Chapter Text
August 7th
James is sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. He hasn't taken a single bite and instead has sorted them by color in his milk. It's mostly quiet, other than the heater making this annoying buzzing noise that makes him want to rip it out of the wall. His mom and dad are already at work and Joanne is probably out with Holly or someone else. Jaime called him over the walkie earlier but James didn't answer. He knew what Jaime would ask and he wasn't ready for that conversation yet. James hears a creak and quickly snaps back to reality, he looks up and notices that it's Adam walking up from the basement. He loosens up a little and leans back in his chair looking back down at his cereal.
“Morning.” Adam says groggily while rubbing his eyes.
“Yea.” James stands up and walks to the sink dropping his plate into it.
“You good? You look out of it.”
“I'm good.” James huffs and grabs Adam a new bowl. He almost drops it as he is walking back to the table to sit back down.
“Whats wrong?” Adam looks concerned.
James doesn't answer and Adam just sighs. “James, you know you can tell me… Is it about” He makes this gesture with his head to upstairs where Kat sleeps. James puts his head into his hands.
“Y’know she goes to our school.”
James looks up at Adam with a surprised look on his face. He had never seen her before, and Hawkins Middle isn't very big so he bets that he would have seen her before if she did go to his school. Adam continues.
“She is in my math class. She sits in the back and never speaks to anyone. It's kinda sad…”
“Do you think that's why she was in the forest?” James starts to pick at the skin around his nails. He thought he knew everyone in this stupid town.
“Maybe.”
Adam starts pouring cereal into his bowl as someone walks down the stairs. Kat is now at the bottom at the stairs and is looking at both of the boys. She is wearing the same clothes she had on yesterday and has her backpack slug over her shoulder.
“Thank you for letting me stay the night.” She walks over to the shoe rack and finds her shoes.
“Yea, no problem.” James watches her as she puts on her converse. He watches her fingers as they tie the laces and as she stands up.
Adam quickly stands up out of his chair. “Are you already leaving?”
She nods as a confused expression crosses her face, her nose wrinkling.
“You only just woke up, do you want something to eat? You don't have to go just yet.” Adam gestures to the pathetic cereal on the table.
“Oh.” She looks at Adam and then at James. “Im okay, thank you anyway” Before anyone is able to say anything she walks out the door.
Nobody speaks after this. Adam finishes his cereal and heads to the basement to grab his stuff and leave. James is still sitting at the kitchen table, what was she doing in the forest, and how the fuck did she kill that thing. He feels that he should be a little more scared because of what happened last night, but he’s just confused. The creature reminded him of something, in Mike's storys… That's how he described the monster in his book, with scary accurate detail from what James saw in the dark. Then Kat, fucking superpowers? He needs to go talk to Mike…
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The morning light shines through the window in Marty's room making a beam of light shine across his face. He slowly wakes up to an unusual warmth in his room, he turns his body over and opens his eyes. Ashley is laying on the floor on mattress he gave her, in the clothes he gave her. She looks so calm… He had never seen her like this before—so unguarded. He smiles and his cheeks turn red, she looks so pretty… He rolls back onto his back and stares up at the cracks in his ceiling. After a few minutes of doing nothing and thinking about Ashley he steps out of bed. He decides it's best to let her sleep, she looks too peaceful to be woken up.
He manages his way to the bathroom without making much noise and brushes his teeth, when he looks in the mirror he sees his colored cheeks and cringes. He isn't really hungry yet so he quickly runs back to his room to grab his new Amazing Spider-Man Issue #382. He hasn't read it yet but it just came out and his uncle had bought it for him. He goes to sit down on the couch and starts reading, after a few minutes he hears footsteps down the hall and looks to see Ashely.
“Hey Mar.” Ashley rubs her eyes and sits down next to him.
“H-hey.” Holy Shit. His breath hitches as he tries to keep his composure as she leans on him. Her warmth transferring over to him.
They both sit in silence.
When Marty calms down he continues to read his comic, Ashley soon joins, her eyes following the pictures on the page. It's cold in the house but for them it's the hottest they have been all year. Time goes by too fast for their liking and soon it's already 1pm. They hear a knock on the door.
“Thats probably my brother. I'll go fetch my stuff.”
Marty nods as she gets up while pulling down her shirt that was slowly riding up making him go crazy. As soon as she got up Marty felt this wave of regret for not asking her to stay longer. He watches her disappear into his room and lets out a sigh. He gets up and walks towards the door and opens out. There stands Steve Harrington with his button up polo and car keys in hand. Marty never understood why they had such a big age gap but he felt it was too personal to ask so he just never found did.
“Is she ready?” Steve peers over Marty to look inside.
“She is getting her stuff. You can come in.”
Marty steps to the side and Steve walks through. He starts talking about how he was planning to host his wife a birthday party and how it's been so hard keeping it a secret. Thank goodness Ashley walked out because he felt like he was going to explode. He follows them to the door and says goodbye as they leave in their car. He walks back to the couch and picks up his walkie.
