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the cold flow of the air gave him chills all over his body. despite being outside, he felt like he couldn’t breathe, every breath got harder. “el!” he yelled out of frustration, again. where was she? he heard something drop in the distance, but because of the blue fog he couldn’t see what it was. he tried to run, but felt like his body was stuck and everything went too slow for him. why can’t he move the way he wants to? tears welled up in his eyes, he promised not to cry but he can’t lose her. he can’t lose another daughter, not again. with every strength in his body, he tries to push through this feeling of this weighted blanket in the air that seemed to stop him. “eleven!” he screamed out again. he heard the noise again, much closer this time. he stopped moving, trying to take in his surroundings. it was silent. he could breathe again and smelled the stench he was familair with, the one time he went to look for will in the upside down. how did he even get here? he was at his cabin, it looked rotten and abandoned. behind him, he heard leaves rustling. he turned around fast, but saw nothing. “el?” he asked.
then he heard it. the call of her voice. “daddy?” he looked in the direction of the sound. there she stood in the door opening, looking exactly like the blissful memories he has of her. his heart broke, he had forgotten about the amount he missed her. of course he thought of her every day, but he focused on other things so much, he had forgotten about the pain. her blonde hair styled in pig tails, her blue dress flowed through the air. her piercing blue eyes pierced through his own. his breath got caught in his throat, he couldn’t make a sound. “sara?” before he knew it, his body was moving to the door, he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her. or so, he thought. the moment he wrapped his arms around her, he felt nothing but himself. he panicked and opened his eyes, the last thing he saw of her was her smiling face turning into dust. he broke down, his body fell to the ground and he wrapped his arms around himself trying to calm himself down. what sick nightmare was this?
but then he heard her, the screams of eleven’s voice calling out his name in the middle of the woods. “dad!” she sounded scared, she needed his help. he had no time to break down, despite this world being cursed; he had a blessing to see his first daughter again, and he was about to find his second one.