"i don't know how to feel now that el's gone."

last part. my heart hurts.

—

she feels like she's been throwing up for five hours, but it's only been about five minutes.

elizabeth is cooing at her, whispering soothingly in her ear, and holding her hair up and rubbing her back gently. they're standing by the side of the building, away from the bright cop lights and people.

she doesn't think she's ever going to stop completely ruining the yellow magnolias outside the windows. she feels tears mix in with the vomit and tastes salt, along with the pudding they had ate earlier.

the brunette heaves out, hands on her knees as she bends over, vomit gushing out of her mouth like a volcano. she hears liz say something, so she stops for a minute to try and look up, but ends up crying out as she leans back over and pukes into the grass. it's totally disgusting and normally, she would be completely humiliated, but she quite frankly can't give a damn.

letting out a whimper, she spits one final time and stands up straight.

liz is holding her long hair in her left hand, a brown blanket in her right. nancy and, of all people, steve harrington, stand behind her with sympathetic looks. now she really feels embarrassed. the most popular boy over at the high school had watched her puke her guts out. surprisingly, though, he smiles at her in an amused way.

she grins crookedly back at him.

liz chuckles lightly and lets go of her hair, pushing it behind her ears. she wipes erin's mouth off like a mother with the blanket and then drapes it over her shoulders. she wraps an arm around her, and walks towards the front door.

she coughs, and almost gags at her breath. it's putrid. she sniffs, side-eyeing the teenage boy right beside her. she suddenly feels exposed in a bad way. she continues staring at the ground as they walk into the building.

her throat is so sore now, and her tongue feels like jello. she doesn't look up from the floor until she feels a small nudge on her arm. she looks up. nancy is holding out a stick of white gum. she realizes her hair has all fell down around her delicate face.

for some reason, erin's face turns red and she smiles at her as she takes the gum.

liz leads them down some hallways, and then to a waiting room. everyone's already there. her mom is sitting next to karen wheeler, playing with the necklace around her neck anxiously. nancy takes a seat beside her mom with two open seats beside her. on the opposite side of said seats are the boys. liz leads her sister over to them and gently takes a seat next to her best friend.

erin eyes flit over her best friends. mike barely looks up when she sits down, and dustin and lucas are fast asleep, leaning on each other. erin smiles at her boys. she leans back in her seat and closes her eyes, also exhausted.

she slips into a quick little nap, the entire day catching up with her.

when she does awake, it's to her arm being slapped at. she opens her eyes quickly, realizing that she was leaning on dustin's back, her cheek smushed against it.

"will is up! you guys, come on!"

erin whines, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. she hears dustin and lucas make groans of annoyance — both for different reasons. lucas is holding his arms out as if he's saying, 'why the hell are you on top of me?' and dustin's still blinking blearily. erin assumes they are embarrassedly shoving at each other after realizing their positions. they all get up quickly, making groans of annoyance.

mike even grabs at erin's arm to lead her faster. he's breathless. "come on!"

this causes her to slip, almost falling if it weren't for michelle and steve, who sat next to the doorway, grabbing at her arms to steady her. the boys then basically grab her as they all clamber through the doorway past jonathan, who's watching them fondly.

jonathan calls out the number of the room to them, and they all burst through the door.

joyce stands up quickly as they rush in. "byers!" lucas cries out with joy as mike hugs him. lucas does too. joyce holds up her arms. "be careful. be careful with him." she punctuates.

"move." erin giggles when dustin yanks mike and lucas off and lays down to hug him. "guys, guys," jonathan chuckles at their eagerness gently. "go easy on him."

the boys laugh as erin gently hugs him, pecking him on the nose when she leans back up. he giggles in surprise, looking up at her. she smiles widely back.

she hears small guffaws but ignores them, smiling down at will.

"you won't believe what happened when you were gone, man." lucas says, smiling wide.

"it was mental!"

"you had a funeral."

"jennifer hayes was crying." erin might have rolled her eyes.

"and troy peed himself."

"what?" will asks in disbelief, laughing lightly.

"in front of the whole school!"

"yes!" lucas laughs.

will begins to laugh, but stops when he starts coughing. the kid's laughter dies down as well as they watch in sadness.

