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CHAPTER SIX : THE ENCOUNTER
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joyce finished painting the last letter on as the black paint was rubbed against the old wallpaper. christmas lights were strung all over the house, but more importantly right by the alphabet that was on her wall. "okay, okay. baby, talk to me. talk to me. where are you?" joyce rubbed her hands together nervously as she watched her wall, hoping this out of the box idea might just work out.
the green light right above the 'r' that was painted on the wall shown brightly.
joyces face lit up, much like the light, "'r', good, good, good, good. that's good. come on, come on."
the lights continued to flicker onto different letters, spelling out something.
"'i...g...h...t...h...e...r...e'," she looked at the wall, "'right here'," the lights started lighting up again as the woman followed the letter across the wall. "'saturn'," she spoke out to the empty house. "what about her? is she okay?" again she was met with the lights. joyce's eyes widened as she watched the message get decoded in front of her, "'hurt', where is she will?" she watched as it said the location where she would head to next, but not before asking if will was alright as well.
once she got the okay, joyce went out of her house & walked into the woods. leaves crunched underneath her feet as the flashlight she was holding shown on the ground, helping her find her way to the girl that she met earlier today. the trees stood tall like they were watching her as she hiked through the forest.
she was met with the cliff side of the quarry as she walked around, pointing her flash like all over desperately trying to look for the blonde girl. joyce's flashlight shown on as once cream shirt that was now decorated with splatters of red & black. saturn laid on the ground before her as she rushed over to her. she saw that saturn's leg was cut open & had blood pooling out of it. the gash was all along her lower leg & there were a few cuts on her head as well as a split lip.
"saturn? sweetheart?" joyce took ahold of the girls shoulders as she tried to wake her up. "sweet-" joyce stopped as saturn's eyes lifted. they searched the world around her, slowly confirming that she was back in the real world.
"will," she whispered in a broken voice.
joyce's heart broke when she heard her say this. she knew that will was okay for now, but it still hurt. "it's alright, sweetheart. he's alright." a tear slipped down joyce's cheek & she held the younger girl sit up. saturn looked at joyce & hugged her tightly as it was returned by joyce. "come on, lets get you back home."
joyce picked the girl up as saturn leaned most of her weight on the woman. they walked through the woods as saturn whimpered each time she put too much weight on her foot & joyce stopping every time to make sure that she was okay. they made their way out onto the dirt road that would eventually lead to joyce's house. they were met with head lights that shined brightly at them. the car stopped suddenly & out came jonathan byers.
"mom?" jonathan said as he got out of the car, "what happened?" his eyes met saturn's as she looked down at her feet & he felt the guilt roll over him all at once. joyce ushered jonathan to help her with saturn as they put her in the back seat of the car, where she passed out immediately as the pain had become too much to bare all at once. before the two byers got into the car joyce hugged jonathan. they stood in front of the car, on the dirt road, in front of the headlights, hugging, desperate to hold on to this feeling of security & hope.
siren started wailing behind the pair as the came closer & closer. a reminder to jonathan that they were here in this moment & will might be gone forever, but for joyce it was quiet the opposite. she ignored them & she was at peace with the new information that her youngest son was alive & she had a witness in the back of jonathan car that could prove her point further.
the byers held on tight to each other, but for all different reasons.
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saturn laid, finally at at peace. her mind drifting off to another realm to escape all the madness that was happening around her. a familiar face becoming her to join him.
"hey, hey," a tap was felt on her shoulder. "wake up."
004 stirred in her sleep as she was met with the kind face of her friend with curly brown locks. she blinked a couple times as she sat up & as she took the backs of her hands & rubbed her eyes. "what? what happened?" her words were slurred as she tried to wake up.
006 swallowed harshly as he watched the girl in front of him. "uh, it's," he paused as he sighed. "i just-"
"you went to that place?" 004 questioned. he nodded sheepishly as she moved over on the mattress so that they could both lay on it. this was a regular occurrence for the two. one would have a nightmare & get freaked out & then have to wake up the other & have them comfort them. it started at a young age & just seemed natural, but as they got older it became more awkward. nonetheless, 006 laid next to her as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close & her hands rested on his chest & around his head. they held each other as they both drifted off to sleep that was free of nightmares & monsters.
when morning came, a guard came in to wake them up. they went for breakfast as they trudged done the hallway. 004 looked around at the same tiled floors & white walls that were always there. the rest of the kids in the facility walked out as well, all of them accompanied by guards. when they reached the dining room, the man who brought them all here was standing in front of the room.
