It had been twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes since I'd said 'over'.
Twenty minutes since I found out that Joyce, Hopper, Jonathan and Nancy were looking for us.
Twenty minutes since I gave away our location.
I sat on one of the battered seats, bouncing my leg to keep me sane. Eleven sat on the seat beside me, clutching my arm in one hand and the edge of the seat in the other. Lucas sat against the wall with his head in his hands, and Mike on the ground, protecting the walkie talkie with his life. Dustin on the other hand was pacing, up and down the aisle.
He had been doing it for fifteen of those twenty minutes.
"Will you stop pacing?" Mike snapped when he couldn't take it anymore.
Dustin paused for a moment but kept going back and forth. "It's been way too long. You know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap, and the bad men are coming to get us right now!"
"It's not a trap!" I shouted exasperatedly. "Why would the chief set us up?"
"Nancy, maybe," Lucas added slyly, making Mike throw his arms into the air. "But the chief?"
"Lando Calrissian," Dustin said again, referring to the Star Wars character.
"Would you shut up about Lando?" I snapped, rolling my eyes.
"I don't feel good about this," Dustin shook his head. "I don't feel good about this!"
"When do you feel good about anything!?" Lucas shouted back at him. Another moment passed, and suddenly, the sound of tires on dirt. I glanced toward the front of the bus, and then to the boys, and got up. They tried to follow me but I put a hand out to stop them.
"Stay right there," I said with my teeth clenched. When I reached the driver's seat, I saw two shiny black cars coming from either side. That definitely wasn't them.
"Shit," I said, immediately moving to the back of the bus. "Everyone down!"
The boys crouched behind some seats with Eleven at Mike's side, while I sat beside my brother.
"Lando!" Dustin panted. I elbowed him in the side.
"You think they saw us?" Lucas said, ignoring his friend.
"Both of you, shut up," Mike hissed. I listened to the sound of opening doors and slamming ones. I could hear feet crunching over sticks and the soft breathing of whoever was outside.
Just as I thought we were safe, I heard the opening of the bus door. I held my breath and put an arm around my brother who was as close to my side as he could get. As a foot began to climb the metal steps, there was a thud, a "Hey!" and multiple gun shots.
My eyes widened as I peaked out from behind the seat. The door opened the rest of the way, and I stood up when I saw Jim Hopper. He was holding his gun and was looking over at all of us.
"Alright, let's go," he said. When none of us moved out of shock, he raised his eyebrows. "Let's go!"
He ducked out of the bus and we all scrambled to get our things and go. We all had to squish in the chief's police car, with me in the front and everyone else on top of each other in the back. I didn't know where we were going, and didn't bother to ask, because I was just so relieved that the government didn't get to us first.
It was night when we drove into the Wheeler's driveway. Nancy immediately rushed out of the house to see her brother.
"Mike!" She sighed, embracing him in a hug. I smiled at the encounter, but it faded when I saw Jonathan looking at me from the door. He hadn't been forgiven for the photos... Not by me, at least.
"Oh my God, Mike!" Nancy continued. "I was so worried about you."
"Yeah, uh... Me, too."
She looked over to me with a smile and came over to hug me. "Thank you for taking care of him... But you're definitely going to tell me everything later."
"I'm not the only one who needs to talk!" I teased her, referring to the fact that she was with Jonathan Byers. She rolled her eyes at me before glancing behind me at Eleven.
"Is that my dress?"
~~~
The first thing about the Byers' house that I noticed was the intense amount of Christmas lights.
"Woah..." I said, looking around. Mike decided that the best way to explain the Upside Down to them would be through the acrobat metaphor, so he got a piece of paper and drew it out in red marker.
"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat," the boy said. We were all gathered in the living room with Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy on the couch, Hopper on and armchair with me on the arm, and the rest on the ground.
"Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea."
Apparently, we weren't the only ones looking for Will. Joyce had been contacting him in the Upside Down through lights, and Jon and Nancy had been 'monster hunting'. They had already been inside the other dimension, and saw the monster that we'd thought to exist.
