THE FAMILY REUNION - A LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL
↬•↫
in which caleb moore wishes death upon a certain chief of police and mike wheeler fucks up - in other words, business as usual
↬•↫
you found me | the pollywog
〖 why'd you have to wait, to find me, to find me? 〗
↬•↫
"STOP!"
Caleb barreled his shoulder into the door of the classroom as Mike and Will sprinted inside, intruding on the teacher and students' meeting just as Dustin reached out for the remote of the ghost trap. "Dustin, no!"
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Clarke, it was just a stupid prank-"
"What the hell are you doing-"
Mike ignored him, rambling uncontrollably as he grabbed the contraption off the desk and walked in the direction of the door they had just stumbled through, "We need to go. Right now-"
"Mike-"
"Now, Dustin." Caleb ordered, staring at his friend with a stern glare, and it took less than a second for the boy to began following him in a trance-like state as he sprinted after the Wheeler boy while the remainder of their friends hurried after them.
He ignored the buzzing in his head that had increased significantly when his eyes met Dustins' and ran alongside his friends until they reached the safety of the AV Club.
"Party members only!" Mike hollered, and Caleb didn't even have a chance to argue before Max was being forced out of the room and the door was being locked behind her.
Caleb glanced between the door and the group of boys who were currently flocking around the desk in the centre of the room and a dismayed groan built in the back of his throat as he stomped his foot with a childish pout before storming over to the Party, sending a glare Mike's way as the boy began to rattle off everything Will had told them at the lockers mere minutes before.
"I don't understand." Lucas frowned once Mike finally ceased his unintelligible ramble.
"What do you not understand?" Mike ground out through gritted teeth, the sour mood he had been in all morning finally taking its toll on him. He saw Caleb shoot him a warning look out of the corner of his eye and took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down.
"Will, you saw something that looked like Dart last year?" Lucas ignored him, eyes boring into their friends with unnerving seriousness.
"Kinda... but there was no tail-"
"And then he heard it yesterday when he had his episode." Mike interjected, wanting nothing more than to have everything over and done with so he could go back to his sulking. "The exact same sound."
"Why didn't you tell us before?" Dustin breathed, looking all too disheartened at the idea of his beloved creature being from such an unloving place.
"I wasn't sure - but, but then Caleb said that thing about him being bad," Will spared a glance towards the taller boy, who immediately grasped onto his should with a half-aseed attempt at a reassuring smile, "and I sort of just knew."
"So it's a coincidence." Dustin insisted, arms crossing over his chest as he tried to cement the fact in his own mind.
"How the fuck would it be a coincidence-"
"Or not." Mike spoke loudly, sending a warning look of his own his friend's way. Apparently he wasn't the only one who's mood was being affected by the tension between them. "What if when Will was stuck in the Upside Down, he somehow acquired true sight?"
"True sight?"
"It gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane."
"Can somebody speak English, please?" Caleb grumbled, leaning against the wall behind them as he held up a hand to shield his eyes from the single light hanging overhead that was doing nothing to soothe his buzzing-induced migraine, his bitter frown deepening as he heard Max punding against the door of the AV Club room, demanding to be let in.
"Maybe these episodes Will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all - maybe they're real, maybe Will can somehow see into the Upside Down-"
"Now, hold the fuck on." Caleb furrowed his brow, stepping forward once again, "We never discussed this. Mike, do you understand what PTSD is-"
"Yes. I do." Mike snapped, a hidden sadness in his stare as he finally worked up the courage to look his friend in the eye for the first time that day. "I know what it is, I know what it does - we've all seen it - but it's different with Will. You know it is."
Caleb sighed, features hardening as he looked over the boy's head to observe Will and how quiet he had become, "Will. What we saw... that wasn't in the Upside Down?"
"Wait, we-"
"No." Will shook his head, voice quiet as he pretended not to hear Lucas. "No, nothing like that."
Caleb nodded, taking the boy's words into consideration as he stood in deep thought for a moment before nodding again, glancing up at the Party. "I don't think they're flashbacks. The episodes aren't PTSD - they're something else."
"But... but I get all those nightmares and-"
"I'm not saying you don't have it, there's a pretty big chance that you do." Caleb frowned, wishing more than anything that his friend didn't have to suffer so much. "But if it was a flashback, you'd be stuck in that moment, you'd be in Castle Byers and you'd hear that thing coming and you would be able to feel everything going on around you. You shouldn't be seeing new things, hearing new things, feeling new things. And... uh, nevermind - yeah, that's it."
Will took the expression on Caleb's face as a promise to talk more about it later.
"So, if they're not flashbacks," Lucas said uneasily, "and Will really can see into the Upside Down, that would mean-"
"Dart is from the Upside Down."
Neither of them had said it out loud while Will was explaining the recognition he had felt that morning when he saw the strange creature for the first time, but the idea of what that meant had been hanging in the tense silence between them the whole way to Mr. Clarke's room.
And now that it had been said out loud, Caleb felt like he could wither up into a pile of ash and scream until his throat went raw.
"We have to take him to Hopper." Lucas sighed, eyeing the contraption warily as it jerked and hopped on the table every few seconds.
"I agree."
"No, no way," Dustin refused, glancing around him with distressed eyes, "if we take him to Hopper, Dart's as good as dead."
"Alright with me." Caleb snorted, receiving a hurt look in response that caused his humour to falter, but only for a moment.
"Maybe he should be dead." Mike argued, as unsympathetic and brash as ever.
"How can you say that?" Dustin yelped, the strain in his voice displaying his genuine offence and the sense of betrayal he felt at the sound of his friend's words.
"How can you not?!" Mike scoffed, and Caleb felt the sudden need to defend the curly-haired boy but Mike's next words reminded him what the actuality of the situation was, "He's from the Upside Down!"
"Maybe. But even if he is, it doesn't automatically mean that he's bad!"
"Yes, he is! You heard Caleb earlier, Dart is bad!"
"What would he know - you've never been to the Upside Down!" Dustin pointed to the boy in question with an accusatory glare, desperation leaking into his tone.
