Chapter Sixteen

Waiting nervously, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Mike, Dad, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Joyce, and unconscious Will is on the couch and I all wait around; for a backup plan. For once, the house is quiet.

Everyone is spread out. Joyce was in her bedroom, mourning over her boyfriend's death by the Demogorgons. I felt bad for her, really, I did. Jonathan and Nancy are standing by Will's unconscious body that lies on the couch.

The kids, Dad, and I are in the kitchen, spread around. The kids sat at the table while I lean on the kitchen counter, and my Dad is on the phone call for his Military friends to come.

"Sam Owens." Dad cuts my thoughts and I looked over at him. "Dr. Sam Owens." Pause. "I don't know how many people are there!" Steve turns around and walked towards me, leaning against the kitchen counter. "I don't know how many people are left alive! I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper!" Dad had growled into the phone. "Yes, the number that I gave you, yes. 6767... I will be there."

He roughly puts down the phone in the phone holder. Steve begins to pace around now, having his thinking face on.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin questioned, who was the only one standing. His hand placed on the kitchen table.

Dad turns around to them. "We'll see."

"We'll see?" Mike mocks. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

"We'll stay here, and we wait for help." Dad speaks in a calmed voice. I frowned at those stupid words. Wait for help? Who is going to help us! No one, that's who. We need to do this, to not only save our town but to save the world from becoming overpowered with Demogrogons! His Milarties friends aren't going to stop this.

We are the only ones that have to do this.

Mike pouts as Dad turned on his foot, leaving the kitchen. He was clearly done with this conversation. It goes silent between us again. But, that's my Dad, no one ever argues with him. Ever.

It's dark outside, and I'm not even sure what the time is.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked quietly, Mike looked up at me immediately.

"Down the hallway, to your left," Mike lazily pointed to where the bathroom could be. I nodded. I walked away from them, and when I turned my back, unwanted tears filled my eyes.

I was exhausted, hungry, and terrified... I have so many mixed feelings on the matter. I entered the bathroom once I found it and shut it, locking the bathroom. I looked around. There was a bathtub with a shower connected to it, and a toilet right beside it, with a sink.

I let out myself cry as I sink to the floor, my knees suddenly caving in. I want to go home—Not to the cabin, but our other place where Mom used to live with us. I want to have my little sister Sarah back, too. I want everything to just be normal for once.

I pulled my knees closer to me, tears dripping down my cheeks rapidly. I tried holding back a sob, but I couldn't. I was scared. I was scared that those monsters will come and kill us; that the world is ending. The world that I've barely begun to explore yet.

My heart squeezes for my Mom. I miss her so much. Why did she not want me? I thought she loved us. All I really want is to hug my Mom, tell her I love her and that I'm sorry for whatever I did wrong.

It doesn't make sense. I know Dad had a small drinking problem, okay, he was an alcoholic but he's gotten better now. Why can't she just move back with us?

Ever since El had come into our lives, Dad had gotten better. Better than he was, at least. El changed him. I guess El reminds him of Sarah, and he wants another chance, so he's taking the opportunity of having two daughters again. And, El reminds me of Sarah a little bit, too.

I hope El's doing alright amongst this.

And now here I am. I've opened up to people and now I'm slaying demons to save the world. My heart squeezes tightly, I wonder if anyone will miss it if I just... Die. To be honest; I'm not afraid of death, by now, I've fully accepted death; and if Demongoron's is how my death is going to be... Bring it on.

A knock broke my thoughts and I looked up at the white door. I stayed quiet, quickly wiping my tears away. "Jun?" It was from Steve. "Are you... Okay? You've been in there for a while." I stayed quiet, not trusting myself to speak. "Juno, please say something so I know you're alive."

I quietly got up and walked over to the door, unlocking it. I opened the door a crack and looked at Steve. The lights weren't on in the house, I could hardly see Steve, but the moonlight from the bathroom window shines on Steve; showing off the features on his face. His beautiful features.

