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Holly sits in the back of the family car as it cruises down the road. She stares at her feet so she doesn't have to see her mothers tense face in the mirror as she grips the steering wheel.
She knows her mother is just worried about her, she says so all the time, but she can't help but feel guilty, it was her that caused this situation after all. Her teacher had caught her talking to Mr. Whatsit during morning recess but the adults couldn't see him so she just looked… insane.
She had gone over this with her mother before, he was real! She can see him and touch him but her mom just kept insisting he’s imaginary.
He isn't.
She just doesn't get it.
Holly raises her head and the way that the reflection of her mother's gaze pierces right through her makes her put it right back down. She thinks her mother is starting to think something's wrong with her.
There isn't. Mary saw him too! Holly is not crazy.
Her and her best friend had come to this conclusion a few weeks ago during a playdate at Mary’s house. Mary had started talking about how Holly was never going to believe her, but a similar character to one of the characters from the book the class was reading, A Wrinkle In Time, had come to life. Of course it was Mr. Whatsit instead of Ms, but same difference.
It had been so encouraging after so many months of being the only one who could see him.
That hadn't been enough to convince her mother that it was real though, she still insisted he was just an imaginary friend and Mary had joined in because, “that's what kids do,” whatever that means.
Holly is taken from her thoughts when the car slows to a stop, her mother parking on the side of the backroad they were using to get home, since they couldn't go through the middle of town because of the military. Her mother peers back at her, something unreadable on her face.
“Why don't you come up here honey?” Her mother offers, gesturing to the passenger seat. Not wanting to upset her mother anymore, because just seeing how sad and tense she's making her mother was making her sad in return, she swiftly climbed over the console and into the front seat.
“Holly,” her mom began, “I need you to tell me, are you really seeing this Mr. Whatsit?”
Is she really seeing him? Yes? What has Holly been saying all this time?
Clearly her mother had realised how frustrated this question had made her, even without words, as she adjusted her question. “I mean, is he really there in the world or are you..” She looked like she was looking for a word to use that wasn't imagining, “picturing him there?” she finishes.
“He’s really there.” Holly says firmly, voice dissuading any further arguments. How many times did she have to say it?
Her mom sighed and grabbed her hand, giving it a loving squeeze. “Is there anything else that you see?”
This confused her, did she see anything else? Well yeah, she wasn't blind she saw plenty of stuff.
“I don't understand.” she replied.
“Baby.. is there anything else you see that no one else can?” her mother corrected.
And… oh.
She thinks Holly’s crazy, that she's seeing things that aren't there.
Mr. Whatsit is there, she needs to understand that.
“No, it's just him, a-and he is really there you just can't see him.” The words stumble out of her mouth, she just has to understand.
“Holly..”
“No mom! You have to listen!” she begs, “He’s real! I've touched him!” she can't help the tears that are starting to fall at this point. “He’s - he’s.. please mom! I've held his hand! It feels just like yours!”
Her attempts at convincing her mother have the opposite effect, Holly can see the pity in her mothers eyes. She doesn't believe her.
“Please..” she chokes out as her tears devolve into sobs. She feels her mothers arms wrap around her, pulling her close. “It's gonna be okay baby.. we’ll figure this out.” she comforts.
They get home 15 minutes later, the drive dragging on because of the unusual route they have to take.
She runs up the stairs the moment she enters the house, she can't bear being around her mother and all her pity for a second longer. Holly slams her bedroom door, dying to find any way to take out her frustration, collapsing onto her bed she screams into her pillow.
“She’ll come around one day.”
Mr. Whatsit’s voice fills the room from behind her, she jumps up, turning to look at him. He’s standing in the corner of the room next to her bookshelf with his arms crossed, he makes his way over and sits next to her on the bed, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Some people just don't understand, but they will.” he reassures her.
“She needs to understand now.” Holly cries, “The monsters.. She's not gonna know.”
This is a problem Holly has thought about and dreamt about endlessly, Mr Whatsit is the one that warned her of the monsters in Hawkins, but if no one even believes her about him, then how would they believe her about the monsters?
They're going to come, and everyone is going to be unprepared. They're going to be torn apart just as they are in her nightmares.
Holly wants to warn them, she wants to scream it from the rooftops but.. if her own mother already thinks she’s crazy, if she tells them the truth then… who's to say she won't end up in the loony bin? Then she can't warn anyone.