"I - I can just tell, okay?!" Caleb stammered, tugging at the seam of his knitted sweater as he glanced off to the side. "I... feel these things."
"What does that even mean-"
"Look, I didn't wanna tell you guys because I didn't know what it was, but I'm..." Caleb took a deep breath, taking a moment to figure out what to say, "I'm like Jane, kind of. I can feel what people are feeling and I - I can't explain it, but Dart just has a bad feeling!"
"Who's Jane again-"
"You have powers?!" Dustin cut Lucas off, eyes widened in disbelief. "You didn't think that was information that should be shared-"
"I didn't know what the fuck it was until like, a while ago!" Caleb lied, hoping that his small fib would be seen as a mercy, "It's not like I can use it for anything, I just feel things. And I know that Dart is bad."
"We have a bond." Dustin defended, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to look at any of them.
"A bond?!" Mike yelled, voice rising as he raised an incredulous brow, "Just because he likes nougat?!"
"No, because he trusts me!"
"He trusts you?" Lucas repetaed slowly, slightly judemental and incredibly freaked out by his friend's words.
"Yes, I promised that I would take care of him-"
"Take care of him? Take care of him?!" Caleb bellowed, a mirthless laugh falling from his lips as he stepped forward once again, any and all sympathy he felt for the boy evaporating into thin air. "The thing's a fucking monster, Dustin!"
"You don't know that-"
"Actually, yeah, I do!" Caleb retorted, grabbing the boy's collar and forcing him to meet his eye when Dustin rolled his eyes and reached out for the contraption, his jaw clenched sternly. "It's from the Upside Down, Dustin. Just like the monster."
"But he's different-"
"It took everything from me!" Caleb cried, shoving the boy away from him as his voice began to tremble with the strain of controlling his rage. "Do you understand that?! Do you know what it was like to watch her fucking die in front of me? My own sister?!" He rasped, flexing his fingers to try and calm himself down. Fight the monster, fight the monster fight the monster. Caleb shook his head, reaching out for the ghost trap himself but faltering when he felt that same malevolent energy emitting from it - the one that invaded his lungs with overwhelming dread and left him gasping for breath when Will had his episode. "We're bringing it to Hopper - before it takes someone else."
"No!" Dustin yelped, grabbing the boy's wrist and shoving it away forcefully. "Caleb, I get that you're hurt or whatever but Dart wouldn't hurt a fly-"
"That's it!" Caleb growled, placing his hand over the contraption then placing his hand on Dustin's shoulder and yanking him closer, attempting to force the feeling he felt into his friend's psyche. "See?! He feels bad-"
"Wh... what th-"
The creature let out a sudden chittering shriek, apparently not a fan of Caleb being in such close proximity, and the box began to rattle and shake uncontrollably, causing Caleb to leap away with a startled yelp, "Fuck!"
Dart's prolonged shrieking only increased as the contraption was forced onto its side, and Caleb covered his ears with his hands to protect himself from the blinding pain the sound shot right into the centre of his brain, clenching his eyes shut.
Dustin snapped out of his trance, pushing aside his confusion towards what he had just experienced via his friend's supposed superpowers as he watched Mike lunge for the microphone of the Heathkit, "Don't hurt him!"
"Only if he attacks." Mike gritted out, mouth forming a thin line as he wielded the auditory device as a weapon.
"Just open it already, it's fucking pig squeal is hurting Caleb!" Lucas snapped, gently taking Caleb's hands from his head with a small frown at how pale the boy looked all of a sudden, "Hey, it's okay, man-"
"It's bad, it's bad, it's bad." Caleb shook his head, mouth and throat going dry as he slowly backed into the shelves of vintage devices behind them.
Dustin grabbed the remote control tentatively, suddenly very unsure in himself and his decision to defend his beloved pet as he finally worked up the nerve to jim his thumb down on the green button and send a twice-bigger Dart tumbling out of the hatch clumsily, chittering and yelping in a high-pitched wail.
"Holy shit." Lucas remarked as the slug-like being crawled onto the table, sporting two front legs and an even uglier mouth than any of them remembered it having.
The creature shuddered, letting out a guttural yell as it strained and whine for a moment before two hind legs forced themselves out of its side, tearing the ghastly flesh as a trail of questionable fluid flooded the table. Caleb let out an involuntary gag, clamping a hand to his mouth to bode off the blie rising in his throat.
And then Dart let out another strangled whine followed by a high-pitched roar, and it was diving right at him.
A panicked scream caught in his throat as Mike stepped forward and brought the microphone down on the creature's skull, only to be pushed out of the way by a distressed Dustin.
Caleb ducked away from the creature's attack just in time and there was a faint thump behind him before Dart fell to the ground, slithering across the tiles and towards the only visible exit, slimed paws thudding against the linoleum flooring.
"It's okay, he can't get out, the door is-" Just as Dustin opened his mouth, the door was suddenly pushed open to reveal a wide-eyed Max, who immediately darted out of the way, allowing the escaped beast to make a swift getaway.
"FUCK!"
The group of boys sprinted out of the room after the chittering pollywog, Dustin and Lucas' combined clumsiness causing them to run straight into Max and send them all sprawling, landing in a mess of differing hair shades and elbows.
"Shit, where'd he go?!"
Mike and Will looked around frantically in hopes of apprehending their escapee as Caleb stumbled over to Max, tripping over Lucas' leg but straightening himself up so he could reach a hand out to his friend.
"What was that?!" Max exclaimed, taking the boy's outstretched hand and allowing him to pull her up while Lucas remained groaning on the ground and Dustin struggled to stand to his feet.
"Dart!" Mike snapped, spinning around to face her with an angered expression, "You let him escape!"
"What-"
"Why did you attack him?!" Dustin yelled once he finally managed to regain his composure, pushing Mike against the AV Club doorway angrily, betrayal burning in his teary eyes.
"He was trying to eat Caleb!"
"He doesn't have the appetite for that!"
"What the fuck, Henderson?!" Caleb cried out in offence, throwing his hands up in disbelief that his friend had outright admitted that Caleb's body mass was the only thing preventing the creature from devouring him entirely.
"Come on!" Mike scoffed as he took off down the hall, not in the mood to argue about Dustin's freaky bond with an extraterrestrial slug.