Steve smiled a little. My gaze dropped to the ground and I take a step back, opening the door a little wide. My throat felt dry. "I'm glad you're alive," he speaks, almost jokingly and with a heavy heart, I frowned. "Hey..." He takes a step closer to me, gently cupping the side of my face with his hands, making eye contact with me. His thumb gently brushes under my cheek. "Have you been crying?"

"N-No..." I had sniffed; giving it away that I was. Steve, out of all of the people, doesn't need to see me cry. I don't like crying. It makes me feel weak. I cleared my throat, to keep it from cracking. "No."

"You have," Steve states the obvious. "Don't lie, Jun, I'm not stupid." I pulled out of his grasp; ashamed and walked further into the bathroom. Steve had come in behind me, quickly shutting the door. "It's okay to cry, you know. What you've just witnessed is scarring."

I cracked a small smile, turning to Steve slowly, facing him. "I just..." I gulped. "I wish... I wish things were just normal again. You know, going to Skull Rock, hooking up like last summer—I want to go home, Steve. Forget this ever happened."

Steve took a step, closing the gap between us and holds my hands carefully. "Look, Jun, I get you. I really do; I want to go home too, but you and I both know we can't. We have to camp out here for a while. Where it is safe for the time being."

I then do the most unlikely thing and I hugged Steve. I rarely hug Steve, but when I do, it's the best. I pulled him closer to me, wrapping my arms around him, in much need of a well-overdue hug. He was hesitant at first but slowly wrapped his arms around me, holding me as well.

We stayed like this, silent, in each other's arms for a while. Nothing but the sound of our breathing was heard. Time seemed to slow down, I could feel the beat of his heart pounding rapidly against my own.

I buried my head in his chest, letting out a soft whimper and he pulled me to him even closer it was possible. I gripped the back of his t-shirt, afraid to go back into my reality. Into our reality.

I tried my hardest not to cry again. Once again; Steve, out of the people, doesn't need to see me cry. Steve soothingly rubs my back and I before I could close my eyes and fall asleep; a loud knock is heard on the door, sadly pulling me back into our reality.

We both let go slowly and turned to the door just as the door opens. It was Nancy standing at the door with a frown. "Juno, you okay?" Nancy asked softly I nodded.

"Yeah, I—I'm fine, thanks, Nance." I smiled. "Steve helped me."

"Okay. Come to me if you feel anxious about anything. Come on, Dustin's figured out something," Nancy had informed. She turns on her heel and walked toward the kitchen. Steve allows me to leave first and I slowly followed Nancy. Steve behind me.

I felt all eyes on us as we head into the kitchen, all except Joyce. A game manual of D&D is on the table, with Dustin in front of it and everyone surrounded as Steve and I joined everyone.

"The mind flayer," Dustin begins.

"What the hell is that?" Dad lowly asked, his arms folded.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension." Dustin quickly explained. "It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home." No one said anything so he continued. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God," Dad groaned out. "None of this is real. This is a kids' game."

"No, it's manual." Dustin mocked. "And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor—"

"Analogy," Lucas cuts in, nodding his head.

Dustin looked at him in disbelief. "Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine. Fine! An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Okay," Nancy interrupts, using hand gestures. "So this mind flamer thing—"

Dustin looked highly offended as he shoots Nancy a look who stood next to him. "Flayer. Mind Flayer."

Nancy sighed. "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically," Dustin sums up. "It believes it's the master race."

"Like the germans?" Steve questions beside Dustin's other side. My eyes widen; how does he not know it's the Nazis?

"Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin corrected, raising an eyebrow at Steve.

Steve cringed at himself and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis." 

"Uh..." Dustin mumbled. "If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally," Dad pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. I could tell he was over this conversation. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions," Mike continued to explain.

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," my face paled at Lucas's words.

Okay... Maybe I'm not ready for death. I am totally, absolutely, in no way ready to die. "That's great,"  I exclaimed. "That's great! That's really great!" Angrily, I stormed off, pacing around nervously further in the kitchen.

Our world is literally going to end if we don't stop it.

