yet another episode

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

The party—plus Max and Gabe—decided to split up in order to look for Dart more efficiently. Alina found herself paired with Lucas, while Gabe followed Will, the others going on their own. Mike hadn't originally wanted Gabe or Max to help, but Gabe insisted following Will, who said he didn't mind, and Max just tossed her hair and decided to go alone. It wasn't like they had anything better to do.

Alina didn't really want to be spending her after-school hours looking for a creature from the Upside Down, but she had no choice. She didn't want the creepy little thing to end up in her house, or anyone else's houses, for that matter. And so she followed Lucas, walkie-talkie at the ready in case she spotted the small thing.

"East is clear," Mike's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. "No sign of Dart."

It was a moment before Dustin spoke. "West is clear, too. Will? Gabe?"

"South is clear," said Will over the walkie-talkie. "Lucas? Al? Anything?

Lucas and Alina didn't speak, hurrying to finish up checking their side of the school. There was one more classroom left, and Lucas put his finger on his lips as they hustled towards it. Alina nodded, and Lucas smiled, ran, and kicked the door open. It opened with a bang, revealing a classroom—but unlike the other ones they'd been in, it wasn't empty.

"Excuse me! Mr. Sinclair! Miss Fairgrieves!" it was a teacher Alina didn't remember the name of, but she obviously remembered them. Lucas and Alina both halted in their tracks, warmth crawling up their faces as the teacher glared at them, one hand on her hip.

"S-sorry," Lucas stammered. "We were looking for s...study hall!" he backed out of the classroom. "Bye!"

"Sorry!" Alina called, too, before leaving the classroom with him. She let out a slight laugh as the two backed away. "Whoops."

Lucas was grinning, too, and he held his walkie-talkie up to his lips. "Nothing here, man."

"Yep, all clear in the North," Alina added.

They continued to walk down the hall, when Lucas suddenly stopped, his brow furrowing. Alina's eyebrows raised at the sight of him. "What? What is it, Lucas? Do you see Dart?"

"No." Before Alina could react, Lucas was pulling off her sweater, revealing her bare arms—and the fingermarks imprinted into them by Daniel's harsh grip. He blinked. "I thought I saw something earlier. Al, what the hell is that? Is that... is that why you were late to the science room? To show Dart to Mr. Clarke?"

Alina yanked her sweater back, sliding it back over her shoulders. "It doesn't matter," she said quickly, thinking about the scratch she'd gouged into Daniel's face. It made her wonder if he'd picked up her switchblade or not, or if it was still lying somewhere around the school. "All that matters now is finding Dart. I knew that thing was dangerous."

"Don't try and change the subject," said Lucas. "Who did that? Was it Daniel? If it was Daniel, I swear I'll beat his scrawny little ass. He's been harassing us all year. He's a racist and a bully, and he deserves to be put in his place."

"Well, I sort of beat you to that," said Alina sheepishly. And then, of course, it all came flooding out. "He was being a real asshole about Will and... and you, and I... I don't know what happened, it didn't feel like me... but I just..." she lowered her head, shame filling her. "I slashed him. With my switchblade. Left this big scratch on his face. I... I didn't even want to, I..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Al." Lucas didn't look angry, or terrified, like she thought he might be after finding out she'd basically stabbed someone with her knife. "It's okay. Daniel deserved it. I'm... I'm glad you did it." He smiled a little. "That'll teach him to mess with the party, huh?"

Alina wiped away the stray tears that had been brewing. "I guess." And then Lucas had wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into it, and, as Alina breathed in the scent of his shampoo, she thought everything might be alright again. They'd find Dart, perhaps kill it. She'd stop seeing into the Upside Down or wherever she went when she had those strange visions. And then she'd tell Lucas how she really felt. Hopefully.

As they talked, the other pair found themselves lapsing into conversation, too. Will was biting his lip nervously as he and Gabe checked the spare classrooms, before, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, he finally spoke. "I found all of these notes in my locker today. Like, not the usual ones. The usual ones are mean, but these ones... they weren't."