"Don't hurt him! Don't you hurt him!"
↬
Caleb and Max rushed through the north hall of the school, ducking into vacant classrooms and inspecting janitor closets and storage areas in search of their target. The Party, and Max, had ran through the halls in an unorganised and raucous manner before Mike forced them all to stop and began to assign certain hallways and wings to each member of the Party, bitterly agreeing to Max joining Caleb seeing as she didn't have a comm and reluctantly admitting that she could actually be of use to them.
"Ugh, he's not here! We're wasting our time!" Max huffed, slamming the last cupboard of the Home Economics room closed with unnecessary force. "That thing's probably halfway out of town by now!"
"No, Dart won't leave. He needs him." Caleb mumbled, shaking his head to clear away the confusion he felt towards himself. "Ignore me, I don't even know what that means." He held he comm to his mouth, holding down the button on the side that still had remnants of a Hello Kitty sticker on the face if it. "Progress reports?"
"East is clear," Mike stated, "no sign of Dart."
"West is clear," Dustin followed, "Byers?"
"South is clear. Lucas? Anything?"
Lucas, who had been stationed in the math block, replied with a solemn, "Nothing here, man."
Caleb swore under his breath, watching as Max began opening and closing random cupboards in search of something edible but only found dirtied plates and outdated weighing scales, "North is clear too. I say we branch out to the elective rooms and one of us takes the storage unit outside. Wheeler?"
"Yeah, sounds like the best plan." Mike croaked after a moment, still not used to Caleb making helpful contributions to their plans. Every since the boy became somewhat mentally stable, they had all come to the realisation that he wasn't as dumb as he made himself out to be.
Was he smart academically? No. Socially? Not at all. But he was clever when it mattered, Mike had to give him that.
"I'll take the storage unit." Will volunteered, eager to prove to his friends that he wasn't made of glass and he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
"Alright, but make sure to-"
"Yeah, Mike, I know."
"I'm just saying-"
"I know, I'll be fine."
"I'm just looking out for-"
"If he says he's fine, he's fucking fine, Mike." Caleb snapped, intruding on the pair's argument. "Let him off the fucking leash you've had him on for the past few months, for fuck's sake. Will, you take the stoarge unit and tell us if you find anything. Dustin and Lucas try the elective rooms on the west and southwest blocks and Mike," try to find something useful to do that doesn't involve you breathing in my general direction for the next ten minutes while I try to hone off my murderous urges, "look anywhere else you can think of. Over and out."
Max quirked a brow at him as he slammed down his antenna and stuffed the device into the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. "Where the fuck did that little moment of passive agression come from?"
"Asshole's been pissing me off all day." Caleb grumbled, adjusting the collar of the flannel he had on under his sweater and letting out a deep sigh as he looked up at her, a forced smile on his face. "Let's go check out the gym and see if we can find anything."
Max gave a nod in reply, munching quietly on the handful of chocolate sprinkles she had found in the storage closet on the other end of the room as she followed her friend towards the northeast staircase.
The redhead began to babble on about how pervy her ethics teacher was and Caleb laughed at one or two remarks she made referring to his 'pedo-stache' and his tendency to stare at his female students while they completed whatever bullshit assignment he had forced on them, and he would have let out a small giggle when Max went as far as to say that she was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be within 100ft of a middle school and yet they had let him become a teacher if a searing pain in the centre of his skull hadn't caused him to double back suddenly.
Caleb winced as the buzzing in his head intensified to the point where it was unbearable and he staggered backwards with his hand clutched to his head, whipping his head to the side suddenly and just about managing to catch sight of the dark-clothed figure turning a corner up ahead.
"Schiz? You alright?" Max asked warily, placing her hand on the boy's shoulder and giving it a little shake when he didn't reply. "Caleb?"
"Hm?" Caleb mumbled, clearing his throat and turning to her with a glazed look in his eyes. "Oh, 'm fine. Thought I saw something."
"Dart?" She proposed, peering around the corner eagerly.
"No, no, uh... it's the schizophrenia." Caleb replied, as if he was trying to reassure himself more than her. "Or the meds. I dunno."
"Oh, okay." Max replied quietly, and they continued on in silence as she deployed the skateboard she had taken from her locker during their searching and began to glide through the halls until they finally reached their destination.
"I meant what I said about you staying at my place tonight, by the way." Caleb said as he leaned against the gym door, holding a hand out and bowing dramatically as he ushered the girl inside. "Madam."
"Why, thank you, good sir." Max joked in a posh tone, sauntering inside and dragging him in after her by grabbing the crook of his elbow. "And yeah, I could tell by the instense smoulder on your face when you said it. You're pretty hot when you're angry, Moore."
"Thanks," Caleb flashed her a charming grin, "it's the overwhelming fear of losing everyone close to me."
"Awh, have I been upgraded to 'close friend' already? I'm so honoured!"
"You better be - I'll have you know, there's a lot of people applying for that position, Mayfield. I took pity on you because you're ginger and I figured your life has been hard enough." He smirked, earning a swift punch to the shoulder. "Ow! Bitch. C'mon, lets check out the locker rooms first."
Max watched with a quirked brow as her friend headed in the direction of the boys' locker rooms, crossing her arms over her chest, "Well, why should I have to check the girls'?"
"Because... you're a girl?" Caleb turned on his heel to face her, his awkward expression faltering.
"So?" She narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to gulp. "What - does that mean I have to wear pretty dresses and paint my nails and talk all innocent?"
Caleb groaned at the realisation that he had not, in fact, found the only girl in the world who didn't act like an overdramatic lunatic and was instead now stuck with a pyschotic redhead that would probably end up stabbing him with a pencil sharpener just for looking at her the wrong way at some point, "Fine, be difficult. You take the absolute atrocitiy that is the boys' locker room and I'll risk running into a half-naked volleyball player and being labelled as 'Pervy Peeper' for the rest of eighth grade."
"Sounds good." Max skipped off to the boys' locker room, dropping her board and skating off into the horizon with a content smile.