"No pressure!" I mutter, throwing my hands up in the air and they land on the kitchen counter in front of me. I grip onto the tabletop, my knuckles turning white. Oh, God... We're going to die!

"Hey, hey," a gentle voice from Steve brings me out of my thoughts and I turned to him slowly, almost hyperventilating. This can't be how I die... "You need to calm down, Jun, everything—" 

"Calm down?" I hissed, tight pain in my chest.

"Dude, that is literally the worse thing you can say to someone who is going into shock," Lucas bluntly points out and we both glared at him. He shrinks back, taking a step back and out of the room.

"I can't do this," shaking my head, I'm literally having a panic attack right in front of these people! Due to the fact; it's making it harder for me to calm down.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Steve gently speaks to me. "Let's take a minute to breathe, yeah?" He guides me into the lounge, into the corner where no one was. Where it's just us; and an unconscious Will on the couch.

I can't believe I'm having another mental breakdown in front of Steve. Agh! Can this awful feeling just stop? Can everything just stop?!

I gently lowered myself to the ground, pretty much collapsing to the ground, against the wall, squeezing my eyes shut; my chest hurts. Everything hurts. I let out a small sob. "Steve..." Steve lowers himself in front of me, bending down to my level; concern in his eyes.

"Jun..." He whispers, his voice going shaky. "Tell me where it hurts."

I opened my eyes, my eyes are filled with tears and all I see his a blurry image of Steve. I blink to clear my vision. "Everywhere."

"Just breathe with me, okay?" He continued to whisper. He breathes in and out slowly, I tried to mimic it but I couldn't. I don't know why, but my body is just rejecting his help. Usually, it doesn't. I shake my head, my breathing going rigid.

All of a sudden, his lips were on mine; causing me to hold my breath. I kissed back instantly, feeling the familiarity of his lips. I missed his lips. I pulled back, my breathing going back to normal; the pain in my chest subsided. My eyes rapidly looked over his voice, breathing heavily.

"You kissed me," I whispered out the obvious and Steve nodded. I gulped. "And I held my breath while kissing you..."

"Which stopped your panic attack," I stare at him in awe and I kissed him again, only a small peck. This man is making me like him more and more.

We simply stare at each other for a while, taking everything in that just happened.

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..." The sound of Nancy's voice was heard in the background, snapping us both back into reality.

He cleared his throat quietly and offered to help me up. I rejected his help and got up myself, walking further into the kitchen. They don't bother to look at us this time—Steve comes behind me, standing behind me.

"We kill everything it controls," Mike finished Nancy's sentence.

"We win." Dustin nods.

"Theoretically," Lucas buts in.

Dad walked over to the manual book that Nancy holds in her hand; Dad takes the book from her. "Great. So how do we kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?"

"No." Dustin chuckled. "No, no fire—No fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because..." He makes eye contact with Dad who was glaring at him. "Because... Zombies, you know, they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it... It likes brains. It's just a game. It's a game."

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper slams the book shut, rolling his eyes as he slams the book onto the table.

"I thought we were waiting for your Miliarty backup," I had mocked and Dad turns to me sharply, giving me a look of disapproval.

"We are!" He exclaimed. 

"Even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" I continued to argue with him. "You can't just shoot this with guns." 

"You don't know that!" Dad fired back. "We don't know anything!"

"We know it's already killed everybody in the lab," I recalled.

"And we know the monsters are gonna moult again," Lucas continued.

"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Dustin finished.

"They're right," everyone's head turns to Joyce. Not to be mean, but she looked like an absolute wrecked. She stands there, her hair all messed up and still in her work clothes. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

Dad walked towards Joyce; closing the distance between them. "Me too."

"I—"

"Me, too, Joyce," Dad cuts her off. "Okay? But how do we do that?" Joyce sighed; her shoulders dropping. "We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here." 

"No." Mike cuts in; his eyes landing on Will's body. "But he does." Mike walks towards Will. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him," Mac stated. "That he's a spy for the Mind flayer now." 

"Yeah, but, he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."