"don't say no,
i'm no good for you
i've learned to lose you
cant afford to"
-when the party's over, Billie Eilish
THOSE WORDS WERE ALL THE PARTY needed. Promptly leaving behind their pudding stash, they began to sprinting to the exit of the cafeteria.
"How did they find us?!" Lucas hissed.
"I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym," Mike panted.
Just then, agents burst through the door, looking bigger and meaner and scarier than any bully Caroline had ever met.
One man spoke into his walkie, "Got 'em!"
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike shrieked.
Caroline was frozen in place, barely registering when Lucas grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hall, far away from the door.
They sprinted down the other way, turning the down the hall but stopping abruptly when they saw they were cornered on both sides.
"There they are!"
"Freeze!"
They were stuck.
Caroline had never had a gun raised towards her before. It was a strange, out of body experience, knowing you couldn't escape. In that moment, death was inevitable. It was inevitable anyway, though. Everyone died.
She was at peace as she met the woman's cold, unfeeling eyes with a set jaw. The woman pursed her lips, taking aim, and-
BAM.
don't say no,
i'm no good for you
A blunt force hit Caroline's stomach, making her double over. A hand instinctively went to the right side of her stomach, noting faintly that the skin around the area stung, worse than any infection or scrape she had ever had.
"NO!"
i've learned to lose you,
cant afford to
Caroline had never heard such a horrified sound come from one of her friends before, let alone Lucas.
Brave, brilliant, Lucas, who had only cried once in all the years Caroline had known him, and that when his grandmother died.
Now, as her knees collapsed, and she felt his warm, strong hands catch her, she looked into his beautiful brown eyes and saw rare, raw emotion. He quickly pressed the fabric of his shirt to the wound, making her gasp in pain.
tore my shirt
to stop you bleeding
"Bastards!" Mike shouted, lunging forward.
Dustin stood in shock for a moment before yelling at the agents, who had started talking into their walkies about shots fired and child down and a whole bunch of other things that didn't make sense.
but nothing ever stops
you leaving
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Lucas screamed over the chaos, fury contorting his features like nothing Caroline had ever seen.
"You shot her!" Mike was spitting with rage.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I swear to god, I will kill you!"
The female agent opened her mouth as though to say something, but suddenly choked. A slow trickle of blood trailed from her beady eyes, then started gushing all at once. The other agents had followed suit, twitching and choking, before all collapsing in unison.
quiet when i'm coming home,
I'm on my own
Standing in front of everyone, hand outstretched, risking her life to protect her friends, was Eleven.
She had killed them.
There was an eerie silence before Eleven, looking pale and shadowed as a corpse, collapsed next to Caroline.
i could lie,
say i like it like that
like it like that
"El," Caroline said weakly, reaching out towards the girl she had come to love like a sister. Eleven's eyes were shut and she looked far too close to death.
"She's barely breathing," Mike said, sounding close to tears. Caroline couldn't tell who he was talking about, but she prayed it wasn't El.
yeah, i could lie,
say i like it like that
like it like that
"We gotta go," Lucas said firmly. The boys began to lift their girls off the floor when an eerie voice sounded through the hallway.
"Leave her." The man had white hair and a stiff yet relaxed gait, completely out of place here. "Step away from the child."
"No! You want her, you have to kill us first." Mike stood tall, looking confident and furious from where Caroline sat, slumped against the wall.
"That's right!"
"Eat shit!" Lucas and Dustin stepped forward, yelling their empty threats before more agents came up behind them and grabbed their arms. Caroline's pain was making everything foggy, but one thing was clear; they weren't getting out of this.
Or at least she wasn't.
don't you know
too much already?
She could feel the bullet in her side, the metallic roughness. She couldn't remember what you were supposed to do for a gunshot wound- take it out? Leave it? Put pressure on it? Wouldn't that just push it in further? - and she was too weak and exhausted to act.
So she watched helplessly, squirming in pain, as her boys screamed and fought against the men twice as big and smart and armed as they were.
i'll only hurt you
if you let me
The man in charge with the silver hair knelt and took Eleven in his arms.
"Eleven? Eleven, can you hear me? Eleven?"
Eleven's eyes were halfway shut. "Papa?" She managed.
Papa. Bad men.
So this was the son of a bitch.
From the way he held her, you would think he loved her. That she meant everything to him.
But this... this wasn't love. Love was putting someone before yourself. It was sacrificing everything to make that person happy. It was smiled and hugs and cooperation and a relationship.
call me friend,
but keep me closer
This was another thing. Something much more twisted and sinister. This man was obsessed.
"Yes, yes, it's your papa," The man told her. Caroline vaguely heard one of the other men call him Brenner.
Mike was struggling against his captor, shouting obscenities, but Caroline knew there was no point. Who were they, to think they could have saved Eleven? What made them special? They couldn't even save themselves from everyday bullies at school, let alone a girl with superpowers and a boy kidnapped to another dimension...