Caleb rolled his eyes playfully, trudging over to the girls' locker rooms on the opposite side of the bleachers, calling out to make sure nobody was there before stepping inside.
He looked around for a minute or two, glancing between all the lockers and under benched and ducking inside Coach Laura's office until he reached the lockers on the other side of the room that were reserved for the volleyball team.
Caleb glanced at a few of their cintents boredly, having given up on finding the missing creature at this point, and he found himself enraptured by the pink-framed mirror hanging from the door of the second last one on the right. The frame was adorned with cute swirls and girly stickers and smiley faces, and the top shelf of the locker itself housed an assortment of cosmetics and luminous nail polishes.
His mind wandered, and he began to ponder if maybe his sister would have made the volleyball team and wore neon green nail polish and wore her hair in a stiff rats nest that resembled the girls in Duran Duran music videos like the popular girls that Lucas and Dustin constantly fawned over, or if maybe she would have turned out to be like the reserved nerd that sat at the back of his English class and never raised her hand but always got the highest score on exams and assigned writing tasks.
Maybe she wouldn't have been like either of them all, or maybe she would have been an exact copy of the bubblegum girls in history class and would have fallen into a category of the middle school hierarchy much higher than his own.
Maybe they would only have time to meet up at lunch where they would chat away about how much they hated their teachers and she would tease him for failing his biology test and he would get annoyed at her and they'd fight as harsh and brutal as Nancy and Mike did and she would fight dirty because it was the only defense she had against her idiotic and easily-provoked twin brother.
Maybe they'd return home to Terry Ives and their Aunt Becky - two names he had only ever seen on the files Hopper had allowed him to read over - and they'd have pancakes on special occasions and they would giggle to each other about how strange their mother was as she swayed her hips to the radio that sat on the windowsill and maybe they would quarrel and argue constantly and it would drive their mother mad and she would always roll her eyes at them fondly before forcing them to make amends.
Maybe he would bruise his knuckles off some douchebag's face who said the wrong thing about his sister - because everyone would be jealous of how effortlessly perfect she was - or break the ribs of the first asshole that targeted her heart.
Maybe they would gossip about boys together and she would be the only one who knew his dirty little secret and she would constantly cover it up for him by rambling to their mother about some fictitious girl in their grade that Caleb would just not stop talking about and then she would turn to him and give a little wink before facing their mother once again while Caleb tried his best to act embarrassed.
If they had been normal, that is. If she hadn't been taken before she could even be held in her mothers arms for the first time, that is. If she had escaped with him that night and grown to be somewhat of a normal human, that is. If he had just gotten up faster and protected her like he was supposed to when they faced off against the monster, that is.
If she were still alive, that is.
Caleb was forced from his reverie by a startled yell and he immediately rushed out of the locker room and sprinted across the gym floor as it screeched against the souls of his sneakers, barreling into the boy's locker room, breathing heavy and eyes wide. "Max?! What happened, are you okay?!"
His worries stalled when he finally registered the scene in front of him and he pulled a face at the sight of Mike holding out a damaged broom in place of a weapon, ready to strike the aforementioned girl, "Michael Theodore Wheeler, put the fucking broom down, you're embarrassing yourself."
"What are you doing?!" Mike glared at the girl before him, ignoring the boy's presence and the inaccurate middle name that had sprouted from him.
"Looking for dart!"
"This is the boys' room."
"Yeah, so?"
"So you should go home." Mike gritted, tossing the broom to the floor and storming out of the darkened room.
"Mike!" Caleb was quick to run after the boy, catching him by the shoulder with a furrowed brow. "Mike, what the hell?!"
"Why do you hate me so much?" Max demanded, pulling Caleb's hand back down to his side as she shouldered past him, making it very clear that she didn't need anybody else sticking up for her.
"I don't hate you - how can I hate you, I don't even know you." Mike scoffed, jaw ticking as he continued towards the exit on the other side of the hall.
"Yeah, but you don't want me in your Party!"
"Correct." Mike mocked her, not even bothering to spare her a single glance as he resumed his angered march.
"Why not?!"
"Because you're annoying!"
Max faltered, narrowing her eyes at him as an acidic comeback formed on her tongue, her anger only flaring as Caleb pushed her behind him almost protectively. "Jesus, Mike, calm down!"
"And we don't need another Party member." Mike continued on as if the boy hadn't even spoken, glaring at the girl over his friend's shoulder. "I'm our Paladin, Caleb is our Rouge, Will's our Cleric, Dustin's our Bard, Lucas is our Ranger, and El's our Mage!"
Caleb froze, his shoulders dropping with the weight that had suddenly been forced upon them, and he felt that ugly emotion clawing at his chest once again, trying to drag him back into his limitless pit of grief. "Mike," he attemped to make the warning seem stern and meaningful, but nobody could pretend that they hadn't heard the crack of emotion in his voice.
"El?" Max frowned, recalling something baneful about the word. Hadn't that been one of Caleb's triggers? Was Mike that careless in his irritance that he would risk hurting his friend that way, or driving him to a pyschotic fucking breakdown, just to make a point in a petty argument? Even so, she felt her curiosity grow more than she could contain. "Who's El?"
"Someone. No one." Mike stammered, fighting against the urge to glance up at his friend. He couldn't stand seeing that mournful look Caleb got on his face everytime someone said the girl's name.
"Someone or no one?" Max pressed, arching a teasing brow.
"She was in our Party a long time ago." Mike snapped, turning away from them once again. "She moved away, okay?"
"She was a mage?" Max hopped on her board and began riding alongside him while Caleb quickened his pace to keep up with her. "What could she do, like magic tricks or something?"
"Or something." Caleb muttered to himself, recalling a particular incident involving a white-panel van and four scared shitless preteen boys.
Mike ignored her again and Max stopped her board in front of him, a smartass smirk on her face. "Well, I could be your Zoomer."
"That's not even a real thing!"
"It could be." Max stated with a shrug, hopping back on the board and starting to circle him, holding her arms out expectantly. "See? Zoomer."
"Mind-blowing." Mike drawled.
"Oh, like you could do any better." Caleb teased, resting his elbow on Mike's shoulder with a small laugh as the girl attempted an olly.