"Yeah, Alina told me about all the hassle you get," Gabe said uncomfortably, straightening his collar. "It's... it's so stupid. How mean people are. I mean, you should be famous! You were in the newspaper and everything... I read it a couple of times, and it's so cool how you had a funeral before they realized you were... you were lost in the woods, right?" He was rambling again, but he couldn't seem to stop himself around Will. And, strangely, as he talked, Will seemed to really be listening. He didn't do that thing most others did where they kept eye contact for a couple of seconds before looking away. No, when Gabe talked, Will kept eye contact the whole time.

Will just shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's what they say," he said. "It's a bit more complicated than that." He looked around, slightly nervous. "The party would kill me if they heard me telling any of you this, I just... you're really nice, Gabe. I'm sorry about earlier, locking you and Max out of the AV Room. There are just... there are some things I can't tell you. I wish I could."

"Dangerous things?"

Will relaxed. "Yeah. Dangerous things. Things you don't want to be a part of." He smiled at Gabe, sending a strange feeling twisting in his stomach. "But... the notes. Do you know who wrote them?"

Gabe looked around, too. "Yeah," he said. "It was Alina's idea. She didn't want you to start your day with all of these mean notes, so she decided to have all of us write positive notes to you. Notes that we meant. Everything you read was true."

"Wow." Will blinked. "Wow, I didn't... I didn't know they all cared about me so much."

"Of course they do," smiled Gabe. "I mean, I haven't been here very long, but I can see the way your friends look at you. They really care about you, Will."

Will smiled wider this time, and Gabe smiled back, and for a moment, it was just him and Will, nobody else. Gabe stared into Will's eyes—they were brown, pools of chocolate and honey, and Gabe thought he could look into them forever. And then Will turned away, breaking the moment, and now Gabe was the one to blink, as if readjusting to his surroundings. "Oh," said Will. "We haven't checked this bathroom yet. Come on."

And quelling the faint disappointment building up in him—for what, he didn't know—Gabe followed Will inside. The bathroom was dark, the walls and paper towel dispensers etched with graffiti, and there was a sense of eeriness in the air even before Gabe heard the chittering coming from one of the stalls. "Dart," he said softly.

Will nodded, and the two of them headed to the stall where the chittering was coming from. Slowly, Will pushed open the stall door, revealing the tiny creature sitting on the floor beside the toilet. It shrunk away from the light streaming through the window as the two boys peaked in.

Will raised his walkie-talkie to his lips. "Guys..." he said softly, "We found him."

"Where?" Dustin's voice crackled out of the walkie-talkie.

"In the bathroom by Mr. Salerno's," said Will, watching Dart wriggle around. Neither of them felt too inclined to try and catch Dart, so Gabe and Will just stared at it, wondering what to do with the rapidly growing creature. Just hold him until the others arrived?

"Copy that," said Mike, before Alina's voice came on.

"Thank God it didn't get outside. We're heading over now. Over."

Will stared at Dart. "It's okay," he said softly. "We're not gonna hurt you."

Dart crawled a little bit out of the light, and Gabe almost thought Will was getting to it, but that was when Dart let out a scream. It was loud, and it was feral, and it made Gabe jump back a bit, but Will let out a cry of his own, dropping his walkie-talkie and bolting out of the room. Gabe's eyes widened, and he stared at Dart for a moment, the creature beginning to wriggle towards him, and followed Will.

A few minutes later, Alina and Lucas regrouped with Mike and Max, and the four of them headed inside the bathroom to look for Dart. But when they opened the door, they only found Dustin. There was no sign of the creature or Will and Gabe for that matter.

Mike raised an eyebrow. "Where's Dart?"

Dustin shrugged. "I don't know," he said quickly. "Not here."

"What?" Mike moved towards the bathroom stalls, opening them and checking them for any sign of the creature.

"He said by Salerno's, right?" Max asked.