"you okay?" mike asks, lightly tapping will's side.

will looked up to him. "it got me." he says weakly. "the demogorgon." erin bites her lip.

"we know." mike replies softly. "it's okay. it's dead." he pauses. "we made a new friend." he tells him. they all look to the black haired boy.

"she stopped it. she saved us. but she's gone now."

"her name's eleven." dustin says.

"like the number?" will asks in confusion.

"well, we call her 'el' for short." lucas pipes up.

"she's basically a wizard."

"she has superpowers." lucas whispers mysteriously. erin giggles at him.

"more like a yoda."

"or professor x."

"she flipped a van with her mind." will looked in awe. they all start talking at once. "-and these agents were trying to shoot us.."

"-yeah, it flipped over us."

"-then she squeezed their brains out."

"-it was so cool!"

"and blood was pouring out of their faces!"

the four continue talking animatedly, watching the boy in the bed become more and more amazed at what he was hearing.

"it was amazing!"

-

erin flops down on her bed, spreading out like a starfish. she's surprised she doesn't automatically go to sleep.

"hey."

erin looks up. elizabeth stands in the doorway. her hair has fallen out of her high ponytail and is loose around her face. she walks over and sits side by side erin on the edge of the bed.

"how are you feeling?" erin asks. liz looks at the ground.

"i don't know." she mumbles. erin nods. "i'm sorry."

liz shakes her head. "it just makes no sense. we're all kids and it's just.. crazy that this is happening."

it goes silent again and they find some comfort in it. liz sniffs and glances down at her sister. "how about you? you know, besides the whole you being able to feel the other dimension thing?"

erin looks down at her lap.

"tired.. sad.. confused. i don't understand any of it. and to top it all off... i don't know how to feel now that el's gone." her voice wavers. "el was just so..." she shudders at her thoughts. "it doesn't make sense either."

just thinking about eleven now made erin sick to her stomach again and could send her into another round of tiny cries.

but before erin could tell about it, she feels a tug on her hair. it wasn't hard, not hard enough to hurt. more like a.. tap on the shoulder. it didn't feel like dustin's usual hair tugs either.

the girl raises a hand to her head. she hears liz mutter something, but she doesn't pay attention as she looks around the room. she looks out her window in fright.

liz glances over at her worriedly and lays a hand on her shoulder. "are you gonna puke again?" she asks with a concerned stare. quickly, erin shakes her head.

"no. i just.." she suddenly lets out a small cry, burying her head in her hands. liz nods. "hey, hey. it's okay, it's okay. i get it. i do." she soothes, holding her shoulders. elizabeth doesn't think she's ever seen her sister look so sad. there's a look in her eyes that makes her feel cold. it makes her bones freeze. erin closes her eyes again.

but it seems like she's never going to get any peace, because her hair is tugged yet again. erin feels at the back of her head. she really needs to get it under control because she doesn't know if she can handle this for the rest of her life.

erin slowly looks around before turning and looking at the window. she stands up slowly and starts walking towards it. she distantly hears liz say her name but she couldn't focus on her. something was tugging her outside. to the woods. when she reaches the window, she rips it open quickly, leaning outside.

there's something.

something pulling her out. she can feel it. she can hear it.

in a hurried motion, she scrambles outside and plunges her feet onto the ground.

she hears frantic screams but she doesn't look back. she's unable to look back.

erin starts into a full sprint. when she reaches a flat area, with dead earth all around her, she snaps.

"ELEVEN!"

and somewhere far away in the woods, under a broken log tree, a scared girl looks up from her knees with tears in her eyes, hearing her name.

-
ONE MONTH LATER

"something is coming. something angry."

erin leans forward eagerly. mike has the book set up again as they play their d&d campaign. it's snowing lightly outside, officially announcing that winter is here.

"hungry for your blood. it is almost here."

"what is it?" will asks excitedly.

"it's the thessalhydra, i'm telling you." dustin states.

"it's not the thessalhydra." lucas contradicts him as always. erin laughs while dustin sighs. "i'm telling you! it's the thessalhydra." mike slams down a piece.

"the thessalhydra!" erin throws her hands up in exasperation.

"damn it." dustin says as will groans.