"And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."
"A gate," Dustin simplified.
"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas added.
"With our compasses," I said. The four others stared at me, confused. "Oh, um... So this gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."
"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked from beside me.
"Yes," Eleven said, voice as quiet as a whisper. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked down at her.
"Near a large water tank?" Hopper continued, staring at her.
Eleven nodded her head. "Yes."
"How'd you know all that?" Dustin asked, tumbling over his words.
When Hopper didn't answer, Mike drew in a breath. "He's seen it."
"Is there any way that you could... That you could reach Will?" Joyce said, speaking to Eleven. We were about to tell them about her powers, but found they already knew. "That you could talk to him in this-"
"The Upside Down," Eleven corrected.
"Down, yeah," Joyce said. El nodded again, her lips in a thin line.
"And my friend, Barbara?" Nancy asked. "Can you find her, too?"
El smiled.
Back in the forest, when she found Mike, she had used the static from the walkie talkie, so I thought it would work again. I grabbed it and went to the kitchen table where I sat El at the end and we all stood around her. I flipped to a dead channel, and she closed her eyes.
A couple minutes passed, her eyes moving behind her closed lids, and the light above the table flickered. We all looked at each other as the room went from dark to light and back again.
"I'm sorry," El said, opening her eyes and looking directly to Joyce.
"What?" Joyce said. "What happened?"
"I can't find them," Eleven's voice broke slightly and she began to cry. I frowned and placed an arm around her shoulder, watching sadly as Jonathan walked away and Joyce put a hand over her mouth.
"Bathroom," Eleven said after a moment. I lead her to the Byers' washroom and then back to the kitchen, just as Jonathan was. He looked at me, his eyes sad and regretful. I kept walking.
"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak," Mike recalled to everyone.
"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin agreed.
"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas said.
"It was awesome," Dustin said with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. "But then her nose started bleeding, and now she's drained."
"Like a bad battery."
"Well," Joyce stuttered. "How do we make her better?"
"We don't," Mike said. "We just have to wait and try again."
"How long?" Nancy asked. She had her head on my shoulder, leaning on the table from behind me.
Mike shrugged. "I don't know."
"The bath."
We all spun around to see Eleven. I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"
"I can find them," she said. "In the bath."
"Like that tank you said was in the lab, right?" I said, turning to Hopper. He grunted in agreement.
"That would be fine, if we could get into Hawkins Lab without being seen..." Nancy said. "Or caught."
I bit my lip in thought. "Or we could make one ourselves."
Dustin looked up to me, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. "I'll get the phone book."
My brother ran to get the phone book as I went to the phone.
"What are you doing?" Mike asked.
"...Research."
When Dustin came back with the number, he pointed it out to me and I punched it in. I patiently waited for my recipient to answer, hoping he'd still be up.
"Hello?"
"Uh, Mr. Clarke?" I said. Dustin stood directly beside me, listening to what we said. "It's Dustin's sister."
"Oh, (Y/n), right?" He asked, slightly confused. I would be, too, if some girl was calling him at ten o'clock with no explanation. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just... Dustin and I have a science question for you."
"It's ten o'clock on a Saturday," Mr. Clarke reasoned. "Why don't we pick this up-"
"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks?" I asked quickly so that he wouldn't be able to pick up. I fiddled with the ends of my hair, glancing over to my friends. "Specifically how to build one?"
"Sensory deprivation? What is this for?"
"...Fun."
"Okay, well..." Mr. Clarke paused. "Why don't you and Dustin come talk to me on Monday, after school, okay?"
I panicked a little and was about to object when Dustin snatched the phone from me.
"Mr. Clarke, you always say we should never stop being curious," he said. "To always open any curiosity door we find."
Mr. Clarke sighed. "Dustin-"
"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"
~~~
The words being said were inaudible to any of us as Dustin sat at the table, writing everything Mr. Clarke told him down on a piece of paper.