And she'd already tried with Mike anyway, but he'd just told her monsters aren't real.
“But we know Holly,” Mr. Whatsit continues, “We can save them, as a team, together, Henry and Holly.”
She nods, he's right, even if it doesn't feel like it. Holly isn't sure what she can do but, she trusts Mr. Whatsit, he always has all the answers. She moves forwards, hugging him, just to reaffirm to herself that he is real, everything will be okay. She just has to have faith in Henry. He pats her head before making his exit out of her closed bedroom door, going back to being the hero of Hawkins.
Holly’s hands fall to her lap and she remembers the figurine her brother had given her earlier today. She pulls it out of her pocket and takes a good look at it.
Mike had said she didn't need Mr Whatsit, to look to Holly the Heroic instead, but he didn't have all the information, he couldn't really understand without it- and, why can't she have both, right? She made her way over to her desk, placing down the painted figurine and opening up her bracelet making kit. Nancy had given it to her for her eighth birthday.
She wasn't really into bracelet making at the time but she had still loved it anyway just because it came from Nancy, even if she didn't know what Holly actually liked, she meant well. So did Mike and her mother, they all just wanted to help but..
They just didn't get it, they didn't get her.
Maybe that's why she was so happy when Mr. Whatsit showed up periodically, he just listened. He was a lifeline, someone she could just talk to without having to worry about them worrying.
Henry didn't worry.
He just knew what to do, it's like he could pick her mind apart and have the perfect solution or thing to say to make her feel better.
She began taking out colour filled beads and a long necklace length string as her thoughts wandered. Before long she had a beautiful beaded necklace, and in the center sat Holly the Heroic. She made her way over to the mirror and pushed her hair out of the way to do up the necklace.
As Holly's mind ran out of thoughts she became more aware of her senses, and she could hear her mom talking. But no, her voice was raised and agitated just enough for her to tell the difference. Holly quietly opened her bedroom door, peeking out into the hall. The voices became clearer as the door no longer muffled them and she could tell that her parents were arguing.
Now normally she would just go back into her room and read or draw, or if Mike was out she'd sneak into his room and listen to his music, he had much better taste than Nancy. This wasn't exactly an uncommon thing.
But as she turned to go down the hall to Mike's room she heard it.
Her name.
It hit her like a ton of bricks, they were fighting about her. Now she had to know, she just did. She quietly crossed the hall and crouched down on the middle landing of the stairs. Her mom was pacing around the kitchen, wine glass in hand. Her father on the other hand was sitting at the breakfast table just looking… annoyed?..bored?
But none of that is new either.
Holly used to be really close with her father, she was his little girl, his pride and joy, but at some point that changed, she didn't even know when. One day she just realised how different their relationship was now compared to it 2 or 3 years ago.
She probably should have expected that though.
For as long as she could remember it really felt like she was his daughter and Mike and Nancy were just… roommates to him. She can't name a single time he went out of his way to do something for them, whereas he went to her soccer games!
It didn't used to be something that bothered her, either because she didn't really comprehend it, or maybe she was just selfishly glad that it was her out of the three of them that got to have a dad, but now.. she's just like them, she knows how awful it feels.
Maybe Mike and Nancy used to have a dad too, maybe she wasn't special or anything like she thought, she was just another one of the kids living here that got sidelined when they got old enough to stop being new.
She felt her eyes start to well up with tears as her mind entertained that thought, but no- that's not important right now.
Holly needs to know why they're talking about her.
“-Talking to nobody.” The end of her mom's sentence fills the air.
Oh right, of course it's this.
“Well she's hardly the first child to have an imaginary friend Karen,” her father argues.
Maybe 2 or 3 years ago she would have deluded herself into thinking this was him defending her sanity, but now, the look on his face… It's so clear he just wants to be done with the conversation.
“Look I wouldn't be so worried if she was 5 years old, but she's not 5 anymore is she Ted?”
Ouch. Her mother really thinks she's gone off the deep end.
"In fact, do you even know how old your daughter is?” her mother demanded.
The silence was telling.
“Oh my god-,” the disbelief in her voice was audible, “you don't even know how old she is!”
So her mom saw it too, it wasn't just her. “You're ridiculous!” Her father said as he walked away, "I'm not talking to you when you're like this.”
“First one tonight or are we alre-” Holly didn't stick around to hear the rest. She quickly and quietly moved back up the stairs and into her room, throwing the door closed, they probably wouldn't hear it over all the yelling anyway.