“Jamie are you there? Over.”
It takes a few seconds but a scratchy voice comes through.
“Yea, what is it?”
“Guess what…”
“What?”
“Ashley stayed over and we hung out alone till Steve came…” He made an annoyed scoff.
The line is silent for a second before Jamie speaks.
Jamie sighs. “Is this really what you are bothering me about?”
“What? This is monumental Jamie are you kidding?”
“Whatever you say dude. Did you talk with James?”
The mood shifts a bit after remembering last night. Marty had really just blocked it out and decided to not think about it but here it is.
“No, not since the woods…”
Jamie takes a deep breath loud and long enough that Marty is able to hear it over the phone. “Do you really think he took her home?”
“This is James we are talking about.”
Jamie quickly responds. “So yea, he did.”
“Maybe we should like… Go check to see if he is okay? We did kinda leave him with a stranger with fucking powers.”
“Yea, yea.” Marty places the phone between his ear and shoulder and wipes his now sweaty hands on his jeans. “Ok, let's do it. Meet at his place?”
“Yea, see you in a bit.”
Marty hangs the phone back up and quickly walks out to the front porch where his bike is laying, the cold hits him like a wall of bricks and he has to run back inside to grab a jacket. He gets on and starts pedaling towards James’s place. James has always been like this. He has always helped people when they need it and never turned a blind eye to anyone. To the group he has always been the one you know is there for you. He was there for Adam when his parents divorced, he was there for Jaime when he came out (which he still hasn't told the rest of the group but he needs time), and he was there for Ashely when her dad would go a way too far. He wants to be a psychologist, so basically a therapist but he prefers the cooler word. So of course he lets a crying girl in the woods into his house, even if that's going a bit far.
Around halfway he sees the girl from yesterday walking along the sidewalk, he starts to pedal faster. He doesn't know why it makes him so panicked but his breathing gets more unstable. When he arrives at James' house Jamie is not there yet but he doesn't wait. He runs up to the door and knocks, no answer. He knocks a few more times but still there is no answer and he throws his arms back to his sides, that's when Jamie makes it, he drops his bike on the grass and walks to Marty.
“Any luck?” Jamie shoves his hands into his pockets and inspects the front of the house. “His bike isn't here, he probably just left somewhere.” He looks at Marty. “You good?”
“I mean, I saw the girl from yesterday walking along the woods away from the house.” Marty sighs. “I guess maybe I just got a bit worried.”
“Yea, I get it. It's just funny how oblivious we are towards the fact that the girl had powers.”
“Its fucking crazy, real life powers.”
Both of them start to laugh, then Jamie sets a hand on Marty's shoulder and looks him in the eye.
“Do you think she is like the X-Men or is she like a Jedi…”
It's silent, then they both erupt in a fit of laughter. They both grab onto each other to stay upright. They laughed until they couldn't breath, Marty stumbles down to sit on the concrete and sighs.
“Do you want to wait? He shouldn't take too long.”
Jamie sits down next to him and leans back on his hands. “Do you think he went to Adam’s?”
“No, he came with him last night. He probably slept over.”
“Then where could he be? Do you want to radio Adam and ask if he told him?”
“That could work.” Jamie pulls his walkie from his bag. He extends the antenna and switches to the frequency they always use. “Adam?”
“Yea?”
“Hey, did James tell you where he was going?”
“No, I left right after the girl did. Is he not home?”
“No.”
“Did you try to radio him?”
“Adam, let's think about this for a second.”
The line is silent for a second then Adam comes though.
“Oh.”
“If he had his walkie with him he would have already joined in on this amazing conversation we are having.”
Marty and Jamie try their best to hold their laughter in but some broken sounds squeeze through.
“Are you laughing at me?” Adam scoffs.
“No, no. We would never.”
“Marty and Ashley are there too?”
Marty leans over to the walkie. “Just me”
“Okay, did you check his cousin's house?”
“Holly’s?”
“Yea, well if he’s there it's probably for Mike but he's staying over.”
Marty leans back over to the walkie. “Why would he want to see him after he didn't show up yesterday?”
“I'm just giving you guys options ok?”
Jamie sighs. “Yea, thanks. We’ll go check it out.”
“See you later guys.”
“Bye”
Jamie pushes the antenna down and stuffs the walkie back into his bag. Marty is already walking towards the bikes. Mike was 23, why was he always hanging with his 13 year old cousin. They hadn't been really close till a couple years ago. The family had been really distant and suddenly they were having dinners all the time. Maybe he was just overthinking it but it just didn't feel right, but as long as James was okay with it he was. It's not like he was the one hanging out with them. He never had any close family himself, they all lived down in Florida. Jamie walks over to Marty, they get on their bikes and start to make their way down to the house.
