CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KIDDIE POOLS

"Okay, so, in this example we're the acrobat." Mike attempted to explain, motioning to his hand drawn diagram which he tried to match to Mr Clarke's. "Will and Barbara, and the monster, they're this flea."

Mrs Byers, Johnathan and Nancy were sat on the couch in the Byers' living room with Hopper standing watching closely over at the side. Aaron, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, Kimmy and Eleven were sat on the floor across from the three, leaning on the small table in front of them.

Nancy had mentioned that her friend had also gone missing, hoping the girl may be with Will, despite the fact she didn't have the same evidence as the party to back up her claims.

Aaron had no idea her friend was even missing, and he felt awful about it. Surely her disappearance had been just as much broadcasted as Will's disappearance had been. Perhaps the younger boy was just too wrapped up in his own missing friend to really take notice.

"And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding." Mike continued, pointing to the paper once more just like Mr Clarke had done at Will's funeral. "Mr Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."

"A gate." Kimmy elaborated with a nod.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab." Lucas shrugged.

"With our compasses." Aaron continued, looking directly at the three sat in front of him and avoiding the older man who he knew he had already managed to piss off enough that night.

Mrs Byers' eyes widened drastically, looking to the group as if they were crazy, whereas Nancy and Johnathan looked to the twelve year olds as if they had just spoken some other language.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field," Dustin began quickly, taking notice of the confused expressions being sent their way. "And that can change the directions of a compass needle."

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked dragging the attention of the group to him, his voice blunt despite the look of confusion pulling on his features.

"Yes." Eleven answered softly, taking everyone by surprise.

Hopper tilted his head, as if he already knew something the group didn't. "Near a large water tank?"

"Yes." The girl nodded again, her voice just above a whisper.

Aaron looked to the older man with his face scrunched into a look of perplexity, not shying away from his obvious confusion.

"How did you know that?" The blond boy asked the chief, unable to hide the way he couldn't believe the man would even be keeping up with what they were saying.

The older man didn't reply, pausing momentarily as he sent Aaron a dumbfounded look, one which Aaron jokingly returned. However the chief didn't find much humour in it.

"He's seen it." Mike replied for him, sounding shocked at the sudden revelation.

The party looked to Mike with matching expressions of confusion, but before Mike could elaborate on what he meant, Mrs Byers was speaking up.

"Is there anyway that you could..." the older woman trailed off, talking to Eleven with the calmest voice she could manage. "Reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"

"The Upside Down." Eleven finished for the older woman with almost a saddened look on her face.

"Upside Down. Yeah." Mrs Byers whispered with concerned eyes.

Eleven simply nodded, not breaking eye contact with Mrs Byers.

"And my friend Barbara?" Nancy cut in, sounding desperate. "Can you find her too?"

Eleven turned to the older girl, hesitating for a moment before nodding.

...

Eleven was sat at the end of a small circle table, her eyes squeezed shut as she did her best to find Nancy's friend Barbara. A picture Nancy had provided of the girl in front of her as well as Mike's radio which had been set to an awkward setting, causing nothing but static to be heard.

The rest of the group were stood at the opposite side of the table, deathly silent as they watched her carefully.

Aaron flinched as the lights flickered off, placing two hands over his mouth to stop himself from making any noise and distracting the girl. Jumping back into the older man stood behind him due to surprise, although he was quickly pushed off, the older man sending him a confused glare as Aaron offered him a sheepish look which more or less said he was sorry.

The lights were only off for a few seconds, the room brightening up the room once more seconds later.

Eleven slowly opened her eyes, a look of deep sadness pulling on her features as she frowned and shook her head, looking as if she were about to burst into tears.

"I'm sorry." The girl muttered, her lips beginning to tremble from pent up fear and frustration.

Mrs Byers was sat just in front of where Aaron was standing, sitting on a chair as she held her sons hand tightly.

"What?" She panicked, her voice trembling while she shook her head. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Eleven was sat looking heartbroken, tears streaming down her cheeks as her lips trembled. "I can't find them."

Aaron watched as Will's older brother let go of his mothers hand, walking back with his hands covering his face from frustration. All while Mrs Byers seemed to crumble, burying her face in her hands as she very evidently held back tears.

Eleven quietly excused herself, wondering down the hall and into the bathroom where she slammed the door behind her, leaving a rather awkward tension in the room she'd left.

"She's just tired." Dustin blurted, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets."

Lucas nodded, further adding onto his curly haired friends point. "Like, she flipped a van earlier-"

"It was pretty awesome." Aaron shrugged, cutting Lucas off in the process.

"But, now she's drained."Lucas continued, ignoring Aaron's comment.

"Like a bad battery." Mike agreed, with face twisted into a look of sympathy almost.