Mike gulped and stepped away, causing Caleb's hand to hang limply by his side. "Whatever." He muttered, trying his best not to feel anything towards the confused hurt on his friend's face.
"Come on, Mike, you said that you would give her a chance-"
Mike turned to Caleb with a harsh glare, causing the boy to actually take a physical step back. "Yeah, well, I'm done doing favours for you."
Caleb stiffened, stepping away from him once again with a blank expression to mask the sting in his chest. A favour. Of course the kiss was a favour, what else would it be? A favour. He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, cursing himself when the faint tingling reminded him of a particular rendezvous in the Wheelers' basement just the night before. "Right. I'm... I'm gonna go look for Dart on the recess yard."
"Wha - Caleb!" Mike sighed, making a move to go after him, but fear held him back. He hadn't done anything wrong. It was a favour, Caleb knew that. He knew that, it couldn't have been anything else. And he was terrified because what if Caleb thought it was something else? What if they lost several years of friendship because of some meaningless favour?
A favour, Mike had to assure himself several times over, it was only a favour. It was just a favour.
Caleb held his hand up, waving Mike off and storming out of the side exit that led to outside the school as he heard Max call out some juvenile brag about her skating that thankfully regained Mike's attention and allowed Caleb to make a swift getaway without any furthering disputing.
He walked a short distance before collapsing on the row of bike racks at the back of the school that were rarely ever used and had rusted over time, holding his head in his hands as his fingers pinched at his chapped lips and his leg bounced up and down tirelessly while he tried to bode off the feeling in his head.
Caleb stiffened suddenly as a low whining filled his ears, a cold shiver running down his spine as he felt a strange tug on his chest beckoning him around the corner of the building.
He debated heavily for a few moments - stay or go? - before deciding that he had nothing better to do. But he was grateful for the decision he made because the buzzing - the relentless fucking buzzing - began to thin as he neared the object of his magnetism. His heart began racing for a reason unknown to him as he took the last turn and-
And that was when he saw her.
She was taller now, dressed in a pair of overalls and a striped shirt and donning a brown jacket that looked two sizes too big for her. Her hair - well, she had hair, for starters - was curled just like Caleb's but slightly lighter and it fell just below nape of her neck, and her skin was clean and she looked healthier than she ever had.
And she was staring right at him.
The buzzing sharpened, increasing its intensity so much that it was almost painful as Caleb ran towards her - and it dissipated completely when they finally embraced.
He mumbled frantically, feeling a strangled cry building in his throat as his fingers burned with the strength of the hold he had on the girl's musted jacket, rambling on and on and sprouting words he couldn't even hear over the sound of his heart thudding in his chest as he held home in his arms again. And it was, it was home - it was like that missing piece had finally slotted into place and he could be whole again.
And it felt so real, which is what made the illusion even more cruel.
"Jacob!" The hallucination cried out, holding onto him so tightly that her arms began to tremble. "Missed you - missed you so much. So sorry, didn't want you to hurt, didn't want anyone to hurt-"
"Oh, God. Oh god, you're not - you're another one of those fucking dreams." Caleb sobbed, stepping away from her and shaking his head to himself. "Why won't you leave - why won't you leave me alone?! I don't want to be fucking crazy anymore! Just stop it - please stop, you're hurting me-"
"Wh - what? No, Jacob, not a dream. Am real." Eleven sammered, cradling the boy's face in her hands as he fought relentlessly to break away from her. "Jacob, look! Look, am real! Not a dream, not like in the basement - Jake, don't cry. Don't cry, don't want you to be sad anymore-"
"Leave me alone!" Caleb blubbered, finding himself falling into her arms despite his reluctance. He couldn't help the desperation he felt to hold her again, he couldn't help the need to be comforted by her again. If that meant giving into a fucking illusion, embracing the insanity he had fought so hard to rid himself off, then so fucking be it. "Why are you doing this, why are you doing this, why are you doing this to me, I don't want to hurt anymore, just stop-"
"Shh, fight the monster." She whispered as she slowly lowered him to the ground, holding him in her arms as he continued to cry into her chest. "Fight the monster, fight the monster. You're okay now, I have you. Never letting go. Not again. Promise, promise, promise-"
"Are you real?" He begged, teary eyes rising to meet hers, pure desperation souring his words as he let out another heart-wrenching sob. "Tell me you're real, tell me you're real, I don't care if it's a lie, I don't - tell me you're real, Jane-"
"Jacob." El grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to meet her stern glare. "Am real. Promise. Friends don't lie."
Caleb laid there in her arms for a few moments, denying her words even though he was the one who had asked for them to be said in the first place, but that was when he felt it. He felt her, the sadness she felt, the need to protect him - he could feel her emotions pouring into the skin of his cheek where she held him, wiping away his tears.
"You're real." He whispered in awe, lips beginning to tremble once again as threw himself at her and sent them both tumbling to the ground. "You're real, you're real! You're alive! Holy fucking shit, you're alive - how?! How is this happening - what the fuck- Jane, you're alive!"
"I am!" El laughed, burying her head in his shoulder and giggling as he tightened his hold on her and began rolling them around on the ground like an idiot, shouting with joy and pressing spontaneous kisses to the side of her head. "Jacob, stop! Being crazy!"
"I'm always crazy!" He retorted, stalling his movements and leaning over her on his elbows as he tugged on a stray curl. "You have hair! Oh my God, this is so weird - and where the fuck did the overalls come from?! You look like Shirley Temple-"
"Who?"
"Irrelevant." Caleb waved her off, sitting upright while she chose to remain on the floor, smiling up at him with her pearly whites on display. "Holy shit, Jane." He marvelled, stroking her cheek with his thumb, smile dimming as she leaned into his touch. "I thought I'd never... I thought you were gone. I thought I lost you."
"Never." El replied, raising her hand to her face to lay it on top of his. "Here now. Never lose me again. Promise."
Caleb was filled with so much elation at those words that a large grin spread on his face and he felt as though he would burst. She was here. She was back, she was okay - everything was going to be okay again because she was here-
And then all of a sudden his joy was diminished by a single asking - how? - and he felt his mood darken as he slowly pulled away from her, leaning back on the soles of his feet. "Where - where were you? Where have you been for the past eleven months?!"