"Yeah, maybe Will and Gabe have him."

Mike finished checking the stalls and turned to Dustin. "Where are they?" he asked.

They all split up, running down the hallways, checking for any sign of Will or Gabe. A surge of panic went through Alina. It was just like when Will had gone missing, but she hoped, prayed it wasn't that drastic. She was peeking her head in another classroom when Dustin and Max caught up to her. "Will?" she asked, but the two shook their heads.

Then, another voice joined the mix. "Dustin? Alina?" Alina turned to find Joyce standing there, her face pale as she looked at them. "What's going on? Where's Will?"

Before any of them could respond, however, a door leading to outside burst open, and Lucas sprinted in. His eyes were wide, and Alina could see sweat beading on his forehead. As all heads turned to look at him, all Lucas could get out was "the field" before he was running outside again. But this time, the other four followed.

They burst outside into the cool November afternoon, scanning the area, before they found three figures standing in the middle of the field. Mike and Gabe were standing beside Will, shaking the boy's shoulders. Will's eyes were closed, and no matter how much the two boys pleaded for him to respond, Will didn't open his eyes. Mike turned to the others when he noticed them coming. "Gabe found him like this!" he cried, his eyes wild, his voice laced with panic. "I think he's having another episode!"

Joyce immediately put her hands on Will's shoulders, shaking her son. "Will? Will! Will!" her voice became higher and higher as Will barely reacted. Alina could see the whites of Will's eyes and realized his eyes weren't fully closed, but they'd rolled back in his head. "Sweetie, wake up! It's Mom!"

Alina's stomach dropped. True Sight... that was Dustin's theory. And what if it was right? What if, right now, Will was seeing into the Upside Down? What if it was horrible? She had to help him.

And so, for the first time, she willfully closed her eyes, trying to persuade herself to do the same thing. Instinctively, one hand clutched onto Will as she chanted Come on, come on, come on...

When Alina opened her eyes, she wasn't on the field. At least, she wasn't on the same field she'd been on only a few moments ago. No, she was standing on a dark field, ash clumps falling from the sky, and there was something terribly, terribly wrong.

The shadow monster. Alina could see it in the sky, and it was so close it could reach out and touch her. It had extended its long legs onto the field, the shadows twisting and turning like tornadoes, and Alina knew she had to be quick, before whatever the hell that was noticed she was there.

And she was there. For the first time, the scene didn't immediately flicker out of view, and the smell of rot met her nostrils, a feeling of terror shooting through her. Alina suppressed a gag, looking around wildly for Will, sure he was here. And then she heard a whimpering coming from a nearer tornado.

Will was inside. Alina could hear his cries getting steadily louder, and she noticed that the tornado was getting smaller the longer Will stood inside it. She took a cautious step towards it, but before she could reach inside, she could feel eyes on her. Alina looked up and saw that the shadow monster was staring right at her, eyes from everywhere boring into her.

Alina Fairgrieves, it hissed, and then the world dissolved around her, turning back into the fall colors of the normal world. As Alina watched, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Gabe all appeared, as well as Joyce still shaking this Will—who was still not responding, his mind still trapped in the Upside Down. Alina let out a gasp, letting go of his shoulder and stumbling back, terror shooting through her at the thought of those eyes on her.

"Will," she whispered, still shaking, her heart thudding in her ears. "Please. Wake up."

And that was when Will's eyes shot open.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: i really fed you sinclairgrieves/gill stans this chapter, even though everything is literally getting so much worse oops. why do you think alina has true sight? what do you think her sickness is? i love hearing your thoughts!

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! remember to comment/vote if you liked it! honestly, i'm really happy i decided to do mad'ouk week, because this is so far behind where i'm actually at in terms of the series right now-- this book has fifty-two chapters total, excluding the epilogue and the prologue, and i'm on chapter sixteen of the next one! so yeah, this writing is actually pretty old, but prewriting does make it easy for me to have a consistent update schedule i guess haha. 

'till next time!