"good morning children," dr. brenner chimed as the subjects followed saying 'good morning, doctor' all in unison. "today i will be working with 002," 004's eyes looked over to the blonde haired boy that had his hands restrained behinds his back, "007," a girl with red hair looked up from her feet as a tear slipped down her cheek, but she was quick to wipe it away before anyone could see, "012," the youngest of the kids looked at dr. brenner then back down, her hair was once in the most beautiful ringlet curls that 004 had seen until brenner cut them off, he only let the older kids grow out their hair. "& lastly, 004." the blonde haired girl's heart felt like it dropped in her stomach. "carry on."
the retched man left them as guards started handing out food as the kids found their seats. 006 sat across from 004 as his eyes met hers, "it'll be alright, just do what he says. i promise we'll be out here in no time," he whispered that last part, making sure it was only their ears the could hear it. she nodded lightly as she looked up.
from across the room she met the eyes of a young girl, 011.
that's all it took to wake her up from her trance. she opened her eyes & looked around the car. in front of her joyce & jonathan were hugging & behind her police car were shinning their lights as well as they were blaring their sirens. her mind went to mike's. he was sitting in his basement crying & laying down on the couch. then her eyes started to water, like his & her nose started to run, like his & her hands started to shake, like his. she felt light headed as she sunk into the backseat of jonathan's car & closed her eyes for just a second. when she opened them she was staring at a ceiling that had wood paneling.
she sat up & groaned as mike's head whipped around to the blonde haired girl in front of him. his eye grew wide at the fact that her leg was still dripping blood, yet most of it had dried by now, & that her face was littered with cuts & a split lip.
"saturn?" his voice was fragile. she looked at the boy who looked at her in disbelief. "you-you were just... how did you?" he stammered out a sentence that really made no sense at all to the girl. she looked down at her leg & grimaced at the sight. mike got up from his spot on the couch & went over to her. "how are you here?" he asked her.
"you were hurt," she spoke in a timid voice. with that the raven haired boy wrapped his hands around her & sobbed onto her shoulder. she rubbed his back, trying to comfort him like she use to do with 006. their was a knock on the back door of the basement & mike was quick to wipe his face of the fallen tears & answer the door.
saturn watched him as he opened it, revealing eleven & lucas. they spoke in hushed tones about something that saturn couldn't hear, but she did manage to pick out her name. mike opened the door wider & el came in to see her sister laying on the ground. el rushed to her & hugged her tightly & while this reunion was happening mike said night to lucas & shut the door.
both kids sat next to her as she spoke, "what happened?" she asked the pair. eleven looked down at the ground as mike began to explain.
"will, he uh, they found him," mike said as he wiped another tear that escaped down his cheek. saturn furrowed her eyebrows, their could be no way they found him. he was in the cold world & she was just there with him.
"no," she said. mike looked up at her.
"what-what do you mean?" he said. she knew will, she had proven this with the picture in his room.
"i was with him," his eyes widened at her statement, "walkie," mike got up & found his walkie-talkie in the little fort he created for el & saturn. he walked back over & handed it to the older girl. saturn handed it off to el, "link."
the brunette nodded & she began turning the dials on the walkmann. mike watched as saturn & eleven's noses started to bleed as static rang through the air. he watched as nothing happened for a solid 30 seconds & right as he was about tell them to stop a familiar voice came through the speakers.
"so come on & let me know, should i stay or should i go? should i stay or should i go now?" mike watched in awe as his friends voice came through the walkie. will kept singing as eleven handed the walkie over to mike.
"will? is that you? it's mike. do you copy? over," the boy spoke into the walkie & static followed after. "will are you there?" more static sounded as the raven haired boy waited to hear his friend's voice again. "will?" nothing but static filled the air, but mike looked to el & saturn. "was that, was it-"
"will," eleven spoke.
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jim hopper & joyce byers stood in the byers house as hopper started talking, "a trooper found something in the, uh, water's that's at the quarry. our working theory right now is that will, uh crashed his bike, he... made his way over to the quarry &, uh accidentally fell in. the earth must have given way," hopper explained this to the distressed woman as she looked around nervously. "joyce? joyce? do you understand what i'm saying?"
"no," the woman said in a hushed tone, "whoever you found is not my boy. she just talked to him, she said he was alright."
"what are you talking about? who just talked to him?" hopper looked at the mother who stood before him with skeptical eyes.
"you wouldn't understand," she paused, "i talked to him a half hour ago. she was here."
"joyce," hopper started, but soon joyce walked over to the cabinet that held her christmas lights & she pointed to the alphabet that was painted on her wall. she talked to him through it and they had a system one blink for yes, two blinks for no.
"she was out there & i helped her & she was hurt & she said they were hiding from that-that thing," she continued to explain all this to the chief who stood in front of her with a blank face while jonathan sat from the couch watching his mother as, what he thought was insanity, creep up as it took a hold of her thoughts and brain.
"that thing that came out of the wall & chased you?" hopper questioned as joyce nodded vigorously at the man's statement.
jonathan came closer to his mother as he took a hold of her shoulders, "mom come on please."
"no, no," joyce started up again, "i have to find her & she'll help she can show you him!"
"who can show us will?" hopper asked again.
"saturn! she was here & she saved him & she connected with him & showed me my boy. she was here & she got hurt," she said as her breathing started to get heavier & tears started to stream down her face, "we have to find her hop."
jim hopper looked at the woman in front of him and then at jonathan, "have you seen saturn?" jonathan nodded his head lightly as his mother continued to tell about the girl. "joyce, joyce!" with his voice she halted in her telling of what had happened. "what does she look like?" he relied on both byers to give him answer as he directed the question towards jonathan as well.
jonathan looked at his mother and then at the chief, "she was about this tall & she was really frail & i'd say about my age," he stuck out his hand and it came to chest, "& she had blonde hair. light blonde hair."
this was the second sighting of the mystery girl that hopper had heard. joyce was right, they had to find her & they had to figure out what was happening in hawkins.
4.19.20
STEVE HARRINGTON