Tears fell down her cheeks as she collapsed onto her bed in tears for a second time that day.
She clutched the figurine close to her heart. She was just so tired of all this.
Holly doesn't know how long she lied there, drowning in her own thoughts, she could waste away hours like that and the sun had already gone down. She ended up on her back staring up at the ceiling, trying to get her mind off this topic, she wasn't having much luck.
In that moment a strange feeling washed over her, it felt like.. apprehension, like something bad was going to happen, and then, the buzzing.
She looked to her left, following the sound of the noise, her eyes eventually settling on her nightlight, flashing from dim to bright.
It felt.. familiar, but she couldn't place it.
Holly pulled it from the wall to get it to stop but it didn't do anything. She studied it, turning it over looking for batteries or something but to no avail. How? There was no power source? She flicks the lightbulb and yet it continues.
The flickering starts to spread across her room, first to her lightbrite and then the lamps on the other side of the bed. In no time it's every light in the room. She stands looking around for any indication of what could be causing this, but she's left with no answers and her heart starts to pound.
What if…
What if this is the monsters? Henry hadn't given her a timeline or anything to look out for to signal their arrival, just that they were coming sooner rather than later.
An odd guttural noise sounds from within the ceiling, was it already in her house? In the attic? She wasn't ready for this, she thought she had more time.
The sounds get louder and cracks start appearing in the ceiling, she's staring at it as if her looking away would cause the monster to appear faster.
“Mom!” she calls, but gets no answer.
The cracks get larger and pieces of ceiling begin to tumble to the ground, Holly’s voice wavers as she calls for her mom again, still no answer. She clutches the figurine, clinging to any sense of bravery in the face of whatever she's going to see in the next few seconds. A part of the ceiling gives out revealing a glowing, fleshy, red.. she doesn't even know what that is, a portal maybe?
Holly stumbles back into the wall, letting out a small screech and trying to put as much distance between her and that spot as she can. It's an agonizing next few seconds, she watches in terror as thin spindly arms tear through the fleshy layer.
It's definitely the monster.
The claws on it are huge and sharp and they crack the ceiling more as the thing anchors itself into her bedroom. It sticks its head out, searching, probably for her. The seconds stretch out and Holly foolishly prays that the monster will just leave her alone and go back to wherever it came from, but that is futile as the creatures… not eyes, lock on to her. She can tell it found her by the creepy noise it makes as it tilts its head.
She screams, like she never has before, but that..that sets it off.
The panels on its face open up revealing rows upon rows of grotesque deadly teeth, and the noise it makes, somewhere between a roar and a scream, it's the worst thing she's ever heard.
It kind of looks like some sort of messed up demented flower. It's so much worse than in her nightmares, her head could never have come up with something this awful.
Holly kicks into gear, diving for the bed and swinging over it as she hears the thing quickly making its way towards her. She grabs desperately at the doorknob, and she can feel the cold metal just barely touch her fingertips as awful, slimy, disgusting arms wrap around her torso and send her flying back. The noise is deafening, her screams, the monsters screeching, and the crash as her body slams into the bookshelf behind her. The impact dazes her, and she feels an intense pain… everywhere really, but mostly in the back of her head where she hit one of the shelves.
Of course she hits the floor right after which just makes all the pain ten times worse. She tries to focus but it feels impossible as her head is all cloudy and she cant think straight.
Uncaring of her pain or panic the monster starts coming at her again. She expects it to slash her, stab her, dig its claws into her, but it doesn't do that. Instead it violently grabs her leg, yanking her towards it. Her mind is just catching up to everything and clearing the fog as it swings her around. More pain sears through her as it drags her over the broken ceiling parts and she screams and desperately tries to grab onto anything she can.
By the grace of god she manages to latch onto the bars that make up the footboard of her bed. She is forced to let go when she is pulled up at an unnatural angle and her wrist starts to turn the wrong way. Holly doesn't completely lose though as she grabs onto the top bar.
“Somebody help!” She screeches at the top of her lungs as the monster is unrelenting in pulling her. The bed starts to lift up in the air along with her, god, how strong is this thing? It could probably rip her in half if it wanted to.
The hole in the ceiling gets larger and larger as more small ceiling bits fall onto her and she can see parts of the red fleshy layer dangling right next to her head. All of this just increases her terror induced panic as she screams for her parents.
“Mom! Mom! Dad!”