"Uh huh, how much?" He said occasionally.
I looked around at everyone, getting bored.
"Yep, alright," Dustin nodded. "Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. Alright, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye."
Dustin quickly hung up the phone and placed it onto the table.
"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin said, pointing his pencil at Joyce.
"I think so, yeah," Joyce said, confused.
"Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it."
"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
Dustin looked down at his sheet and then back to the chief. "Fifteen-hundred pounds."
"Holy shit," I said with a scoff.
"Where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked with a disbelieving smile. Hopper looked up at us with side eyes.
He had an idea.
~~~
We piled into the two cars; Joyce driving one, Hopper driving the other. The moment we arrived at Hawkins Middle School, we got to work.
Joyce and El went to find something to cover her eyes; Hopper and Jonathan went to get the salt; Nancy and Mike went to get the hoses; and Lucas, Dustin and I set up the pool in the gym.
"Damn, this thing is heavy," Dustin complained as he rolled the pool to the center of the gym. I laughed at his struggles and tripped him to make it harder. "Piss off!"
When we got it to the middle of the room, we untied it and unrolled it.
"Come on," Dustin said, spreading it out.
"It's upside down," Lucas flipped it over.
"No - now it's upside down," I said, flipping it back. We all took an edge and then backed up.
"Okay, um..."
"How does this even work?"
"How would I know?"
"You're older than me! Hence big sister!"
"Try that side."
"Son of a bitch!"
"Pull it back, pull it back."
"I am!"
"One, two, three!"
"Shit!"
"That did not work."
"No shit, Sherlock!"
When Mike and Nancy came back with the hoses, we helped them to unravel them and attach them to the tap in the janitor's closet. Once it was full, we began testing the temperature.
"Colder!" Lucas yelled to Nancy and I from the gym. I turned the tap to the colder side. A few moments later, "Warmer!"
"Right there!" He yelled. Once it was full, we cut the bags of de-icing salt and began dumping them into the pool. Every once in awhile, we used an egg to see if it would float.
After multiple failed attempts, it was ready.
We put the walkie talkie on a cart near the edge of the pool and set it to a dead channel. Eleven took off her sweater, socks and watch, and gave them all to Joyce. Then, she put on some goggles that had duct tape over them and stepped into the pool.
I helped her in and then sat at the side closest to her head. After only a couple of moments, there was a ringing noise followed by the outage of the lights. El floated, her dress rippling around her.
"Barbara?" Eleven said softly, her voice breaking the silence. Nancy's eyes grew wide.
The lights suddenly flashed back on before going off again as El's breath became more and more intense.
"What's going on?" Nancy asked from where she crouched beside me.
"I don't know," Mike said.
"Is Barb okay?" Nancy said frantically. "Is she okay?"
"Gone. Gone," Eleven began repeating. Nancy began crying and shaking beside me as a pit formed in my stomach. Sure, Barb and I weren't close, but I had never faced the possibility that she was dead.
Eleven's cries became louder and louder.
"It's okay," I said, reaching into the water to take El's hand in mine. "We're right here. We're right here, El. It's okay, I got you."
Her breathing became more relaxed and she calmed at my touch.
"Don't be afraid. You're safe."
My sleeves were soaked, and the fabric stuck to my skin, but I found that I didn't really mind. This girl - even though I hadn't even known her for a week - she meant something to me, and it was my mission to keep her happy.
"Castle Byers," Eleven mumbled. Castle Byers was the fort Jonathan and Will made in the woods behind their house. Will loved that thing.
I glanced up to Jon and Joyce who were already looking at each other.
"Will?" Eleven said. Joyce gasped and Jonathan's jaw dropped. The pit in my stomach grew wider.
"You tell him... You tell him I'm coming," Joyce said to El. "Mom is coming."
Suddenly, the static on the radio broke and Will's broken voice came out of it. "Hurry."
"Okay," Joyce said. "Listen, you tell him to - to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey."