"Well, how do we-" Mrs Byers stuttered, her voice cracking as she wiped her tear stained cheeks. "How do we make her better?"

"We don't." Mike answered quietly, as if doubting himself.

"We just wait until she's up to try again." Kimmy mumbled, her voice very obviously hesitant as she second guessed whether or not her input was important.

Aaron furrowed his brows as he watched her instantly drop her gaze to were she messed around with the sleeve of her jacket. Not allowing anyone to meet her eye before anyone had even looked her way, as if instantly she'd be thought bad of for simply speaking.

"Well, how long?" Nancy questioned in a frustrated voice, causing Kimmy to snap her head up to meet the older girls stare with widened eyes.

"Uh, I don't know." Kimmy answered in a faux confidence.

"The bath." Eleven surprised each and every person from the room by speaking out from the hallway.

Aaron scrunched his face up, utterly baffled at what the strange girl was getting at.

"What?" Joyce Byers asked, sounding just as confused as Aaron felt.

"I can find them." Eleven spoke again after a long moment of hesitation. "In the bath."

Aaron tilted his head, only more confused on how a bath would supposably help the young girl.

...

"Why do I have to call him?" Aaron huffed, sighing as Mike shoved the phone into his hand. "Do you know how late it is? He'll be asleep-"

"Get ahold of yourself, Aaron." Mike scolded, shaking his head. "He's an adult. Get over it and talk to him."

Aaron rolled his eyes as he watched his friend walk away from him and went off to another part of the house where everyone else was, leaving Aaron stuck by the phone on the wall.

"Get over it and talk to him." Aaron mocked quietly to himself, listening to the phone ring by his ear. "Just 'cause Mike's a fuckin' scaredy-"

"Hello?"

Aaron physically jumped, standing up straighter as he cleared his throat before speaking. Truthfully, Aaron had no idea why he had been left to make the awkward call to the groups teacher while everyone else got to sit in the other room and plan.

"Hello, Mr Clarke?" Aaron blurted, yet waited for no answer. "Yeah, it's Aaron-"

"Aaron Harrington?" The man questioned, clearly puzzled as to why Aaron was calling him at that time of night, or at all. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Yeah, no, everything's perfect." Aaron sighed rapidly, rolling his eyes despite the fact no one could see him. "It's just- I have a science question-"

"It's ten o'clock on a Saturday." Mr Clarke reminded, sounding fed up already. "Why don't you ask on Monday-"

"No, I can't, it's an emergency!" Aaron panicked, instantly scolding himself before trying to recover. "I mean, it's not an emergency, but I really need to know. Right now."

The older man sighed from the other line of the phone. "Alright then."

"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks?" Aaron asked, reading the words off his hand that he had written for himself in black marker, knowing how Aaron could ramble and stray off topic when put on the spot."Specifically how to build one?"

"Sensory deprivation?" The man repeated, sounding stunned. "What is this for?"

Aaron hesitated for a long moment before uttering a single word, his voice cracking as he did so. "Fun?"

Aaron scrunched his face up and tilted his head back, restraining himself from hanging up the phone from embarrassment.

"Okay, well..." Mr Clarke trailed off, sounding as if he was unsure of what to say. "Why don't we talk about it on Monday after school?"

"No, it's urgent!" Aaron interrupted again, repeating the exact mistake from moments before accidentally.

"Sir, you always say we should never stop being curious and to open any curiosity door we find." Aaron quickly began talking again, doing his best to sound solemn as he tried to get the man to feel bad for him. "Why are you keeping my curiosity door locked?"

The man sighed loudly. "Aaron-"

"You don't think I can do it myself, do you?" Aaron attempted to guilt, feeling slightly bad about what he was trying to do. "I really thought you believed in me, Mr Clarke-"

"Alright, alright," the man gave in, sounding defeated. Aaron instantly reaching the notepad and pencil that had been left for him by the party to write down the instructions.

Aaron smirked proudly to himself as he walked into the living room where everyone was sat going over the plan, clutching the notepad in his hold.

"Got it," he sighed smugly, shrugging his shoulders. Causing the chief stood directly in front of him to roll his eyes. "And you thought-"

"How do we do it." The older man sighed, sounding bored as he cut Aaron off.

"Uh-" Aaron stuttered, reading over the notes he had taken. "A kiddie pool, and 1,500 pounds of salt-"

"Where are we going to get that much salt?" Nancy exclaimed, rolling her eyes and standing from her spot on the couch in what Aaron presumed to be in panic.