"it roars in anger!" mike cries. "will, your action!"

"what should i do? i-" he asks frantically.

"fireball him!" lucas yells. will looks to erin and dustin. dustin leans forward, setting his chin in his hand. him and erin share a small look.

"fireball the son of a bitch."

they all giggle and will quickly picks up the dice. he shakes it and then lets go. they all quickly lean to look at it.

"fourteen!" they all cry in happiness.

"direct hit. will the wise's fireball hits the thessalhydra!" mike says, standing up quickly. "it makes a painful.." he lets out a screeching sound. "..and then.. it crumbles to the ground." he falls to the ground beside the table. the rest of the kids stand up in anticipation.

"its clawed hand reaches for you one last time and, and, and, and..!" he falls to the floor, mimicking the thessalhydra's death.

they scream in triumph, jumping on one another. dustin smushes erin to his chest and erin grips his arms. "yay!" she screams out as they yell at one another. will and lucas hug each other and then the four of them all crowd together in a circle, celebrating.

they then start marching around the table, practically singing with happiness.

"erin climbs the fallen thessalhydra and her and lucas cut off its seven heads, and dustin places them into his bag of holding." mike continues. dustin raises his own backpack in victory. "you carry the heads out of the dungeon, victorious," mike starts again as they all sit back down. erin's smile is blinding.

"and you present them to king tristan. he thanks you for your bravery and service." mike says.

"whoa. whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," dustin starts. "that's not it, is it?" erin nods in agreement. they can't just leave it at that!

"no, there's a medal ceremony, erin's offered the king's hand in marriage-"

"oh, a medal ceremony?!" dustin says as erin cries out, "what?!"

"what are you talking about?" dustin says. erin leans forward.

"and," mike tries to continue, but lucas interrupts him. "-the campaign was way too short."

"yeah!" will agrees.

mike stares at them in disbelief. "it was ten hours!" he exclaims.

"but it doesn't make any sense! erin getting married, are you kidding?" dustin argues. erin stops and stares him down.

"what's that supposed to mean?" she asks.

"don't answer that." lucas says quickly to his curly haired friend.

"it makes sense!" mike pipes up.

"uh, no! what about the lost knight?"

"and the proud princess?"

"and the enchanted druid?"

"and those weird flowers in the cave?"

"i don't know." mike stutters. "it's-" he looks up as the door opens. they all turn to it.

jonathan walks down the stairs. "jeez, what's that smell? have you guys been playing games all day or just farting?"

they all chuckle, and erin rolls her eyes, smiling anyway. "no, that's just dustin." lucas says. "he farted." erin watches dustin's face drop as he stares blankly at lucas.

"dustin farted!" he blew a raspberry.

"okay," dustin says, masking his embarrassment. "very mature, lucas." lucas continues making fun of him. he makes a louder raspberry, making them all laugh loudly.

"will," jonathan softly says. he stands up, smiling. "come on."

"shut up." dustin says. erin watches will go.

"bye, guys." lucas says. "bye, will."

"bye, will!" erin says happily. "bye." he says, cheeks hurting from smiling so much. lucas gives him a high-five.

"see you." mike says as dustin suddenly starts slapping at lucas. they stand up and begin play fighting. mike and erin watch them with smiles.

she giggles once lucas gets dustin in a chokehold. "yeah, scream! you're like a little girl." erin stops.

"excuse me?!" she cries, jumping up and running to them and grabbing lucas. she wraps her arm around his neck as dustin cheers. "yeah! you show him! you're my favorite! you're my favorite!" his voice cracks on the last sentence.

lucas shrieks, his voice cracking as well. they all start laughing.

erin was about to go after dustin, when the sounds around her go muffled. she stops for a second, but the boys don't notice as they start fighting again.

erin looks to mike as he stares sadly at the blanket fort behind him. her face drops as she stares at the back of his head sympathetically.

she sighs and walks over to him, setting a hand on his shoulder. he looks up at her. she smiles, and then tugs him up, gesturing to the boys behind her. he lightly smiles and she pinches his side lightly. he laughs, accepting the invitation to play with her and the boys and she pulls him over to dustin and lucas.

erin's just glad to have her boys back together again.

—

yo- it's over...