"H - hiding-"
"HIDING?!" Caleb cried, struggling to his feet as his face creased in pain. "From who? From me? From Mike - from everyone who cares about you?" He pressed on and El stood to her feet quickly, reaching out to him with a scared look in her eyes. He batted her hand away. "No, answer the fucking question. Answer me, Jane! Where were you-"
"Not safe." Eleven pleaded, grasping for his hands frantically. "Jacob, not safe. Wanted to see you - I begged. I - I heard you and Mike-"
"You HEARD?!" He wailed, wrenching out of her grip and stepping even further away from her, betrayal burning a hole through his chest and quenching every last morsel of the happiness he had felt just moments beforehand.
"I - I wanted to answer, but - but not safe-"
"So you knew?" Caleb ground out, fists clenching. "You knew how Mike and I felt - you knew how hurt we were and you just - what, you didn't think it mattered?" He let out a wry laugh, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You thought we would get over it and everything would be fine-"
"No, I-"
"-it wasn't fine, Jane." He said through clenched teeth. "I wasn't fine - Mike wasn't fine - nothing was fucking fine!"
"Jake, please - just listen-"
"You couldn't just - just do something to let us know that you were alive?! That you've been alive this whole time?!" He was screaming now, he had to be quiet or someone would hear him, someone would find them. But he wasn't in control anymore. "Where the FUCK were you?!"
"I'm sorry!" Eleven sobbed, clutching at his sweater to try and pull him into her arms and letting out a small cry when he jerked away from her once again. "Jacob, please, I need you to listen-"
"Oh, you need me?! You need me?!" Caleb batted her hand away from him once again, his eyes warm with tears and his breathing unsteady. "No, I needed you! I needed you and you weren't there! WHY, JANE?! WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE?!"
"Not-"
"I swear to fucking God, if you say 'not safe' one more time-" He caught himself, unfurling his clenched fist and swallowing the lump in his throat as salty tears gathered on his lips, tainting his tongue with the familiar taste of his own suffering. "Please, please, just tell me why. Tell me why you left."
"Didn't leave." El shook her head adamantly, placing her hand on his cheek and forcing her to look at him. "Never leave you. Had no choice, Jacob. The bad men are looking. They want to take me back - and if they take me, then they take you."
"No, that's - the bad men aren't bad anymore. Owens, he-"
"A lie." She said, shaking her head as he hold on his face grew limp. "Everything is lie. They are still bad, they still want to hurt us."
"But... where?" Caleb breathed, raising his shaking hands to her shoulders just to make sure she really wasn't a figment of his disturbed imagination. "Where were you? Were you in Hawkins? Have you been here this whole time-"
"Hurt." El interjected, running her thumb over the dirtied bandage on the hand she was currently holding. Her brow furrowed and she grew angry, muttering to herself, "Why are you always hurt?"
"It - it was an accident." Caleb rapsed, taking his hand out of her grasp.
"A lie." El decided, allowing him to pull away. "Hop says liars go to hell. I don't know hell. But he says it is bad place. So maybe back to Papa. No lying, Caleb - will have to go back to the bad men."
"What did you say?"
"I said no lying, you will have to go back to-"
"Hop? As in Hopper?"
"... Oh no."
"As in Jim Hopper?"
"Jake-"
"Are you living with him?!"
"Y - yes, but-"
"Has he known you were alive this whole time?!"
"Jake-"
"That fucking bastard!" Caleb roared, eyes widened in outrage. "He fucking - he... he lied to all of us! I - I cried to him about you - he did a fucking memorial thing with me and everything! That son of a bitch, that fucking son of a bitch-"
"Okay, calm down-"
"I'll fucking kill him!"
"Jacob, no-"
"Jacob yes." Caleb retorted in a mocking tone, taking off in an unknown direction in hopes he would somehow end up at the station where he could corner the Chief of Police and fucking pummel him-
"Jacob." El said sternly, a small laugh bubbling in her throat as she reeled him back in by his collar. "Being crazy again. I - I am angry at him too. Kept me from you. Want to hurt him sometimes. But he is good. Helped me. Kept me safe."
Caleb softened, taking the hand she had on his shoulder and bringing it to his cheek, holding it there for a moment. "Okay. Okay, I won't kill him yet."
"Jacob."
"Fine, I won't kill him at all." He relented with a small pout, still grumbling to himself. "But I'm still pissed about him hiding you, so don't get pissed off if he shows up with a broken bone or two."
"Crazy." El rolled her eyes, reaching up on her tiptoes to run a hand through his hair with her free hand as a paltry smile graced her lips. "Hair is shorter. But still messy. Look happier."
"I am." He admitted, pressing a chaste kiss to the inside of her palm before dropping her hand. "I'm getting better, I think. For you - I fought for you everyday, I never stopped. I kept my promise."
"Good." El smiled, taking another moment to glance over him, feeling pride surge through her at how far he had come. Her hand fell to his shoulder and she tightened her grip as a reassurance, knowing that she would probably be spending the rest of her life assuring him that she was real. And then her smile dimmed and she let out a disheartened breath, glancing around with fearful eyes. "Have to go. Not safe."
"Oh - yeah, of course." Caleb swallowed, finding himself reluctant to let her leave now that he had her in his arms again. "Uh, I uh... can we keep in touch somehow? Like with the comms or - or by phone-"
"I'll find you," El appealed, pressing her finger to the centre of his forehead, "in here. I'll find you."
"Okay." Caleb breathed shakily, a heavy emotion that he could not identify clogging his throat and making his next words that much harder to speak. "Jane - I missed you."
"Missed you too." She smiled genuinely, squeezing his arm once more before taking off in the other direction, looking over her shoulder to shoot him a watery smile. "I'll find you!"
"I'll hold you to that!"
Caleb watched her go, making sure he took in as much of her presence as he could, because he had no idea how long it would be before he found her again.
"And Jake?" El stalled just before she stepped through the thick boscage leering at them from the perimeter of the school, looking over her shoulder once more.