There was whimpering and heavy breathing coming now from the radio. Then, Eleven sat up and tore the goggles from her face.
"You're okay," I said, pulling her into my arms as I bent into the pool. I kept repeating the sentence and held her tight as she panted. "I got you. I got you. You did so well, El. Are you okay?"
Eleven cried as she clutched my arm, doing everything she could to get closer to me. After a few minutes we got El out of the pool and wrapped her in a towel. She and the party sat on the bleachers, her head on Mike's shoulder.
"So this fort," Hopper sighed. The rest of us stood in a group, trying to decide what to do next. "Where is it?"
"It's in the woods behind our house," Joyce told him.
"He used to go there to hide," Jonathan said. Hopper nodded before storming outside, followed by Joyce and Jonathan. I watched them go, and realized Nancy wasn't beside me. With a glance to the kids, I began walking around the gym.
"Nance?" I called, opening doors to closets and checking the locker rooms. The last place I checked was the smaller gym, used for warm ups and such. Sure enough, Nancy was there in a ball against the wall, crying.
I frowned and shut the door softly behind me before walking over to her and sliding down the wall beside her.
"Hey," I said gently, not looking at her.
"Hey," she said back.
I sighed. "How're you feeling?"
Nancy scoffed. "How do you think I'm feeling, (Y/n)?"
"Sorry," I muttered softly. Nancy had every right to be snappy with me. I hadn't been the best friend to her recently.
"No, I'm sorry," Nancy said. I turned my head to her in confusion. "I've been so wrapped up in my own stuff... And Steve... That I haven't even called you to ask how you're feeling."
"Me?" I scoffed. How could she think this was all on her? "I'm the one who's been a bad friend. I've been following the boys around like an overprotective mom, not even stopping to talk to you."
Nancy smiled a little. "I guess we've both been pretty shitty friends, then."
"I guess so," I chuckled. I leaned my head on her shoulder and she patted my knee. "So, you and Jonathan Byers are friends, now?"
"I know, it's insane," Nancy teased. She filled me in on everything that happened; how Jonathan got into a fight with Steve Harrington (and won), how they had wandered around in the woods and saw the monster, and how he had apologized for the pictures.
"At least he apologized to you," I said, looking at the ground. I could feel Nancy frowning.
"You guys are so close," Nancy said. "Just talk to him... I'm sure you'll be surprised by what he says. I know I was."
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, but my thinking was cut short when Jonathan walked in. He paused for a moment, looking down at me, before sitting on Nancy's other side. We sat in silence, until Nancy spoke.
"We have to go back to the station," she said to Jonathan.
What station? The police? I thought, but also knew it was best not to interrupt.
"What?" Jonathan asked softly. I raised my head off of her shoulder and turned my body to them.
"Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait," Nancy said. It was true; the two were going in there to find Will without backup. Who knows what the monster could do to them? "That thing is still in there. And we can't just sit here and let it get them, too. We can't."
"You still wanna try it out?" Jonathan asked. I was more confused than ever.
"I wanna finish what we started," Nancy said. "I want to kill it."
Their eyes met, and I saw their connection hold. They were about to do something big, and I wanted in.
Before Nancy and Jonathan planned to go 'monster hunting', they stopped by a hunting surplus to get the proper equipment. Their plan had been to lure the Demogorgon somewhere and then kill it with fire. Unfortunately, it got confiscated at Hawkins Police Station after Jon got into the fight.
"And you want to sneak into the station to get it back?" I asked the pair, clarifying the plan. Nancy looked at Jonathan before nodding at me. "You're crazy."
"It's a risk, but it's one we have to take to make sure no more lives are lost," Nancy said. I bit my lip and stared at the wall between them. I knew she was right.
"Fine..." I said, implying that I was coming with them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw them smile. "But what are we going to do with the kids?"
~~~
Hey, Lovelies!
I hope you enjoyed today's extra-long chapter!!
We're literally so close to finishing season one eeeeeeeee
Until next time :)