Please just anyone, she needs help. She can't die like this, she can't!
In the next moment the creature is pulling on her leg so hard that it pulls her shoe right off and releases its deadly grip on her.
She hits the ground hard, hands scraping on the broken ceiling shards. She lets out a pained cry, but quickly recovers as her shoe lands next to her, causing her to jump. She rolls over, and the thing is towering above her and it uses the second to scream at her again, bearing its hundreds of hideous teeth.
She pushes herself up to her feet and wastes no time grabbing onto the door handle and flinging her door open, she has to get to her mom. Her mom is safety, she'll know what to do. The monster screeches from behind her again, relentless in its pursuit.
Holly continues her screams, hoping maybe her mom would hear and come save her faster. She sprints down the hall and makes it to the other side faster than she thought she would because of the sheer speed she's going at. She practically falls into her mothers room and slams the door shut as quickly as she can, locking it for good measure, before sprinting into the bathroom and locking that door too.
“Mom! Mom!” she shouts.
“Holly?” her mother questions. “Mom! The Monster!” she continues as she dives into her mothers arms. She has to explain this, they need to be safe.
“Baby what are you doing? What's wrong?”
“Mom! Mom!” she can barely get her words out between frantic breaths, “There’s a monster in there!” Her mother looks frazzled before speaking, “Holly, slow down! I can't understand you!” Her mother guides them down so they’re sitting on the edge of the bathtub. Jesus there's no time for slowing down! That thing is coming! “Mom! There's a monster! The mon-” her words are slurring together now but her mom cuts her off before she can finish.
“Holly.” Her firm statement of Holly’s name shocks her into silence. “Whatever it is you saw baby, it's just a nightmare, or-” it's Holly who cuts her off this time. “No Mom! Mom!” she pleads, her cries devolving into sobs. Her mom still doesn't believe her! But there's not even any time to be mad because that thing is coming, it could certainly burst through a door if it could lift her and her bed halfway off the ground.
“Baby it's just a nightmare.” Her mother tries as she pulls Holly in for a hug. And despite everything Holly clings to her as she sobs, because she feels like their lives are about to end. She can't let that happen though, so she continues her fruitless begging as her mother rocks her back and forth to try and calm her down. ‘I saw it, please trust me Mom..”
“Please Mom! Please! You gotta believe me please!”
But all of a sudden the rocking stops and Holly pulls back to see the look of utter horror on her mother's face. Turning her head to see what she's seen Holly spots the blood, her blood. She didn't even know when she started bleeding.
Her cries cease as it seems her mother has finally gotten it, finally understood.
A loud bang breaks the quiet and the volume of her mother's music spikes. They jump up, her mother cradling Holly close as they can hear more unnatural noises and bangs approaching the bathroom door. The lights start to flicker just like they did earlier and it's only then that Holly realises they've put themselves in a dead end, there's nowhere to run.
The music cuts out and warps as footsteps stand out from the rest of the noise and cracks start appearing in the door. Holly is so sure that they're going to die, but then her mother is moving, acting because she always knows what to do.
They dunk themselves into the bubble bath, her mothers arms still wrapped protectively around her, and they hold their breaths.
Despite the water muffling the sound she can still hear the door crashing down seconds after they make it under the water, and she can still hear those god awful roars, and the banging and crashing as the monster routes through the bathroom presumably looking for any trace of Holly and her mom.
Holding her breath is becoming unbearable but the other option is much, much, worse so she holds on no matter how much her body is telling her to go up for air. It's really close now, she can tell by the way the water is moving from its breath and the volume of the noises it's making.
‘Karen!”
Her heart skips a beat. It's faint, but she can make it out, her fathers voice.
“Karen!” he calls for her mother a second time, “Everything alright?”
It's going to kill him.
It's going to kill him and they can't even warn him because then it would kill them too. And as much as she is becoming more and more frustrated with her father, she's far from hating him and she definitely doesn't want him to die. God he's going to die. The monster backs off of them, going towards what she knows is her father.
“Holly?” her dad calls.
Her and her mother hastily emerge from the water and gasp for air, both turning towards the empty doorway. Before she even registers it her mother is grabbing her hand and leading her out of the bathtub towards the door. If they’re gonna get out of this room, it has to be now doesn't it? But what about her dad? Her mother leans around the corner, but Holly just clings to her nightgown and her hand.
“Holly!” She wants to call back, to warn him, but her mother gives her a look that warns her not to.