"Well, it's not my issue, Nancy." Aaron muttered, shrugging his shoulders. "I've done my part, I thought it was you guys who were making the plan-"

"Right, everyone outside to the cars." Hopper demanded, heading for the door, very evidently having an idea already. "Joyce, you follow behind the truck in your car-"

"Uh- no, no, I do not think so, sir!" Aaron exclaimed as he followed the man closely out the door. "I'm not getting back into the backseat of that deathtrap-"

"Alright," the man sighed, though Aaron could very clearly tell he was somewhat angry. "If it means so much to you, you can sit in the front."

Aaron paused, allowing everyone to walk past him as he thought over his options, watching as Mrs Byers, Johnathan and Nancy went in the Byers family car.

Aaron was definitely hesitant to step back into the truck the man seemed so set on driving carelessly, however all this hesitance seemed to wash away as he saw Dustin head for the front seat.

"Hey, Henderson!" Aaron called, running up to the car. "Front seats mine, chief called it."

Dustin rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath before heading for the back door, Aaron reluctantly opening the passenger door and climbing in.

"So," Aaron sighed, placing his notepad on his lap as he looked to the older man who had began driving off. "Where we going?"

"The school." The man mumbled while gritting his teeth together.

"The school?" Aaron repeated sounding shocked. "Why are we going to-"

"We just are, alright?" The man huffed harshly, shutting Aaron up instantly.

...

Aaron, Dustin, Kimmy and Lucas were rolling the kiddie pool into the middle school gym while Hopper and Johnathan were off outside collecting all the salt used to clear ice and snow from the roads from the outside shed.

Well, Kimmy and Dustin were rolling the kiddie pool into the gym, Aaron and Lucas being no help at all.

"Damn this thing is heavy." Dustin grunted, out of breath from next to Kimmy.

"Yeah," Kimmy sighed, "maybe a little help would be useful guys."

"Excuse you," Lucas replied, not bothering to turn and face the pair pushing the heavy play pool from where he and Aaron walked ahead. "But we are helping."

"Really?" Kimmy mused unimpressed. "And what would you two be doing exactly?"

"I have the notepad!" Aaron protested, sounding offended as he continued to look down at the scribbles while he walked.

"Yeah, and I'm guiding you two!" Lucas stated as if obvious.

Kimmy and Dustin met each others gazes, the pair rolling their eyes.

"Alright," Lucas blurted, causing the three with him to come to a halt, motioning to where he stood. "Here should do."

"Thank Christ," Kimmy mumbled, instantly dropping the kiddie pool and placing her hands on her hips, watching as Dustin did the same.

Lucas rushed over to unfold the large pool, the three with him reluctantly reaching over to help him.

It took the group of four longer than any of them would have liked to admit to actually set the kiddie pool up.

"Okay," Aaron called, setting his notepad on the floor as he grabbed the edge. "Everyone spread out evenly and we can get it set up easier."

The three nodded at him in response, walking over and doing as told, however Aaron was far from impressed at what he saw.

"No, guys," Aaron huffed, already sounding frustrated. "Evenly. Kimmy move to the left a bit, Dustin, you move to the right-"

"Aaron," Lucas sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Aaron rolled his eyes and but the inside of his cheek, saying nothing else but loudly sighing as he watched the pool instantly fall when the group held it up.

The four tried again.

Only for it all to fall once more.

"This is why we need to be spaced evenly!" Aaron protested, waving his hand at Kimmy and Dustin. "Kimmy, over to the left, Dustin, to the right!"

Aaron watched as Kimmy and Dustin looked to each other with blank faces, seemingly having a silent conversation with one another through facial expressions before doing as they were told and moving over.

"Okay, pull it back." Aaron said, suddenly sounding a lot calmer than he had been.

The pool deflated once again, much to everyone's frustration.

Aaron squeezed his eyes shut before muttering the following words, however one would have to have been a complete idiot not to have heard the way his voice filled with irritation. "I said to pull it back-"

"We did!" Kimmy and Dustin snapped back instantly, those two also growing stressed with the situation at hand.

"Obviously not hard enough!" Lucas snapped back, rolling his eyes.

After several more attempts, Aaron scoffed and dropped the hold he had on the pool.

"Okay, I give up guys, let's give up." The blond sighed, reaching down to get his notepad before heading over to sit by the bleachers. "We should wait for Mike and Nancy to come back with the hoses."

The three left holding the pool shared matching looks before following suit and also dropping the pool, walking over to where Aaron was sat.

Each prepared to lie to anyone who asked and say they hadn't even attempted to put the pop-up peice of plastic designed for small children up.

...

I hate this chapter :0

I think there are five more chapters of season one? Maybe seven more chapters im not sure, either way it's almost done.

I'm hoping to have season two started by Christmas so expect lots of updates in the next two weeks lol

Have a good day/ night!!!!

-AJ :)