"Yeah?" He perked up, happy to have whatever few moments of conversation with her he could.
"Don't tell mike."
And she took off before he could reply, back into the woods - leaving him all alone for a second time, wondering if anything that had just happened was even real.
↬
Something was wrong.
Caleb knew it the second he entered the school again. He didn't know if it was the sinister atmosphere of the hallways that he stalked in search of his friends, or how uneasily silent the entire world seemed, or if he was simply being paranoid.
But something was definitely wrong.
"Will!"
The sudden yell was he first source of noise he had heard in a little over ten minutes, and it set every fibre of his being on fire as he sprinted through the halls, calling out for his friends and glancing around wildly for any sign of life.
Caleb turned the corner of the staircase leading to the east exit, and he let out a small grunt as he collided with a firm shoulder, struggling to keep himself stood upright as he grasped his assailant's arm. "Dustin?"
"Caleb, thank fuck! Have you seen Will?"
"What-"
"He's missing."
Well. Now he knew what the something bad was.
The two went on running through the halls, screaming out for their lost friend and taking short breaks to speak into their comms, only to get no reply. It didn't take long for them to stumble upon Max and the girl aided them in their search, but the panic began to creep in when they had still yet to find anything.
"WILL!" Caleb screamed, heart hammering in his chest as they barrelled into the open hallway that led to the western exit. "Will, where are you?!"
"Will!"
"Dustin!" A familiar voice called out and the shorter of them turned to face Joyce Byers with a confused frown while Caleb just felt his panic deepen. If Joyce had come all the way to the school in search of her son, she knew that something was wrong too.
"Ms. Byers, wh-"
"What's going on? Where's Will?" Joyce demanded, looking between the two and doubling back when she saw how hard Caleb was biting his lip and noticed he tears lining his eyes. "Caleb? What happened, baby, is something wrong with him?! Is something wrong with Will?!"
"I - I don't know, but there could be and I don't know where he is and I can't - I can't l - lose him again-"
"Hey, calm down, Moore. We're gonna find him, alright? We'll find him-" Dustin's reassurance was interrupted by the sound of the exit door on the opposite end of the hallway thudding against the tiled wall, and they all turned to watch as Lucas skidded to a halt in front of them, panting and wide-eyed.
"The field."
His words were enough to have them all sprinting from the direction he had just come from, and Caleb felt like he could weep with relief when he saw Mike and Will stood in the centre of the field. His relief was short-lived, however, and he stiffened when he noticed how still the boy was and how pale he looked.
"I just found him like this!" Mike informed them, shaking the boy's shoulder profusely. "I think he's having another episode!"
Caleb grew distressed at the boy's divulgence and he must not have learned his lesson beacsue he surged forward grab hold of his friend's other shoulder, and then he flinched so violently that he was spun into the person nearest him, and he gasped harshly as he struggled in Max's arms. "HE'S COLD! HE'S COLD, HE'S COLD, HE'S COLD-"
"Caleb, what the fuck?!" Max panicked, hugging the boy closer to her as he jerked around frantically, kicking and nudging to try and get out of her arms.
"He's COLD-"
"Caleb." Lucas said gently, kneeling next to him and placing his hands on the boy's shoulders as the others tried to ground Will. "I need you to calm down, man. We have to find a way to help Will - but you need to calm down. okay?"
"He's cold, Luke." Caleb wept, his chest wracking with sobs as he allowed himself to fall into his friend's arms. "He's so cold."
"I know. I know, it's okay." Lucas shushed him, sharing a heartfelt look with Max as he massaged the boy's back comfortingly with his palm, watching the girl's eyes fill with tears, "He'll be okay."
"No! No, nothing will ever - he won't be okay, Lucas! He wants to kill, He wants to kill, He wants to kill-"
"Wh - Caleb, calm down!" Lucas let out a strangeled yell, fighting to keep the boy's arms away from his scalp as the boy attempted to free his achimg brain from its confines. "Will isn't gonna kill anyone! What the hell are y-"
"He wants to kill!" Caleb screamed, forcing hismelf out of his friend's grasp and reaching out for the Byers' boy blindly. "WILL, STOP IT! DON'T LET HIM IN! DON'T LET HIM IN, DON'T LET HIM IN-"
And then he finally managed to clasp a hand around Will's leg and the world went black.
↬
Caleb stood in the corner of a dimly-lit room that resembled a room from the campers' cabin he had stayed in with Dustin for a short time three years ago when the boy convinced him to attend Camp Know-where with him - except in place of a breaking set of bunk-beds was a twin bed housing a very familiar face, while another familiar face sat in the armchair pushed close to the bed, reading from an old classic hardback.
He had never wanted to punch Jim Hopper in the face more than he did in that moment.
Caleb would have called out, maybe cursed the man out a bit and let him know how much of a shit-pile he was for doing what he had done, but some part of him knew that it would be pointless because it didn't even appear that either of them had acknowledged his sudden arrival.
He glanced to his sister then, and he noticed that her hair was shorter than it had been only a few minutes ago when he last her - much resembling his current hairstyle - and she was curled up in a pair of pajamas that looked a size too big for her, listening to Hopper intently as he read from the book.
Caleb recognised it as Hansel and Gretel, and his heart clenched at the passage the man was currently reading.
"Then he went back and said to Gretel, 'Be comforted, dear little sister, and sleep in peace, God will not forsake us,' and then he lay down again-"
"When can I see my brother?" El asked suddenly, causing the man to look up at her quickly with widened eyes.
"You know about Jacob?" He asked, shock evident in his expression as his grip on the book in his hands loosened.
El frowned, sitting upright in the bed as she stared at him inquisitively. "Who is... Jay-cob?"
"Uh - I mean, uh... nobody, it's-"
"Hopper. Who?"
Hopper stammered for a few moments before finally relenting, tossing the book to the side with a deep sigh as he sat forward with his elbows on his knees, running a hand over his stubble as he struggled to word his response appropriately. "Alright... alright, listen - you know that kid you were practically clinging to the whole time last year? Caleb Moore?"
"Caleb." El nodded, pointing to her chest with a firm stare. "Brother. I promised not to go. Have to see him - can't fight the monster on his own."