Will.
and i'll call you when
the party's over
"El," Caroline grunted, fighting back tears from her own pain. "El, remember Will-"
One of the agents nearest to her, the one holding Lucas, kicked her carelessly against the wall, making her cry out as pain erupted, worse than anything she had ever felt. Whatever peaceful numbness she had been graced with was gone.
"I'm here now." Brenner was ignoring them, trying to force his experiment to look at him, but Eleven's eyes were glued on her friend. There was a silent exchange between the two girls and El nodded- briefly and barely noticeable, but there.
"Shh, shh, you're sick. You're sick, but I'm going to make you better. I'm going to take you back home, where I can make you well again. Where we can make all of this better, so no one else gets hurt." Brenner was still talking- Jesus, did this man ever stop his creepy mantras?
"Bad." Eleven's eyes narrowed. Her focus flickered to Mike. "Mike."
quiet when i'm coming home,
i'm on my own
Suddenly there was a surge of electricity in the hallway, causing the lights to flicker violently.
"Blood," Mike whispered in horror.
"What?" Lucas finally tore his eyes off of Caroline and stared at Mike.
"Blood," Mike repeated.
There was an ominous thud before the wall of the school hallway broke open and the creature of their nightmares climbed out.
and i could lie,
say i like it like that
It opened its freakish mouth and revealed row after row of blade-sharp teeth before letting out a shriek to rival that of Dustin Henderson.
It was Dustin himself who had the guts to say what they were all thinking. "Demogorgon."
The agent's grips went slack and the boys escaped, running to the girls on the floor just as the guns started firing at the monster as if bullets could stop it.
like it like that
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Dustin heaved El off the floor and Lucas picked up Caroline, making her cry out. Red had bloomed across the front of her dress, slicking Lucas's dark hands with red.
Mike led the sprint into the nearest classroom. The boys lay the girls onto the lab tables. Mike immediately went and took El's hand, wiping tears from his eyes. Lucas and Dustin were scrambling to put pressure on Caroline's bullet wound, yelling at her to stay awake, trying to keep her from closing her fluttering eyes.
but nothing is better sometimes
Meanwhile, Caroline knew her time was running out, if it hadn't already. The shrieks of the demogorgon felt far away. The cold Will was feeling had sunk into his sister's bones. Caroline was certain that sometime in the last couple of minutes, Will had stopped breathing. She felt like she was choking on air. It was only a matter of time when Will's heart would stop.
Then Caroline's would too.
once we've both said our goodbyes
Mike met Caroline's eyes and he choked out, "I'm sorry."
Caroline managed to shake her head, barely.
Mike Wheeler. He was an overdramatic idiot, but he was Caroline's overdramatic idiot. They weren't blood, but they were as close to brother and sister as two people could possibly be.
The memories of their friendship flashed before her eyes. "Don't be."
Dustin was pushing too hard on her stomach to possibly be good for her injury. He was still, even when faced with the most horrible things he could possibly face, muttering "you're okay, you're gonna be okay." Always the positive force in the party, the comic relief, the bright side.
Caroline took his hand in hers. His honey brown eyes met her blue ones and there was a silent agreement between the two of them.
"Tell Will I say hi," Caroline said.
Dustin shook his head. "You tell him yourself."
so let's just let it go
Lucas was crying so hard now that Caroline doubted he could see through his tears.
"Lucas," she whispered, as the feeling of Will's suffocation became thicker.
Lucas shook his head, still pressing on her wound. "No, no, no..."
"Lucas, look at me."
Caroline reached up and touched her hand to his face, staining it with her blood. She waited for him to meet her eyes.
"It's too late," she whispered. "Will stopped breathing a couple of minutes ago. I could feel it."
"No, please," Lucas sobbed.
"It's okay," she smiled gently, a tear slipping from her cheek. "Let me go."
Let me
let you
go
The demogorgon screeched from the hallway, making the party shudder. Lucas clutched Caroline's hand in his own, covering them both in her blood.
Caroline's vision was tunneling. Her body heaved on instinct from in lack of oxygen.
i could lie,
say i like it like that
like it like that
Was it the bullet wound that would kill her in these last moments, or her shared trauma with her twin?
The demogorgon burst into the classroom in otherworldly terror, but Caroline was already too far gone to really see it.
A tear trailed down her cheek.
I'll see you soon, Will.
Lucas was scrambling for his wrist-rocket, aiming for the monster.
Caroline Byers was at peace with death.
Because her other half was on the other side.
In the other dimension, far, far away, Will Byers' heart stopped.
Caroline's did at the same time.
Their lives had begun together, and that's how they ended.
and i'll call you
when the party's over
PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!!! I don't know if this is the end of the book or not. I have more I could do, but i feel like this is also a bittersweet ending that could really fit. Let me know what you guys want!