The monster growls at her father as he spots it, Holly can’t even register what he’s saying because she is just so scared. It sounds like he hits it with something as her mother carefully pulls her out slightly further into the doorway. She can see it now, its back is facing them and it's looking straight at her father and screeching at him. She watches in horror as it throws her father against the wall, but she doesn't see the rest as her mother is pulling her slightly back into the bathroom. She doesn't have to see though, she can hear.
The creature must have lunged at her dad as she listens to him flying into the wall and from the sounds of it, going right through. Her mom decides that this is the time to act and pulls her out in front of the doorway, they're moving quickly but for a split second she can see blood splatter on Mike’s wall past the creature and the hole.
They're running down the hall, but the creature’s already seen them, screeching as it sees them getting away. They make it down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and just as they reach the bottom another one of those portal things is ripped open by the monster and suddenly it's right in front of them again, staring down at them. They make a sharp turn, heading for the back door since the front is no longer an option. Holly makes it to the sitting room, but her mother, betrayed by her bare feet, slips, falling and crashing hard into the island.
“Mom!” Holly shouts, running back for her without even thinking about it.
Her mom pulls herself up and Holly tries to help but between the wet clothes and her being quite a lot lighter than her mother, she doesn't think she's actually doing much. As they get to their feet their escape route is blocked off yet again by the monster.
“Oh god!” her mother yells, Holly herself has devolved into incoherently screaming a long time ago.
“Holly, get back!” her mother demands, physically pushing her away from the danger and turning to look at the monster. What is she doing? She can't fight that! It will kill her!
It might have already killed dad, her brain supplies.
Her mom grabs a wine bottle from the counter, smashing it and holding it above her head.
“Stay away from my daughter!” She howls. No, no, no. She's gonna get hurt, she can't! She didn't see how strong it was! “Mom No!” She tries, but she knows it's in vain, her mother has set her mind on protecting Holly and nothing's going to change that.
She steps forward driving the broken bottle into the creature's face, quickly pulling it back and doing it again, and again, and again. Dark blood pours from its wounds, splattering onto the walls, the fridge and the floor as her mother shouts in determination..and, it's actually working, her mothers fending it off.
Until the other shoe drops.
This hit is weaker, the monster recovers faster, its screeches bearing its teeth and raises its arm. Both Holly and her mom realise too late. It drives its claws deep into her mother's abdomen, the spot on her nightgown is stained red in a second. Holly screams, “Mom No!” It raises its other arm, too quick, there's no time for Holly to do anything to help her mom, its claws slash her chest and neck, leaving wide deep gashes across them, she falls and blood splatters onto Holly’s face.
The sight is sickening.
The monster approaches stepping over her mothers body like she means nothing to it, like it didn't just destroy Holly’s whole world. She whimpers, frozen in place as it towers over her, glass still jammed into its mouth.
It doesn't kill her.
It pushes her back and she hits the breakfast table with a crash, but before she can get back up its latching onto her ankles and dragging her. She tries to grab onto the table, a chair, the wall, anything, but no luck. Her screams have become background noise at this point. The creature just keeps pulling her, right to the rift in the front door where she finally manages to get a hold of something. She desperately holds onto the sides of the opening, she does not want to find out what's on the other side of it.
But she does, eventually she can't hold on any longer and her arms give out. The monster was pulling so hard that the sudden absence of resistance sent her flying into the wall behind her. She scrambles to get back to her feet as the creature bounds over to her, she just slips out of its grasp and is forced to run away from her mother even though it's the last thing in the world she wants to do.
Her head is going a million miles a minute as she is overwhelmed by her surroundings. It's dark, it's cold, it's slimy, it's just awful.
She throws the back door open, the thing still hot on her tail. She's running down the driveway as it lunges for her and she has to dive out of the way and they both fall. It quickly turns and she scrambles backwards away from it, but now it's coming at her, crawling, on all fours and screaming like something out of a horror movie. She screams, and manages to turn around and run again, ending up on the road in front of her house.
But no matter how fast she is, that thing isn't human, she's just not on its level.
It hits her on the head with the back of its clawed hand, sending her plummeting towards the concrete. She hits her head and her vision goes blurry and then black.
When she blinks her eyes open, everything has changed, she's in a bed, in a room with light streaming in through the windows, no more doom and gloom, no more blood and death.
Just her and…
“Morning sleepyhead.”