "Stop it, Owens!"
"You're hurting him!" Rue exclaimed, and the small lever on the flamethrower flipped, turning off the flame.
Will leaned on the bed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes trailed up from the glass case that held the vine and over to Rue.
Joyce ran up to him, babying her boy.
"Alright that's enough, no more of that!" Jim said, the adults oblivious of the flame turning off suddenly. However, Mike pulled on Rue's wrist, making her look at him as the doctors pulled away Joyce, Bob and Jim to talk.
"Did you see that?" he whispered in her ear as they sat back down on the chairs they slept on.
"See what?" she asked as she leaned closer to the freckled boy.
"The flame — turning off."
Rue furrowed her eyebrows, "The doctor just turned it off when we yelled at him."
Mike opened his mouth before closing it again. He pursed his lips, pulling her Rue's left arm and looking at her wrist, only to shove it back when he saw it bare. "Nevermind," He shook his head, leaning back on the chair.
Rue frowned at his strange antics and looked over at Will, who was already staring at her. "Hey, Will," she started, moving her chair closer to his bed.
The boy blinked, staring at her blankly.
"Are you okay? Does it still hurt?"
"No," was all he said.
"Do you . . ." She trailed off, not knowing if she should be asking him or not. Fighting against her thoughts, she decided to ask him anyway. "Do you remember who I am?"
"No,"
She sucked in a breath, biting the inside of her cheek. "Oh," Rue felt herself become small as she glanced at Will. She was upset. Her first best friend in Hawkins didn't remember her. The boy she saw as a brother didn't know her. But she wasn't surprised. If he couldn't remember Bob, who knew him longer, how was he going to remember her?
It still hurt, though.
Joyce and Bob walked back into the room. Bob smiled at his daughter, and she returned one. They sat back down in the back of the room, and Rue stared at her lap.
The sound of static filled her ears for a moment, and she looked around the room, thinking there was a T.V or a radio. Rue didn't find one, but the static had stopped, and the Whisper came back. But it didn't sound the same as it usually did. There wasn't a voice, but wind. It sounded like a breeze, and for a moment, she thought Mike was blowing in her ear to piss her off. When she turned to face him, he had fallen back asleep.
Goosebumps grew on her arms and neck, and a shiver crawled up her spine, the blowing wind got louder, and she could almost make out voices, or whispers, messy whispers that tumbled over the other.
They didn't make any sense, and they were all saying different things at once.
Her stomach dropped as it would on a rollercoaster, and she looked at Will, who was watching her. Rue shifted in her seat, and her breaths became shallow. And then, she could hear the whispers clearly.
The wind was gone, and Rue could hear a voice. It was distant and spoke about things purely evil and dark, but she kept listening. Something was pulling her deeper.
Blood rolled down her nose again, but she didn't notice. Her eyes were dazed, and horrible thoughts got placed inside her head.
Will's lips itched into a smile, the same views rolling through his mind. But then, it all stopped at once. There were flashes of a car wreck and two bodies before Rue snapped out of it.
Rue stood up from her seat, walking over to grab more tissues while Will watched her every move. Wiping her nose, she walked past Joyce, who began to stammer and stomp down the hall, Bob following along.
Mike had woken up and started to talk to Will. Rue ignored them, looking around for where they put her bat and bag. "Are you hurting again?" She heard Mike ask as she opened and closed cabinets with shaky hands. She needed her Walkman. She needed it immediately. Rue had to get those lingering thoughts out of her head, and music was the only way that helped her escape her thoughts.
"I saw something." Will mumbled softly to his best friend, almost as if he didn't want Rue to hear.
"In your now-memories?"
"The shadow monster," Will hesitated, thinking about what he was going to say, "I think I know how to stop him," he finished.
The two boys jumped at Rue's voice screaming: A-ha!
"Jesus — Rue!" Mike exclaimed, turning around to find the girl with a bright smile on her face, holding up her baseball bat and backpack. She started to dig in the bag soon pulling out to Walkman.
"God bless!" she kissed the Walkman, a wide smile on her face as she threw her headphones on her shoulders and clipped it on her baseball pants. Rue threw her bag over her shoulder, and sat next to Mike feeling like all the weight of the world was lifted as she placed the bat next to her seat and started to play the mixtape Steve gave her a few days ago.
Rue's joyous moment didn't last long once Joyce came back in the room Will told her about knowing how to stop it, doctors storming in making everyone go to a meeting room with other "doctors" where Will will talk.
Rue stood behind her father and Jim Hopper as Will started at the long table that had various polaroid pictures of the drawings Will made back at his house.
"Sam, this is ludicrous," One of the doctors started, his arms folded over his chest.
"Just give him a moment, okay?" Dr. Owens tried to say before he cut him off.
"We don't have time — " he started again before Jim Hopper cut in.
"Hey, jackass! Why don't you do us all a favour and shut up, okay?" he said, making Rue chuckle.
Will got up from his seat next to Mike and started to walk around the table, before pointing at something Rue couldn't quite see from the two men standing before her. "That's it," he said softly.
"That's what, Will?" Dr. Owens asked, and Rue got on her tippy toes to see what he was talking about.
"I-I don't know," he stuttered, "I just know he doesn't want me to see there," he said darkly, ". . . I think it's important."
（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）
3000 WORDS
sorry if i'm annoying for asking
but do you guys actually like this story?
again sorry for asking i'm just
kinda paranoid about it and i like the feedback
update:
i kinda hate this chapter
because max isn't here
but ig it's all about the yearning😫😫😫
also thanks for those who
replied about this fic it means a lot
🥰🥰🥰