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The coffee burns Mike’s throat in a good way, It's his daily ritual. He hadn't felt good in the slightest so he stayed in his room yesterday like a child, only leaving for food or water. Everybody left to go shopping and his dad was out with friends (for once) so he was able to roam free through the house without anyone asking him if he is okay. He didn't feel like doing anything but if he let his mind roam it would always find its way to Will, and he couldn't take that. He didn't feel like writing so he did little things around the house like washing the dishes and folding all the blankets down in the basement. While he was sorting the pillows on the couch he hears a loud knock on the door. He really doesn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment so he just ignores it. Next thing he knows someone is yelling from outside.
“Mike, open the door! I know you're in there!”
Is that James? He was supposed to go teach James and his friends how to play D&D but he totally forgot. Mike walks up to the door and looks through the peephole then opens the door. James is standing there with his arms at his sides and doesn't wait to push past Mike and walk into the house.
“James, I know I missed the thing yesterday but don't be like that. I had my own thing going on and I'm sorry I didn't call you about it.”
“Mike can you just come sit down?” James looks up at Mike with this expression that could maybe be a mix of confusion and fear?
“Oh, uhm okay?” Mike walks over to the couch where James is sitting and slowly sits across him. He had never seen James like this before, he didn't think that not showing up would affect him so much.
“So, you know the stories you used to tell me? Where did they come from, how did you make them up?”
“I just, made them up?” Mike’s confused, James hadn't questioned his stories before. Why would he start now, and why so seriously.
“Mike, I need to know the truth. You know the girl and the monsters?”
Mike slowly nods.
“Was it real?”
“James, you're scaring me.” Maybe Mike’s just going crazy and this is all a hallucination to distract himself from Will.
“The monsters, the one with no face and skin so grey, the girl that could move things with her mind. Are. They. Real?”
“James stop. What happened? Did you hurt your head?” Mike moves over to James and tries to check his head for anything that would make this situation make more sense but James just pushes him away and stands up.
“Can you please give me a straight answer?”
Mike hears his tone get more impatient and angry. Mike's hands start to shake, he has never seen James like this before.
“What happened James.”
“You wouldn't even believe me so whatever, here it goes.” James looks Mike right in the eyes. “Yesterday me, Marty, Jamie, Adam, and Ashely decided to go look around in the woods, like stupid children because you didn't show up. Right, so we get there everything is fine, we are joking, scaring eachother, then a fucking monster starts trying to chase us, you know the one with hundreds of teeth, like in your storys. Then guess what?” James is now laughing while speaking. “This fucking girl with superpowers, yes you heard that right superpowers rips it in half and saves us! Crazy right, she is crying and stuff and it's raining and she looks beat up right so i think ‘hmm i cant leave her here alone lets take her in for a night’. Me and Adam take her to my place, we are really too shocked to be scared so she stays the night in the guest room. After she left I thought maybe I should be a little more worried and I realized ‘wow Mike’s stories sound a lot like what i just saw’ so here I am Mike.” James sighs and runs his hands through his hair.
Mike is speechless. His brain is trying to process what James just told him. This can't be true, they destroyed the bridge, the gates, everything. His mind is going millions of miles an hours when the front door unlocks and Nancy and Jonathan walk in. They look at James, then Mike, then James again. Nancy sets down her purse on the table and walks up to them.
“Whats going on?” Nancy looks at Mike sitting on the couch as he gestures to James.
“What?” James looks at Nancy.
“James what happened?" Jonathan walks up next to Nancy.
“You know what? Whatever, thanks Mike.”
James tries to walk away but something tells Mike to stop him. “James wait.”
James turns around to look at Mike, he waits for an answer.
Mike sighs. “Yea, they were.”
James walks back up to Mike. “Maybe we should speak about this somewhere else?”
“They both know James.” Mike sighs.
Nancy and Jonathan both look at each other confused.
“Thats just great.” James sits back down on the couch.
“What do we know about?” Nancy sits down on the couch next to Mike.
“The monsters and the girl who can move things with her mind.” James lays down against the back of the couch after taking his backpack off.
“What did you tell him Mike?” Nancy puts her hand on Mike's shoulder while taking quick looks at James who is just looking up at the ceiling.
“I didn't tell him anything.” Mike leans forward and looks at the ground.
“Then what is he talking about?” Jonathan says from the corner of the room.
The whole room is silent for what feels like forever.
“He saw it himself.”
“What?” Nancy and Jonathan say at the same time then look at James who is now looking at Nancy and Mike.
“Should I tell them what I told you Mike?”
Mike doesn't respond but tears start to fall from his eyes, he really didn't think this would ever happen again. He thought it was over, all the upside down stuff. The things that ruined his childhood and built it at the same time. Now what about El, did she die for nothing, he wouldn't be able to take it… She had so much more life to live, so much more to see. It wasn't her time to go even if the Upside Down was destroyed. And he did it, he built the bomb that killed her, and he would never forgive himself for that. Her blood is on his hands…
This could all still be just a dream, a dream that he would wake up from and everything would be back to normal. Or this was reality, and it was about to get much worse.