"Oh. Oh, I get it - okay, I see where the... confusion is... there." He chuckled awkwardly, wanting more than anything to never have this conversation. "Okay. Alright, I'm just gonna - okay. So you know... okay. Uh-"
"Rambling."
"Right, I know, I'm sorry-"
"Sound stupid when we ramble."
"And we're not stupid." Hopper nodded, swiping his clammy palms on his uniform trousers. "Alright, I'm just gonna say it. Caleb... he's not just your 'brother' like the way you think he is. He's like - he's actually your brother, you know?"
El stared at him blankly. "Still sound stupid."
"He's-" Hopper groaned at himself throwing his head back in frustration, "Listen, you call him 'brother' because you guys were in the Lab together, right? But you know he's not your real brother."
"A - adop - tive?" El queried, causing the man to tilt his head to face her.
"Uh... yeah. Sure, let's go with that. But he's not... he's not actually 'adoptive'. He's uh... he's your brother. Like, biological."
"Real?" El felt her mouth drop open in shock, eyes widening so much they resembled that of a bobble heads'. "Like real parents? He is - he is real brother?"
"Yeah. Yeah, he is. But listen, kid, don't-"
"He is real?!" El cried, staggering away from the bed until she was stood just a few inches away from her brother's spectre-form. "But - but... how?! Have to - have to see. Have to see him - does he know? Does he know?!"
"I told him, yeah, but-"
"Have to see him!" El choked on a small sob, throwing her hands into her short hair in distress as she began pacing back and forth. "Have to see him! You take me to him! Take me to brother!"
"Eleven!" Hopper snapped, finding that the more restless the girl grew, the more easily provoked he was. He stormed over to her, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to face him. Caleb felt his fists clench. "You know I can't do that. You know I can't. I wish I could - believe me, I do. I've seen him hurting, and I know he needs you right now, but... El, it's not safe. It's not. I can't do it - it's a risk. We don't take ris-"
"Not the same!" El screamed, wrenching away from him with a firm scowl. She pointed at him accusingly as she continued, "Rules are bullshit! They don't mean anything - not when it is Caleb. I need him. He needs me. He hurts. I feel it, in my heart place. He hurts. I can stop it. I need to stop it. You take me to him!"
"El, we've been through this a hundred times - not until it's safe-"
"Safe is bullshit! Everything is bullshit! You're hurting him! Why can't you tell him? I don't... I don't have to leave, he can come here! That is safe-"
"Not safe." Hopper ground out, refraining from threatening to take her TV away if she didn't stop it with all the swearing. "The kid has eyes on him everywhere he goes - because the Lab knows that you're out there somewhere, and they know that he would try to find you. For Christ's sake the Lab has sessions with him, they talk to him. Owens reads him, El - it's his job. He would know. He would know straight away if something was up. And - and we can't trust the kid. He's too close with the others, there's no way he would keep it from them. Do you understand me? Do you understand why it's a risk?"
There was silence for a long time, and El stood with her eyes downcast to the floor before working up the courage to look him in the eye, doing her best to ignore the tears stinging her waterline. "Take. Me. To. Brother!"
"I. Can't!"
"You - you are a bad man! You see him hurt! You see Mike hurt, you see me hurt - and you do nothing! You are - you are mouthbreather asshole! You are - you are adoptive! You are not real, you are not real Papa! I don't want to stay with you! I want to be with brother! I want to eat Eggos with Mike, and sleep in basement! We had a plan. It was a good one - and you ruined it! They hid me before, they could do it again-"
"No, El, they couldn't. They never did - the bad men found you the last time, and it only took them a few days-"
"Brother would protect me." El retorted, swallowing the lump in her throat. "He hurt people for me. He tried to die. He would protect me."
"What, and I don't?!" Hopper yelled, scoffing at the blank stare she gave him in reply as he paced across the room, scratching at his beard and shaking his head to himself. "I don't protect you? Huh? I don't sit here, in this fucking cabin in the middle of nowhere just to make sure nobody finds you? I didn't spend hours putting up traps and defences and making this place a home for you? A safe home?"
"You protect too much!" El cried, throwing her hands out at her sides. "I do nothing! I sit and do nothing and people hurt! I feel brother hurt everyday, and it gets worse and worse and it never ends! I... I don't need safe! Need home! Need happy!"
"Oh, you're not happy here? I don't do enough for you here?! I don't pay for all your sugar-heavy foods and the cable and I don't bring you clothes from the second-hand on the street and read to you and teach you things-"
"Can't be happy." El shook her head, bottom lip trembling as she folded into herself, taking a seat on the edge of the bed as she cried. "I try. Doesn't work. I need him, Hop. Feel... feel missing. Feel wrong."
"I... listen, kid." Hopper sighed, sitting next to her and testing his limits by placing a hand on her shoulder, relaxing his tense grip when she didn't pull away. "I'm trying here. I want you to see him - I want you to be happy. But... it's gonna take a long time. This Owens guy, he's still new. I haven't met with him a lot, I need to figure him out before I can decide how to play this, alright? Find a strategy, like in the chess game I showed you. And I'm gonna get you to your brother as soon as I can, alright? As soon as I can."
"P - promise?" El whimpered, allowing the man to pull her into his side as he ran a hand through her hair and shushed her quietly, boding off her tears.
"Promise."
↬
a/n :
-unedited-
here's the extra long chapter i promised since i couldn't fulfill that with last chapter - sorry, again :/ - 10,000 words is a little over the 9,000 I was planning but here you are x
ALSO, i forgot to mention it in the last chapter's author's note because i'm a dumbass™️ but merrycookie made a playlist on spotify of all the songs listed in the mixtape of the chapter titled 'basket case' - i already edited it into said chapter but i felt like i should put it here too because i'm so fucking grateful that they took time out of their day to make it!
i personally can't afford spotify cos i have two cents to my name so i can't get premium and the effort of using standard spotify and shuffling every single playlist until you find the right song irks me - but if any of you have it, please go show them some love!!!
also, caleb everytime mike breathed in his direction this chapter :
that's all from me for now, darlings xx
- georgia